Year: 1874

! ".


ansipathy into sympathy. But tn,


question of their agreement, of thei


happiness, is remote, altogether sec


ondary, in her opinion. She fancie


she is responsible for nothing excep


their marriage. Having achieved that


her task is discharged Fate must pro


vide the rest. The addition of anothe


pair to the bead roll of matrimony ii


a glorious triumph, always to b,


counted to her advantage.


Why it should be, what merit ther,


is in hymenal meddlesomeness, prece


dent or logic would be puzzled to show


Still, such is her belief, and the belle


is ineradicable. She fancies she has


vocation to slip the matrimonial noos,


about the necks of her acquaintances


and she is not content unless she car


do so periodically. When she hear.


that anybody has been married without


her manipulation or maneuvring, she


feels hurt, wronged in some mysteriou.


way, and resolves to make amends fol


her loss by never permitting the slight


est opportunity to slip thereafter.


The feminine match maker has nc


regular method she varies her process


according to the emergency. To keep
| her connubial motive concealed, often


requires more delicacy and ingenuity
than she can master. Moreover, it is


prone to imperil the prosperity of hel
issues she must have recourse, there
fore, to direct management. After put.


ting two persons into nuptial nomina-
tion, and arranging their convention,


she confesses with them apart; sounds
them for their thoughts, feelings and
opinions, respecting one another.


She mentions to Mr. Jones, as If
casually, that Miss Brown is very
amlable and engaging; so simple and
unobtrusive, too, in mind and manner,
that one must know her intimately to
appreciate her. She cannot avoid no.
ticing that the young lady has been
much impressed by him that she
evinces a decided partiality for his
company, which he should deem COM
plimentary, for her taste and discrimi-
nation have always been subjects of
remark. In the society of Miss Brown
she does not hesitate to praise MIR.
Jones to intimate that he has talked
of the lady necessarily since last they
met, and that he is manifestly smitten.


Thus are the first seeds sown and
they rapidly germinate under the fos-
tering care of few weeks, or months
at farthest, she has brought the couple
to believe, by cunningly administering
to the vanity of each, that they are
genuinely in love with one another.
She ought to be aware that, soon after
they are united, they will be likely to
discover their mistake, and jar and
clash until divorce or death relieves
them. But what of that ? Is is not
one more marriage? Is it not another
chaplet laid upon the brow Of the social
intriguer?


Hardly had she observed Mr.. Mark
well and Miss Showmuch in converse
ton, than she determined to wed them,
if possible. Her natural insight may
tell her they are antipodes that they
can no more mingle than oil and water.
But, then, if she should have the good
luck to hide this fact from both until
they have taken the desperate step,
what a victory for her The very diff
Guilty of the enterprise whets her ardor
Discharging the thought of what they
must suffer, she remembers only what
satisfaction she shall enjoy. While they
are waging domestic wars, she is intent
on new triumphs-new slaughters of
individual peace, new creations of the
bitterest disappointments,n new blastings
of sacred expectations.


The match maker would seem to be
malignant, at least criminally needless
of the happiness of her neighbors. She
is not necessarily either one or the
other she is, generally, but unmindful
of the danger and difficulty of her self
appointed work. She fails to compre-
hend human nature has no suspicion
of the requirements of the individual.
Because marriage often brings comfort,
mutual contentment, the best that life
has to offer, she thinks, without think
ing, that it always does SO, irrespective
of the conditions under which it is con-
tracted. Experience teaches her moth
ing. II her own nuptial experiment
has been unfortunate, she imagines
another will be fortunate. II she has
drawn q prize in her connubial lottery,
she fondly believes there are scarcely
any blanks. She is conscientiously
wrong minded. By trying to do good,
she does incalculable harm. By seek
ing to SOW the wheat of happiness, she
sows the tares of misery, and she re-
mains in ignorance in that she gathers
not the harvest. Let her bear this in
If man and woman cannot
discover in one another sufficient rea-
sons for marriage, it is not probable
that a third person can make the dis
covery they should make for themselves.
Let those who fail to detect sufficient
cause for conjunction remain apart, or
tarry for later opportunity


If professional match makers could
see half of the wretchedness they have
by misdirected zeal, they
would be overwhelmed with regret,
suffused with repentance. They would
take no further risks in the peace of
would be humbly thank
full if they had themselves escaped the
biting woe of a bad selection. Every
man should do his own marrying, as he
must do his own dying. The difference
between the two often is, that in death |
his troubles end; in marriage they
have only begun.