FINANCE AND MATRIMONY.

Western Star, Issue 377, 4 September 1880, Page 1 (Supplement)

FINANCE AND MATRIMONY.

!I*HE OED' STOBT ;-'■'.' '■.' : betoed. '•';■■'''' ■ '. : Theodore Child writes from Paris; to. the New York Suii as follows": In France'marriages are made hot in heaven, but in ithe notary's parlor. A man with a position worth so much can marry a wife jwitha dowry of so much. < It is all reckoned according to a. sliding scale. Theoretically the wife ought to have a dowry ;the. interest on the capital of which is 'equal in amount to the annual earnings of the husband. This is the theory.; the practice departs from it. but very slightly. iMarriages of love are rare, and,marriages ! of. reason are not on the increase. I jdo notj propose letter to treat the question of marriage in Prance from the point of view of statistics which would more than bear out my statement above; I will simply treat it from the point of view of a Prenchmah, by reporting as faithfully as I can"remember of a conversation which I happened to overhear in a; salon a few nights ago.' The salon jwas in the Boulevard Malesherbes, in one of those luxurious abodes where the modern stockbrokers live like princes. Two I men still young—that is to say, on the j fright side of forty—were lounging in a corner of the room, with eye-glasses fixed j and restless eye, seeking rather to see i than be seen. | ! At the moment when the orchestra gave the signal for a fresh quadrille, the elder said suddenly to the other : ■ "Look, my friend ; there is the charming person I wished to show you." j "That little brunette with a white rose Jn her hair ? " " Yes."

" Yery. pretty, indeed; large blue eyes and long lashes." ■ " Well; ydu -have only to ask her hand, in the old style!. Ypuwillobiairi.it." " One question ! Permit me. ; What is the figure of her dowry? " , ; " Three hundred thousand frjahes." ~

" A mere nothing ! I might as Wei! at once buy ft! rope, to hang myself with, Merci,montrescJiep".: ... ■> , ; ..,' . ,:, "Whatj Three hundred thousand francs ; do you call that nothing ?," ( :>'> •■• •■ e'td '•' ' r ' :i ' "Explain yourself, I pray." ' ; '• •; ; ; "Three hundred thousand francs in 1880. The gameisnotWorththe'caridle." ."Weiip" / ,:; „ ' -.•'•'.//•' :"■'■'■

" For safety's sake, iri order to avoid bankrriptcy, a dowry of three hundred thousand francs would be placed in State securities at three per cent., or else in railway stock guaranteed by the State." "Admitted.". ..... . '■

" Consequently it does not bringin five per pent., Nevertheless, let us suppose that the dowry; when iriyestpd, does bring in five ■ per cent. ; that an income of 'fifteen thousand frarics. The little brunette witi a white rose, in her hair wdiild cd3t in ->?■/> that."' ■ " AhJ you, dk\ t inean. that. ?" ■ ,:,■••

" You will see. My dear fellow, I go to-the Bourse every day; and I must be allowed to;know: something about arithmetic. Now; let us" consider, arid make our calculations. The little brunette, is pretty, therefore she must be seeri, and therefore she must be'well dressed. She must at least have two dresses each season, which'makes bight costumes a year. These, costumes-will cost, the trifle ; of six thousand francs at the i least,; considering the present price of ribbons, :silk, velvet and dressmakers' work." i " : ."Cood ;-six thousand francs." ' ' , ■ "Love,and by love I meari marriage, likes linen white as driven snpyr. liiheri, lace,' gloves, hair dressing, perfuritery, jewelry; Will Cost, say/tWOihousarid francs and that is a ridiculously .small sum. T,hen-I haVp riot reckoripd, shoes. She has the/feet of/a fairy, ahd;Sp she needs silk stbckingsj/c.hamber brodegwiiis like those of: Cihderplla,, and what not. Put' Brio ther thousandfranes.'' .voj;J ' i , '/ oo" Well, that Will bring us up to hirie thousand francs'." • -'. ; ' :;r; '.// .'/ '•

