New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-09
THE MARRIAGE MARKET.
A sOCRATIC DIALOGUE AND CoNCLu'
SION.
PLAIN WORDS ABOUT SOME CAN'T or THE DAY
A FALSE ANALOGY-VIRTUE NOT shNo"
NOUS WITH POVERTY.
From The Spectator.

NOUS WITH POVERTY
From The Spectator. ,h.
We once ventu,cd TO assert in these pages tnd
the DAY before the end Of the worln 'T scnesion-
u.o,d ha erre 10 be under universal u,scusa' IL
one was The dcgeneracy of mariners utLme oF
last thirty years. ana dnG ot1e hat is mans last
noTd on mankind as ''rhe younger geng , o,
don't know how to behave, ana ds Nc ought to
have added n third-the complaint .I,at r in
onabe world is nothing but n'apsf for sale to
inc highest bidder by th"ir crue', |n,,orejght 10
ayareiquss MOTHER 1sa ex Wa hardy perennial
among complaints, ancient anu rria CO market
mecgsation was made AGAIN and again Wdnd ap be-
there probably never viii be one. A. long as
marriage remains one of the most impUrft e and
not the most important even' prefer being
rich TO being poor so long parents % "nan,ns
accused of selling their dnm n dra x rooms 1t
is easy enough to how the accusation Sises
female Socrates would n hsr own mouth to the
mother of Ell 1nnl sne rich T. man
ious that her daughter s shTgn out to balls and
parties etcpGt her in ne 5hon %n wo wish Your
daughter to marry? would be the az hfs' Would be
OF the socra!c spnsster Yes On the no. whoe been
Very happy. and / don't think old maids are
ever -, ..o,,, ,,ou. nIease answer my
questions plainly and don't give any reasons n,y ,ney
are quite superuo,ns Tor t Gur Voa want your
d NUm to marry-woud you like her to MARY
a rich man poor one?-a pam ""'"'''
p Oh we'll If knew neither Of the men e. r ru1
p0sSe IO; Shosd t say Sn poverty AFnes
though wouldn't think II TO bSs twelve pairs
o os shoe ali quite smart and bought two more
pairs last week; and what she T9uld Ho a Your
D DS25o mans Ye % Certainly f should feel more happy
il she married rich }o man Socrates would con-
t,nue I'VE have arrived so far. You want youI
daughter TO marry rich man; when pe9pl. desire
a certain thing and are anxious II should nahppt t
they take certain steps 1D o Bring about The full
flment of their desire. Even WHO ah,,it soriny
So do they yo mo' Mrs G RowI n We may assume
then that you take steps 10 9rne vo desire and
afiil,s ~ her marriage to a rich man. Now az to
, a5S9 81 stems Iei should like ask whether X0S
Han last winter and take large house In Eaton .a
Place and give three dances pecnuSc SUe and
that II was not fair on Aeres. and that the poo
child would never make n nee bcr aond cooks and
your position. nobody married really well eAcep p.
hey made friends GHn Of IN ef With iq her LOOKS and
h hug MARRYING country solicitor like Mr. TeDns
or a doctor ike young Brown was u''''" p''
Wen suppose did it was sane no Ton to explain,
only to admit tho fact that you d!d give par Of
in order might hays the Ton took
her out with the same object" T., un
oval yps. and ! haf1n IN IT,
20" course not ib But please sd "Els as"
rich man and ~" take ngf @ D"s a her and marry
her Now, admitting this ana Goes K tbe Same
as you 10 hn know e'sTy s 0 Bowns
deny that there is such ming a. t,'e sta in il
With your daughter Agnes on sale? ! nave IA, as
Won vii, am sure Acknowledge assei I, ro ,ha
ing myself. but merely arranged '"o'e '''' wv
Poor Mrs Bowlngs reply to the final question nl Of
ainnd than set forth Probably 1t would be firm
and incOhercnt, ard something on UNI ilo d 1dp'd
sure / never said anything of the knd, ana noh
know mean except that E HnEssn as and
people ever have anything to do With and what puts
such things ,h hG How can You know? Youv.
never been MARRIED yourself and had children. II
Won had you'd think very differently. Don't please,
!TT rJ T. vas who said there marriage mar.
ket Il" rever did. You evidently did not understand
me: its like the second-class society papers tnat
, Mcnes cows her maid tells her things out Of No;
I won't argue il out again II makes one so not ana
fea n IL Won are older and have read great deal
more than many married women III IKE ETY. sGTSai,s,
housekeeping: young ladies never exactly under,
stand Wc really gel cutie confused u.s., with y al!
ought to have been great lawyer. You would nave
uJ j, es siv something they didn't mean 10. At
any rate YOU may be quite sure IA much rd,l,eI
Ttcn "a her than a rich VINO wouldn't That
zoe. without saying. Only unfortunately. al the
'oo' rnezines seem TO think. OF course the rlch
men aren't always GOOD either, M afraid indeed
''l' socratic dialogue such ~ have just given
would very apty sum mp me general rosut OF tire
troyersv IT can apparently he shown thlt some
,biro lie . marriage market exists, In which the
maibcrs ir; 10 sell theif daughters to the best adj
ynntaee; and yet ell the time IL Is quite obvious
that the mothers doing nothing OF me klhd put
arc only irving TO get their daughters Comfortably
scttled"-a very natural and very sensible acton
In truth there is moro foolish nonsense written
about the marriage market than on any other sub
iecf unde~ heaven In the first place the analogy Is
altogether false one. How can person DE sald 10
sell when she gets nothing by the sale. for except
in very rare cases the mother gets nothing tangible
! Lv bcr daughtors marriage? OF course. OCCASION
aily n mother does force her daughter TO marry a
rich man against her will. or Insists upon her apah-
| douing a poor one. As rule. however. IL Is the
want of none sufficient TO keep wife. not the
machnatons Of the mother when dg,gatS tnr poor
man. IT, though poor. he Is IN position 10 h'lry,
! and tho young woman is really ANXIOUS 10 Decone
his wife, the mother may ,e n@r daughter she Is an
! Very often We may suspect mat the tales 81 me
men and so robbing the poor OF their natural
! nri2cs are invented ~ the poor men rs salycS to
t ihar ,E r was od by her mother han TO admit
! thai. when she had TO face the question OF iVng
concluded that j, was not worth Will. ..,.,
No doubt certain amount Of me London festvl-
The chance Of seeing each other, but to call this
female slave market is mere midsummer rnadn , ~
Ieve something Of ihIe kind certain number
D1 larger number marry iAnsons in which
love ana the dcEirc TO have = hnfre OF thrir own
| and money OF their own are mixed up Another
! small section marry purely from reasons of am
! billion usually Of pecunary kind g.. with the
! idea Of becoming great personages through mar
,I4ge AZ n rule, however. these merccnaTy mar
! RACES are made no, by Il designing mother who
wishes 10 sell her daughter. but by designing OF
rather ambitious girl VIII deliberately wishes tc
| climb the worlds ladder by marriage
! The girls who deliberately try TO better their po
! sltion by marriage are, however by no means
i necessarily dcspicable people. few arr. Those
J for example who deliberately marry rich men OF
( known bad character. very od men or men OF
J feeble intellect, or men they dislike. The majority
7 however are very IKE the ambitious men who DE-
l5. ratelv prefer getting on By marriage TO marry
nr for other considerations, and =" choose a rict
3 wife Theoretically these must bc rather unplchS
ami and repus,ve people As n matter Of fac;. how
evcr Ihcy are often nothing Of the kind and end 10y
making good husbands. 40 II j. Win THOUSANDS OF