Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-01
If Allegheny County's License Fig
ures Can be Taken as a Criter-
ion by Which to Judge 1t.
THE LAW NOW FIVE YEARS OLD.
More Than $4,000 Couples in That Length
of Time Given Permits to Be-
come Man and Wife.
FEW oFTHEM As YET AFTER DIVORCES.
Growth Of the County Shown IN the Increased Number
Of Weddings.

The marriage license law OF TennsylVa-
MIA was five years old yesterday and it has
not proven marriage in Allegheny county
to be failure. On the other hand. it is be-
Iieved to have been q bowling success.
Capt. John d. Rieber, who guards the por-
tails OF Hymen's court in the Registers Of
fee, last evening issued license numbered
%, 1863. The figures are Interesting, as they
show that marriage is keeping pace with
the growth OF population, and that the latter
is not necessarily mainly dependent on i'm
migration.
The first year the law went into effect,
1885, the number of licenses granted was
3, $685. and the record for the year closed yes
terday was 1888, gain, in round numbers,
of 60 per cent, more or less. The results,
Captain Hieber states. are eminently salts
factory so far, If the records of the divorce
court are to be accepted as authority, but
few names appearing in that record of those
who have declared their intentions" in the
Registers office since October l, 1885.
IT KEEPS HIM BUSY.
Were it not that the genial license clerk
is kept too busy to fully enjoy the situation,
as bystander can, he would have aplace so
jolly that it would soon kill Mark Tapley.
Some applicants approach the awful thresh-
old as though it were great joke, while on
the brows OF others, both male and female,
there is an expression of pain and much
trepidatiou. Some swains show as much
anxiety. as did the youth who cried on his
wedding day, and when reproached for his
chicken-heartedness by his father, who
added, cts nothing. didn't cry when 1
was married." replied between choking
sobs, "But you married mamma" Many
young fellow feels, as he approaches the
tremendous crisis. that If he could have his
mother at his back, the ordeal would not be
SO dreadful.
The ladies either take more naturally to
the hymeneal halter, or are better able to
dissemble their feelings, as but few lose
their self-poise, and many either regard the
occasion pleasantly, or affect to do so.
Occasionally there is considerable retinue
attending, and in these cases the bride is
apt to show some feeling. sometimes trepi-
dation, and at others rage. This retinue
occasionally consists OF the father and
mother, a constable, a lawyer, a leave of
absence from the bastile, and sometimes a
minister of the gospel, or justice OF the
peace. These, however, are exceptional
cases. and usually the impelling power is
mutual.
ACoURT HOUSE CLERGYMAN.
DR.. Douglass benignant countenance is
quite a familiar feature on occasions when
the parties are desirous OF getting the moose
adjusted quickly. Being generally in the
vicinity of the Court House during License
Court hours, his services are more easily pro-
cured than those of any other minister.
1t appears that women are subject to all
sorts of notions and prejudices on this subject.
Some, the majority, want a minister of the
gospel to officiate, while others prefer a civil
magistrate. In five years there have been few
the ladies generally objecting,
either because they fear this kind of cement is
not good, or because they are more given to
ponp and circumstance than the rougher sex.
But while the majority want clergyman, some
of the angels seem to think a magisterial weld
firmer, and the groom, whatever he may prove
when the time arrives that his wife doesn't see
fit to take her hair out of papers to receive
him, is usually obsequious before the nuptial
rite is performed and she is Queen In the
Court of Love at the inception of the honey
moon.
CdpGdln I1ltUtT sbdtcs tHdL hutElCdus III InlS
section appear to have preference for getting
married in May and June He had just un-
limbered to give his reasons, when an impor-
tunate would-be husband broke in and insisted
on getting his license, and the broken thread
was not resumed. D.
SOME DEDUCTIONS.
A lady of observation says that children are
usually taken for adoption from orphan asy-
lums in the spring months, and she under
stands that it is because the buoyancy incident
to the season incInes them TO heart enlarge
ment, and she opines that many people con-
marriage feel that less expense
attends the beginning of housekeeping in
warm than in cold weather. TennysOn is au-
thority for the statement that In the SPRING
time the thoughts of young man lightly turn
to love, and the lady quoted thinks it is because
ways and means wherewIth to purchase meat,
etc., and crowd out thoughts of love.
1t is very likely that both she and Tennyson
are right. October however. is somewhat
growing in favor as mating month.
Some political economists, perhaps the ma
jority, say that marriages are regulated in |
number by the cheapness of food. Food has |
people have been, well employed, and at re-
wages, and this amounts to the |
same thing. Thanksgiving Day is a iavorite
period for hymeneal events, possibly because |
these people think it either a fitting day on
which to commemorate an important date In
their existence, or because they have "a day
off,"
The cost of a marriage permit runs from so
cents TO 81 90 If the parties are not obliged to
get consent of parents or guardians, the first
named sum is adequate. 1t is said that IL
cenSes yield about an.average OF 60 cents each