St. Landry democrat., 1879-09-13
Marriage Probabilities.
PROBABLE--SOME STATISTICS
FROM CHICAGO.


FROM CHICAGO.
The Chicago Times has constructed F.;
table Of Marriage Probabilities fol
both sexes, from the age OF fifteen III
to seventy, based on figures ia ken from
5000 marriage licenses issued by thu
county clerk during the twelve months
ending August 2. 1t deduces the fol
lowing facts from the table:
SIN 1000 cases no one was married be
fore the age of Is. The marriage o
woman at that age is not unknown, bu
it is rare. Men do not begin to marry
as Il rule, until they are IS years old
At the age of 10, when young men are
Just beginning to think seriously Of the
subject, young women are at their mOs
favorable time, more of them marrying
at that age than at any other. The
years of greatest probability with Z
woman are from IS to %, eliminating
at 90. At 90 and 21 the chances are
even, being better at 10 and % than al
either of the intervening years. Al
90 begins q steady declinembut not until
the age of 80 do the chances fall below
one in a hundred; after that age they
do, and in the rest of her life hel
chances are but seventy-siX i'll a thou
sand. At the age of 50 the vanishing
point appears in sight, no marriages
occurring at that age, and at the age OF
"a. At IS and 56 occurs one marriage
each, at 81 none, at 50 one, and after
that woman has literally mot one
chance in thousand of wedding. Her
best years are four in number, being
from 19 to 90 inclusive. With man it
is different. His best years 10 in num-
ber, from 81 to 80 inclusive. 1t is at the
age of q that he evidently turns his at
tentiOn wifeward, and it may be that
Legislators We're entirely right in fixing
that as the year when he shall attain
his majority. In no year OF his life are
the chances one to ten that he will
marry. His very best years are at %
and 25, as q girls are at 19 and %.
From 81 there is Il pretty steady increase
till he is 25, and then his chances slowly
decline, although they do not drop. sud
denly until he is 80. 1t is worthy OF
note that the sudden drop in the chances
of both men and women occurs the
year after they become 'old bachelors
or "old maids Men do not begin to
marry till abont three years later than
women, but they keep it up more or less
steadily five years later. With men the
chances do not fall below in 100 until
the age OF 40 is reached. Then it is
in so and after that but 1 in 200. Mar
riages occur, however, every year until
sc is reached, then Oh alternate years to
50, and after that comes but one, which
is at the age of 70.
"Of the 1000 women in this list, 81
been divorced. OF the IA, I remarked
TIN, mon from, 1&h,p, hn had I,no,,a
divorced. Of the men, but had been
divorced. How many of them were
widowers there are no means of telling.
"Of the 1000 marriages 1877 were be-
tween parties living in the same house.
Whenever a man marries under such
circumstances it is natural to suppose
that when he fell in love with the girl
it was the result of pure accident. He
was not probably looking over his list
OF lady acquaintances for a wife and
his selection was not the result Of pure
choice-of the opinion that she was the
best of all the women he knew to make
\ wife. The two happened to be thrown
in close contact, the fire of youth was
jgnited and it blazed up, and they were
married. This figure cannot, however,
be taken rs in any degree correct to
show the number OF chance marriages.
Perhaps nine -tenths of all the marriages
are chance. But the chances are very
strong that these were all chance, pure
chance, and nothing but chance.
"The census of 1870 gives the total
male population of the country at
17,039, ,083 and the total female at 1G,560,-
$50. From these figures is deducted
the fact that a woman's chances of
were there no disturbing
are 1929 in 1000. The number
of men being greater than the number
Of women, every woman ought to find
a husband; but the disturbing causes
which induce men to forego marriage,
such as an inability, us they suppose, to
support a wife, n preference to remain
and so on, throw the chaaces,
as matter of fact, the other way.
81 For the twelve months ending July |
81 past the total number of marriages |
in this city was $3.50. The favorite |
month in which to marry is November;
the next are May, October and March,
which appear to be equally desirable ; /
December is nearly as much so; next
ire February, April and June, while
January and September come behind |
hese, and the least popular of all is
August.