The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-08
WHOLESALE MARRYING.
a Manitoba Matrimonial Bureau
That Did Big Business
Homeless Girls Exported from England
to Fill the Demand of Bachelors for
Wives Short Courtships
Were the Rule.

mot many years ago I was in the
wholesale matchmaking business" said
an ex-ofhcer of the army, according to
the Elmira (N. " Telegram. 1T was
matchmaking of the matrimonial kind.
ba was being opened to settlement. and
there was q rush OF colonists thither
from Ontario and Quebec and from
Great Britain. The settlers were
mostly men. Some of them had falni-
lies and would send for them as soon as
they had got somewhat fixed, but very
many of them were bachelors. They
were making homes for themselves, and
naturally they found that they needed
wives Not few of them were sons Of
English farmers, and nearly all were
respectable aud hard-worAing fellows.
They could not afford. to go and get
wives, and SO helpmates had to be i'm
ported for them. Young women, guar
anteed as to respectabiiity, were
brought over from England in great
numbers, and the business rapidly grew
to be an important branch of the immi-
grafton traffic. One philanthropic lady
in England devoted her attention to ex-
porting homeless but worthy girls by
the shipload to Quebec, whence they
were forwarded to Manitoba. Trains
would come into St. Boniface, across
the river from Winnipeg. bringing two
or three carloads of availa bic wives at
a time. They were chaperoned with
due regard to propriety and were con-
signed to the land and mining agents,
who conveyed them to Winnipeg, where
suitable quarters were provided for
their temporary accommodation. The
accommodation was very temporary
because they were soon dis
posed of. The settlers. who
were bachelors. applied for the
girls as fast as they were brought in.
Their applications were not considered
unless they were properly guaranteed
as to their character and ability to sup
port wife. Few of them came to Win
nipeg from a shorter distance than two
hundred and fifty miles. Most COM
monty they were certified by letters
from land agents. stating that John
Smith, for example, was located on such
and such tract of land, was the owner
and kind and so forth. On making
formal application for a wife John
Smith was asked what sort of woman
he Observation-Disclosures blonde or bru-
nette, tall or short, plump or thin, etc.
Having stated his preferences he was
introduced to one of the awaiting ladies,
whereupon matters were quickly ar
ranged. A remarkable point was that
no suitor had ever to be introduced TO a
second girl. Invariably he was content
with the first one and Immediately mar
ried her. Apparently the men consid-
cred that when they had gone SO far as
an introduction they had committed
themselves irretrievably. In this way,
by process of artificial selection, my
self and other persons officially IN
charge at Winnipeg made matches by
wholesale. The young women were
given free transportation, of course. the
object being to make homes in Mani
toba and thus secure the permanens
settlement of the country. Incidental
" the natural increase of the popula-
ton was provided for. l remember one
man who drove seven hundred miles to
get wife. He was present when
train load of girls arrived and spotted
the young woman he wanted off-hand.
Within seven minutes after the train
came in the pair were united in matri-
mony, and the bridegroom started away
with his bride in a blackboard wagon"