The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-07-31
Deceased Wives Sisters.

/ u1ETN HIS utCtuseu VIZ u
of the most marked phenomena OF the
times. The deceased wife's sister Dill
NAV be said to be his steady occupa'
ton. In all his breathing spells from
emergencies he turns to that.
he is not being mastered by he SoItn
Africans, or staying s~oudanese' or
fighting Afghans, or pacifylng 'he
Irish, or being blown up in his tower,
he is attending to the deceased wites
sister bill. He comes back to 1t out Oh
all victories and defeats with unwa.
yering pertinacity and courage. IL
appears to be the passion of his life to
marry his deceased wife's sister. we
who live in a land where nobody OPP
poses such an alliance a not CON
ceive the attraction it seems to have
to Enplishmen. And seeing how uni.
versai and strong this desire is IN
England, we cannot but inquire why
the Englishman does not marry the
wifc's sister in the first place. Why
does he 90 on marrying the wrong one'
and then wait for death or the law to
help him out?
Ii seems to us that this mat
ter has been agitated, it never mas
been discussed in a philosophical spir-
it. We admit the fact OF theo VermaS.
tering desire to marry the deceased
wife's sister; we can see how the pro
hibition of the marriage increases the
longing for it; but we have not ana
lived the origin of the desire itself.
1t has been treated IN England as a
question of morals. when it is, in fact,
a question of sociology. When we
oo,,n f,., % r,,n ,,-itI IN, QUESTION is
it not this: Does not the mar generally
make a mistake when he marries one
or two or more sisters? The world OF
ten sees it at the time, the sister who
is left sees it. but the man is blind to
what he is doing. He not only takes
the one who does not make hin tho
best wife, but the II least eligible for
a life insurance, and so voluntarily, as
one may say. in the end comes round
to bother the world with his deceased
wife's sister bill. And the reason OF
this mistake lies Il good deal in the na'
ture of the mar himself. but somewhat,
us we shall show, in the nature OF
woman also. He is so constituted that
he does o recognize the qualities nee.
essary to make a good wife. He is at
tracted by outward appearances.
Beauty goes for much with him; liveli.
ness counts for a good deal; even will
fulness (bcfore marriage) is attractive.
In nine cases III Of ten he will choose
the girl out of a houseful who is nj
once the pet and tyrant of the house,
the spoiled child, whose s~eltishness
procures for her the slavish subservien.
CIV of all the rest. Seeing all this de-
%votion. he thinks he is marrying the
Queen Bee. We are intending to say
nothing against the woman he makes
his wife; as women 90, she is well
enough, and if the circumstances con,
tinued to be what they We're at home,
she would be forever attractive and
and adored. But when she is thrown
upon her own resources, it then be-
comes evident how much she owed to
her sisters, whose un%obtrusive virtues
were the necessary background to ali
her specious attractiveness, Nine cases
out of ten the man will take the girl
of the family who knows the least
about cooking, or the management Of
a house. or about nursing, and is the
least patient in trial, and has the least
common seMse-that is. the least OF
those everyday qualities that make
an agreeable pastime from hour to
hour and day to day. Hence. to cover
his own blunderS the clamor for a
deceased wifc's sister bill.
The man loves his wife-of course
he does: even her faults, her little sci.
fish demands upon him. are better in
his eyes than tln- virtues Of other wo-
men. But when real life begins. and
the sister comes to live in the house,
as she pretty certainly will come. then
he sees who it is-that makes life 90
smoothly. WHO takes up the hundred
household burdens. who is always
kind and patient, and especially indul-
gent to him-for the capacity of the
wife's sister to be in;iulgent to all the
weaknesses of her brother-in-law is
one of the circumstances that we must
take into account in this investigation.
Her utter self sacrifice and ability to
come into confidential relations with
him, and to take his part against an
authority which he sometimes feels the
weight of. all the novelists have taken
note of. 1t is not she who keeps a
tight rein on him. He is not afraid Of
her. She excuses him, and makes it
easy for him TO get on with himself.
And she has certain sterling qualities
that admirably supplement the love.
illness and attractlveness of the
wife. He feels this for a good while
without exactly seeing it or knowing
it, but when the great bereavement %
his life comes. and the world is sud
denly desolate to him. he comes around
with the deceased wife's sister bill.
Look at the world as it is. Consider
the capacity of the sister for making
herself Indispensable in the house. She
may not have had the power to attract
the man into matrimony. but She has
the qualities that he finally recognize.
as necessary to perfect comfort in it;
and in England, when ii is too late. he
wakes up to the fact that ne should
have married the sister, . But this is
not the end of the inquiry. There is
something in the nature of woman
herself that brings about this state of
things. In order to bring out the best
there Is IN a woman. sacrifice of her
sell Is always necessary. Fortunately
she enjoys this. She has a kind Of
pleasure in seeing her sister preferred
and led away to the altar, She likes
the man all the better for being sueh !,
goose rs to choose the pretty and more
incompetent one. And in the now
household, whether she is permanent.
" part of it or only has an occasional
superintendent of it, she develop, in
her subordination many of the lovely
virtues In solne cases she was not
naturally so unsel.ish or so sweet tom.
pered or so tolerant of Il mans un,a,.
sonableness as her sister who marries
but her role of self-etlaeement is !,
training school, and all the sterling
qualities of womanhood are evolved
The'very position of being a wife's
sister is an invaluable discipline, and