Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1854-08-03
Number SO.

REASON Why A BACHELOR DIDN'T
MARRY.-I lately read q newspaper
philippe against bachelors, which was
anything but Just. Indeed l sometimes
think that editors generally, with all
their supposed smartness, rush into
matrimony with the common crowd of
greenhorns. Does anybody suppose
that we bachelors are so from choice?--
that with malice prePsRss we have de-
voted ourselves to life of single un-
blessedness? | say no. It's because
we cannot find wives to our minds. I
speak for myself am 32; my appear
ance is as good as my neighbors; tenn
per allowed by my landlady and her
daughters to be excellent; habits sober,
and decidedly domestic; prospects,
good business, (:good, at any rate, for
four thousand year, and increasingly
with few thousand invested. Iwsnt
wife. am willing to marry as speed
1 lily as decent regard for conventional
rules will permit-provided can find
a proper person consenting to perform
her part Of the ceremony with me. 1
do not want doll, nor a spoiled miss
whose intellect cannot ascend beyond
the subject of dry goods. nor shrewd
beauty who, even in her teens, is schem-
ing to wed only an establishment 1
want a sensible woman, moderately un-
selfish, to share my fortunes; one who,
in return for unremitting kindness, viii
think it her duty to make ones home a.
little comfortable, and condescend, at
times, to take an interest even in but
tonless shirts--in short, 'helpmate,'
not burden!
/ was at one period rather smitten by
the attractions of Mary Jones. She
was handsome and 'accomplished'-i.e.,
she could dance, dress, write a bad
hand, prattle on nothing with great
volubility, and piano with some me-
chanical skill, but without taste or un-
derstanding. In the first stage of my
attack, l easily deluded myself into the
belief that she was the very person call
culated to make me happy. Ny cir
cumstances at that period were far bet
ter than at present. | proposed, and
my proposal was accepted. as were also
several costly presents / felt pleasure in
offering my fanees. The day was fixed
for our wedding. but week before its
advent, a confounded FIRE swept away
all / was worth in the world except a
few thousand dollars, just sufficient to
re- commence life with. Mary condoled
with me in my misfortune, coolly broke
off the engagement, and kindly retain
ed my costly presents-as souvenirs of
her broken promise, ! presume. l
thought this was pretty sharp practice
in girl of eighteen, and almost thank
ed the fire escape that had saved me
from immolation on the altar of Hymen.
She is elght-andtwenty now. Her
father has failed in business, and she is
still single, althogh, as learn, on the
eve of marriage with a widower of for
ty, who has a young family of six chill
dren and a precariors business in the
cheap clothes line. take this Oppor-
tunity of wishing them JOY, to show
that l harbor no i'll feelings against the
bride.
I Lucy Smith afterwards exerted all
the pretty little arts she was mistress Of
to ensnare me, and finally succeeded, to
a certain extent. found myself grow
ing most assiduous in my attentions,
and inclining more every day into ami
able 'spooney' state of feeling; but l
soon found that she strove with equal
pains to ensnare every fellow she met
with, even in my presence, and could
not refrain from practicing her strange
ocular experiments on married men,
l withdrew; for though | have no OBJ
jections to 'varities as spice of life,' I
do not approve of it as seasoning to
love or matrimony.
Maria Browns notions OF welded
bliss appeared to consist in an undis-
turbed state of rocking chairs and new
novels, relieved only with interviews
with milliners. Sophia abhorred the
idea of housekeeping and | who be-
lieve in domestic hearths, cheerful fire.
sides, and that kind Of obsolete thing,
as associated with married life, could.
not consent to be merely temporary
lord of a bed-chamber, even in the
most splendid of our hotels. Emma
fancies that a wife is pet to be dam
died, humored, and submitted to-s
lazy thing, on which every luxury is to
be lavished, without thanks or return.
OF course, she won't do for trades
man! She is well suited for doting
old gentleman, with much money and
little wit. In short, can't find a lady
TT to be the companion of an unpretend-
inc business man, and that is the res-
/ son why I am bachelor.
Sunday Times