Hereditary Elopements.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 360, 17 April 1889, Page 6

Hereditary Elopements.

I am nob prepared to say whether marriage in general is a failure, bub runaway marriages certainly are in one sense,' said an old physician yesterday. • They are a success in being imitated by several generations that follow. Many years ago an elopement was a matter of great public interest, and was usually accompanied by some thrilling incidents, such as a pursuit by the angry father and possibly a pitched battle between the young man and the girl's male relatives. In this way some of the old-time runaway matches were impressed on my mind. You would be surprited if 1 were to show you the record of the descendants of some of the&e gay old couples. It seems to be a family trait in many instances, and the mania runs through several generation". I know one gentleman who has never forgiven one of his children for eloping, and yeb he Kin oil' with his bride thirty years ago, and there have been three or four similar escapades in the same family. His descendants will i keep on running away until the mania wears itself out; it seera.s hereditary, and the children can no more help running away than they can help looking like their parents.