Wilmington Daily Commercial

The London Marriage Market.

A sad sight in London society is the man or woman of half a dozen seasons, disenchanted of their first genuine delight in mere amusement, and disappointed in their hope of a "good marriage." They remind one of the statue of salt which Lot left in the wilderness, its blank face turned wearily to the city whence no more good could come. The undignified position of these veterans is hidden from themselves—at least let us hope so—though apparent to all others. They generally go by some nickname among their acquaintance, and as years go on the chains of habit become heavy on them, and when they would be glad to drop out of the ranks, somehow they cannot make up their minds to do so. How often have we seen such people. They would have been delighted if chance had torn them out of the silly round of parties and balls, and dropped them in a Richmond or Hampstead cottage, smothered in vines, and set in a meadow with a few shade-trees and a brook near by. But they will never have the nerve to put themselves there, and break with the longing habits of their sex. They must go on, making the most of their chance invitations to other men's tables, other women's homes; they struggle on spending on their dress and social appearance the little fortune which in the ideal cottage would not only keep them comfortably, but also provide them with a charming and intellectual companion, in the shape of a husband or wife. A great deal of nonsense has been talked in England about the impossibility of living on three hundred a year; but among scores the man or woman could prove what nonsense it really is. Even in America, where living is dearer, a man and his wife can live on $1,500 a year and be comfortable. A great many of these surface ornaments of society of whom we have been speaking, especially men, could live a happy, pleasant, cosy life, full of interest and full of work, on the same sum which now barely keeps them at their club and chambers, and just pays their tailor's bill. From the most to the least important of the army of London fashion, every individual is more or less wasting his substance, whether mental or material: but in none is the folly so glaring as in the old young man, whose income is slender and not always certain. -The Galaxy for November.