St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-23
WHY THEY Do NO MARRY.
A Young Woman Exp@ins Social
ProbIem--The MaIes Dete-
riOr9tim&

riOratin&
From the New York Mail an Express.
At a small party Of worI ers and thinkers
few nights ago, says a otter writer in
this city, [ was in a grouH that discussed
the distaste for marriage Hhich character
ICES the girlhood of the dE, One young
lady had fortified herself wEh newspaper
clipping Oh the subject, which she drew
from her pocket and read, IS further sub
stantiating her position. 1t was to the
effect that huSband-huntinG maidenS, yOu ung
OF old, were very much Hcarcer than of
yOre; that, instead OF being &nXiOuS to marry,
girls were slow of inducen1ent in that direc-
ton.
.'It is true" said young lady, 81
scarcely know girl who wants to marry
They are learning something in the way of
profession, something HAT will interest
them as well as support item, two roles in
which husbands just now5fail The truth
is, we are all scared awayzfrom any desire
to marry by seeing how wTefched those who
do marry are. Where w6lld we look for
husbands? Among the 'ships and sports
and characterless young men that fill our
drawing-rooms? They are insufferable as
mere acquaintance or beanx, who would
contemplate them as husbands? l have al
ways thought if could find a young man
at all like my father I could love him and
marry him; but that school yof men has
vanished from the younger ranks"
Nobody doubts that she expressed the
convictions Of large representation of
young women. Their lack of interest in
marriage is not due to the large activities
which continually open before women but
to the unattractive, unreliable material in
the way Of husbands. Women 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 arouse their re-
spect and admiration. The order of maid
enhood that could content itself with an in
ferior article of husband merely for the sake
of being married has also vanished. The
young woman of the period has too much
character and seIf-respect to dread being an
old maid so much that she would contract
an uncongenial union to escape it.
The same evening had chat with my
bright young hostess about inefficient men,
sort Of annex to the conversation just re-
corded. She wondered what would be-
come Of the human race if the men kept on
deteriorating at the rate of the last twenty
years. She declared it was almost excep-
tiOnal for the young men of first-class soci-
ETY. TO support their wives. They married
into rich families, and at the end of two or
| three years were pensioners Oh the relations
of their wives. ''It is astonishing" she
said, show few young women who are sup
posed to be rich really depend on their hus-
bands for Injuries or even support. Their
fathers or grandfathers furnish the money
that supplies their homes oftener 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
i that her ideal men must be somewhere,
since they are not within her own circle,
and she looks for them in extraordinary
places-on the box of her fathers coach and
on huckster wagons, or on the stage. Any
thing in the nature of efficiency attracts her
because she is sick of inefficency. The
man who can drive coach may be very
unsteady in grammar, but his mastery of
the horses appeals more to her magma
dude. It indicates certain degree of force
and strength, and all women like that in
men,
''Do you think the class of inefficient men
is really increasing?" l asked.
'.Alarmingly. and in all ranks of society,
but most among the rich. a I scarcely know
married woman intimately who feels Sc
cure-who has confidence in her husbands
energy, ability and efficiency. Look at
the number of married women engaged in
some kind of business! 1t all means some
thing. I don't know what, but certainly it
is the reverse of promising for the future
greatness of man."