The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-11-19

charged the unwillingness Of so many
young men to get married. While
this charge Of extravaganza on the
part of young ladies may be allowed
to pass unchallenged, yet it by no
means follows that this is the respon-
sible cause for the comparative few
ness of marriages. The fault is in
large part to be laid at the door of
the young men themselves, whose ex-
travagance is no less glazing and rep
rehensible than is that Of those whom
it has become quite the thing to Who'll
ly blame-the girls. What with o.
gars, liquors and billiards, and in
frequent cases clubs, cards, fast
horses and betting, not to speak
of dress and legitimate expen-
ses, very many young men find their
income, even though large, no moro
than they require for their individual
support, and unwilling to curtail in
any part, they complain that they
Cannot afford to clothe a wife" This
is selfshness of the meanest kind, and
the man who, so situated, expresses
himself thus will not make the kind
of a husband that a young girl need
pine for. Girls are fond of dress and
it is natural that they should be.
They are encouraged by men to be.
But when the necessity for it comes,
they are quite as ready to make sac
rifces for the mutual good as are the
men, and are pretty sure to be the first
called upon to exercise selfdenial.-
While, as has been admitted, there is
undoubtedly much truth in this charge
Of extravaganza against young ladies,
and while it is true that some young
men do not marry because they feel
that their incomes, however economi-
cally managed, will not justify their
doing so, yet we believe it to be
equally true that the great majority
of young men who voluntarily re;
main single do so because they are
too selfish to deny themselves any &C.
customed luxury or qualification in
order to make themselves a home
That home is apt to be the happiest
which has been secured by some de-
gree of sacrifice and that not all on
one side.
1t seems, somehow, to be taken for
granted that, in all this, ourgirls have
nothingto say that they are merely
waiting, like ripe cherries, to fall into
the first masculine mouth that comes
along. This may be questioned. 1t
is barely possible that some young
men do not get married because Of
their failure to secure satisfactory
understanding on the main question
with the young lady. they would be
willing "to clothe." 1t may be pos
sible that young girls in taking So
ri>us look at young men as too many
o. them are known to be-their thrift
le ssness, their lack of ambition, their
vicious habits-hesitate to commit
their future to so perilous chances. 1t
may be possible that some of them
consider the returns too slight for the
great3 task of reform they would
be compelled to accept along with the
profered hand and fortune. 1t may be
that some Of them hesitate when they
come to ponder on the terrible and
well-known extravaganza of young
men.
AS to the question of ability to get
married: That young man who, hav-
ing reached the age of say twenty
seven or twenty-eight years, has not
acquired such business habits as will
enable him to support a wife, and
saved so much Of his earnings as may
be necessary for his first housekeeping
expenses-unless he has met with
some special misfortune may be set
down as poor stick who is scarcely
worth the marrying. And that young
girl, Who, having married q young
man who is industrious and economi-
cal, will not willingly deny herself to
the last possible point when necessary,
10 rare. The number of girls who
make poor housekeepers il no great
or than the number Of men who make
poor bread winners.
1t is scarcely too broad an assertion
to say that every young man should
get married and that every young
lady should get married. As Senator
Schurz remarked, it should be the
ambition Of the one to become a good
husband and father, and of the other
to become good wife and mother. And
if young men will only scan their
own habits and be unselfish enough
to curtail their own expenses, they
will have little cause to complain that
they are not able to support q wife.
1t is unfair and ungenerous to charge
the girls with all the extravaganza
that is going and with all the re-
sponsiblity for the failure of young
men to marry and make homes.
PROF. BoNAMY PRICE, the cele-
brated Oxford lecturer, now in the
United States, in giving his impress
sions of what he has seen in this coun-
try, says: 1T seems to me there is