Woman's chronicle. (Little Rock, Ark.) 1888-1???, 1889-07-27

''lhe young women are nearly all we'll favored
red-cheeked slender, agile and tidy and comely in
dress. Seeing them always bare-headed in the
street and on the trains and in the coaches as WE'LL
in sun and in rain, except occasionally the little
muslin cap, | inquired the reason for the custom
and learned that the ladies who employ them do
not like them to wear hats or bonnets-that the
bare head is the distinguishing mark of their serv-
tude. They do not need to stop to adjust hat
or bonnet before starting on an Grand
cit is among the latter class perhaps more than
any other, where few property rights are involved
and less of personal distinction that the so-caed
''free marriage has found favor. It's not recog
nized by the law nor by 'society," SO called, and
yet it is recognized institution. 1t lacks the
ceremony by the Marie and the priest but is Often
if not usually, celebrated at the house or rooms
selected by the couple for their home by inviting
the presence of friends, to whom their intention of
living in the marriage relation is made known, thus
giving it an air of quasi-respectability. Among
the poor and those of equal birth this marriage is
usually entered into seriously and with good in
tent, and the parties may rear family of children
and spend their whole lives together. Why not
marry, then? hear you say. Marriage in France
is troubesome-itis expensiye-and to the poor
however good may be their INTENT may often be
beyond their reach. The husband must have lived
in the reimbursement of the Marie, who is to per-
form the ceremony at least six months before his
application for permission can be made. He must
show the permission of his father and mother, no
matter what his age and thath is birth was legal or
illegal; and if his parents are dead he must pro-
duce certificates of the death. The would-be wife
must bring the same proofs, and then notice of
fba intanIaI NOR Onc ha cta1 fba
door of the Mares office at least three weeks be-
fore the ceremony is performed.
''When the Marie is satisfied of the legitimacy
of the parties and of the willingness of the parents
and the bans have been published sufficiently long
he propounds the usual questions to both parties
and pronounces the marriage completed.
"But France is Catholic country, and with the
Catholic marriage is sacrament. The parties are
still not married in the eyes of the Church and the
church service is expensive Not only must the
officiating priest be paid, but the bridegroom must
pay for the altar candles, which he is expected to
decorate with gold coins for the poor, but he must
pay for the music, the carpet, the flowers, the
usher and other things, all of which have fixed
price. These young people perhaps are both at
work from morning until night and see neither
time nor money for the coveted ceremony They
wait, they grow weary of waiting, and the free
marriage is the result. But not all of the free
marriages have this moral aspect. AS in all great
cities, many of them are more or less wanton and
are only considered as temporary arrangements Or
matters of present convenience. The law does not
bind them. They have no recognized community
of property.
''This is still another species of marriage or no
marriage that has grown up as an excresence on
the body polite, in which persons temporarily re-
siding in Paris for a term of years-oflicers of the
army, officers of other governments, students who
desire to complete q university course, or some
speciaties in science; bachelors who do not de-
sire to be bound for lifetime to family, enter
into contract for term of years with some
woman genial to their taste, graceful and beautiful,
and with an air of refinement perhaps, but of easy
1irtun anl h- 1L;s nalta oil cnntract win ch snncGns