Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-03-29
ENGLISH MARRIAGE.
CUSTOMS AND SOCIAL LAWS WHICH
CUT AN IMPORTANT FIGURE.
Motives for Deferment of Marriages
Woman Must Have . Knowledge Of
Housekeeping-Merce Matches
and immortality.
Robert Laird Golfers letter.

1uo nNcTuko age OI HldITldSo III lnc uphoE
middle class is about 90 for the woman and
about "a for the man. 1t would be rather
later than earlier than this The motives
for this deferment Of marriage are most
commendable, but the results Of it are ap-
pallingly bad. 1t is the ambition Of the
young man to bring his wife at once into
about the same style Of living as that from
which hs takes her. Ones social standing in
England almost wholly depends on ones
ability 10 keep up appearances and to keep
lin the swim" This means somewhat large
expenditures and the habit of entertaining,
which is a necessary and constant part Of
the domestic life. Taking bride to a board
ing-houss or into apartments is happily un-
known il that land of "home, sweet home"
1t would be deemed a social disgrace for q
man to AIRY before he was able to support
an establishment
And ON the part Of the woman it would
be deemed equally shameful for her to marry
before she was capable of managing and di-
recting economically household. She and
her family would all alike deem themselves
disgraced if she should marry and set up
housekeeping without domestic training. II
q girl has been off to school-perhaps on the
continent for the study of the languages
quired knowledge of housekee 1ing before
she is at least % For young
woman to marry and set up house.
keeping and then to confess to her
husband that she was not q mis-
tress Of the situation would be, in effect, to
say that she was an impostor, perhaps an
adventures. Every well-bred young woman
in Great Britain is supposed to be trained in
all thah hro Oh - o;& A,h,s sa
good housekeeper. She does not expect to
marry and to go into a boardi ing house and
to hang her hands in idleness. She is mar
ried to give the man she loves home, and
il she cannot do this, il he wishes it, she has
deceived him. This would be the plain Eng
lish Of it from an English point of view
And now l come to very dark and Ia
mentable side Of this matter when state
the exact fact as to the results of young men
deferring marriage until they are wellnigh
80 years Of age. The heat and passion Of
youth begin to wane, and it is feared that
they begin to consider the material rather
than the affectional aspects of the matri-
monial estate. In short, that marriage be-
comes merce' !. But sadder yet is just
that phase of social evil to which, take
it. Professor Huxley had eference
"AOA SHo0AAh8 "a SVAs0Ah % Al
English society. The young IN Of
the nobility and Of the thier
classes are none TOO chaste, and l.. un-
chastity is rath,r winked at than deemed q
ground Of social ostracism. Alliances, out
Of wedlock, are formed and mail tanned, and
these must be arranged with before the
young man can safely marry when the oc-
casion comes when he wishes to do so. In
o.. ,nf, rbor ;,,x h.,
Of even llustrious statesmen two families
are maintained, the children of one family
born in and the other out Of wedlock
The courtesan has recognized and distinct
place in English upperclass life, unknown,
thank God, to our American society.
The man is the king in the English house
hold and the wife is only the prime minis
ter. There is no confusion or overlapping
Of authority. The will Of the husband is
law. He has not only the place of honor but
Of ease. The arrangements of the house, the
company entertained, and the service en-
ployed all have respect to his wishes and to
his convenience. The wife conducts the af-
fairs of state for the king. She has her
household and, more than likely, her per-
sonal allowance, and she renders strict ac-
count of stewardship either weekly or
monthly.
The wife's personal expenditures are less,
much less, than the husbands In many in
stances he will spend quite as much on his
dress as . man than she does as q woman
for the rule is the Englishman is the be.
dressed man and the English woman is the
worst-dressed woman in the civilized world
Somehow or other this well-defined and duti-
fully followed domestic order leads to great
domestic peace and content The English
woman accepts this order as a part
Of tho order Of the universe, ant
believes in it just as she does
in the three estates Of the realm. It
is of divine ordinance. Her mother before
her believed in her husband, loved him, bore
him children, kept his house in purity and
sweetness. and 3her children rose up and
called her blessed" and she has no aims and
no ambitions higher than these. She may
not have illustrious station or world wide
name, but she has lived useful and happy
life. She Is the joy Of her husband. and she
has been brave, and has taught her children
the three most useful virtues in all the moral
catalogue She has inspired them with
courage; she has illustrated the sweetness of
obedience, and she has so lived as to beget in
them reverence for chaste womanhood.