The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-01-02
A MARRIAGE

London's Queer MIXTURE of Dowry, Matri-
mony and Hebrew Philanthropy.
"Michael Harris and Nancy Jacobs
having polled the highest number of
votes were duly elected to receive a
dowry of eos and marriage fees, and a
vacancy was again declared for a couple"
So ran a paragraph in a Jewish paper
recently, and a reporter was fired with
an ambition to learn more about these
folks who give couples dowries. and
more about the conditions under which
such dowries are won The b~enevolence,
it appeared, emanated from the Society
for Allowing Marriage Fees and a Por-
ton to Young Men and Virtuous Girls
of the Jewish Faith. Thhpresident of
this society one would imagine would
be a patriaychal sage with grandchil-
dren in scores about his knees. But Mr..
A. Swaab, who is the head of the So
ciety, is young man with a slight black
mustache, a clean shaven chin and GER
tainly no grandchildren. When not
hymeneally occupiedh he is engaged in his
business as a diamond merchant in Hat
ton Garden.
1.-The society" he said, in reply to the
interviewer, "has been in existence near
ly so years, and has done no small
amount of good. 1t was started among
a few friends in quite a small way, and a
dowry of $40 only was all that could be
afforded at first. But e10, if not exactly
a drop in the ocean, was not quite suffi-
cient to answer the purpose in view, and
as the fund grew the dowry wasincreased
to EOS"
"Are the operations of the society con-
fined to London?"
"No. They extend all over England.
The funds are recruited by subscriptions
of all amounts, from a penny a week up
ward, and by donations"
cit gives them a prior claim on the
dowry perhaps?"
mo, it doesn't. I will make that clear
in a moment. We assist about a dozen
couples every year, the dowries and mar
riage fees coming to over $500. The OBJ
ject in giving the dowry is to enable the
young couples to start a little business
together. Before becoming candidates
for the dowry-toward which they need
not have subscribed a farthing-they
have to be possessed of all home neces-
prove to the satisfaction of the commit
tee that he is in a position to maintain
his WIFE"
"Only virtuous girls are to be befriend-
ed by the society, I gather from its title.
Does it not become rather a delicate mat
ter to adjudicate upon the qualifications
of young lady applicants?'
every az is investigated by two
members of the committee, appointed
annually for that purpose. They make
their inquiries with proper tact and dis
erection, and they also investigate the
character of the man. Let us go through
the entire procedure. Say a vacancy has
been declared, which means that we have
sufficient in hand to put another dowry
up for competition. We send out notices
to that effect and supply forms of appli-
cation. We get four, five, six, perhaps
a dozen couples contesting for the prize.
They all come before the committee in
couples, and are asked questions con-
corning the money they have saved, the
nature of the mans work, and so on.
Once, I suppose, | must have been press
ing the prospective bridegroom pretty
hard, for the young lady spoke up sor-
rowfully, Well, sir, you got married
once, and we want to too!'"
"Well, as soon as they have been ad-
mitted as candidates, what follows?"
"We give them a book of members,
and tell them to go and canvass for votes,
the members possessing votes in proper
ton to the amount of their subscrip-
TONS"
"Have you yourself many votes?"
eyes, I hold something like so votes"
"Then you are the target of plenty of
beseeching brown eyes and persuasive
glances:"
mo, nothing out of the way, because
as president l take no part in choosing
the recipients Of the dover"
"Can you give ~ a specific instance
of the good the society has done?:"
81 can, and a striking one, I think.
There are three members Of the commit
tee of the society, now men of position
and well to do, who were embarked up
life with dowries from the society,""
Mall Gazette.