Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-27
NEW YORK, Saturday.

NEW YORK, Saturday
- HE new law which requires the matrlmonl-
ally inclined in the State of New York to take
out license to wed went into operation last
January At the time public attention was
directed to it by running newspaper COM
ment, in jocose vein.
no nersons reared In States where the civil mar
rage contract has always been rather rigdly safe-
guarded it was mirh provoking than to the New
York man. accustomed to an elastic VOW as far as
civic requirements were concerned 10 MIN there
was something unspeakably funny in the spectacle
of a young man and woman appearing togeIner anu
making affidavit the most important Facts OF tnelr
lives and those also of their parents.
AS a matter of fact If you are a lover OF human
drama and your natural interest has received eqtor
bias and stimulus you will find yourself rlcnly re-
warded by day spent in the office OF tine Oty OleIh
the present location of the Marriage Licanse Bureau
But you will not find it all comedy
With the modesty of all your violet kind you as
sme vour smallest possible dimensions and slide into
an obscure corner seat. Here, you fancy, you may
observe everything in an inconspcuous ana uholenu
ing silence But the fact that you have entered these
halls with no masculine obligato screams your pres
ence You become the embarrassed centre OF an at
tentfon scarcely less embarrassed Brides eye you
with covert query and their young men are openly
solicitous-you are obviously left in the lurch.
While YOU sit there and hope, with scant assurance
that YOU look dignifed and Indifferent than you
feel enters young woman of competent not TO say
militant bearing Follows at her heels mildly acqul-
escent youtf-a fatuous smile or nOnressIahce upon
his face She takes his hat, brushes speck from MS
coat and marches him up to the desk which paruuonS
tho o8ce with these same appropriate gestures Will
Percival into their scholastic careers.
II seems that after filing out the application blanks
most couples put through sort OF lnqusilon as
to their statements before the oath Is put rms mas
very bad effect upon the temper OF the present ue
ponent. :. ..4
OF course she is eighteen! OF course he is twenty
one Sure it's all true Yes, certainly she did all the
writing; did she look like she couldn't? HIS name !
Yes she signed that, too. Well of all things! Or
course he could write Should have signed his own
name-why? Here, Henry Showing him forward anu
thrusting the unaccustomed pen INTO ms
gersl you got to do it. No. not there-here quite at
the end of her patience. swapping eyes ana
color comment upon the complete ana utle, iolIy VI
the whole procedure and her OPINION as"o Ino sanity
and integrity of those in high places.
Your interest in this affair has banished your mo
mentary embarrassment when TO you comes an "a 10
ceedingly socitous young man, who desires 10 know IL
he NAV do something for you He, too is 1nferentaS
sympathetic and you hasten to assure him that you
are mere writer after copy and no victim OF nascu
line phlandering Whereupon he ushers you lnslue'
away from both scOrn and pity
Here you meet Mr.. Scully, the City Clerk He Is
most kind and supplies you with many interesting IacS
concerning the law and its effects Immediate anu
remote He tells you that since January the licenses
issued in Manhattan and the Bronx alone are running
now between twenty-five and thirty thousand
1--WE are dealing with the work as pest we can
saws Mr. Scuy ",rhe conditions are new UndouDt-
edy we have much to learn in the matter OF eXpeal-
ous methods. 1t is not an easy task 10 hanGie Tue
number of persons which do every day, Win such
a large proportion of foreign element put II Is
good law. We try to conduct the office with as nuch
dignity and as little confusion as possible
"Of course he continues, we see the Iuhhy stue
of If and the sad SIDE It's not all funny ana IL
not all sad One day early in the year young cnaP
applied at the Office for a license woman Wlleu
for him at the door. 1t our custom then 10 put
the preliminary questions before supplying the plank
appication He answered all right about his name,
color and place of residence, but when 1t came 10 us
age he baked. 49, .,,
What's the use of thatT he questioned.
'sYoung man. that's the laws requirement IN max
ing affidavit for license to marry.