Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1901-03-26
MATCHES AND MONEY
uNRoMANTIc coURTSHIPs ARE THE
RULE IN GERMANY.

There the Women Are Obliged to
Have Some Financial Resources
When They Marry-The Cost of Ac-
curing q Military Husband.
In Bavaria every girl Is expected to
get married. Ask a Bavarian, and he
will tell you that 1t is impossible for
portionless maiden to find q husband.
If a girl has no money for a dowry,
therefore, she sets herself at work to
save OLD.
Marriage In Germany is nearly en-
tirely a matter Of business. The father
of the girl announces the sum which Is
to 60 with her, while the papa of the
prospective husband holds out for
more. That is the first stage Of the
negotiations. Little by little each yields
to the other. Finally, often after
months of delay, the contract is drawn
up with minute specifications by
notary. and then the lovemaking may
begin. The courtship is very circum-
scribed and is probably not altogether
satisfactory, for the German maiden Is
q romantic creature, and the opportuni-
ties she has for getting acquainted
with her husband before marriage are
very meager.
The parental supervision is so inbred
In the nation that even the government
takes a hand in it with its servants. A
German army officer is splendid crea-
ture to the eye, but his pay is very
small, ranging from a matter of So a
week for q lieutenant to $50 week
for full fiedged general. In order to
prevent the possibility Of seediness in
appearance or style Of living the gov
ernment forbids an officer to marry un-
less he deposits a certain sum-it Is
$4,000 for d lieutenant and becomes
gradually less for each higher grade
with the authorities, the income OF
which is doled out to him semiannual-
ly. This is In reality putting price on
the man, because the greater number
Of German officers are very poor and
can get the money required only from
their brides.
The money which wife brings to
her husband, unless there Is an express
notarial stipulation to the contrary, be-
comes absolutely the husbands proper
ty. Woman in the eye Of the law has
practically no rights except such as her
husband may allow her. He treats her
very often as merely piece of live
stock. If the woman rebels, which she
does very rarely, he displays very
short temper and an aptness for WELD
Ing a poker or a walking stick in use
for which they were never meant.
In German newspaper one may al
ways find a column devoted to matri-
monial announcements. There Is no
romance in these advertisements. The
man tells how much money he has and
how much he wants. The woman
names her .dowry to the very pfennig.
Very often the man has no money at
all and expresses his desire to marry
into q business, but the woman knows
that It is useless to advertise at all un-
less she has some money, If it-anounts
only to S1OO or so, which may be re-
garded as the lowest sum worthy of
consideration as might.
On the other hand, 1t is the woman's
privilege to name the calling which she
prefers the man should follow. She
usually chooses an official clerk or por-
ter, a policeman or car conductor, all
Of whom have tenure Of office and an
old age pension. She has more Of an
eye to stability than to ambition.
1t is in the so called higher classes of
society that one finds the baldest and
most businesslike matrimonial trans
actions. There are few young men of
this class who have either money or
any prospect of making any otherwise
than by a wealthy marriage. When
they inherit fortunes, 1t Is the fashion
to dissipate them. and when they don't
inherit 1t is against the prejudiccs OF
their education and training to seek
employment or to engage in any kind
Of business.
Therefore most Of them enter the ar
my while waiting for a rich bride.
Daughters of rich brewers and mer-
chants are acceptable to these gentle
men, but their great and persistent
dream Is to capture an American heir
ess. They confess the matter frankly
to any one and every one who will lis
ten.
Travelling American heiresses are not
30 plentiful in Germany as in France
and Italy; still, they are to be found.
It would seem, however, that notwith.
standing the fact that German titles
are at least q little more valuable than
those Of the Latin countries they do
not possess the same glamour In femi-
nine eyes, because the German title
captures the American bag Of gold
comparatively rarely. Perhaps 1t Is be-
cause the Teutonic wooing Is more ar
rogant and supercilious than insinuat'
Ing.
OF all countries Germany Is perhaps
that in which romanticism fourishes
most. It is instinct in Its traditions, In
its history and its literature. Yet In
the affairs of daily life and pre-emi.
nently in its matrimonial affairs mill
tarism rises to the plane Of worship
New York Sun.