146 SOCIETY. 



unless attended by: one of the parents, a brother, or married female friend ; and Chile is not an 

 exception to the rule. Whence its origin? No one can believe that the unmarried girl has 

 inclinations < r propensities which compel the mother to exercise this want of confidence, unless 

 prepared to charge home to the mother such education of the child ; and therefore that such is 

 the condition of society in Catholic countries, reflects most vitally on the honor of their men or 

 upon the tenets of their creed. Has Protestantism the effect to render the women of a country 

 tolerating it more chaste, or are the men more honorable by nature? Which is it? One or 

 the other, or both, it must be ; for the confessional, that terrible engine of power, (and debase- 

 ment, too, perhaps,) sways an irresistible moral influence. It cannot claim even negative abso- 

 lution from the charge of interference, since none can deny that, through the mother, the 

 confessor rules supremely over every family. 



In the most important event of woman's life marriage she not only has neither right of 

 election nor time to overcome prejudices, but is frequently forced to marry a man whom she 

 has directly told: "I hate you; for God's sake don't marry me;" and that without having ever 

 exchanged a word with him, unless in the presence of a parent. Yet, she is beautiful and has 

 excited his passions, or is wealthy and has aroused his cupidity ; and what cares he for her 

 aversion? In one case, the honey-moon will scarcely have passed before he will be spending the 

 evenings at his old haunts, leaving her to make her own circle ; in the other, her fortune may 

 enable him to live in a style long coveted ; or, what may be still worse, it may afford him oppor- 

 tunity to gratify a passion for gaming. Though each was somewhat remarkable in its way, two 

 marriages of a different kind occurred very shortly after our arrival. The first was between a 

 young couple remarkable for their personal beauty and standing in the social scale. He was penni- 

 less ; herself wealthy. They had accidentally met some four or five years previously ; and though 

 neither of them was then grown, they were " smitten at first sight." Excluded from the house of 

 the father, every opportunity was availed of to visit her at the church door, on her way to mass, 

 and at the balls of the philharmonic club, when they entered society. At the church he could 

 touch her fingers, when offering holy water ; and at the ball-room the dance permitted a few 

 words of conversation. As he was known to have squandered every farthing left by his father 

 at cards, as soon as her parents suspected what was going on, she was scolded, watched, and 

 every possible effort made to prevent even visual intercourse. But he seemed ubiquitous; 

 whenever she appeared in public, he was just so far off as to keep up her excitement and interest, 

 following in all her walks. Wearied by his persecution and her obstinate liking for him, her 

 parents at last confined her to her own apartments, hoping to destroy the predilection. Her 

 health failing, a journey to Valparaiso became necessary, as the only probable place where the 

 admirer could be avoided. Vain hope! on the subsequent day he was found promenading in 

 front of the house they had taken, and within twenty-four hours had succeeded in obtaining a 

 room on the opposite side of the narrow street, so narrow that he might whisper to his dulcinea 

 from the balcony without being intelligible to the passers-by below ; and of course he could 

 watch every movement, so long as her windows were open. As their house overlooked the bay, 

 the mother closed the front windows, retreating to the sea-rooms. Alas, poor lady! she " reck- 

 oned without her host." All the next day his boat was idling beneath their northern balcony; and 

 as soon as night came, a serenade was improvised, to add yet more to the romance. Mother 

 and daughter forthwith returned to Santiago ; his importunity and her unfailing constancy had 

 carried the day. Their marriage was consented to, for the daughter was dearly loved; but with 

 the consent was coupled the condition that she was dowerless, and henceforth and for ever her 

 paternal home would know her no more. A relative was despatched to the wooer with these 

 items of intelligence, and a notice that he might claim his bride at the earliest moment. This 

 was scarcely looked for: he was not prepared to act so suddenly; and, alleging want of income 

 to support a wife at that time, he promised to marry her as soon as he should receive an 

 appointment which had been promised to him from the government. And it so resulted; though 

 not before friends, who were strenuous in efforts to obtain the office for him, had very gen- 



