The
mistake of the "Northern Farmer" was that he applied the same middle-aged
caution to youth. "Doaent thou marry for munny; but goae wheer munny is," he
said to his son Sammy, who wanted to marry the poor parson's daughter. And
he held up his own love-making as an inspiration for Sammy:
And I went wheer munny wor, and thy moother coom to and
Wi' lots o' munny laaeid by, and a nicetish bit o' land.
Maybe she worn'd a beauty: I nivver giv' it a thowt;
But worn'd she as good to cuddle and kiss as a lass as an't nowt?
I have always hoped that Sammy rejected his father's counsel and stuck to
the poor parson's daughter.
There is no harm of course in marrying money. George Borrow said that there
were worse ways of making a fortune than marrying one. And perhaps it is
true, though I don't think Borrow's experience was very convincing. I have
known people who "have gone where money was" and have fallen honestly and
rapturously into love, but you have got to be very sure that money in such
a case is not the motive.
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