The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-10-03
SHALL BACHELORS BE TAXED
lPeck's Sun.

There is a proposition on foot in sev- eral tf the eastern states to have laws passed taxing bachelors certain sum each year. The obj-ct is two-fold. to raise money from non producing class cf citizens, and to place bachelors under ban, and show them tha, their manner of living with TO object in view is not believed 10 be of value to the community There are two sides to all questions, and the Snn does nor know which side to take consequently it will, as usual, sttad- de the fence Bachelors, who are suLh from choice, will fight it out on that line and claim that they had rather pay a reasonable tax, or even an exorbitant tax than to mary They will illustrate thelr positions by pointing to thousands ot married men sho would be willing to pay their last dollar ia taxes, lt they could be placed back Tn the ranks of bachelors The bachelors will show that on the average they are happier, and more fee from care, and enjoy themselves better than the average married man, aud on that ground they ought to be wiling to pay lax. They will show that bachelors are, as rue, rotuad and jolly, while married men look as though something was eating them. There may be certain alleged beauties about the life of a bach eor while he is young aud in his prime, but when he oegius to get old and pains rack his body, sickness confines h,m to his lonely bed, and he has to be assisted by strangers and hlIed help, he will real ize what fool he has made ef himself and what failure his life has bzeo. No wife or children to minister 10 hts wan,s, the bachelor is most forloru objcct II IS then that he begins 70 look eare~oru, cross, and as though somethIn" was eat ing him, while the married man who ussd to look that way IS happy and contented. l. Is better to have some cares aud dis comforts as a married man at the front end of life, when one can endure them and see piece of clear sky ahead, than 10 have careless picnic in early life, with prospect cf dark clouds ali the time after the indisldual becomes old enough to need kindly offices rom loving trends, instead of hiring somebody to be sossy tof hun at so much week. The most ptiful object in If. is sick old bachelor at boarding house, hotel or hospital. It IS then that he thinks over his llst Of friends, male and female, who have homes, and he would give the world to be an inmate of one of hose homes. He thinks of the g,rls he might and ought to nave married years ago, and as a hired nurse brings him some pills to take he thinks how much easter he could take them from the hands of loving wife or uaaghier. 4 oacheior with crick iu his back thinks the hand of the hired nurse who rubs it IS curry cumb, and he thinks of some soft hand he has held ID his years ago. and he would give ten years of his life if he had given to the owner Of
 that soft hand the right to rub the crck put of his back, bat I, IS eveslassins sly too iate. If he vent searching for wlfe nov ne would have to take one who was as Old and tooihless as he IS. and her nand would be so harsh and bony that sne would produce two crcxs in the back
 where only one grew befDIe Hereailzes
 tais when he losses in pAin and the look Oa nis f.ce plainly shows rem ,rse B.cn- eior fr ends may make formal calls on ain when he Is sick and wlsh him a speedy cure, but that kind of friendship uoes not hil the bull. He dies and the oAcheior friends act as bearers to hls
 tune 'ai, frieuds of other days rlde in the earriage' as mouraers, and talk bout Inc blank life of the deceased, bur there are DO tears, unles there IS sister ~ho comes nom distance to attend the funeral and zee aoou, proos.iag ;ac @i.l The coa armed bachelor IS tn hard luck, and per uAps ne ought to pay tax, or license, ana wear check oa his neck, so that ali may know he Is bachelor.