The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-12-07

w" Grn not surprised that the officials Mt
! Cast" Garden receive So many applications
| for wives 10 bn selected from among the i'm.
| migrants, because for years pas, cur own
| correspondents have asked ll- To- assist them
To find coniutal partners. III all the newer
| communities Of til" West there il Il great
excess OF mon. Very many of these I'M
| happy bachelors are farmers with no
| near ncEhbors, and they find that they
can make little Roadway without wives
| to sup"lintcnd th"r household, and
| supplement their efforts. But the circum-
stances which bring them SO many hard
| ships arc also very unattractivr to women,
who know that such farm lie involves lone
Iln"s' and endless toll; that il Is monotunous
ANA altogether unlovely, and especially
Nrarisom" for women. When, therefore,
people find fault with girls for flying from
farms to the shops and factories of the city,
they show how ignorant they are of tn" hard
ships of the average farm life. and do not
understand how heavily they bear ON women
particularly. Daughters who 500 the bag
gard and prcmnturcly aged fnccs of their
mothers cannot he blamed If they hate the
existence which has done the terrible work
No wonder that, oppressed by the loneliness
.
the satisfaction of their social instincts, and
look with aversion on the farmer lads of the
ncighborhood They are likely to prefer for
ii husband anybody rather than Il farmer.
Accordingly, many farmers, ut the West
especially, are nj their wits end. To get wives
and hclpmccts, and some of them have
written to Us bitterly complaining that the
girls Of their neighborhoods turn up their
noses at them, and have approving Chances
for city-brcd youths only. II, therefore. the
Castl" Garden officials show a disposition to
help them out OF their difficulty We have no
doubt that hundreds of Western farmers
will hasten to avail themselves of such
matrimonial agency, and that fair immi-
grant maidens will find husbands immedi-
nt"ly upon their arrival in this port
But experience seems to show that such at
tcmpts to artiiiclally stimulate natrmOny
are pretty sure to be unsuccessful ur to pro-
ducr unhappy results. When women were
sent from Massachusetts to Oregon to be-
come wives for the pioneers of that thriving
S.a'" It was hoped that n now aud happier
sphere had been found for inai,lrns of
the Puritan Commonwealth who had no
chanc" "I getting husbands Mt home But
the experiment did not work we'll. and after
ii brief trial the project was abandoned. The
women shipped to the Pacific coast did not
take kindly To their novel surroundings. and
the bli-lnc--likc character of the enterprise
offended the scnsibiiltics of such rs were
best lifted for mntrimony. They could not
overcome their prcjud!ces in favor OF old
fashioned courtsiip, and accordingly the at
tempt 10 relieve Massachusetts of its sur
Plus of mald"ns was brought To n RAJ her ri
dcu.ouS conclusion. If women are few
in a region tho reasonable Inference is
that il Is not ready for them, and that
they are not adapted to the circum-
S'nnccs If til" life there. In due time Oregon
became atirac'iv" to them. and now va hear
npmurr compiHiuts of the scarcity of women
in tn" state. In this city there are moro
women thlnmcu, because here the demand for
female labor Is 50 great tina. II working girl
g"s employment more easily than n boy
ana the social advantages and oXctcmrn.s
ot acIiy AZ" even more plizrd by The poor
than by III" rich.
Til" Western farmers therefore, are likely
to continue to suffer uuicr great disadvan-
tags in ia" nitrmouinl race, and W. doubt
very much whether they can get much help
from Castle Garden. In Europe no less than
in this country the preferences for the crowd
cd and bu'tiilg town grows moro and more
genera. and mora and moro marked. And
yet, poor fellows, the farmers mu It have
w1v"-. ltth'E cannp, -: them tho ocrupa-
ton OF the Farm 'r!S likely to tall into diarc-
pu." Already wc -"c that the character of
tn" m"n "n;ngrd IL it is gradually Changing,
especially IN TIA" Eastern State.