The morning call., 1890-10-07
ADVERTISING FOR HUSBANDS.

Hardly a week passes without some anus
ing story of trbulaton arising from matri-
monial advertisements. The last is the sad
fate of a sharp-witted adventures who ad-
vert.ed for husband, inclosed TO applicants
the handsomest photograph she could buy,
begged small pecuniary advance TO enable
her to restore dilapidated toilette, and
finally fetched up, as such geniuses generally
do, in n New York penitentiary. 1t appears
to be waste time TO remind people that mat
rimonial advertisements are almost invaria-
bly, fraudulent; that the girl who wants a
husband Of 81. with adequate means to sup
port her, and a vigorous constitution, is in
reality female sharper on the lookout for
dupes; and that the young man who adver-
tises for wife who shall be fairly good look
ing ami Of an affectiouate disposition is al
most invariably a rascal who has not the
least idea of matrimony. Such advert Sc
ments do draw replies; sometimes from fools
VINO are taken in, sometimes from young
people who propose to measure wits with
the advertiser, and generally come off sec
ond best in the encounter.
Where the victim of the fraud is young
man he merits little sympathy. The adage
about the fool and his money applies. He
=
for a lifetime But where it is girl who is
victimized the incident justifes some indig-
nation. The world is full of silly girls who
want to get married and have not patience
to wait I'LL the right man comes round.
There is just enough improperly in adYer-
Using secretly for husband under false
name. by way of frolic. to make it piquant
for daughters of the lady who ate the apple.
,G~a, wills, ND
promise themselves to get all the fun they
can ont of the adventure. So the advertise
ment appears, and is answered by lot Of
idle fellows Just t. see what will come of it.
To carry out the joke the girls reply, and so
their handwriting and their note paper get
into the hands If total stranger who is
prob1bly On mischief bent.
HIS effort will now be directed 10 obtain
an interview with his correspondent. or
falling this, 10 determine in sOue way her
Identity. Ii he succeeds in either design,
the cir is at his mercy. 4 Young lady who
is convicted Of carrying On a clandestine
correspondence wiki men whose acquaint-
ance she made through a matrimonial ad-
vertisement viii not have uch chance Of a
respectable settlement in life. Her friends
will find some excuse for dropping her ac-
Ihdt 4 - oNN't NAli0 IANNs NV fanny
will probably be wiling t. make some
pecuniary sacrifice. and are likely to find
the gentleman involved ready to listen to
reason in the shape Of a check, with tie
alternative of a prosecution in case Of
further trouble. But The facts are sure 10
leak out. Nothing can ever be kept secret
III the social world. What goss;ps may not
know of certainty their imagtnations will
supply, and the end may be that foolish
frolic, undertaken thoughtiessly by school
girl, may wreck a whole famiiy's happiness.
In tile abstract there is no moral reason
why a man should not advertise in the
papers for a wife, as he adyertses for q
house or a horse. Nor, in pure ethics,
should a girl be condemned ruthlessly be-
cause she says in so many words that which
all unmarried girls tacitly imply by going to
balls, dressing SLOWLY, and behaving so as
to attract the admiration OF the other sex,
But the abstract law in this matter is modi-
fed by usage; ard it is not the usage, in
civilized society, that man should COM
plain Of his wear ness of bachelor life in tie
advertising columns If the press, at so much
a line, much less that girl should use the
same medium to convey to the world her
state Of readiness to make some good fellow
happy. Delicacy forbds. And in social
life delicacy is the supreme law There are
villages in Continental Europe where, at the
annual fair. girls who are ready to en-
counter the trials of matrimony wear
peculiar head-dress: youth is free to offer
his hand and heart to one so aecoutered; if
he proves acceptable, the nuptials are cele-
trated before shutdown. But this fashion
dispenses with the delights Of courtsbp;
and, as college debating societies have never
been able to settle whether there is more joy
in pursuit or in possession, this might per-
haps be regarded as a loss