The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-05-29
MARRIAGE IN GERMANY.
Statistics Showing Various Sides of the
Old, Old Story.

The Berlin registers office gives
some very interesting details on life's
most interesting subject-marriage-
and the Daily Telegraph of London
makes summary of them: During
last year 10, 1872 couples were joined in
the bonds of holy matrimony, Is, 766
were bachelors, 1852 widowers. 424
had been divorced from their wives,
IA, $50 were spinsters. 1,055 widows,
and 377 had been previously divorced
from their husbands. 1t is noteworthy
that three-fourths of the total of hus-
bands had passed the age of "a. OF
youthful marriages there were only two
in which the husband had only reached
the age of 10, while not more than 3. $50
took the fatal leap between the ages o.
90 and "a.
The oldest Benedict TO approach the
altar of Hymen was 50, and there was
one case of bachelor who had resisted
the allurements of female charms till
( he age of 70, but RS the former espous-
ed maid approaching fifty and the
latter a spinster close upon 40, it can
only be supposed that each held it to be
the duty of every man toward the other
sex to rescue at least one maid from the
bonds of perpetual virginity or that they
submitted to marriage de CONVEYANCE
from egotistic reasons.
The youngest Gretchen was 15years
of age, while there were only thirty of
the age of 16. After this the ages vary
in a long series up to 60. In II, 062
cases the husband was the elder-twen-
ty-nine being over 80 years older, and
fifty being between 25 and 80 years
older than their wives. Of the re-
naming 4, 730 marriages, in which the
husband was younger, there were 301
in which the wife was from ten to
thirty years older. and thirteen cases
in which men between 20 and 80 mar
ried women between so and SO years
of age.
Looking at the list from another
point of view, find that 635 bachelors
married widows, some of whom had
married twice and three times already,
and that l, 185 spinsters contided their
happiness to widowers who had already
disposed of from one to three wives.
1t is also remarkable that 247 bachelors
married Divorces, and 321 maidens
were not frightened to try their chances
with husbands who had been through
the Berlin Court of Arches. In several
of these cases the husbands and wives
had been divorced twice and three
times already, but it must be noted
that divorce is much easier in this
country and is granted on much more
trivial grounds than with us, Four
couples who had been divorced were re-
married, one after the lapse of two
years. one after three years. one after
fourteen years, and the last after TWEEN:
ty-three years of separation.
Il notice. also. that among the wild
overs who remarked, 500 did so during
the first year after the deaths of their
wives: 357 had waited nearly two years;
while 2 had remained alone for twenty,
l for twenty-seyen, and another for
thirty years before again submitting to
| the yoke. On the other side of the pic
ture it appears that ~ widows sought
| consolation during the first year of
widowhood. "A had waited from ten to
twenty years, and between twenty
one and tweuty-four years.
'.As regards consanguinity. there
were 10S marriages contracted between
first cousins. and in six cases an uncle
married his neice. This is permitted
| in Germany"