Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1895-04-11
ODDITIES OF MARRIAGE.
widows and widowerss ~ . Usual Thing.
Mate Again.

widows and Wi1Owerss ~ . Usual Thing
Mate Again.
1t has been remarked that times Of
speculation are invariably accompanied
by increase of marriages. DR.. Farr.
the eminent statistician, hazards. here
fore, the suggestion that it is the spirit
OF speculation itself that leads many
90 embark on matrimony at such times.
Another reason, which he is careful
not to ignore, is the increased pros
perity that induces and sometimes
seems to accompany what he calls the
periodical epidemics of speculation. A
great war, after it is over, is good for
marriage. So is a 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 people. So intimately is
matrimony associated with national
welldoing that it has come to be styled
the barometer Of prosperity. Its indi-
cations, however, are more for 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 some
when this is the case marriages are
plentiful. Great popular leaders in
spire this feeling. A statesman of
genius at the head of affairs percepti-
bly, increases 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, spec
ulation after languid enterprise, conf
dence after distrust and national tri-
umphS after national disasters.
The marriage returns invariably
show a corresponding increase for any
augmentation in the duties paid upon
malt, wine and spirits. They in the
same way keep pace with the consump-
ton of tea, sugar, coffee and tobacco,
and with the imports of raw silk, cot
ton, wool and timber. The one in
crease is not, however, the cause of the
other; both are but effects of the same
cause-increased national prosperity.
Marriages after banns are five times as
numerous as marriages after licenses.
When the price of wheat is high the
diminution in the former class is com
paratively much greater than in the
latter. They are the first to be affected
by high prices, licenses and banns be
ing regarded as the prospective badges
of capital and labor-not without i'm
portant exceptions, however. Autumn
is the favorite season everywhere; with
q few spring is preferred. Half the
weddings throughout the country are
celebrated on Wednesday and Thurs
day. Saturday has more than the av-
erage number. Friday is not a favor
Ate, as few marriages are celebrated on
that day. Widowers are more inclined
TO marry than bachelors. Widows are
more inclined to marry than spinsters
Both facts are eloquently in favor o.
the comparative advantages of matri
mony. For one bachelor that marie.
between the ages of fifty and ffty-five
seven widowers remarry between these
ages. These are marriages out OF al
equal number of each class; the aetna
number of bachelors married will bt
greatest only in proportion as they ex
coed by seven to one the actual mum
Der of widowers living at these ages
Under the same conditions, for ever,
spinster married between thirty anC
sixty five two widows are Remarked
4. Y. Dispatch.