The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-06-25
WIVES ARE ron THE FEW,

sAa - NS'h"h WtkeT ou AUeTlca \NlSteh)
calls It country Of old maids. But, how
TO preserve and. pickle tho vast mnsses of
Unemployed affections, seems at present to
Sbe the question in our country. So few are
the men who can afferd to marry, with the
still increasing expensveness of the luxury,)
that the amount Of warm hearts on hand
amounts to "glut Of the market" The
ladies, themselves, however fortunately,
seem to be apprehensive of its growing to
an Inconvenience. Thus writes one of them
"out West" where they usually are the
quickest to speak their mind. She ad-
dresses the Editor of the !SandusGy Reg.
istcr:
II: is mournful fact trat this world is
full of young men who want to marry, and
dare not. Deny this, as some will, it is,
nevertheless, true as we can easily show
In this town, for instance, there are some
thirty or forty young men, wel[to-do in the
way of salaries and business, yet whorefusc
to take the step which they all want TO take,
but do not; and why9 The large majority
of them have salaries ranging from five
hundred dollars per year,-and few have
eight hundred and a thousand dollars per
year. Now, the first question to he asked
by any sane man is, can properly support
wife if take one? Then he counts the
cost of living, as the woman of his prefer
ence would wish, and 10! he finds, to his
amazeE,ent, that his income is vastly too
small to support even modest modern es-
Enlistment and somewhat saddened by
the reflection, lie plunges into labor, and
courts business with an assiduity that takes
away his health eventually, in hope of at
tanning an income that shall enable him to
marry and hare home of his own. And
this is the secret Of all the hard, unendino
toll of the young men of to, day who are
fast approaching thirty years of age-,his
IS the reason Of so many disappointed men
and waiting women, deny it or hide it rs
you may.
But says the good woman, "you DO
us injustice; for any woman who truly
loves man will adapt herself to his cir
cumstances with the greatest pleasure. But
what man of any sensitiveness or high
sense of honor, would take n woman from
easy circumstances, and pleasant and we'll
furnished home, to adorn his little four
rooms and do his house work, as the first
principles of economy would demand of
Mm' Few will do it; for though the wo
man signifies her willingness to take up
with such experience, we are all such crca
lures OF circumstances that there would be
complainings on her part eventually, and
sickness or over exert;on, and unhappiness
from many cares-all Of which would rem
der marriage anything than pleasant. And
SO the young men very wisely think-pre-
ferr'ng few years more of single loneliness,
In order to obtain money enough to support
" modest house of between twelve or fifiecn
hundred dollars year expense, rather than
to place modcrnly educated woman into
the house of six hundred dollars year
where she must do her own work.
Now, what is the remedya Plainly
that women must fit themselves to be such
wives AS the young men must have. Else
tie young men must fit themselves to be
such husbands as the women want. and
spend the very choisest years of their life
in the dismal drudgery Of cesseless toll
breaking down health, happiness, energy
only to give themselves up to marriage
when the best of their manhood is gonc.-
Ihe women must choose for themselves
which it shall be, for the matter is sozelv in
the'r hands. Let mothers say to their
daughters put on that calico gown, 90 into
Tue kitchen and prepare dinner, take charge
OF this household, and fit yourself to be-.
come wife and mother-let the young
woman cheerfully consent to such service
and, instead of lavishing all thought. and
time, and money, upon the adornment of
the body, seek to accustom the hand to
proper industry, and to school the mind to
proper tastes-then there will DO no lonper
complaint that young men cannot afford to
marry and we shall have beautiful, modest
houses all around us, and women will
have loving husbands, and life shall
once more have something of the truthful
ness and virtue which it had in tile days Of
our blessed fathers and mothers, when it
was woman's ambition to become the head
AZ
OF tue house, and the mother of noble chill.
dreu.s,s
Eggs for Hatching.-It is not certainly
known how long the vitality of eggs will
last. We have had those of healthy young
hens matched that were twenty-eiglt days
old before they were set. But the chicks
were feeble, aud they all died before thev
were three months old. There is reson to
~, H. 8 ks1.-"