Year: 1860

a correspondent OF Lne boston courier
recommends the 'formation of Society
for the promotion of Economical Mar
riagcs." He thus describes "case" of
the kind of social suffering he would al
leviate :-"There is lady of my acquaint-
ance who has lately given her daughter in
wedlock to young man of estimiable
character, though of limited means-a
phrase the cheap novelists are habituallY
using; rs If the tact that poor man couIu
bear good character was so rare as to
demand Il paragraph by itself For sever
nj DAYS before the wedding, l saw in the
house of my friend extensive preparations
on foot. An immense pile of cards were
sent out; the chambers were filled with
seamstresses; cabinet councils were held
twice day below stairs by the parents
and daughter, to settle the questions con-
cerning music, refreshments, servants,
crockery-ware, silver, and many other
things. Each morning, the young lady
and future husband were running about
town to finish up the thousand details of
the occasion; and each night, the whole
family, fatigued by the days labor, retired
to unreircshing sIumber. At last the eve
ming of the performance came. 1t was
preceded by hours of the most tiresome
supervision. preparation, anxiety on every
account. and when the maiden went to her
toilet, she was more iit for the attendance
of the family physician than of her
bridesmaids. Nevertheless there was no
retreat; so, trusting to the excitement OF
the hour for physical force, she took the
arm of the man with whom she was to go
through life, himself almost as nearly
worn out as she, and after having under
gone the ceremony of promising to love,
honor, and obey, stood for three hours to
receive the congratulations of the guests,
the majority of whom felt the same inter-
est in the scene as they might have at the
theatre or ballet. The crowd finally dis
pcrsed, the last carriage drove away, and
after few hours of quiet, the happy pair
took an early train of cars, and jolted
about the country for ten days or there
abouts, on a pleasure tripW


The writer further enlarges on the diff
Guilty of meeting the expenses of an ordi-
nary wedding in these days, and then goes
on to moralize thus instructivcly:-"The
wonder is rather that so few young men
are crushed at the commencement of their
married life, than that so many forever
crnmp themselves by extravaganza. How
many welded pairs are there in this small
city who dare to be Independent and COM
Portable. instead of sacrificing their content
to the outrageous claims of what is called
public opiuion2 How many would not be
ashamed to own that, being unable to pur
chase meat seven days in the week, they
went to market only every other day.
How many would not feel their checks
burning with an unmanIy blush, should
they venture to discuss with the wife at
the breakfast table the comparative ex-
pcnscs of fish, flesh, or fowl, with refer
cncc to the days dinner? And how many
of the yonng wives of this metropolis are
there, into whose hearts would not steal
that horrible doubt as to whether they had
done well in marrying so economical a
man, were such discussion to arise?-
And what is the result of all this cowardly
shrinking from au absurd phantom? Why.
men become engaged in marriage, and
then drag on, year after year, in the hope
of being better able to support a wife,
till the beauty of the girl fades, the soul of
the man withcrs, love dies out from the
breust of the one or the other, and, instead
of two married lovers, the world receives a
fiirt or disappointed woman, deceiver
or cynic. Or, if the man avoids this
ScylIa, he rushcr to his destruction in a
worse Charybdis."