I : . "'/Elave I iri'cluded hats, -bonhets,/aytifi- ! cwiWo/wbli,' feathers,/ veils,, muffs, .false i hair! Pnrjo?' use false hair.. No ! : Well let ine be liberal/for! once and not 'reckon those items.- Still* there :are Acer- ! tain small expenses which iare iridispenI sable i therd is the piano; and the tuning : of it, new musibi new novels, an I ted journal, Vie Parisiemie, writing' iriaJterials, postage-stamps; 'W'opl-wdfk, a seat at o church or'at the synagogue, knickr | kriacks to'be bdught,''alriis. to "be, giyepi ,Fpr; all; thkt : let /us say, fifteeri:hundred 'francs, t /beg you/, will Remark that I 'h/avej out of. pure magnanimity, not said a | word about the necessary things of life—r I house, rent; table, cellar and servants; I ; have not done. so, i b ecause in the actual js'tate, of society it is- admitted on all | hands thut a wife is no longer •an object idf utility,-but 5 ari • object of iiixury. We Imust therefore contiriue calculations i'dri the 1 hypothesis; NdWmadariiej having ; brought With her a ; dpwry/bf. three hunidred thousand francs, thinks herself aliniost ;.Bpsides_ the other ser-i vahts, she must have &<femme de chambre, specially devoted.: jto ,her, service. The :wages, board; lodging and,presents of'this chatriberiinaid will at least- 2000 ;francsl"'- t"*-'d Znoitiyir i

; ««Very good 1 ; 12i500 frarics." , ' . "There is ah iterriwhich lought to have imentipnedamongrthe,first—it is that .of ■washing., Forhie'rly washing was nothing. 'ln. Louis-Phillippe's, time, ,< when people inevertheless flattered themselves on being imoderately; clean, washing, used to cost ivery little, because rriuch less linen was shoWn than is now; the case ; and then, againi it was the custom for ladies* eVen if they wtere princesses* to look after their owniirien- Biit all that has been changed. Nowadays there is not; a petite boiirgeoise who does not spendljSOO francs a year in ;washing. I therefore propose this figure: lat the risk pf hiaking my contemporaries irradiate their countenances , with a smile of pity. •; " Fourteen thousand francs is our present total.". ....' . '. ' ■ ■ "

" Wait I During the winter Madame will hsve beeri,in society, at the theaitre, at dinner .at races. .. Suriimer ; 'cpmes. Ah! grimmer is' vacation time for /the Women of Paris.; Paris, rivals Zanzibar In' heat. ' It would be almost indecent for a pretty face to be seen sowe must goto the'watering places—to Switzerland,, to Mendonor to the seaside,.. Madame will throw, her, arms around .Tier husband's neck and re-; mind him ; that it is the usage to leave Paris in the summer. To go; to Yichy or Etretat, to stay.simply a month with your wife and the inseparable chambermaid will cost say 2,000 francs. I [defy ydu to do it for less. We have now gorie beyond pur income of 15,000 francs, and Heave you to be the'judge of my figures. Well, this is ridthing. '

". Sixteen thousand francs for having committed matrimony ; do you call that nothing? "

"No, my dear fellow, it is merely the beginning, just think for a moment of the almost inevitable consequences of marriage. . By keeping strictly to the programme, which, I have' traced, by using the income of the dowry as I have supposed, by working, by spending nothing on, superfluities on his side, by providing for the household expenses, and .so forth, a man might find no reason to repent of having married. Bat you are aware why society advocates marriage; it is in order to perpetuate the race. • Let us suppose that you have only a son and a daughter, or what the bourgeois call a king'sdesire. Gracious heavens]! have.'you reflected on the seriesfof servitudes .without name which his, paternal felicity involves? ... The.; nurses, schooling,, tprofessional training, a dowry—no, I dare not enter into details. It would make

your hair stand on end. No! no! Let others cull the white rose; I am not a marrying man. $ , , , . The two young men-' retired 'to the buffet arid i left me to. think. Whose fault is it -that niy stockbroker's friend is not a mar'ryittg man P ' Is it' the fatllt/'o-J the girls or of modern society | Formerly 'a yoiirig Sri of seventeen used to blope with a' handsbme musketeer, or escape from a cbhv'eht/School with the help.of. a ladder. / So the novels o|: those days ,w'ere,;full of musketeers, ladders and elopements. In tbose.days the heart spoke at :the; age ,of Bixteeni nowadays it waits before-it ;becbm'es. the home of tenderness..' As the conversation of my two stockbrokers would lead, you •to suppose, the drearils of the young girls Of modern France are dreams otpride. She marries a man only/on oohditipnthat he gives her a position ih/'so;ciety, ;a handsome fbrturie,, arid a fine hpuse.V A young man who has,hopes is refused;. an old man'; who has no longer anything to hope for is preferred. C-Mt tristeyinaisc'est'conmeca.) • J ;,;: