Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-01-28
The Deceased Wife:s Sister.

From the n Y. Times.
There are many thousands of Englis!lmen
whose chief object in life is to marry their de-
ceased wifes sisters They have formed a So
cietS for the cultivation OF this peculiar sport
and annually attempt to induce Parliament to
abolish the law which now interferes with their
singular passion They denounce this law as a
relic of the Roman Catholic dominion. and in
sist that deceased wifes sister is not NAHUM IN
So. and that it is a disgrace to all enlightened
age that she should be nsah,st pfohibit,na. So
Tar Parliament has refused to listen to them.
The majority of EHgiisnmen do not wish to
marry deceased wife's sisters. and naturally
think it absurd that any one else should wish to:
and lnaSInuch as Nj. Gladstone has never writ
ten pamphlet denouncing the deceased wife's
sister as the giant evil of the age, there IS no
reason to suppose that he will suddenly become
her champion.
1t is curious illustration Of the uninventye
character of the British mind that there should
lie, say. 80, 600 Englismen who are vainly striy-
ing to marry their deceased wives sisters. In a
really enterprsing community these, men Wouid
have avoided all trouble and accomplished their
desires by marrying the long-for sisters instead
OF the original deceased wives. Simple and
easy as this eXpedient is. no Englisliman ap-
pears to have thought of it. When one of the
thirty thousand wishes to marry girl, he ap-
parently thinks it necessary first of all to marry
her sister; then to wait until his wife dies
which is IN most eases Il trying, tedious and I'M
certain Gccupation-and then to spend the rest
OF his life in vainly trying to obtain the repeal of
the law which stands between him and the OBJ
ject of his affections. All this trouble and I'M
happiness could be avoided were the man to
marry the coveted sister in the first instance
but such is the obstinate conservatism of the
British mind, that it viii probably be half a CEN
fury before EngIishmen avail themselves OF this
simple remedy.
There is another way in which the almost
national English desire to marry deceased
wifc's sister may he looked at but it similarly
requires us to note the characteristic English
lack of enterprise. 1t would occur to most men
III this country that wifes sister lacks the ele-
mcnt of romance. If a mans wife has an I'M
married sister, and she is not an Objectionable
girl she Is very certain to be on familiar terms
with him. She is the one to whom he naturally
looks for help when his wife is sick. She comes
and takes care Of the children and temporarily
superintends his buttons. She pours out his
coffee in the morning and meets him when he
comes home at night from business Thus she
knows him thoroughly. If he is cross and un-
reasonable in the early morning. as many men
wfes sister. If he comes home ut night too
tired to try to make himself agreeable,
she discovers what difference there is between
brOther-in-law and an unattached Young man
who exhibits himself to ladies only at his most
agreeable moments. She knows the condition
Of his shirts and stockings; she seeshim without
his wig, and she learns the precise number of his
false teeth. On the other hand. if she is ever
irritable in the morning. he suffers from 1t: if she
wears false hair, she can not keep 1t secret from
hIm. and 1t fs morally certain that at some time
he will meet her dressed in way that will de-
stroy any Illusions he may have cherished as to
the beauty of her figure and her entire physical
genuneuess.
How can there be room for romance in the
intercourse of two such familiar acquaintances?
In the nature of the case there can ho mona
When the American widOwer determines to
marry again, he naturally desires to renew the
romance of his earlier courtship. and 20 seeks
his new wife among women with whom his ac-
quaintance is 80 slight that he can assume that
they possess all imaginable Projections That
the Englshman, instead of taking this course,
prefers to marry his wifeTs sister, simply shows
that he lacks. enterprise to search for wife.
He prefers to save himself the trouble of search,
pursuit and capture by requesting his sister-in-
law, who, in that capacity, mas sewed on Occa-
sionaf buttons for him. to sew on perpetual but
more utterly prosaic than the courtship of
deceased wife's sister can be imagined, and it
could only take place in the most prosaic and
unenterprising of countries.
But after all, let Us give the Englishmen the
benefit Of any possible doubt. Perhaps they do
not want to marry their deceased wives sisters
solely because they are too unenterprising and
prosaic to search for other wives Perhaps the
charm OF the deceased wifes' sister lies in the
fact that she is prohibited. Here where man
can successfully marry ten sisters. provided he
becomes q widower sufficiently often, he rarely.
We can not say, however, what would be the
result were he told by the law that his wiz. :
sisters must never. In any circumstanc tx,
thought of by him in the light OF possible wives
The small boy who has access to unlimited
apples OF real merit in his own back yard, will
kRK 60 kS>l-