QUICK MARRIAGES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8965, 3 August 1905, Page 3

QUICK MARRIAGES.

An American lady contributes to the London Daily Telegraph an. interesting article on the la-xity of the marriage law in the United States. She- s-xys : — In America, ••the land of tlie free." it is a shade easier to g?t married than it is to bo disorced. Until recently in New York it was possible to saier into a com-mon-law marriage under extremely simple conditions. There was no ceiemony, civil or religious, not even a contract, verbal or written, between th? pa: ties entering into the relation. To inscribe ther name on an hotel registrar as man and wife was enough to make it a legal marriage; or. if a man introduced a woman as his wife it- came to the same thing. This extremely froe and easy form of matrimonial alliance has now keen done away with, but the resultant complications are still in the Courts. American girls ar& impulsive, and the great freedom permitted to them enables them to get easily enlang!eJ in unpremeditated matrimonial alliances. For instance, a man and a young girl were automobiling. "I am not airai do: anything,' 1 as c/> rt°<l th° girl. "Y-.u ar-* sf'"aid to marry r.»5 right now,"

said the young man.

'■tin. L'.n -_-i.sw if you are-," r-et-orted the '" j^J *'-«n they wpr.t, to thp. house- of the -. v ■ '. _„ c" ._•; t .-• I'- -: :rA w:-i-

Ov.-r Im r»or<-("r :••.,.>. ir

which i- at. J. - art in •:> . jrri..^ 1?-. -. the??: is a. f<-..\ knov.T. fi end. '•' .de for the cc] :i!y ami eav v.-'i . > ''.i:<\\ t^nplrs

fleeing from irate parent* i.'.c-y Ie

in wedlock. In Ohio, for instance, where the laws are severe, young folk wishing to evade- them cross the Ohio River at a certain point, and at a little town in Kentucky known widely as Gretnc Green. "Marrying parsons," -as they are popularly known, are to be found m ; mc3t- of the easy marriage stations. These dominies are ambitious to make records, and are widc-'y a.-lvtrtisi'l by grateful clients. Persons ..-^.t.? to~tht-m from far and near, and m :, little o::t-of-the-way place one of

"marryL'ig parsons'" may have 10C0 a y>.r (o his c:edit — or discredit. In New Y-'»rk City there is a famous ciiur^.i l.no.vn as "The Little Church Around the Comer," although its proper title is "The Church of the Transfiguration."' It is a picturesque Episcopal Church. and its record of marrbges far -surpasses

that of any other church in the city. Some

years ago, when the Puritan feeling about theati-icai folk was more dominant than it is to-day, a celebrated actor died. Some ot his friends went to the austere pastor of a fashionable Presbyterian Church to arrange for bis funeral. ''We do not do that &crt of thing in this church," he replied U) their request,, "but there is a little ckurch just around the corner where they may accommodate you." The indignant actors went .to the benevolent rector of the clmrchrktp whom.,, they had been "so slightingly YefwfecU He showed th*« the greatest consideiation, and from that day this church has been recognised above all

others by the theatrical folk.

They had

him t>mied from there, and more of- them __. fiave married f jom there. The marriage of so many ados and actresses advertised the church as a marrying centre, and runaway c-ouples of all degrees, and thousands who had no chuich relations, sought its friendly offices. Within a year, however,

the eki gy of th* parish have made stricter

and it h no longer so easy as it , Hfcised to bo to be married there, by day or night, and ji-o questions asked. Failing convince thf lector or his assistants of Little Chr.Mh Around the Corner of eligibility, impatient couples have' P the city hotel chaplain to fall back upon. X Ho can bo reached at any time through f any hoiel in York City, and will marry a couple between trains if desired. \ Kecen^ly an Englishman and his intendedbride came over in one of the ocean steamships. The lav/ in this country prevented his marrying liU deceased wife's sister. American lav; would eoßdone far graver offencts Ihiui lLai. The couple went to an hotel, were mai : led by the- hotel chaplain, and went Ikicl: to England by return steamer. Thus the Uiivted States offers asylum, tewpoiary or permanent, to those oppressed by the laws 0£ conventions of an older civilisaiicn. Ono doea iw<t need the services of a clergyman at clLiolie joined in, wedlock. There aro numor-qas other persons who may te called upon legally should the clergy prove reluctant. The Mayor of the city has powt-r cf this, sort, and in most places the ald-ermen ali-o. In New York City "Little Tim" Sullivan, a popular local politician, holding flldermanic office, marred 15 couples one morning. The same week 21 divorces wore granted by a single judge lir-247 /ninutcs, and that in' New York, ■where only one cause for divorce exists. Throughout the rural districts justices of the peace- are resorted to by the poorer classes. These civil marriages do not require a religious -form in addition. They are s»uff.cient in themselves to constitute legal maniages. It is the loosen* vs of the divorce laws in this country that accounts, to a large degree, for the inegnlarities and peculiarities of many marriages. While a divorce is being granted in one room a parson or justice may be waiting in the next to make ome of the parties the mate of another person. Njt long ago a- couple just divorced saw tkat it was all a mistake, and within 15 minutes after the granting of the decree tney were reunited, the judgewho granted ih« divorce^-niaking them man and wife

again. It'isaot uncommon for a divorced - couple to try ythe experiment' of - marriage over and ov-fc again. __ One^ couple on the Chicago recoups lias, been remarried four . times. .--. A • So notorious^iave ' been^ sank oases__of persons of grofif wealth and .social prominence, v.ho w-ere. divorced in,wisational circumstances, and rued with' indecorous "haste, that pnblic&sentiment and religious sects loudly denounce the system -.which makes such outrag«||against decency pos- /. \sible.. •