El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-07

and the furniture and often pays the
civil and religious marriage expenses
1t is not uncommon among the rlcn
Z for the bride to have marriage settle
meut. and there are stories told OF
I beautiful and thrifty senOritas who
. have insisted on being made independ-
ent at the time of the marriage There
is one story told of q girl whose sultOr
was a rich miner, whom she nao lons
held at a distance. said she one day,
as he entered the house, "Senor, behold
this long staircase At the upper end
Of il is my parlOr. When you can walk
up that staircase, placing brick OF
solid silver on every step, you VIII re-
ceive my hand, but not sooner
am told the miner sent in the bricks.
Marriage Not Easy
After the courtship has progressed,
1he ens-a- cement been announced ana
the wedding day fixed, there are stlI a
lot of difficulties 10 be overcome DeIOEe
ono can get married in Mexico. If a
man is from the United states, he must
have three ceremonies. two in spanish
and one more in either English or
Spanish he must give public notice
of his intention to marry by having II
posted up on the official bulletin boards
for 90 DAYS and his marriage must take
place before the civil authorities ana
also before the priest The three cere-
monies consist Of q contract CT mar
riage. the civil marriage and the church
service. The contract and civil mar
riage must be performed before Judge
and four witnesses, including lhe
American consul. The ceremony Of
civil marriage is in Spanish and the
contract gives the names, ages, ances-
trail families. business and residences
of both parties. The civil marriage has
to take place before the church mar
riace and for the latter the priest us
expected TO publish the banns for five
Sundays. Az tEis costs money said
an Er1tl lean to ne yesterday;
Ira1 here. You hSve to sc to half
dozen different officials and every one
blaeGs you as Much as Re thinks you
VIII StaIG. You have t. tell all about
your own family your fathers family
and your grandfather'S family, and you
must give the same Information as to
your bride. You have also to fee the
church and, as rule, 1t costs a pretty
penny"
weddings by Wholesale.
These regulations are very onerous
to the lower classes and, as a result
many couples live together unmarried,
and that Notwithstanding the children
of those who have not undergone civil
indians, as a rule, are satisfied with
church marriage. and they would get
married If they had the money to pay
the fee. This is by no means always
so. and on some Of the large haciendas,
such as the TerraZas estates and others,
the owners have priests come at GER
tain times of the year and marry their
peasants by wholesale without any
charge for the service.
Divorces Not Common.
This condition, however, does not
prevail outside the lower classes.
Among the others. divorces are far less
common than with us. The woman
usually sticks to her husband and he
knows that it would be almost impOs-
slble TO get a divorce, If he so desired.
The Mexican women make good wives
and large families are common. The
laws relating to the property Of the
husband and wife are different from
ours and those as to the wife are very
much fairer- She has the right to the
absolute control of all the property she
had before marriage, and also to one
halr the property accumulated after the
marriage such property cannot be
transferred except where her signature
Is added to that of her husband.