The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-04
THE sA,rr OLD sroaY.


 the Castellanes are little less'than sick ening in their details of licentiousness, brutality and almost every other of- fence Calculated to lower our esti- mate of French nobility. There has been much in the newspapers during the past few months about the Castel- lane troubles and the utter worthless ness of the man. Much of 1t was re- garded as sationalisn.-yellow jour nalism, in short, but the speech of M. Cruppi leaves little doubt that Boni Is even worse than the newspapers have painted him. The scene in the Paris court rooms must have been enough to satisfy the most depraved tastes of tho most depraved members of the lower strata of that city.
 Reading of these frequent mismat- ings between American heiresses and titled foreigners who have nothing on earth to recommend them but their titles, is almost enough to cause one to lose faith in our own people. The case of the Marlborough's is but little better than that of the Castellanes. The Duke may not be altogether as low as Count Boni, but the evidence is convincing that he is not such a man as any good woman should mate with. He perhaps occupies little higher place in the moral and manhood scale than the French degenerate does. but that seems about alNthat may be said of him.
 And still we wonder why the gla- mour of title will blind American wo men to the character of the man who bears 1t Of course. it is not intended to convey the impression that there is any wrong in an American woman marrying respectable foreigner. for that is being continually done. If she selects 8 clean and reputable man, 1t matters little what nation of Europe he comes from, and the marriage may be as happy and satisfactory as any other marriage. The union of the old and the new worlds at the altar are to be commended.
 What Is a travesty on marriage and almost sin against womanhood. is when an American woman takes for her husband a foreigner of any nation for his title alone. He may be a moral leper and a physical degenerate, but if he possesses a title of nobility which he can sbare with the woman that is all she cares for. The lives. habits and characters of foreign mo- raIx frnp hn world. The American woman who Is offered a title in exchange for her money can easily ascertain the kind of man who is offering to trade with her. Then if she takes low scoundrel merely because he is Q duke. a count, or has some other handle to his name she is not really entitled to much sym pathy when she learns, as she soon will, that she Is married to a pig in- stead of a man. Anna Gould was warned of the kind of man she would get if she married the Count, but she had her own way and traded on her own responsibility.
 For it was trade, in the plainest sense of the word. No thought of love entered into the affair. He gave her the title of Countess and she gave him some millions of dollars. She had no reason to expect anything from him but the name she bargained for. She had no reason to expect love, faithful ness or kindness from him. In short, when she became Countess and paid for the name, the bargain was conclud- ed on both sides. She voluntarily placed herself in the position of the purchased thrall of scoundrel.
 And yet we presume the example of Anna Gould and Consuelo Vanderbilt will not have much effect on others. who. like them think title is worth having at any price. They will read of grand functions and titled men and women who attend them, will probably visit foreign lands and see the glare and glitter of nobility without know ing anything of the unutterable foul ness which underlies the surface. Then. if an opportunity is afforded them of exchanging their millions for a chance to mngle with and form part of the nobility they will jump at the offAr- and perhaps land in the mire, as Anna Gould did. We suppose it will go on to the end of the chapter, but it is not creditable to American womanhood to say the leaSt