Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-01-22
FRENCH IDEAS ON MARRIAGE
Importance of the Dowry Pats Bank
ruptcy in the Has-Been
Glass.

Il happened to be staying with French
friends at the seductive and matchmaking
little island spa Of St. Honore-les-B aines
in Burgundy" SAYS a writer in the Lon
don Queen.
AN watering places and seaside resorts
in France indeed. for the matter Of that,
are matchmaking; fathers and mothers
take their grown-up daughters thither for
no other purpose than to settle them down
in life. Two matrons, one friend Of
mine, were discussing a certain young
friend they called Deslree.
Alas said one It grteves me 70 the
heart that the dear child can never marry.
You may well say so. Yes, no chance
for poor little Desiree now.
What dire calamity has thus cut off
the young lady from wifehood% I asked.
The answer was OF the briefest Her
father has had large losses and she will
have no dowry.'
Another story affords a running com
mentary on another and capital point
was walking one day in Dion with an
oul friend, a BurgundiSn gentlhomme,
who after saluting a very attractive look
ing girl and ner chaperon he said:
Think Of a charming demoiselle like
Mile Lucie yonder condemned to spinsteT-
| hood
And whyT / inquired.
Her father has just failed in business
become a bankrupt
THE first Of these incidents brings out
/ in strong relief what is, perhaps, the
strongest motive actuatng Frenchmen
| through their entire course of existence,
namely prudence. We are apt to regard
| French thrift as a deadening influence
based on sordidness and parslmony, but
\ the springs lie deeper. A sense Of deep
responsibility toward mans unborn chill
| dren, a regard for the race to come, must
surely deserve respect
I'VE must remember too, that from the
| highest appointments to the most modest
pay, salaries, wages are lower than with
U.S. also that the marriage portion is al
| but universal; to a bachelor, therefore
in receipt Of a very modest income we'd
! lock with a penniless maiden would mean
poverty and wretchedness.
IN France the minimum dowry of the
average young lady is $1,000 We will
suppose that her father is a professor In
one Of the state schools, a government
functionary, or say, an officer, ali OF
these receiving a third, perhaps half, less
than would do an Englishman similarly
employed. From the very year of hel
| birth the foundation of her little fortune
would be laid, annual payments securing
the Il, 800 francs on her twenty-first birth
day. And in the marriage contract tn,
sum would be secured 10 herself and hel
children, the capital remaining intact.
IF / were asked to point out a remedy
for what Jean Paul Richter called 'daugh
terful houses, / should revert to the oblig
atory dover, the $1,000 which Frencl
daughters Of the middle and upper middle
classes expect and generally receive on at
tanning their majority. Dowries Of peas
ants daughters often run into tens o
thousands, besides land and farming stock
Professional men, government servants
civil and military, the teaching staff Of tn
French university and of primary schools
all these out of incomes often modes
enough, contrive to dover their daughters
''The mon ami and chere annie I'm
friend, dear friend) used by French hus
bands and wives in addressing each othe
sound oddly to unaccustomed ears. Ye
can any epithet be more applicable to tn
closest relationP Are not bride and bride
groom, Darby and Joan, first and fore
most friends9 Can perfect wedlock exis
without the foundation of most intimate
most confidential and deepest friendship
, To the young and romantic friendship ma
} seem a poor substitute for passionate low
but, like the wedding gown of the immoi
tai Mrs. Primrose, it outwears flimsier me
: teriai
, IT have known more than one exceller
r Frenchman wither away let himself di
? before his time, not Of love, but Of sheC
I grief for the loss of his faithful compaT
ion and partner. And more likely, detail