MARRIAGE IN FRANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 22, 26 January 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

MARRIAGE IN FRANCE.

A SERIOUS BUSINESS

Get tiny married is generally looked; upon as a "serious business," but la England the actual act of being tied up to a partner for life is almost as easy as falling down stairs.

Jn France it is very different—£ serious business indeed, and a most laborious process. The innumerable formalities—many of them silly, most of them vexatious, and some of them, costly —that have to be observed before a couple can hope to be pronounced man and wife by Monsieur le Maire are enough in themselves to account for the apparent indisposition of French people to wed. M. Pierre Louys, a French novelist, gives a remarkable example of the tribulations that befel a couple who desired to set up house together in a manner agreeable to les convenances. The victim is a workman aged thirty. The woman whom he has endeavoured to make his wife is twenty-five years old, an orphan and divorced. The parties are of an age to know their own minds, and so far as the st?te is concerned no. conceivable objection exists to their union. Armed -with every document bearing on his identity lie could think of, the workman repaired to the town-hall of his district. His certificate of birth was pounced on at Once by a clerk. It was out of date, a recent law requiring that all such, documents to be legally valid must have been delivered withinthe prevloui three months. To obtain a fresh ee>tificate the workman had to write to the village where he was horn. Tne delay was fatal. "While he was await* ing a reply !his parents unexpectedly came in for a little money, and In their altered circiimstanees their prospective daughter-in-law ceased to flnfl favour in their eyes. Now, in Franoa, whatever your age, you cannot marry without the consent of your parents until after the accomplishment o( certain formalities. His family re« maining obdurate, the workman duly had them served with the prescribe^ number of "respectful notices," at the very considerable cost, for a man in his position, of £3. The operation lover, he returned to the town-hall, where Ihe clerk pointed out he was just a week too late. Every one ot the documents he had to produce waa now more than three months old, and as worthless as waste paper. Thej1 had all to be renewed, a proceeding involving" no small outlay and grea< loss of time. The workman did as ]je was bid, and re-appear>ed before tha registrar with his batch of newly* delivered and attested "papiers." This time he ventured to demand the pub' lication of his banns in a confident tone. His assurance was premature," When the clerk came to take down t&o particulars about his future wife he was asked to produce a copy of the sentence pronounced by the Dlvorcs; Court. He !had not got it, being Ignorant that it was necessary. H(w« ever, he was rather comforted on hearing that nothing was easier than to procure it, and he hurried off to the Palais de Justice for the purpose. There, he learned that he must pay )£S for the required document. Tbts sum. exceeded his means, and lie ia still unmarried.

M. Pierre Lonys has been polnttnf out the absurdity of supposing thflt the law now before the Senate, ivhicto imposes a petty tax on bachelors and old maids, will do anything to remedy the stationary state of the population in Prance. The novelist urges that \o facilitate marriage would be far more to £he purpose. His campaign has elicited from one of his readers a tale of woe which it may be thought' "will be a revelation to dwellers in lands less benighted than France from thd point of view of the matrimonially, inclined!. . ". j

The first remark of many people oti learning- of the death of Henry Russell is likely to be an expression of their belief that he had died years ago (says the Glasgow "Herald). This is not surprising, as the veteran song-writer had not only reached the remarkabW age of 87, but had retired from publio life over 40 years ago. the middle decades of the century he composed and published over 800 songs. Only a handful.of these have survived —such ditties as "Cheer, Boys, Cheer," "To the West, To the West," "The Old Arm-chair," and "A Life on the Ocean Wave" —and we fear it is the names of these songs rather than t!he conr positions themselves that have achiev' ed a niche in the memory of the public. Their sentiments have too mucii of the simplicity of the Early Victorian era, when our forefathers were not ashamed of sentiment, for an age' that is more sophisticated but not more cultured, as is demonstrated by; the popularity of the vapid drawing-^, room love-songs and doggerel rant of i the soldiers-of-the-Queen-m'lads type. Both as a composer and a vocalist Bus* sell led a busy and useful life, securing a measure of durable fame which, iQ' view of the ephemeral nature of popu* lar songs, may almost be described a3 immortality.

What is the view of the averagel child upon the problem of corporal punishment? Three thousand children in America and a thousand ilt -'.j London, ranging from eight to fifteen . years, were asked to name the pxnv-.s ishment which should be meted out td 1 a child of six who, having been given 1 a box of paints as a birthday present, | forthwith employed it to redecorato I the drawing-room furniture. Forty, | per cent, of the children of eight yearS 1 and 49 of those of nine years in Ameri* I ca were in favour of whipping OB j some other form of physical correo* S tion, and the percentage gradually :j dropped until at 15 years only 10 pelf cent, advised that course. In London 34 per cent*, at eight years and 35 at :. nine years suggested corporal pu»" ishment, dropping to 5 per cent, at 15 years. These figures were given ty ■;■; Miss Young, of the Home and Colonial Training College, at a meeting recent* = ly, and though she preferred not to. ■ draw any moral from the different* j in the percentages from America ana ■ \ England, she drew the obvious ooif \ elusion that as children grew okle* ' they developed more reasoning ~ power.