Life was dominated by rigidly conservative principles.

The old scheme of family life, with all its patriarchal survivals, remained in force.

In spite of the law, embodied in the Statute of 1835, which fixed the minimum age of the bridegroom at eighteen (and that of the bride at sixteen), the practice of early marriages continued as theretofore.
Parents arranged marriages between children of thirteen and fifteen.
Boys of school age often became husbands and fathers, and continued to attend heder or yeshibah after their marriage, weighed down by the triple tutelage of father, father-in-law, and teacher.

The growing generation knew not the sweetness of being young.

Their youth withered under the weight of family chains, the pressure of want or material dependence.