SUBJ: Questioning the Veracity of the "Young Bride" Piece
Contributed (albeit indirectly) to HumourNet by Ernest Adams,
amateur historian <ewadams@netcom.com>

Posted to HumourNet with permission.

[Editor's Note: Though I enjoy a humorous piece as much as the next
guy, I *do* try to alert my readers to cases of "urban legend"
whenever possible. Mr. Adams makes some very convincing arguments
that seriously question the veracity of the "Young Bride" piece. I
felt his treatment of the subject matter was persuasive enough that
it warranted inclusion here. You can, of course, draw your own
conclusions. </vs>]

I'm convinced this is a phony. I've read a lot of material written
in the 1890's, and this "document" contains numerous anachronisms
and internal inconsistencies:

* Despite the pious trappings at the beginning, there is no further
mention of religion -- inconceivable if the title were genuine.

* No marriage manual of the time would have suggested to a woman
that she start "arguments, nagging, scolding, and bickering."
Indeed, they would have told her that her function is to create the
perfect home and preserve domestic harmony at all costs.

* The consistent use of the word "sex" to refer to sexual
intercourse. This is a modern usage. In the 1890's it would have
been referred to "the sex act" if not in even more euphemistic
terms.

* Oral sex was considered such an abomination at the time that no
reputable organization would have published a document which
mentioned it. Anyone who DID publish such a document faced
prosecution under the Comstock Act and possible jail time. (George
Bernard Shaw's play "Mrs. Warren's Profession," written in 1894,
was censored in Britain because it was about a prostitute, although
it contained no explicit language at all.)

* The expression "turned off the lights" is an anachronism. A
publication from 1894 would have said "turned down the gas" or
"extinguished the lights (or lamps)." Although some electrical
service was available in 1894, no one would assume that most readers
had it.

* It's far too blunt, and too short. Try reading an 1890's
newspaper article sometime. Anything written for publication tended
to be long-winded and flowery.

This sounds like it was written by a male misogamist creep about 2
years ago, not 102 years ago.

Humor? Nah ... just sexist stereotyping.

- Ernest Adams
  4 Sep 1996

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