The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1897-02-03
WIVES OF GERMANS.
AN AMERICAN oiRL's POSITION WHEN
she MARaiEs A BARON.

~ NV W SSissSsS
she MARINES A BARON.
How h Hss 70 Eeonomi.e In the Use OF
Her Own Morey-An Authority OF h
Subject Writes For the Beneft Of Young
Women In This Country.
Few questions have been put to me as
. test to my foreign experience oftenor
than the familiar: 'Osght American
girls 70 marry German meni Are such
unions happys Do they turn out welll
What class of men Is 1t that step out
side the beaten track Of home matri-
mony to seek American wives and
transplant them into the lie Of the ia.
therland!" writes Baroness You Wedel
In Cosmopolitan.
In respect to the marriages Of Ame1t-
can girls with German men. they msy
be approved Of safely in the cases of
practical, worldly minded women and
Of very young o, Ct very gentle temper.
ed gislk Wives who possess little sent1.
mont or only soft sentiments yield read
lily 10 their environment, the, latter CIV
Ing way uaconsoiously, and hence with
cut pain, the former with foresight and
with . purpoes selash enough. 90 We
may assume, 10 rscompense them for
their reuunciationa
Az for the class OF wsllful, silly, pre-.
teuticos wozacn, they are happy lie
whore. German soUisty should not be
called too harshIy 70 account, therefore,
Il they arc wretched In marrying into
It. We must ccucede, II we are fair
mindsd, that they would have been Just
Is dissoutentsd IN any other geosrsph.
icnl position O. In the fatherland.
The inquiry begins with u average
girls They represent American wives
whose Happiness 10 Influenced by the
specifically foreign traits in their hu&
bands and their hushands' society and
surroundings However they may vary
in character, they are alike in their
A~u:ericsnism, and il is republican prin-
eiples which are opposed In them TO the
aristocratic education Of tho men Of
their choice.
II is a false prejudice to suppose that
these or the titled gentlemen who take
American wives sre nero fortune hunt
ers and degenerated specimens CT nehil-
ity. They arc often men, 1t is true. who
could Dot marry women without COW
RIGA, for gentlemen on the continent. Al
it must 10 tsrt continually in mind.
are excluded from the chances Of max
ing money.
Where cases Of dissipation Of the
great fortunes Of American wives oocul
and are duly reported, two O three
things are sometimes overlooked. The
6yut 10 that, II the cases were not rare,
they would hardly be considered worth
Offering to the public as shocking facts.
The second il that the fortune evidently
was limited. The next may surprise us,
for it IL q truta that has rot net beer
realized BY our home staying country
men-I mean the fact that foreigner
lay the blame On the American wife
Why. the relatives ask, did she not bring
more money into the connecticut
What they mean, and what they fee
justified BY the usagcs Of their GLASS IL
meaning, is that young noblemen d.
nothing unusual in being extravsgant
II the coilsort Of such a man bring,
wealth enough for her to DO Injurious
too, no objection to that is valid. Blu,
the head Of the house 10 the membe,
who is the repressE.n tive Of his rank, to
gether with tho n~unidceloe that is suit
able to it, aud wksre the mutual fortune
IL circumsoribed It becomes the duty o,
the wife to retrench her outlays in ordel
to allow him 10 continue representing
their station without too much danger
Of bankrupting the family means. Ger
man wives e~couonise the more in pro
portion IS their husbands spend.
American born wives, on the contrary.
have drawn the reputation upon them
selves Of being incapable Of this sort o.
saorifca
I have learned to look for the rea
tragedies among foreign marriages II
the silent cases. These women Of char
aetsr and ambition. united in a fervit
temperament, keeping their post lik,
soldiers, are admirable wives often O.
admirable men, yet they endure the con
Giant realisation Ct the chosen places O
their thoughts being fersign to the way,
and thoughts Of their husband and til,
world about them. There are modetl
women Of strong and distinct live
whose inner principles arc supreme pro
tests against the system Of living whicl
their marriages u~nknowingly drewthen
into-exilsa from the SOIL and, sbov
oil, the soil Of republication.
Both law and custom grant men al
thority over women. The bride pasee
from the Parental control into the con
troll Of her husband, and. II she live +
he 4 widow, into that of her son.
Our girls know theoretically befor
marriage that they must be subservien
to their husbands a. German wives AM
that the obstacles 10 happiness lie ii
the path Of wifely independence. Tn
, gentle footpath Of submission Is fire
from hiudrAnce.