, 1885-05-27
WHY They DO NOT MARTY



A xvftnE Won ana azpisirs = Social prnh-
iem-T.s slas~~ Detcr,nr.sins.
-~a tf4 HlAaEtn e+s
At n small rsy OF workers M
thinkers n .ew nisrts ago, says a letter.
writer in this city, | was in a group
that disiss-d the dlstaste for marriage
which r.~arteraeterizes the gitihoo5 OF
the day. Cne Young lady had fortified
herself with a Newspaper clipping on
the subject viii h she drew from her
pocket and read, as further substantial
inx her position. 1t was TO the e. ert
that husband hunting maidens, Young
or old, wero very much s-arcer than OF
yore. that instead Of being anxious 10
marry, girls were slow OF inancement in
that direction.
III is true. said a young lady Il
scarcely know a girl who wants 10
marry. They are learning some. hing in
the way Of a profession, something that
will interest them as vel as support
them. two roles in which husbands Just
now fail. The truth is, we are all scared
away from any desire to marry by see
ing how wretched those who do marry
are. Where would we look for hts-
bands' Among the 'snips' and sports
and ~characterless yo1ng men that fill
our drawing-roomsi They are insuder-
able as mere &C uaintances or beaux;
who could contemplate them as hus-
bandsi l have always thought
that If l could find a young man at all
like my father l could love him and
marry him; but that school of men has
vanished from the younger ranks"
Nobody doubts that she expressed the
convictions Of q large representation of
young women. Their lack of interest
In marriage is not due to the larger
activities which continually open before
women, but to the u~nattractiye, unreli-
able II aterial in the way of husbands.
No ZEN are women, and would love and
marry, as readily to-day as when the
earth was new If they came in contact
with men who aroused their respect and
admiration. The order Of m~aidcnhood
that could content itself with an inferior
afticle OF husband merely for the sake
of being married has also vanished. The
young woman of the period has too
much character and self-respect to
dread being an old maid so much that
she would contract an uncongenial
union to escape it.
The same evening l had a chat with
my bright, young hostess about in-
g icient men, a sort of annex TO the
conversation Just recorded. She won
dered what would become of the human
race if the men kept on de~teriorating at
the rate OF the last twenty years. She
declared it was almost exceptional for
the young men of first class society to
support their wives They married into
rich ia niles, and at the end cf two or
three years were pensioners on the rela-
tons OF their wives. 1T is astonishing. -
she said, "how few young women who
are supposed TO be rich really depend
upon their husbands for luxuries or
even support. Their fathers or
grandfathers furnish the money
that supplies their homes oft
ener than the outside world knows
OF. Indeed the daughter of the
rich man is more to be pitied than the
girl who fights poverty. She sees fewer
real men. Naturally she fancies that
her ideal men must We somewhere, since
they are not within her " circle, and
she looks for them in extraordinary
places -on the box of her fathers coach
and on huckster wagons, or on the
stage. Anything in the nature of eli
cheney attracts her because she is sick
of inc iciency. The man who al drive
a coach may be very Unsteady in gram
mar, but his mastery of the horses ap-
lenls more to her imagination than the
Inc phrases of an inc lcient dude. It
Indicates q certain degree of force and
strength, and all women like that in
men.
"lo you think the class of inefficient
men are really increasing ! asked.
"Alarmingly, and in all ranks Of
so iety. but most among the rich. I
scarcely know a married woman init
maieiy who feels s~ecure-who has con
iulence in her husbands energy, ability,
and efficiency. Look at the number of
married women engaged in some kind
Of businessl 1t all means something.
/ don't know what, but certainly it is
the reverse of promising for the future
greatness of man