Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-08-25
Seleft Story,
TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE.
BY t. S. ARTHUR.


Two maidens, in youthful bloom and
beauty, satearnestly talking. Their thoughts
were reaching away into the future; their
81 like him well enough" said one of
them, but
She paused, the objection unspoken.
What is the impediment, Alice?'
His income is to small.
What is it2'
Eight hundred dollars year..
You might live on that.
Live Bah What kind of living2
Not precisely in style, | viii admit
Nor scarcely in plebeian, Fanny. Eight
hundred dollars Why father pays six
hundred dollars rent, and I'm sure our
style of living is plain enough. Eight hun
Idred Oh, no, / like Harry better than any
young man / have met could love him,
no doubt. But he can't support wife in
any decent kind of style
| Did your father and mother begin their
marriage life on larger income than Harry
Peasants now receives? Mine did not, as /
have often heard them relate.
! Father and mother Oh, according to
story, Jobs famous turkey was scarcely
poorer than they were IN the beginning
Mother did all her own work, even to wash
4. l.
was not over three or four hundred dollars
year
And they were happy together, / am
quite sure.
No doubt, In fact, I've heard mother
say that the first hard struggling years of
their life, were among the happiest she had
known. But that dosen't signify. for me-
That is no reason why her daughter should
elect to 20 into the kitchen, and spend her
years in washing, ironing and cooking. If
a man isn't able to support wife genteelly,
and in the style to which she has been accus-
toned, let him marry some Irish Cook,
sewing girl, or washerwoman, who will man
age his household with theneeded economy.
Young men who can earn more than eight
hundred or thousand dollars year should
not look into our circles for wives.
i don't like to hear you talk in this way,
Alice, said her companion. We are not
superior beings, but only the equals of the
men.
Did | say we were superiorP
'One might infer from your language that
you thought So
/ don't see how the inference can fairly
be drawn
Our circles for wives, you said just now
Yes
What do you mean by it?'
"a circle of intelligence, refinement, taste
and cultivation, said 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 income
Then we have 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 10
claim the right of being supported in costly
idleness. We must be rich indeed as to per-
sonal attractions.
We are educated and accomplished, and
and
Alice was little bewildered in thought,
and did not finish the sentence.
Not better educated, or accomplished, as
girls, than are most of our young men, who
as clerks, earn only 800 TO 81 900 a year.
In this regard they are simply their equals.
But, it strikes me, that in another view of
the case, we cannot even claim an equality.
They are our superiors.
Not by any means, replied Alice
we shall see. Here il Harry Pleasant,
for instance What is his income2' / think
yon mentioned the sum just now.
Eight hundred dollars year.