The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-02-08

the civilized world the old domestic virtues
arc honored and preserved. Nowhere is
luxurious fashion itself 80 pure morally.
| At this time the men and women In that
circle lead life In the glare OF the greatest
| publicity. Nothing Is concealed or can be
concealed by them; yet the papers
which seek to gain currency by publish
ing their moral delinquencies. the scandals
OF that society. can only support themselves
| by manufacturing utterly fictitious tales OF
impropriety or by ransacking the records
OF faults and frailtles for half century
past. As compared with the European.
American fashion Is Puritan. and such evil
influences as are at all active In 1t are OF
European Importation. They are not indig-
enous. Nowhere else is marriage so uni
formlv an affair OF romantic sentiment and
not of business arrangement. Men and
women marry for love only In ninety-nine
cases out OF hundred. and the majority OF
marriages take place early. when the ro-
nance of the heart Is strongest.
or course. there Is nothing in the talk
about Americans preferring hotels to homes
of their own. Some Of them may show the
preference. but they are too few proportion
ately and even actually to furnish q basis
for such generalization. The great mass
OF the inhabitants OF hotels are mere
sojourners. OF whom the number is
always great at this period Of gen.
eral travel. Usually American families
prefer their own separate houses to
the apartments whose general plan the
great American cities have recently bor-
rowed from Paris. Most OF their occupants
live in them under the pressure Of neces-
sary econ omy only. Tho club. too. Is not an
original American institution. but an i'm
portation from Europe. and more specitical-
ly from England. II many divorces occur
here as result OF the facilities for them
furnished by the laws OF nearly oil
tho States. they are usually an In
dication of exacting matrimonial require
ments rather than OF loose conceptions OF
tho obligations OF marriage. Offences
against marital duty and fidelity which
might be tolerated elsewhere are intoler-
able In country where marriage Is almost
invariably entered into from motives Of
romantic sentiment only. Our divorces,
therefore, are not q sign OF low So
cial morals 80 much rs proof OF
prevalent exnlted conception OF the
obligations OF matrimony or fanciful ex-
pectation Of absolute harmony and happl-
ness In n relation SO romantic. The great
majority OF them are not for offences
against purity. but for neglect Of the mari
tal duties OF support and maintenance. or
to some form of mere incompatibility OF
disposition and temperament. The greater
case with which young people can enter into
the relation Of marriage. together with the
more general and more eXacting require
ments of poetic sentiment as to 1t,
results naturally In proportionately
larger number OF disappointments and
consequent divorces than In countries
where the obstacles to marriage are many.
tho conception Of it more purely practical,
aud the opportunities for divorce fewer.
Set over against these matrimonial disap-
pointments tho actual. though not legal
lied separations Of Europe. and the excess
Is not on OUT side.
NJ. JULES SIMON writes OF us merely by
hearsay. and OF his own country with for
getfulncss OF its social history which shows
that age has come upon him and that he has
lost tho perception and the insight of the
philosopher. What no calls Americanism.
SO far as the thing exists at all. is simply
tho tendency of modern civilization as
affected by modern invention bringing all
tho peoples Of tho globe into close inter-
course. and enlarging and extending the
range of their interests and employments.