The Irish standard., 1888-02-18
MARRYING FOR MONEY.
Continued from 1st Page.

riage and mansion should he won by
his millions. He loves her the more
intelligently for her appreciation of
what is himself.
Who ever saw an heiress to whom the
dread of being married for her money
was the fretting pea under her fourteen
feather beds2 The yellow reflection of
virgin gold becomes her as ornaments
the bride. She values her possessions
as inherent, not extrinsic charms. She
knows as we'll as you and I that a
rich girl never lacks for suitors, and she
is grateful to benignant Providence
for making her future sure and bright
One Of the vainest women / ever knew
portioned off her handsome, obsequious
lord, month by month-so much for ci-
gars, so much for horses, So much for
tailors' bills, so much for sundries-and
so far from being ashamed of the one,
sided co-partnership, reminded him OF
it in playful threatening when others
| were by in such terms as:
Don't be saucy, my love, or I will
stop your allowances" Or, Dear! dear!
what expensive luxuries husbands are!
Here's payday agaln!"
She had her hatterers and court, for
she was pretty, aippant, lavish, and
rlch--and in society! Her money was
but one element of her power, as essen
TALLY a part Of the women who had at
tracted and won her impecunious
Adonis as We're her conversational gifts
and fine eyes. The conscious posses
sion of wealth imparts sense of mas
terry that intoxicates sGeadier brains
than hers.
Admitting all these, as the candid OBJ.
server Of society's ways Of reasoning
and action must, there is an ugly sub.
stratum of truth, realistic and stubborn,
that thrusts up granite shoulder
through sophistical froth and sparkle.
Let the woman who has prospect of
marrying we'll, according to the difini-
tion already given, denude her be.
trothed of the golden fleece draping
his moral and mental being: put behind
her the visions Of houses and vine
yards, gardens and orchards, and pools
Of water" represented by Saratoga and
Baden Baden), ''silver and gold, nen-
singers and women singers H. g., the
German and French opera, ''great pos
sessions of great and small cattle"
Thoroughbred horses and poodles), '.all
the peculiar treasures of kings and Of
the Provinces and ask. herself, as in
the honest hour of death, "Would +
become this mans wife, for better and
for worse. for richer and for poorer, in
sickness and in health, through good
report and evil report, until death us do
part, if he had none OF these things?
Il, in their place, he could offer me only
heart full of love, a pair Of hands able
and ready to do battle with fortune for
my sake, what would be the answer of
my heart at the altar?''
If she answers No. with or against
her will, she sins in marrying him.
When she takes t!le irrevocable vows
upon her she perjures herself in the
sight Of holy God and pure angels; is
sold, body aud soul, to a life degrading,
as surely subversiva OF modesty and
morality, as is that Of the beautiful
slave in Turkish market. How the
mother can sanction by her blessing the
unholy ceremony passes the comprehen-
sion ofclear eyed. right-minded women,
whatever may be said OF me1's duiEer
perceptions. II makes less difference
with them, we are told, this closest
uuion Of lives possible in this world,
when the bond is merely one OF CONNER
cial gain and convenience. Let them
settle with the masculine conscience the
ethical question of wooing, with phases
borrowed from LoYe, the women to
whom they would never give g. second
Thought were they portionless; the pre
teuce of disinterested devotion main
tanned throughout the betrothal; the
oath of allegiance Go the women they
hold by the hand when these are really
addressed to bonds and securities, to
stocks aud real estate-5he horrible
wrong done to the creatures who be-
lieys in them as LII Him who made them.
Let us speculate, instead, as to the pro-
cess by which the mother who knows
what marriage is-what heaven and
what hell it may be-works herself up
Tor down?} to the conviction that her
child can, in any sense, be well off, in
wedding man because Of advantages
that have nothing TO do with his in
trinsic self, The girl may err through
partial ignorance-her matronly adviser
never!
Yet the young maiden who says, II
mean to marry rich man, whether
love him or not.'' breathes upon her
purity by the utterance. however
thoughtless it may be. If this be her
steadfast purpose, inculcated by her
elders, acted upon, when opportunity
offers, by herself, there stands between
her and the poor wretch from whose |