The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-06-27
WHY GIRLS MARRY.
BY A R

Lney LOOK OEWdIi I'd uldIIldSS 40 OhC OhN
and aim of their existence, but it is a
fact, nevertheless, and in their inmost
hearts they must admit it. Why do
they do so in spite of themselves? ]
have thought over this subject long and
seriously, and I have read many articles
on it, but none that showed much
knowledge of a girls thoughts on the
subject. As l am a girl, it strikes me
that I ought to know a smuch about this
as anybody else, and certainly more than
a man. I say this with the essay of a
man before me who has written quite
learnedly on "What to do With Our
Daughters" giving us some very severe
hits, and some well deserved ones, but
showing little knowledge of our inner
hearts.
But, to begin with, my reasons for our
anxiety to leave the state of single bles-
sedness. In the first place, the average
girl is taught from her earliest infancy
to look upon an old maid as a most mis-
cradle and unfortunate being, who has
made a great mistake in not marrying
some man. Even if she has married
unhappily, it would have been better for
her than this lonely life," is what all
the world seems to say of the spinster.
If she happens to be unattractive, she
is so good, but so uninteresting-of
course nobody asked her to marry, for
no n would wish to be tied to such a
companion" So a girl hears maiden
ladies of an uncertain age pityingly and
contemptuously spoken of, and she says
to herslf. BE an old maid? Why, l
can not imagine a more undesirable fate.
/ would marry any mar rather than be
spoken of as THAT old Miss Smith,
who is so anxious to make herslf attrac-
tive"
When a girl arrives at the age of
fourteen she is sent off to boarding
school. At the average school in the
South she gets a smattering of Latin,
French and German, and learns enough
of her own language to read and spell
correctly and write a tolerable letter.
She hardly ever spends more than four
sessions at school, and most ofthat time
is given to music. For every girl must
learn music, even if she dislikes the
sound of it, and caa not tell one tune
from another. Size gets through with
her education As quickly as possible, and
If she is moderately rich, she throws
aside text books forever and plunges in
to a whirl of gayety. She does not care
to read, for literary girls are so deuced
slow" the society men viii tell her,
and besides, it Is as much as she
can do to read a novel now and
then, for with germans, recep-
ton, etc, she has no time for books.
So she dances and firts and talks
nonsense, until she begins TO get a
blase; then her friends begin to
wonder if she viii ever marry: they
question her on the subject, and tell
her not to throw away her best
chances. to make hay while the sun
and she thinks that perhaps
her chances are slipping away from
her; she begins TO grow anxious about
her future and accepts the first man
who courts her. He is very probably
at all the kind of man to make
her happy, but her friends urge her
to marry him, and he can give her a
comfortable home, besides, if she
waits she will probably be an old
maid-horible thought She "mar-
ries" In haste, and repents at leisure.
Now take another kind Of a girl, one
who has lost her father and mother, and
is poor, but has gotten an education,
and uses her opportunities TO the best
advantage. She goes off to teach; she
has charge of the primary department
in a large Southern school; she is ex-
pected 20 teach seven hours a day. and
keep in refractory pupils in the after
She ml1stmake her ownfres, and
clean up her own room. for all the
teachers in the school do that. Sheis
given her board and 5000 salary. The
gentlemen employed in the school,, and
not doing half so much work, are paid
$500 y $50 q spisee, and TIL principal
employs q servant to attend to their
rooms for them, OF course, d man can
not sweep, dust and make beds. I'm
less she breaks down from overswork
before the end Of the session, our lady
teacher returnsto her friends worn out
with her sessions work. and tries to get
another place for the ensuing year.
She thus moves about from place to
place, and her s~aleries are so small
that she is not able to save anything,
so finally she marries some man simply
for the sake of obtaining q heme.
Now, Of course, there are bright, in
telligent girls who marry happily, and
many because they admire and love the
men Of their choice; but there are q
great many girls who are doomed to