Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-09-11
MARRIAGE IN ENGLAND.
Imperfee.i0ns Of the Marital system.

Imperfections of the Marital System.
London Spectator
English society has not made its
system perfect 1t based marriage, in
theory at least, upon the affections of
the parties concerned, and it has made
il as indissoluble as its creed war
rants, but it has not arranged any
working system by which those who
contract marriages can be sure that
they understand one another. In the
lower classes they do, and in the mid
die classes; but in the classes govern
ed by etiquettes and observant of the
ceremonies of life they have, with
every increase in rank less and less of
opportunity of knowledge, and are
often when marry mere figures to
each other.
MEN AND WOMAN
meet in ball rooms, or in country
houses but they see little of each
others minds, and nothing of each
others inner character. Lord Dur
ham, though experienced in society,
and surrounded by women who knew
Miss Millner well, and were quite
ready to discuss her, knew so little of
her that, by his own account, he was
in doubt just before his proposal
whether she was not "the stupidest
girl be had ever seen in his life, !" and
that he believed her to be in love with
him, in spite of constantly repeated
evidence to the contrary. He had, in
fact, no knowledge of her except as
to her outside appearance, and knew
his own ignorance, for he knew his
own doubts, and complained shortly
after the marriage that if bis wife
were not mad, he has been very bad
ly used. There is no sense in sys-
tenn which, while basing
MARRIAGE ON LOVE,
and making the tie indissoluble, all
lows and, indeed, often causes ignor-
ance such as that. We do not sup
pose Lord Durham is exceptionally
foolish and be certainly was not cx-
ceptionally inexperienced-and al
though Miss MilIner was exception
ally reserved, she was not so much so
as to excite in his mind any idea that
he was left in unusual ignorance
The truth is, the upper classes ap-
ply to their daughters a system which,
without their intending it, secludes
them too much from the men they are
intended to marry, and produces half
the mistakes and scandals aud separa-
tions of which society hears 50 much.
THE LAD AND LASS
often know nothing about each other.
The etiquettes have somehow got
themselves wrong, till we have neith-
er the English system, which is free
choice by the young themselves, nor
the French system, which is choice
by their families, but an inconvenient
and almost unworkabIe muddle of
both. We always wonder how the
very rich bring themselves to marry
at all, SO ignorant as they must be of
the girls with whom they are to be
LINKED FOR LIFE,
and SO suspicious as they must be of
those around them, and hardly won
der at the way they are Caught" by
unprincipled married women, whom
the laws of society permit to be lit
tie more spontaneous and interesting.
We do not know how reform can be
introduced, but it ought not to be
practically difficult and until it is
introduced, the world will continue to
be shocked by at least twice as many
scandals as. allowing fully for the in
herent viciousness of mankind, ought
reasonably to be expected. It is not
only that mortality is imperfect, but
that we put upon it the perfectly
needless strain of making marriage
far too much of haphazard affair