The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-03
Child MARRIAGES A
CURSE IN LONDON
Boy Husbands and Girl Wives
Raise Families, Quarrel and
Part in Hasty Wrath.

LONDON, April 2-'Ts 1t a sign of
wisdom, my lord, 10 marry young and
to have family before one is of age %
asked counsel for the prosecution in a
case heard in the kings bench division
the other day.
The question was suggested by the
admission of the plaintiff that he mar
r1ed at eighteen, and was the father of
three children before he was twenty
one. The judge did not reply.
Judges of the high courts are not
brought face to face with the bane of
boy and girl marriages. London mag
lstrates are. Rarely day passes with
out the time of one or the other of the
London police courts being wasted in
listening to the story of the pitiful
quarrels of boy husbands and girl
wives. ~
The tale is always the same. Mar
rled at sixteen or seventeen. Husbands
wages 1915 to 81 a week Not a cent
saved up for the home. Married life COM
mences in Furnished room at $1.25
week, or else a few wretched sticks
are hired at the rate of 81 cents a
week.
The girl wife can neither sew. nor
clean, nor cook. QuaTrels begin after
the first month or two, and the SEQUEL
is told in the police court.
The latest statistics indicate that boy
and girl marriages for the whole coun-
try are on the decrease. The last re-
turns show that fifty husbands and
sixty wives out Of every 1000 were
registered as under age.
But in the poorer districts boy and
girl alliances are still far too numer-
Gus. In the borough of Southwark
alone, to take typical instance, there
are now 837 married people who are
under age.
The popular rector of st. Peters,
Walworth, is one Of the few London
clergymen who have made a stand
against premature marriages.
1T is very little we can do" said
Canon Horsley, speaking as the rector
of a thickly populated and very poor
parish. Everything really depends
upon the parents consent, and in many
cases it is the parents who wish to
hurry on these maria ges.
Forbid the banns? Yes, I know
what you are thinking of. But that
was an exceptional case. A Gambler
we'll lad Of seventeen, who had given
wrong address in the parish, wanted
me to marry him. l wrote to the ia
Their, representing that the boy was
not of age, and the father very proper
ly exercised the right ever parent has
to forbid the marriage Of a minor.
premature marriage undoubtedly
brings about a great many evils. It is
certainly one of the causes of poverty.
Being out of work is no barrier what
ever to these boy and girl unions. 1t
is rather regarded as convenient OPP
portunIty. One of the worst points is
that absolutely no provision whatever
is made for starting a home.
only the other day at our board of
guardians young man, very little over
twenty-one, but the father of three
children, applied for relief for his wife
and family
Early marriage is no doubt a great
physical and moral advantage for the
majority. Premature marriage is a
bane In such precocious unions-in
many cases, that is-disunion, separa-
ton and prof1igacy follow in rapid sue
cess1on upon the childish quarrel or
discomfort with the hardships brought
by the first season of s1ackness Of work
or idleness.
Here are some instances of the in
EQUITIES Of boy and girl marriages dug