PEOPLE WHO DO NOT MARRY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5686, 3 October 1896, Page 1

PEOPLE WHO DO NOT MARRY.

(Tit Bits.) ' ■ Strange as it may seem, there are people ' who voluntarily enter into compacts to 1 eschew matrimony and to remain in the ' state of single blessedness all their lives. Being usually family arrangements, con--1 ceived in the interests of Mammon; these unholy alliances place riches higher than happiness, and are, in fact, combinations 1 of cupidity against Cupid. { An understanding of the kind referred ■ to -was arrived at by the five members of 1 a certain Cheshire family a good many 1 years ago. The family, consisting of three j brothers and two sisters, possessed between ! them upwards of a quarter of a million ( pounds, and in order that their wealth ' should be increased rather than diminish ed, ' they all agreed never to marry, and that 1 when one died his or her property should ■ go to the survivors. These conditions had • so far been duly carried out ; and the two brothers and a sister, who still survive, L- being -upwards, of eighty years of age, there is not much probability of the compact i being broken. In the ordinary course of Nature, none of them can live much longer, , and their only concern now is as to which 1 is destined to be the last, and how he will I dispose of the accumulated family wealth. 1 Not logg since, the three daughters of > an American widow, largely influenced by i the sad experiences of some of their . acquaintances, determined never to trust ' themselves on the troubled sea of matri--1 mony. They communicated their decision : to their mother, who warmly approved of i it, and expressed her intention of taking . steps to insure due adherence to the . arrangement. Some little time after she died, and it was then found that she had left the whole 1 of her property to the three girls condition- . ally on their remaining single to the end of their days. In case either of them '._ married, her share was to be forfeited to . the others, and if the trio broke through > the engagement, the entire estate was to be devoted to charitable purposes. The fair legatees were rather disconcerted on learning the very practical manner in which they were bound to their agreement, which, up to the present, however, they have shown no disposition to depart from in letter or spirit. Another interesting "triple alliance" was that arranged between three brothers, whose father had died, leaving them an •' income of about =glso per annum each. Jointly applied, this was sufficient to maintain them in the style of living to which they had been accustomed ; separately, it would scarcely have sufficed. They would not work, and to avoid matrimony they were not ashamed — hence they entered into an agreement to live together, and to steel their hearts against the seductive wiles of all fair maidens who might be suspected of harbouring designs 1 upon them. The arrangement has, so far, worked very satisfactorily from the three , brothers' point of view ; but certain rbeni- ! bers.of the weaker sex have been heard to express decidedly strong opinions about it. As the result of a similar compact, the City of Sheffield benefited to the extent of .£120,000 last year. It appears that three brothers, who were natives of the cutlery town, agreed to remain single, the property of either of them dying to go to the survivors. The last of the brothel's died last year, after having added largely to his wealth by frugal living and judicious investments. For several years he had contemplated leaving his fortune for charitable uses, but it was only a short time before, his death that he finally decided to devote it to founding a convalescent home and a number of ahnshouses for the benefit of the poorer inhabitants of his native , place. 1 A rather pathetic case with an extremely disappointing ending was recently brought , to the writer's knowledge. A young , couple had been engaged for some time when the young man developed symptoms of consumption, which rapidly progressed , and reduced him to a mere shadow of his former self. Knowing he had but a few years to live, he considered it would be folly for him to marry, and stipulated with his fiancee that if she would remain unmarried he would make his will in her favour. The lady gave the required promise, and in the course of two or three years her lover died, leaving all his property to her. She appeared to be much concerned at her loss, and, to make a long story short, her grief was so acute that in a few months she felt compelled to console herself with another lover, whom she afterwards married and endowed with his generous predecessor's worldly goods. Frail fidelity this !

• W. Stranoe and Co/s good tailoring for fit, style and value is unequalled. Lord Gerard, whose income from his Lancashire coal-mines is so large that he Bcarcely knows what to do with his money, is an individual of very undecided mind. On one occasion he purchased" a magnificent place in Kent, and, after laying out about .£IOO,OOO on improving the house, grew tired of it and placed it on the market again, having obtained no further enjoyment ont of his new possession than the pleasure of spending money upon it.