Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-16
cuRIoslrIEs OF MARRIAGE.
A Great Many widowers and Widows Re-
 marry, Sometimes Twice.

marry, Sometimes Twice.
 It has been rem narked that times of spec ulation are in$afiahly accom- panied by an increase of f1arriakes. Ur. Farr, the emil nent statisticihn, Hazards thereon the sug- eestion that .ft ia the spirit of speculation itself that ieads many to embark on matri- mony at such times. Another reason, which he is careful not to ignore Is the in- creased prosperity that induces and some- times seems to accompany what he calls the periodical epidemics of speculation.
 A great war, after it is over, Is good for marriage So is good harvest, so is the establishment of new industries, or tho extension of old ones. The reason is the same in all these instances-the increased prosperity of the general body of the peo- pie So intimately is matrimony associate ed with national well doing that it has come to bestyled the barometer of prosper ity. Its indications, however, are moro for the future than for the present dealing rather with the expected and anticipated than with the actual. But this only goes to substantiate what was said of marriage as a speculation.
 Tho nation is sometimes extraordinarily sanguine, and when this is the case mar riages are plentiful Great popular leaders
 
 jus at the head of affairs perceptibly in- creases the marriage rate
 In a word, the great fluctuations in the marriages are the results of peace after war, abundance after dearth, high wages after want of employment, speculation after languld enterprise, confidence after distrrst and national triumps after na- tional disasters
 Autumn is the favorite season every where. With few spring is preferred. Half the weddings throughout the country are celebrated on Wednesday and Thursday. Saturday has moro than it's average num- ber. Friday Is not favorite, as few mar riages arc celebrated on that day
 Widowers are more inclined to marry than bachelors. Widows are moro inclined to marry than spinsters. Both facts are eloquent in favor of the comparative ad- vantages of matrimony. For one bachelor that Iilarries between the ages of 50 and 55, seven widowers remarry between these ages. These arc marriages out of equal numbers of each class. The actual num- Der of bachelors married will be greater only in proportion as they exceed by seven to one the actual number of widowers liv- ing at these ages. Under the same condi- tions, for every spinster married between 80 and 65 two widows are remarked h. asmuch as the total number of spinsters far exceeds that of widows, and the figures given refer to marriages out of equal num- bers, this disparity is not so noticeable. Its existence, however, is beyond dispute. Similarly, out of an equal number of wid- overs and bachelors between 20 and 30 years of age, 80 widowers remarry for ev- cry 18 bachelors who enter the bonds of Hymen for the first time. A Finally, one in ten of the survivors of -he young men now living and one in eight of-the young women now living will die as bachelors and spinsters If they live to the age of 60 and upward, besides the great numbers who died at younger ages. New York Dispatch.