San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-11-03
RUNAWAY BKIDEGRooMs.
Some of the Reasons Why They
Are Becoming So Very Common.

Are Becoming So Very Common.
From the Baltimore Sun.
1t appears from statistics gathered
by the New York Tribune that dur
ing the month of September as many
as twenty-one bridegrooms abscOnd-
ed IN various parts of the country,
failing to appear on the wedding
day. The number is unprecedented,
showing an increase of some 400 per
cent over any preceding Septemb Der.
AS October is opening witha like dis
play of masculine timidity, it would
seem that 1t is "a condition, not q
theory" that now contronts the adj
vocates of matrimony. Why this
abnormal faint heartedness this year
deal? And why are Seutem-
months in the year the ones in
which 1t attains it's maximum? To
the latter question an ingenious per-
son might supply satisfactory an
swer. He might say that the want
ing bridegrooms probably found cir
cumstances less favorable in Septem-
Der and October than they expected
them to be in tlowery May and leafy
June, when they proposed, were ac-
cepSd and fixed the wedding day.
Dry goods, tinware, cutlery, kitchen
utensils and the other manufactured
items of the householder's outfit are
dearer under the Mckinley act than
they were before the imported stock
was exhausted. Earlier in the yes r
the loving SWANS figured, perhap,,
on continuance of low-taritf prices,
but as the fatal day and hour drew
near their arithmetic showed them
that they would not be equal to the
situation. They accordingly withdrew
at the last moment from engagements
the financial esults of which they
had not fully fOreseen. A doubt as
to the sufficiency of this explanation
is suggested by the fact, stated by the
Tribune, that seven of the truant
bridegrooms were widOwers. In other
words 33 l-3 per cent of the timid were
eX husbands whose experience of the
married state had been such that
they could not bring themselves, on
sober second thought, to re-enter it.
Considering how small Is the mum Der
of manageable widowers in any COM
munity compared with the number of
manageable single men, the proper
ton of 33 l-3 per cent of widoweI 8
among the absconders is startling. 1t
seems to suggest that however SUBJ
ject to the spinster's charms and how.
ever entranced by the joys of courtship
in its earlier and In its later stages,
a chill seized upon the widowers in
question when they once more felt
themselves within the shadow of the
nuptial moose.
The audacity of their first maj
riage, in this view, was due to their
inexperience. Their timidity in Sep.
TENDER last is explained on the ground
that "the burned child breads the
fire." Such is the theory. 1t is
proper to observe that it does not
account for the 66 :-3 per cent of single
men that fled at the smell of Hymen'
torch. The tariff theory affords the
broader explanation.
Be the true theory what it may,
weddings, to be entirely successful.
require the presence of bridegroom
He is, 1t is true, an insignificant ele-
ment of the occasion. His trousseau
commands no attention, and nobody
studies his couture. Even the BRIDES
presents are reckoned of more i'm
pOrtance. Still, however, val.
liable, the silver does not
enable the young lady to dispense
with the man, if for no other reason,
because his presence is q guarantee of
her good faith in sending out cards,
suggesting that presents are now in
order. Otherwise it would be relief
to the spectators, as rule, If the
dwarfed hero of the wedding ceremo-
ny could be dispensed with altogether.
Not few bridegrooms, it is believed
resenting their neglect and bored with
the publicity, tedium, fuss and eX-
pense of the average wedding, would
prefer to stay in the carriage at the
church door till all was over. That,
however, cannot be. The bridegroom
must be in evidence, and his DISPOSE
ton to run away needs restraint. How
can the bride keep her presents when
he fails to appear? And who is to pay
the minister his fee? Something
must be done. From that after
the date of sending out the invitations
and until the knot is safely tied some
restriction upon the lovers liberty
seems TO be required. The Tribune
proposes that he be placed in the GUS
tody { f his prospective mOther-in-law
If that be too severe, wearing badge
or being shadOwed by policeman,
or, in the case of widowers, going to
prison would be, it is suggested, an
adequate guarantee of good faith. No
DOUBT. But the trouble about such
interference with individual liberty
is that it would deter tender SWANS
from counting. That would be in
tolerable to the girls, and they would
insist upon retaining that part at
least of the comedy of romance.