Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 May 1886 — Matrimonial Agencies in France. [ARTICLE]

Matrimonial Agencies in France.

A writer m Le Temj>s furnishes some interesting information concerning matrimonial agencies in France. The first of these hymeneal institutions was established shortly after the revolution jof 1793. To-day there are over a hundred in Paris alone. Some are public; others private. The latter are the more open to suspicion, though the former are occasionally caught making dupes, and one agent, who had large offices near the boulevards, has just been condemned to two years’ imprisonment for swindling his clients. The writer visited several of the leadin g agencies. He says that during the last eight months one of them has succeeded in making no fewer than 202 marriages. The majority of them are kept by women, who appear to make a good The male clients are composed chiefly of pensioned soldiers, dismissed functionaries, and humble employes;-wbile the female applicants may be classed as elderly maids, wearied courtesans, or enriched cooks. The extraordinary number of ex-func-tionaries in search of wives is attributed to the constant change of governments. These unfortunate bachelors, finding themselves suddenly thrown out of office, and forced to ma ntain a oertain rank in society, resort to the matrimonial agent as a kind pf savior. Many belong to good but impoverished families. Of course, adventurers of both sexes are numerous among the candidates for matrimony; but that many bona fide matches are made by these agencies appears to be beyond doubt. Whether the couples so united by advertisement live long and happy lives forever after is a question difficult to decide.