The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-11-18
Friday Morning, Nov. IS, 1864.
A Talk About Marriage.
BY T. S. ARTHUR.


Two maidens, in youthful bloom and beauty
sat earnestly talking. Their thought was
reaching away into the future. their theme
was marriage.
Il ike him well enough said one OF them
but
She paused, the objection unspoken.
What Is the impeachment, Alicsr
His income is TO smali'
What Is it?'
Eight hundred dollars year.
you might live ON that le
'Liyei bah What kind OF living?
Not IN priueelY style, 4 will admit =.
Not scarcely In plebeian, Fanny. Eight
hundred dollarsl Why, Iather pays six hun
dred dollars rent; and am sure Our style OF
living is plain enough! Eight hundredl Oh
no. like Harry better than any Young man
1have met could love him, no doubt Bat
he can't support wife la any decent kind OF
style
did your father and mother begin their
married lie on larger income than Harry
Pleasants now receives? Mine did not, as /
have often heard them relate
Father and mother! o, according to their
story, Jobs famous turkey was scarcely poor
or than they were In the beginning. Mother
did all her own work, even to her washing and
Ironing, believe. Fathers income was not
over three or four hundred dollars year.
And they were happy together, am sure.'
No doubt. In fact. Pve heard mother say
thai the hrst hard struggling years of their
life were among the happiest she has known.
But that doesn't signify to me. That is no
reason why her daughter should 20 into the
kitchen, and spend her years in washing, IRON
ing and cooking. II man isn't able 10 SUP
port wife genteely, and in the style to which
she has been accustomed, let him marry some
Irish cook, sewing girl, or washerwoman, who
will manage his household with the needed
economy. Young men who can earn no more
than eight hundred or thousand dollars
year, should not look into our circle for
wives, ul5lAd lI1N 88H 8NFl
Il don't like to hear you talk In this way,
Alice said her companion. we are not
superior beings, but only the equals OF
men, IL fF
Did say that we were SUPERIOR
'One might infer from your language that
you thought so.' sf#EHfffFh 4IEhffl
4 don't see how the inference can fairly be
drawn @ 74
Our circle for wives, you said just now?'
'Yes'k ~ - sAH eas
What do you mean by it?'
"A circle of intelligence, refinement, taste
and cultivation replied Alice.
You don't say wealth.
No. My father, though living in good
style, is not rich. have heard him say more
than once, that we were living up to our in
Gomez @t4Ta5
Then we have only our sweet selves with
which to endow our husbands. No houses or
lands, no stocks from which to draw an in
come; nothing substantial on which to claim
right to be supported in costly idleness. We
must be rich, indeed, as to personal attrac
tions.' haas res5 fssssts
we are educated, accomplished, and
and
uoo zoe a ut+lo ho,,,;Ido.od \ 4, 4l.,,.l4 -
did not finish the sentence.
Not better educated, or accomplished as
girls, than most of the young men who, as
clerks, earn only from seven hundred 10 thou
sand 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.' ssHt ~z
Not by any means,' replied Alice.
we shall see. Here is Harry Pleasrnts,
for instance. What is his income? l think
you mentioned the sum just now
Eight hundred dollars a year,
tThat- Is the interest 0n-hOW much p
let me see-about twelve thousand dollars.
To be equal, as a match for Harry, then, you
should be worth twelve thousand doilarss
How you talk, Fanny! AnAR AsAHA
TO the point, don't /? If we are not supe-
rior to the young men who visit us; superior
simply by virtue of our sex, then onr only
claim to be handsomely supported in idle self
Indulgence, mnst lie in the fact that we endoW
our husbands with sufficient worldly goods to
warrant the condition.
You are Ingenious
No, matter Of fact. What have you got to
say against my my position, Alice? Are we
better than young men, OF eqnal education
and intelligence?
No; cannot say that we are.'
LII we marry muSt l0ok ammo those for
husbands. Rich men, as general thing, gen
orally select their wives from rich mems
daughters Our chances In that direction
are not very encouraging. Your father has
no dowry for his child; nor has mine. Their
families are large and expensive, and but 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 l 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 theface of Alice, as
She sat looking into the eyes OF her friend
she did not reply, aud Fanny went on:
There is 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 and mothers. Is this our prepa-
ratiooP Can you bake loaf Of sweet, light
breadY
NO. 4ot @
No!
or oroil steak? Just think of 1t, Alice.
we can manage little useless embroidery,
or fancy knlttlng; can sing and play, dance
ana cnAtter-ont as to the real and substan
tlal things OF me- we are ignorant and help
less. AND, WITH all TINS, forsooth, we cannot
think Of letting ourselves down In the level
and condition of virtuous, intelligent vounr
men, who. in daily, useful work are earning .
fair independence We are so superior tbat
we must have husbands able to support us in
luxurious idleness, or we must have nonel-
We are willing to pass the man to whom love
would unite US In the tenderest bonds, because
his income is small, and marry, for position,
one from whom the soul turns with instructive
aversion. Can we wonder that SO many are
unhappy!
But eight hundred dollars, Fanny How
is itpossible for a married couple TO live II
any decent style In this city on eight hundred
dollars a-year%
They may live in very comfortable style, II
the wife is willing to perform her part
what do you mean by her part, Fanny?
I'VE will take 1t for granted that she is nc
better than her husband. That having brought
him no fortune beyond her own dear self, she
cannot claim superior privileges
sWellY eH
HE has to work through all the day.
well? M
under that equitable rule Is she exempt