The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1889-05-04
HOPE FOR SPINSreRS.
A Railroad Agent Devises a Scheme for
PopulariZing Marriage.

| pOpulariZing Marriage.
G. I. Lewis, who is the agent of the
Canada Pacific railroad at the impor-
tant station of Indian Head, Northwest
Territory, has come before the world
with a transportation scheme which
would have been hailed with delight
by Adam and Eve, had it been possible
to put it into practical operation at the
time of their inforced withdrawal from
the Garden of Eden, and which, though
lying fallow and dormant in human
Imagination through all the years that
have followed Adams emigration, has
lost nothing of it's intrinsic elements
of popularity.
Mr.. Lewis calls, and calls loudly, for
the introduction by all the railway
and steamship lines of the civilized
world of a passengers return rebate
marriage certificate. He says it is
needed in Indian Head, and would
doubtless be welcomed everywhere
else. He has beguiled the tedious in
tervals between trains at Indian Head
by writing a book on the subject,
which. in this era of erotic literature,
is as fresh and welcome as the earliest
daisy of the spring. 1t is indeed "a
daisy" for in it the author devotes the
fertility of his brain and the eloquence
of his pen to the furtherance of a
scheme which shall render lawful we'd
lock more popular than ever.
1t is the belief of Mr.. Lewis, fos-
tered by a long experience in the
Northwest, that nothing is so much
needed out there as population, and he
has noticed with pain that although
the influx of males is considerable,
the majority of the newcomers leave
their girls behind them. The ''return
rebate marriage certificate, " which he
urges upon all railroads to adopt, is
designed to facilitate a speedy union
of loving hearts. This is the way the
railroad litterateur puts the PROPOSE
tion and explains how the inspiration
dawned upon him.
The idea came to the author amid
the din and hustle of railway life,
when trying to explain to pioneer
young man, who had confded to us the
story of ''the girl he left behind hin,
which he related with pathetic inter
est, that our great railroads had no
means to distinguish between him and
any other passenger who had no inter-
est in the country. That as COM
mon carriers we could offer him only
ordinary rates, and when he positively
charged the railways with their high
east-bound rates as being really respon-
sible for his misfortune in not being
able to return East and fulfill his mat
rimonial engagement, we were forced
to defend our position; hence the pro-
posed rebate certificate. That silenced
all his arguments and filled him with
enthusiasm at the possibility of such a
thing being accomplished. This young
mans experience is the key to the sit
uation, and only illustrates the cases
of hundreds of others that are contin-
ually occurring.
Mr.. Lewis then goes on to explain
the form OF the rebate certificates he
would have the railroads issue. 1t IS
printed document which any man
going West or elsewhere, who is about
to marry, can purchase for nominal
figure at any railroad office. Upon
the reverse side space is left for the
copying or alteration of the marriage
certificate which is given to all brides
when their felicity eventuates. This
certificate. when backed by the evil
dence that the purchaser has taken to
himself wife, entities the couple to
materially reduced railroad fares dur
ing their honeymoon. Mr.. Lewis has
given considerable attention to the sub
ject and thinks he has 'got it down
fine" Under no pretext whatever can
the certificates be made to provide for
any rebate in the railroad fares de-
manded of mothers-in-law. w.-Minneap-
oils Tribune.