Year: 1879

Creature Of Whom Young Men May


Well Beware.


tsan Francisco Chronicle.l


Marriageable young men have all heard at
one time or another that il, every circle of
society, high or low. industrious ladies are
TO be found whose chief ambition it is 20
seize upon nnsuspecting young men and
marry them off to possibly unfortunate
young women. Whether persons of this
character actually exist, or whether the idea
Is traditional, is often a serious puzzle to
youthful explorers of the social labyrinth
They ponder concerning it as people in the
olden time pondered over tales about the
Anthropopheg,. Perhaps, after all" they
say to themselves, this sea serpent OF go
ciety does not exist. The danger is wholly
imaginary. IL is a weak invention of the
enemy" But the dread that perhaps she
does exist frequently unmans them on try
ing occasions To ell interested persons un-
certain on the subject, it NAV be well to de-
clare the momentous fact of her existence
and to state that she eszes upon narrigea-
BILE young man who is yet heart whole and
fsncy-free with very inoescribgble emo
ton. 1t is not precisely similar TO that with
which hungry New Zsalander observes the
landing OF plump looking missionary who
has Dot been ordained long enough to be
tough, but 1t is almost equally significant.


Men go from Corsica to Paris TO become
political spies and criminal detectives from a
mere love OF the business. TIE pay is DOOR,





able offenders is by them considered an
abundant recompense. The female match
maker is the embodiment of this intensely
professional spirit She throws her cunning
tolls around her selected victim, not for any
profit that there is in the transaction for her.
self, nor for him, nor for the lady he is
doomed to marry. but solely for the excite
ment and triumph that is in it. There is
nothing logical or benevolentin the impulse
She never reasons that it is not good for man
81 ~. al H. l.
that marriage is duty every man owes to
society. No frivolous ideas of expediency
influence her. She simply sees before her q
man who has never been married. and Just
as veteran angler instinctively tosses bait
to fat fish in the stream, She sets about the
task of settling him for life. The purpose is
an instinct. She determines that he shall
marry-whom is mere after considera-
ton.


The lady is usually selected like flash of
lightning by mental process akin to in
spiratioD. The pairing is never determined
upon from a scientific stsndpoint-as, for in
stance, the gentleman is very dark, and peo-
pie best tolerate their opposites. She is
chosen as Russia decides to have new Turk
ish province-because OF its proximity to the


tactical field. Imagine the feelings of one of
these fierce emissaries of Hymen as she stares
across crowded drawing room in one direc-
| ton at a perfectly uninfatuated gentleman,
| and in another direction at perfectly art
| less iauy. anu lDe0 ana IQerS secretly re-
solves that they shall marry. Perhaps they
have never spoken together in their lives; or
| the gentleman may have perused so many
newspaper accounts of domestsc civil wars
| that he regards the welded state with exag-
| gerated feelings of horror; and yet, in all
human probability, he will march to the sac
| rificisl altar in less than six months in as
serene and exalted state of mind as any
| man ever did before him, and there willingly
| and calmly submit TO the fastening of the
silken lie.


There is something remarkably strange in
| the mapping out of such a campaign. Tai
| ent, patience, cunning. art and perseverance
are all requisite to success, and the recon-
| pense is nothing; and yet the true match
maker will embark in such an undertaking
| with all the keen relish with which Alexan-
| der set out to conquer the world. The point
| is to see if the thing can be done. If it can
| be- and is done, the excitement of the effort
| and the triumph of the achievement consti-
| tute the remuneration. Very often time is
| consumed in such endeavors and money
| expended in divers ways. as in dress and
| hospitalities, but the end is regarded as fully
justifyiDg the means. When the couple are
securely married the campaign is over.
| Whether they love or hate, dwell in felicity
| or fight braveiy and separate, is nothing to
| the matchmaker. She has performed her
| duty in the premises, let them perform
| theirs; and by the time the first rote of dis
J cord vibrates through the social atmosphere,
| she is doubtless absorbed in still other
marital enterprises. She accords TO the par
| ticulars of the difficulty the same devoted
| attention that she would to exciting intelli-
gence from any other quarter. but no more,
| unless indeed, she possesses time and oppor-
| tunity to add few compustibles TO the fast
| developing flame.


| To be a successful match maker requires
| marked abilities and an iron Will. There are
| plenty of bunglers in the business, but an
expert is no mediocre parsonage. Many OF
| her qualities are those OF the most brilliant
| military leader. Her subjects may imagine
| themselves in love, when in reality she has
| controlled their mlnd-magnetzed them by
her will power and the subtlety OF her arts
| They have conformed 20 her desires. not for


the furtherance of their own happiness, but
| simply that she willed it should be so. Ex-
| traneous circumstances may have assisted
| her, but the design has been accomplished
| and she feels the full rapture of victory.
How is the match maker to be known?
''By their fruits ye shall know them Her


mission is to keep things moving in the
| social world; to counteract the effects of
liberal divorce laws: to drag young men
from lodging houses and hotels, and estab-
lish them in homes of their own; to keep
the ranks of matrimony recruited to the
fullest extent; and, above all, TO keep her


herself amused. Young men, beware of her
| eye of fell design.