The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1867-08-06
Why Young Men do not Marry

Rev. Robert Collyer, the eminent Uni
tartan clergyman, recently preached a SER
mon in Chicago on "Our Daily Bread"
in the course Of which he discussed So
cial questions, and explained why young
men do not marry
"Whcn one said lately in the presence
of frank, ou,spokon young woman in
this city, that the reason why young men
do not marry was that their wives would
not be content to begin to live in home
y fashion, after they had been raised in
luxury, she replied, the woman is quite
as willing as the man TO do that, and
know of no woman III the circle of my
acquaintance who would not be content.
for the sake of the man she loved, to cast
her lot with him and make his interest in
every way her own | believe the young
woman spoke tho truth. When hear "A
man living in chambers and constant in
his Attendance at play and opera say |
dare not marry, because | know no wo-
man would live as one should have to
live, | say to myself, it may be true, but
it looks very much like old Adam, who
ate the apple and then turned around and
| Laid the blame on the woman. Let this
be ms it VIII. Here is the dismal fact
staring Us everywhere in the face, and in
no place more painful than in our own
city, that Tor social, conventional, or still
worse reasons, the best youth Of the coun-
try is held back from its most sacred duty
as well a' It's most perfect felicity-Ialls
into the sad mistake of long engage
mcnt, in which the pain and disappoint-
mcnt falls hardest on the woman; or the
young man shuts his eyes and his heart
when the spirit walking among the golden
lamps whispers TO him of some maiden,
THAT is thy wife, and says no, not yet
for many year TO come'-and SO mar
RIGS at last away on in life, when both
lines have become set in their own fash
ion, and their love is hardly long enough
to give them the kindly mutual lorbcar-
ance towards what is dissimiar in char
acter and disposition, until thcy can be.
come
''Scll revc-ent and rcvcrcncing each
Alike in iAdiyilualic-,"
and so the best of the days of the best Of
our youth 90 by and find l dare not
wait upon | would
In the name of all that is sacred, |
ask why this i, and get for my answer.
We cannot afford it The young farm
cr can afford it on the prairie; the miner
on Superior the woolman on the penin-
sula; the carpenter at his bench the
smith at his anvil the operative at his
frame or loom the 'longshoreman and
the sailor. That cluster of men down
there in pennsylvania, ana those in York
| shire whose mere Young men were with
me long years ago, lost no time and asked
no questions, because some night instinct
told them they must do that or worse
worse in any and every way they could
/ look at it; and so | can remember, rs If
it were yesterday, how speedily these
found the wife and went to housekeeping
in one room or two, rs they could man
age II, and made the haamer ring with
new music, and gradually got their house
and household goods, and the world has
never failed them, no, not for II day; but
through dark future and bright, and sick
ness and strength, they have found the
deepest experiences of their life each with
the other, for the Great Heart and Inter
prefer 20 together on their pilgrimage,
and now they see their children coming
up 10 manhood and womanhood about
them, with the freshness of their own
youth in their hearts, and know, though
probably they cannot tell, the deep con-
tent of lite ordered after the fashion
God gave them when he created them
man and woman.
"But here are men with noble powers,
with faculties that will insure them
greater place, living in the most plentiful
land on the globe, evening themselves
through the years of their youth with the
poor lost tribe of ballet-singers, the lone
hest of all those to whom God had given
a chance, and when you get at their real
reason it is either one or the other of these.
They cannot believe what, If they have
lived in the country, they have seen twen-