The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-12-22
WIVES OF GERMANS.
AN AMERICAN GIRLS POSITION WHEN
SIZE MARRlES A BARON.

How She Has to Economizc In tho Use OF
Her Own Moncy-An Authority on tho
Subject Writes For tho Benefit of Young
Women In This Country.
Few questions have been put to mo rs
u test to my foreign experience oftener
than the familiar: Ought American
girls to marry German men? Arc such
unions happy? Do they turn out weil2
What class of men is it that step out
side tho beaten track of home matri-
mony to seek American wives and
transplant them into tho life Of the fa-
therland?' writes Baroness Won Wedel
i'll Cosmopolitan.
In respect to the marriages of Ameri-
can girls with German men, they NAV
BIO approved Of safely in the cases of
practical, worldly minded women and
of very young or Of very gentle temper
ed girls. Wives who possess little senti-
ment or only soft sentiments yield read
lily to their environment, the latter Civ
ing way unconsciously, and hence with
out pain, the former with foresight and
with purpose selfish enough, as we
may assume, to recompense thcm for
their rcnuncations.
AS for the class of willrul, silly, pre-
tontious women, they arc happy no.
where. German society should not be
called too harshly to account, therefore,
If they arc wrctchcd in marrying into
it. Wo must conccdc, if We arc fair
minded, that they would have been Just
as disconnected iii any other eeosraph
zeal position us in the fathcrland.
FII,n En -.
girls. They represent American wives
whose happiness is influenced by the
specifically foreign traits in their hus.
bands ana their husbands society and
surroundings. However they may vary
i'll character, they arc alike in their
Americanism, and it is republican prin-
ciples which arc opposed i'll them to tho
aristocratic education Of tho men of
their choice
Ii is Il false prejudice to suppose that
these or the titled gentlemen who tako
American wives arc mere fortune hunt
ors and dcgcncrated specimens of nohil-
lty. They arc often mon, it is true, who
could not marry women without dow
flcS, Tor gentlemen OH the continent, as
1T must bc kept continually III mind,
are excluded from the chances of max
ing money.
Whore cases of dissipation Of tho
great fortunes Of American wives occur
and arc duly reported, two or three
things are sometimes overlooked. Tho
first Is that, if the cases were not rare,
they would hardly be considered worth
offering to the public as shocking facts.
The second is that the fortune evidently
was limited. The next may surprise us,
for 1t Is II truth that has not not been
realized by our home staying country
men-l moan the fact that foreigners
lay the blamc on tho American wife.
Why, the relatives ask, did she not bring
moro money into the connection?
What they mean, and what they feel
justified by the usagcs of their class in
meaning, Is that young noblcmcn do
nothing unusual III being cAtravagant.
II the cOnsOrt Of such Il man brings
wealth enough for her TO be luxurious,
too, no objection to that is valid. But
tic mead oil tho house is the member
who IS the representative Of his rank, to-
Ecthcr with the nuniGcenco that is suit
able 10 ii, and where the mutual fortune
is circumsclibed it becomes the duty OF
the wife 20 rctrcnch her OUTLAWS in order
TO allow him 10 continue representing
their station without too much danger
OF baiIl.ruptnS the family means. Ger
man wives cconomiZc the more III pro
portion rs their husbands spend.
American born wives, on the contrary,
have drawn the reputation upon them
selves of being incapable of this sort of
sacrifice.
L have learned to look for the real
tragedies among foreign marriages III
the silent cases. These women of char
acter and ambition, united III fervid
temperament, keeping their post like
soldiers, are admirable wives often of
admirable mon, yet they endure the con-
slant realization of the chosen places of
their thoughts being foreign to the ways
and thoughts of their husband and tho
world about them. There are modern
women OF strong and distinct lives
whose Inner principles are supreme pro-
tests against the system of living which
thelr marriages unknowlngly drew them
lnto-eXilcs from tho soil, and, above
al, the soil of ropublicanism.
Both law and custom grant men au.
thoNty over women. The bride passes
from the parental control into the con
troll of her husband, and, if she live to
be widow, into that of her son.
Our girls know theoretically before
marriage that they must be subservient
to their husbands as German wives and
that the obstacles to happiness lie i'll
the path of wifely independence. The
gentle footpath of submission is free
from hindrance.