Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1861-05-29
A TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE.

SAT earnestly talking. Their thoughts Wer
reaching away into the future; their them
| was marriage.
eI like him we'll enough,' said one of them
''but-' She paused, the objection unspoken
ssWhat is the impediment, Alice ?''
s'His income is too small.''
eWhat is it !''
"Eight hundred dollars year,
s'You might live on that.''
sLive Bah What kind of living ?''
ssNot in princely style, will admit" q
s.Nor scarcely in plebeian, Fanny. Eight
| hundred dollars! Why father pays six hun.
dred dollars rent and Pm sure our style ol
living is plain enough. Eight hundred! Oh
no. like Harry better than any young man
l have met. l could love him. no doubt
But he can't support a wife in any decent
style.'
married life on larger income than Harry
Pleasants now receives? Mine did not, as /
have often heard them relate.''
s:Father and mother Oh, according to
their story, Jobs famous turkey was scarcely
poorer than they were in the beginning.
Mother did all her own work, even to the wash
ing and ironing, believe. Fathers income
was not over three or four hundred dollars a
year."
ssAnd they were happy together, am sure.'
ssNo doubt. In fact, I've heard mother say,
that the first hard struggling years of their
life, were among the happiest she has known.
But that doesn't signify for me. That is no
reason why her daughter should elect to go
into the kitchen, and spend her years in wash
ing, ironing and cooking. If man isn't able
to support wife genteely, and in the style to
which she has been accustomed, let him mar
ry some Irish cook, sewing girl, or washer
woman, who will manage his houShold with
needed economy. Young men who can't earn
more than eight hundred or thousand dollars
year, should not look into our circle for
wives"
81 don't like to hear you talk in this way,
Alice" said her companion. ave are not
superior beings, but only the equals of men,"
s'Did say that we were superior ~
ssOne might infer from your language that
you thought 500
81 don't see how the inference can fairly be
DRAWN
sour circle for wives, you said just now"
ssWhat do you mean by that ?''
s'A circle of intelligence. refinement, taste
and cultivation replied Alice.
ssYou don't say wealth."
sNo. My father, though living in good
style, is not rich. l have heard him say, more
than once, that we were up to our income.'
ssIhen we have only our own sweet selves
with which to endow our husbands. No
houses, or lands; no stocks from which to
draw an income; nothing substantial on which
to claim the right of being supported in cost
ly ideness. We must be rich indeed, as to
personal attractions"
ssWe are educated, accompli shed, and
and Alice was little bewildered in
thought, and did not finish the sentence.
.s'No better educated, or accomplished, as
girls, than most of the young men who, as
clerks, earn only from seven hundred to a
thousand dollars year. In this regard, We
are simply their equals. But it strikes me,
that, in another view of the case, we cannot
claim even an equality. They are our supe-
riors.''
s:Not by any means,' replied Alice.
awe shall see. Here is Harry Peasants,
for instance. What is his income / think
you mentioned the sum just now."
'sEight hundred dollars year."
s.That is the interest on-how much ?-let
me see-about twelve thousand dollars. To
be equal as a match for Harry, then, you
should be worth twelve thousand dollars"
s'How you talk, Fanny -
ssTo the point, don'tI /? II we are not supe-
ror to the young men who visit us; superior
simply in virtue of our sex; then our only
claim to be handsomely supported in idle self
indulgence, must lie in the fact that we endow
our husbands with sufficient worldly goods to
warrant the condition"
s.You are ingenious.''
"No matter-of- fact. What have you to say
than young men of equal intelligence and edu-
cation 2''
"No; 1 cannot say that we are.''
"If we marry, we must look among these
for husbands. Rich men, a general thing,
select their wives from rich mems daughters.
Our chances in that direction not very
Your father has no dowry for
his child; nor has mine. Their families are
large and expensive, and little or nothing of
the years income is left at the years close.
The best they can do for us is to give us
homes; and feel that it is not much to our
credit that we are content to lean upon our
fathers, already STOPPING under the burdens
of years, care and toll, instead of supporting
ourselves. The thought has troubled me, of
late"
A sober hue came over the face of Alice, as
she sat looking into the eyes of her friend.
She did not reply and Fanny went on.
ssThere was wrong in this. On what ground
Of reason are we to be exempt from the COM
mon lot of useful work We expect to be-
come wives aud mothers. Is this our prepa-
.ation? Can you bake a loaf of sweet, light
bread ?''
"No.'
s.Nor can l. Or roast sirloin ?''
sNo.''
Cor broi steak !? Just think of it, Alice ?
We can manage q little useless embroidery, or
ancy knitting can sing and play, dance and
as to the real and substantial
hings of life, we are ignorant and helpless.
And with all this, forsooth we cannot think |
IF letting ourselves down to the level and
condition of virtuous, intelligent young men,
Who, in daily, useful work, are earning a fair |
We are so superior that we
must have husbands able to support us in |
luxurious idleness, or we will have none 1!
We are willing to pass the man to whom love |
would unite us in the tenderest bonds, be- |
cause his income is small, and marry for posi- |
ion one from whom the world turns with in |
,tinctiYe aversion. Can we wonder that so