The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-05-09
TwcnV-One.

under the = OF t"tuAN -pHc- 't
cades and one-tenth thereof should pas
over the heal Of every fair maiden be-
fore she surreuders her ancestral name
for that of a comparative stranger ~
chit i'm her teens i not the proper per-
son Ia breath irrevocable vows. Legal
~. she cannot be compelled 10 Do 20,
having the power OF regulating such
forced obligations upon attaining her
majority.
i do not say that there j no special
case in which a girl may not marry un-
the age Of tweuty-one. She may pos
sess unusual maturity Of character she
NAV need a home; she may be eNcep-
~tionally lonely but a a general thing,
no Young woman should marry earlier.
.sOh. there's another croaker. eN-
claims a beyy OF girls. 10 whom the
snowy. cloudy commeneement-dress i
still as much a vision OF the glowing
future as the tilmy, misty wedding ven.
Our grandmas and mammas married
young, why should ice wait till We re
old:"
True. why should you, my dears +:
Sincerely do l hope that no such DIRE
fate may be yours. But i do you
cali old: | don expect 10 be Old when
I'm ,trtg-one. Marry young. by all
means but the real. sensible, economl-
cal way OF marrylng-young. IS not 70
marry until o are full grown wo-
men. then you'll be more likely 10 stay
Young. In fact, physicians say that the
human system j. not iulI developed
until the acc of thirty. so that, other
things equal. il needn't hurt a girl 10 be
addressed as Miss smith until shes
past twenty-five.
But grandma says when she was
Young, a girl was considered an old maid
If she WASH t married before she was
t. enty.0
Perhaps. But times have changed.
You would laugh at the fashions OF
grandma day. You Wouldn't think OF
wearing one Of her youthful bonnets,
with its-to us-outrageous shape and
impossible flowers. They why shoald
YOU think Of doing precisely as grand IA
did in other respects. or why should
grandma say that YOU ought? There
are STYLES III social customs. as well as
in bodily adornment.. y Girl Of twenty
might have been an old maid two or
three generations ago-nCw she is. or
should be, only an Uniformed school
girl.
Have you never noticed that some
fashions, oAce omc have come to stay I:
A plain black silk dress is always in
style. no matter what novelties La Mode
may send forth, season after season.
-. too. are walking hats, round basques.
short skirts and low-leeled shoes. DO
you know why: Because such fashions
a!c founded upon good, sensible reasons.
winch re- commended themselves to the
majority Of good, sensible people.
Hence. it seems likely that the fashion
Of marrying at a suitable AGE is also "a
fashion come to stay. The time viii ar
rive when the world will look upon a
bride Of eighteen or nineteen with very
much TIE same pity ing incredibly with
we nov Il INK of one Of fourteen or If
teen.
But as to the mere question of age, a
IN is not only young, but regy
young at twenty-one. At the same time
She may acturalY be older than one Of
thirty. For paradoXical as it may
sound, any one who lives rightly ought
to become younger in mind while grow
ing older IN body. waxing more yigor-
Gus spiritually while craving nearer to
the land of eternal youth. A girl Of
twenty-five is far more likely to be gay.
happy, and positively Juvenile Shan one
OF twenty. The reason for this is that.
IN spite OF the common opinion to the
contrary, early youth is often Il very
painful period. Care and sorrow weigl.
ten times more heavily upon those to
whom they are unaccustomed burdens.
The sense OF awakening responsibilities
brings with it solemn feeling Of drcau
mingled with more or less discourage
ment.
We all have lived
Enough to know iife's falsity in youth,
But not enough to know its blesse1truth.
Our eyes are clear
Enough to see the crosses in our road,
But sc are still too weak to bear tie load,
As time passes on. however, expert
ence does III Oh to help the earnest
youth. He or she learns that sorrow is
common t. tie race; thai there is still
time to rejoice. and be clad: And as
the rose is the lovcliest Just before it is
full blown. as the scent Of The blossom
is sweetest Just before it ii les. SO the
latter part OF our developing period s far
happier. BRIGHT and better than its ear
lier. Gather the rose then. If YOU would
paint 1t IN It's perfection; pluck the
blossom then, ii YOU would el. ios its
rarcst perfume. SO. in later youth. let
Young people mary. if they would bring
lost Eden back to earth.
Sometimes this joyful season, after
IT, first trials Of life and before the dis
appointments OF maturer age. is pro-
longing until late i'll Years. Then the
real buuyancy. which we iustinctiveIy
associate with youth. be- ONES almost
Ike a perennial fountain OF healing.
Thus it is. literally, that the old are
often the truly young, while the YOUNG
are the truly old. The smiling. sunny
faced man or woman of seventy may
have been the saddest and most fearful
OF boys or girls at seventeen.
Let a young person marry amid the
perpleNltles and caIes OF beginning ma
turIty-the time when the heart and soul
are so often tortured with he thought OF
an unfinished education. DOUBTS as to
the choice of e vocation. conflicting adj
vice and well-meant ~Officiousness of
t~oo-anXiOus friends. to say nothing of
foolish sentimentalism. or the most Sc
rious question OF all. religious convic-
ton. Ten to one. the melancholy will
become a lifelong gloom. instead of
a temporary cloud. Marry to be happy.
when YOU marry. Wait until YOU have
attained a certain degree of tranquility.
and her ask yourself, whether you
marry to escape evil, or to perfect good.
| don't know how many Will agree with
me. but | believe that almost every true
soul is destined to pass through deep
waters early in life. And with few
does the final stepping forth. as it were.
dry-shod. occur earlier than the age of
twentv-one. | am not now speaking
OF the trials which viii he ours when we
are older. and better able to withstand