Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-10

little volume referred to adds few items Of
information respecting marriage In general
light Of property. Even in the New Testa-
mont they are spoken Of from that point Of
view, together with the OK, the ass and other
chattels. Like other useful and more or less
precious. possessions they were in ancient
times to considerable extent monopelized by
the rich, being expensive luxuries to the poor.
In ancient Assyria all the manageable girls
we're assembled once year at fair, according
to Herodotus, where, after being exhibited and
inspected by the men who wanted wives, they
were put up for sale At public suction. First
were put up the most beautiful. and the COM
petition for them made them come high
But the ugly ones were also to be provided for,
and with them it became question not how
much the purchaser would give, but what he
should receive as a dowry The extravagant
prices paid for pretty girls went to make up
the doweries Of those less favored by nature.
In Thrace the fairest virgins were sold for the
benefit OF the state, and the magistrates of
Crete exercised the sole power Of selecting
wives for the young men.
In China 1t is considered so much OF public
duty to marry and have children that bache-
Tor Of twenty is an object Of contempt. Wives
are purchasable commodities, and a beautiful
woman OF the upper class costs from $4,000 to
S3,00O The marriage of the Soonga Tartars is
determined by race on horseback The lady
has fair start. II she permits her sutton to
overtake her abe becomes his wife. In western
Iartary women vary In price from two or three
roubles up to 200 or 300 Every man has as
many as he can afford, and rich merchants
have wives at different points they visit.
In certain Siberian tribes the bride is carried
at night on n mat to the bridegroom, with the
words Here, wolf, take shy lamb Among
the Ostiacs the husband can live with his wife
at her fathers when he has paid half the price
set on her. but he cannot beat her without the
fathers consent nor carry her away until the
whole price is paid.
MATRIMONIAL CURIOsITIEs.
In Samatra the Batsas have az many wives as
they please, generally FIVE or six who all live
In one common apartment with the husband
each having separate fireplace. Husbands
purchase their wives of their fathers-in-law,
gambling them away or selling them whenever
they choose. In New Holland, before girl is
given to her husband, two Of her front teeth
are knocked out. The happy lover then throws
a kangaroo skin over her shoulders,
marks her with painted stripes of different
colors, and orders her to carry his proyi-
sion bag to his hut. Among some tribes Of the
Congo Basin the men take their wives for
year on trial, at the end of which time
either party may annul the contract. When the
Catholic missionaries tried to abolish this GUS
tom the mothers resisted, declaring IL to be
wrong that girls happiness should be risked
by binding her for life TO a man who might
prove totally unsuitable companion.
In Dahomey all unmarried females are the
property OF the sovereign. Wives are a state
monopoly, like tobacco in France. Once year
all the marriageable girls are brought before the
king who selects those he wishes for himself
and then sells the others to his subjects. Each
man pays certain price and takes whatever
one the king sees fit to give him. This mon
arch has 1000 wives. The King of Ashantee
has 1888, and the prosperity of the kingdom is
believed to depend on his keeping up this exact
number.
ANTIQUITY OF PoLYGAMY.
Polygamy was practiced by the patriarchs
and was continued among the Jews as long as
they remained an Independent nation. It was
the custom for every man to have as many
wives as he pleased and could maintain. This
practice was common over large part of
Europe until a comparatively recent period,
though discouraged by the Greeks, prohibited
by the Romans and finally interdicted by the
Church Of Rome. In Christian Europe, as late
as the sixth century, it was enacted that any
man married to several wives should do PEN
ance. 1t was ordained at the council of Mar
bonnie that such clergymen as were the hus-
bands OF two wives might be pres
byters and deacons. but should not be al
lowed to perform marriage conservation.
plurality of wives was allowed in some Of the
European states in the sixteenth century
When Luther was applied to by Philip. Land
grave Of Hesse-Cassel, for permission to marry
a second wife. while living with his own. the
Princess Of Savoy. he assembled synod Of six
of the principal reformers. They decided that
as the Gospels nowhere in express terms COM
Tnanded monogamy, and that as polygamy had
been practiced by the highest dignitaries Of the
church, the required permission should be
granted.