The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1895-03-08
miscellaneous.
cURlOSlTIES OF MARRIAGE.

Great Many Widowers and Widows Re
marry, Sometimes Twice.
1t has been rem arked that times of spec
ul.tion are invariably accompanied by an
increase of marriages DR.. FAIR, the emf
nent statistician, hazards thereon the sug
gestion that it is the spirit of speculation
itself that leads many to embark Oh 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 the
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 associat-
ed with national well doing that 1t has
come to be styled the barometer of prosper
ity. Its indications, however, are more
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 speculation.
The nation Is sometimes extraordinarily
sanguine, and when this is the case mar
riages are plentiful. Great popular leaders
inspire this feeling A statesman of gen.
ius 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 languid enterprise, confidence after
distrust and national triumps after ma
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 more than its average num-
Der Friday is not a favorite, as few mar
riages are celebrated on that day.
Widowers are more inclined to marry
than bachelors Widows are more inclined
to marry than spinsters. Both facts are
eloquent in favor of the comparative ad
vantages of matrimony. For one bachelor
that marries between the ages of so and
80, seven widowers remarry between these
ages These are 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-
lions, for every spinster married between
80 and 65 two widows are remarked. In
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 wild
overs and bachelors between 25 and 80
years of age, 80 widowers remarry for ev-
cry 18 bachelors who enter the bonds of
Hymen for the first time.
Finally, one in ten of the survivors Of
the young men now living and one in
eight of the young women now living will
die as bachelors and spinsters IL they live
to the age of 60 and upward, besides the
great numbers who died at younger ages.
New York Dispatch.