The Press., 1895-12-19
THE NUPTIAL KNOT.
STRANGE REASONS COUPLES HAVE,
 HAD FOR MARRYING.

PecuniAry Considerations, In Some Form,
 Arc the Most PrOminent-The Percent
 age of Such Marriages That Were Fail-
 ures Is Not Reported.
 In romance and tales of love the hero and heroine marry for pure heart affec- tion. Stern papas and scheming man. mas plan otherwise for their beloved daughter, but she is invariably obstinate, and true love always comes in by a head. In real life, however, many and various are the reasons for tying the nuptial knot. An ardent philatelist in serted an advertisement in matri- monial column, and the wife he wanted, in addition to being able to boast of the usual good qualities of womanhood, was to be in possession of certain stamp a description for" the guidance of the matrimonially inclined lady collectors following-the rarity of whiel rendered it almost priceless. We do not think this man would meet his ideal In a hurry.
 A gentleman whose hobby was the collecting of rare specimens of pottery made violent love to q lady--a matter of surprise to his friends and the lady'a own people, he being always deemed a cynical bachelor, holding strict views concerning the marriage queatien-WAe was the fortunate owner of lovely sevres vase. Apparently she was nothing lOath and responded to his wUuiag fer vently, finally giving him her hand. fortune and-the vase. This person re= verted to his cynical views afterwafd and often told his wife 1t was the VnAe he had been i'll love with and not her. self.
 Cases where money has been left on condition of the heir or heiress marry ing a chosen person are sufficiently com. mon, but surely few are so hedged in with restrictions as the youth who was to wed his cousin because she was "cross eyed, redhaired, and had no chin, :" us the will read, by which we may under stand that she of the diminutive chin was "heavily moneyed.
 The following is told of two costers who brought about marriage between son and daughter of the respective families for unique purpose. They had but one donkey between them, and though the two cOsters were quite will ing to change about, using the animal in turns, the wives of the hawkers were not at all agreeable, and many and furi- Ous were the quarrelS between them. To mitigate this nuisance and to bring the two families together the marriage was effected of the two olive branches, quite unknown to the mothers-an ar engagement fraught with satisfactory re- suits, for the good ladies were on better terms ever after.
 Rather than lose a valuable appoint ment young man went ill search of wife-the situation he had secured be- ing only for married men, as one of which class he had posed Therefore it was essential that he should take unto himself partner at a moment s notice, tiguratively speaking. He had hitherto experienced no affair of the heart, and the finding of life's partner was not, under such circumstances, very simple task. However, he secured the one thing needful to insure the retaining of the position and commenced married life and new business duties at one and the same time.
 A situation agent declares that he has reasons to believe this procuration of spOuses is very often effected at the last moment, purposely to secure coveted posts whose requirements are for man and wife. He further ayers that he is acquainted with one young fellow who got married purposely to apply for such 8 situation, leaving his bride imme~ diately on coming out of church to make application for the place.
 Few persons would express themselves in so matter of fact a fashion as the farmer who, wooing widow, the own CT of an adjacent farm, told his sou that the lady's niece was just the sort for him, the girl being possessed of property in her own right; a double marriage therefore would enrich the lot Like an obedient son. the lad complied with this request, and as the farmer rented his own land through the niece it was most accommodating arrangement. We wonder if these marriages were failures For an amalgamation of property and land they were infinitely successful
 A man, recently united for better, for worse, to the portly dame who had hith- erto ruled over his kitchen, was unmer. cifully chaffed by his associates, the lady of his choice being much his senior and in different ways most unsuitable to her spouse. His naive reply was to the effect that it would minimize ex- penses, because he would have no wages to pay for culinary labor, as his wife had agreed to continue her position of cook. Her refusal to comply, he decIar- a1 hox ment being 'off. ]"
 Most unique was the reason for t'com- mitting matrimony" as given by a city gentleman. A wide W lady had appealed at a court of justi @, and the culprit, rather than pay tho fine imposed upon him for certain slanderous statements he had made concerning the fair prose- Gutrlx, settled affairs by marrying the lady. He certainly was possessed of a cOo4ness below the zero of the proverbial cucumber to propose marriage when it must have been obvious to everybody, the woman i'll particular. what his req sons for so doing were However, she like Barkis, was "willin," and wedding arrangements went on apace. Sd sensa- t1ona1 was this marriage, following i'm medlately on the lawsuit. that the couple found themselves the topic of conversation at every street corner and considered it essential ro their comfort to leave the country.-London Tit-Bits
 A GIlrl Patriot.
 An English girl at school in France began to describe one of our regiments on parade to the French schoolmates, and as she went on she told me the rec ollection became so vivid she became so proud to be the countrywoman of such soldiers and so sorry to be in another