The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1884-10-23
yshv Men DO Not Marr,s

The marriage market has become an
arena of competition as keen as any
suction room. The natural impulses
Of woman are disregarded. Mothers
advise prudent alliances, and Giscoun-
tenance, by fair means and foul, love
matches. Girls choke down their feel
ings, and aid and abet their seniors in
encouraging men who are 'scatches,"
throwing of the restraint which made
their grandmothers charming. But
still the cry goes up: "Men do not
marry" And yet the most inveterate
cluhmen, the mocker of love In a cot
taTe, was once a youth not blase to
whom the vision of a home was en-
chanting. Almost every man tries his
hand at realizing some such dream
early in life, but the attempt is usually
nipped in the bud by want of mean or
by failure to win the particular woman
ON whom his heart is set. He suffers
acutely; but man is an elastic creature;
in time he mingles again with the
world, not entirely proof against fem
mime fascination, but finding it almost
impossible to set up an ideal. Matrons
with attractive daughters can not COM
plain that their girls see few men. The
tendency of the age is to level the bar
riers between the sexes; girls play
tennis, they row, they rink, they skate,
they sit in the smoking room, they
dance, not only in the evenings, but in
the afternoons.
The natural tendency of such init
mate associations would be matrimony.
But the fact is, that men who might
have had serious intentions are fright
ened off before liking begets love.
There is an all-pervading fuss perva-
ding the intercourse of young people
which is altogether detrimental. The
instant q pair begin to show any Fpar-
ticular liking for each others society
the wide world around them is on the
qui Uive. The mother watches, fuses,
reports to her cronies, and too often
catechises the girl, wounding her sense
of delicacy, and making her conscious
and constrained; or leading her to i'm
agine herself beloved, when the mans
feeling is only that of pleasure in the so.
ciety of a young woman who does her
best to make herself agreeable. Men
are usually ignorant how girls note and
weigh the attentions they receive, and
they impart the details of such homage
to sympathetic-if Notwithstanding
ears, thus giving body to mere moth
ings, and brooding over trif1es till they
gather shape.
Meanwhile the man, having said the
pretty things his idea Of politeness has
prompted, goes away, forgetting them
and their recipient, while she is expect.
ing a declaration as the result of a few
soft nothings, a squeeze of the hand, OF
tender glances. Women are not aware,
on the other hand how sincerely he
may like and admire a girl without a
thorght beyond mere good will. And
it is precisely the better kind of men
who fall into the misfortune of raising
false hopes; the man who believes in
the simplicity andcand or of women, de.
sires their sympathy and values their
regard. A man of the world has the
instinct of self-preservation developed
strongly enough for his protection. The
sense of safety is the real bond of many
of the alliances now so fashionable
sometimes salutary, often mischievous
between men and married women.
Kept within bounds no suspicion at.
taches to them, nc hopes are built upor
them. The lady receives the petjts SONS
dear to the female nature, which the
husband of long standing often neg
lects; the man receives the sympathy
grateful to the masculine creature
Men feel this without Analysing theil
sentiments, and it is a common com
plant among them nowadays that it i.
impossible to become well acquainted
with a girl without exciting the too live
ly anxiety of her friends. And no wis,
man proposes without knowing the
character of the girl he wishes tx
marry. The mothers who are SO cage
for their daughters establishment ar,
wise, although this precipitation is no
only foolish, but indecorous.-A america,
Queen.