Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-03-09
Marriage Statistics.

The hard ana unpleasant truth may as
web be stated-nsmely, 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
NAV mutually agree upon? By no means.
The law saws 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
nv 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 well learn the
dsagreeable 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
rage 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 marry. With men it fares different
| "; 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 1915 years, twenty-five will
die bachelors Thus about one-fifth 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 or widower, for it rarely happens
that husband and wife die at the same mo-
ment. Some of these widows and widow,
overs will,remarry-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, aud 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 seven, and the
spinsters eighty-nine. On general
principles, there may be no serious objec-
ton to old Weller's advice, beware OF
vidders; J" but we, not basing our conclu'
sion upon domestic experience, but upon
a series of mathematical calculations, car
absolutely affirm that widows do not, by
! ha rsp mi q
market, and that there is more to be
| feared from one spinster than from dozer
widows--let bachelors make note of this
fact-for the truth is that, spinsters have
a 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 nc
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 tc
marry even after having passed the sprlght
ly age of threescore years and ten. Under
twenty-five years Of age, the number o.
women who marry is little more than
twice as great as the number of men but
after forty five, the number of Benedicts is
more than thrice that of the brides. In
one thousand marriages of the average
kind as to ages, fourteen women and forty
nine men will have passed their ninth lus
trum. Widows remarry at an average age
of thirty-nine years. while the average age
Of widowers who again take to themselves
conjugal partners, is forty-one, or there
about.
We will not undertake to tell each OF
our fair readers how old she will be when
led to the altar a blushing bride, if that
should prove to be her destiny; but We
can tell her what the chances are in the
present state of our knowledge of statisti
cal facts. If we take the weddings that
actually occur, we shall find that in every
thousand there will be one hundred and
seventy mine wives under twenty years
while there will be only nine husbands OF
that tender age. But perhaps these facts
will be better stated in statistical terms
thus: In every thousand marriages there
| will be-