Evening star., 1898-01-04
AN AUCTION FOR WIVES.
Under the Greenwood Tree I'm the
Colonial Days of Virginia.


Colonial Days of Virginia.
]. Thomas Scharf in Buffalo News.
From the earliest settlement of the colo
nies there has always been a defect in the
distribution of women In this country. 1t is
historical fact that while one section has
always suffered from an embarrassment of
riches another has pined in a needless pri-
vation. At the outset Of American COL
onization the wilderness was hungry for
men to till it, and thousands Of the idle la
borers of London and Bristol poured into
the new Eldorado.
Robert Beverly. in his History of Vir-
ginia," published in 17O5 and 1922, says:
Those that went over to that country first
were chiefly single men, who had not the
lncumbrance of wives and children in Eng
land; and If they had, they did not expose
them to the fatigue and hazard of so long
q voyage, UNI they saw how it should
fare with themselves. From hence 1t came
to pass that when they were settled ...ere
and IN comfortable way of subsisting a
family, they grew sensible Of the misfor-
tune OF wanting wives, and such as had
ieft wives In England sent for them, but
the single men were put to their shifts.
Under this difficulty they had no hopes
but that the plenty In which they lived
might invite modest women of small for
tunes to go over thither from England.
such as could carry sufficient certificate of
their modesty and good behavior Those.
II they were but moderately qualified in ali
other resets, might depend upon marrying
Wen IN those days, without any fortune.
Nay, the first planters were so far from
expecting money with a woman that twas
a common thing for them to buy a deserv-
ing wife that carried good testimonials of
her character. at the price of f1OO, and
make themselves believe they had a bar
gain
I'm one year Sir Edwin provided a pas
sage for .261 new emigrants Among these
were ninety agreeable young women, poor
but respectable, to furnish wives to the
colonists. This new commodity was trans
ported at the expense of the colony, and
sold to the young planters, and the follow
ing year another consignment was made Of
sixty maids of virtuous education, young
handsome and well recommended A wife
In the first lot sold generally for 100 pounds
OF tobacco, but as the value of the new ar
ticle became known in the market the price
rose, and wife would bring $50 pounds of
tobacco. A debt for a wife was of a higher
dignity than other debts, and to be paid
first"
In a letter still in existence, dated Lon
don, August q, 1921, and directed to
worthy colonist of that settlement, the
writer says:
I'VE send you in the ship one widow and
eleven maids for wives for the people of
Virginia There hath been especial care
not one Of them been received but upon
good concentrations.
In case they cannot be presently mar
ried, we desire that they may be put with
several householders that have wives"
But the writer of this epistle had little
reason to fear that any of the 'maidens
faire' would be left over. The archives of
Virginia prove that these first cargoes of
young ladies were put up at auction be-
meath the green trees of Jamestown, where
probably the most anxious and interested
crowd Of auction habitues ever known in
the history of the world were gathered and
sold for 12o pounds of leaf tobacco each,
and 1t was ordered that this debt should
have precedence of all others. The solitary
'one widow went along with the others,
for they could not be particular in those
days. The good minister of the colony no
doubt had busy time that day. He did
not mention any fees, nor did the BRIDE
grooms think of rendering any. All was
joy and gladness.
There exists in the United States today
the same defective distribution Of women
as existed in the colonies 27S years ago.
Indeed, it is an economical, well as
social defect, that the distribution of wo-
men In the country is so imperfect that,
while Massachusetts has $4,000 more wo-
men than men, and while in every city and
hamlet from the Atlantic to the Mississippi
spinsters bloom and fade unplucked by the
reverent hand of eager youth, we frequent
ly hear of lonely bachelor in the far west
addressing a letter to the United States
commissioner of immigration at Ellis ISL
and, N. Y, begging him to exercise his
taste and discrimination, and, when his
eyes fall upon a desirable young woman
who wants a husband, TO forward her to
him at his cost and risk, provided she does
not object.
The fact that reasonably eligible bach
elors in the interior of the country should
find it necessary to send to an eastern port
for wives points out a deplorable fault in
the contemporary social state. To correct
this fault in distribution, so painful to con-
template and endure from the point of view
Of either section and of either sex, Is a
problem which has received the profound
attention of our social economists from the
foundation of our country.