The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-03-17

unquestionably good things to have in the
house, but unless reinforced by less ethereal
agencies, they will neither keep the house
nor pay the rent thereof. The results of
cookery are even more indispensable to our
mundane existence than the Establishments of
Cupid, and police regulations will not permit
the abandonment of clothing by Darby and
Joan, no matter how much they love one
another. Shelter, food and raiment, then,
the family must have. Can the class to which
we allude procure them in suitable quantity
and quality under the present regime? 1t is
doubtful, to say the least When our fathers
and mothers commenced their married life,
six or eight hundred dollars per annum
was thought enough to justify young
man in asking the woman of his
choice to share his lot, and q thou
sand dollars yearly income was considered
almost q competency; but the lovers who
nowadays form mutual joint stock COM
pany on no more capital than this are deemed
exceedingly sanguine, if not exceedingly
foolish and reckless 1t is next to impossible,
even with a guarantee of health, for man to
decently support himself, his wife, and child
saving nothing of children-on twelve hun
dred a year; and yet this is more than the
average sum which mechanics, employees, and
beginners in the learned professions can
realize. No man with an atom of pride cares
to march deliberately upon such uncertain
ground as this; much less to involve an inno-
cent and confding girl and helpless offspring
in the meshes of a poverty from which there
is small likelihood of escape. He prefers
and cannot surely be blamed for the prefer
ence-to buffet the world alone; to endure
his own discomforts philosophically, congra-
tulating himself that none suffer with him.
The result of this determination is plainly
observable. A majority of the young men
in any given community are not seeking
wives, and do not want to marry. Homes
and domestic pleasures are reserved for the
few and denied to the many; club life is be-
coming fashionable in the larger cities, and
French ideas and usages in regard to the rela
tions between the sexes are beginning to pre-
vail to an alarming extent.
Can this growing evil be arrested? Can a
reform be initiated and carried forward sue
cessfully until the desired end is gained
These are problems of infinitely more import
ance than those which Mrs. Stanton and Miss
Dickinson are discussing and 'orating upon
all over the country, and if our petticoated
apostles of progress would do little more
missionary work among their own sex, they
might assist in the securing of richer bless
ings than the gift of suffrage.
1t cannot be denied that the non-marrying
mania owes considerable strength to potent
influence which may, with propriety, be
christened Mrs. Grundyism." The Ameri-
can people have marked tendency toward
snobbery-a mean admiration and a mean
fear of things in themselves essentially mean.
Young people are unwilling 20 marry unless
they can assume certain status at once and
keep it. They are not content to begin life
as their parents began it, but insist upon
beginning where their parents left off. A
majority of the young women OF our day,
particularly, have morbid admiration for
style. They are taught to believe that to
marry poor man is the one objectionable
sin for whose terrible consequences there is
neither atonement nor recompense in this
world. To win q handsome establishment,
to be able to wear purple and fine linen, fare
sumptuously, roll about in an elegant equi-
page and lac esteemed n bright, particular
star in the armament of ''our best Society
these are the objects of ambition of too many
of those gentle creatures who might, if they
would, play nobler part.
When women understand their real mission
and are ready to fulfil it; when they are indie
pendent enough to despise the dictation of
''Mr. Grundy," and live for themselves and
those they love rather than the world; when,
for the sake of an honest, manly heart, they
are willing, if need be, to wear calico and
dwell in two rooms-we shall probably be
| able to chronicle the rapid decline and speedy
| abolition of the Unsocial Evil.