Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1871-03-03
Marriage Statistics.

THE hard and unpleasant truth may as
well be stated-namely, that marriages
occur in accordance with large general
facts, over which individuals can exercise
no authority, and that in numbers they are
in no wise affected by the temper and
wishes of the people. This first act about
marriage is not only prosaic but humiliat-
ing. Shall not these people choose COM
panions for life, and listen to the clerical
What God hath joined together let no
man put assunder," at such time as they
may mutually agree upon? BY no means
The law says they shall do neither of these
things; and the popularity of this law is
that it cannot be violated. Furthermore
all who desire it will not be permitted to
marry What is to be said of such immit-
| igable tyrrany as this? Not marry when
we choose, and whom we choose! Not to
| be consulted as to whether we shall mar
ry or not! What is life worth if these
things are to be decided without our
knowledge or consent? Not much, per
haps; but we might just as we'll learn the
disagreeable fact at once, and submit TO it,
Nature is fond of cheats, and plays her
charlatanry irrespective of persons-
"Men are the sport of circumstances, when
The circumstances seem the sport OF men,
Leaving the domain of fancy, we find
the plain statistical facts concerning mar
riage running somewhat in this wise;
The average age of women, when they
marry, is 25.46 years; and, of one hun
dred who reach this age, twenty one will
never mary. With men it fares different
ly for, strange as it may seem, more
women than men get married, and, of one
hundred of the latter who reach the mar
riage age of 29.5 years, twenty-five will
die bachelors. Thus about onc-ffth of
our people are doomed to die unwedded,
whether they prefer it or not.
Now, the marriages that occur in New
York number year by year, about nine
thousand two hundred and eighty
eighteen thousand five hundred and sixty
person-and for every one of these mar
riages there will at some time be left a
widow OF widower, for it rarely happens
that husband and wife die at the same mo-
ment. Some of these widows and widow
overs willremarry-more of the latter than
the former, and because of this fact the
actual number of women who marry will
exceed the actual number of men, The
rule seems to be that about one in three
widowers, and about one in four widows,
remarry.
OF one hundred marriages, about thir-
teen of the men will be widowers, and only
eleven of the women will be widows, the
bachelors numbering eighty ty-seven, and the
spinsters eighty-nine. On general
principles, there may be no serious objec-
ton to old Weller's advice, Beware of
vidders;" but we, not basing our conclu-
sion upon domestic experience, but upon
a series of mathematical calculations, can
absolutely affirm that widows do not, by
any MEANS monopolize the matrimonial
market and that there is more to be
feared from one spinster than from dozen
widows-let bachelors make note of this
fact-for the truth is, that, spinsters have
better success against widows in the
hunt for husbands than bachelors have
against widowers in the winning Of wives.
But if women come upon the marriage
able list earlier than men, they suffer the
inconvenience Of being stricken earlier
from it. After forty-five women are no
longer regarded as eligible, matrimonially
and the demand for wives of this age is so
slight as to be hardly worth considering,
although we find an occasional widow
still more rarely spinster-willing to
marry even after having passed the spright-
ly age of threescore years and ten. Under
twenty-five years of age, the number OF
women who marry is little more than
twice as great as the number of mem but,