Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-06-06
Why They Do Not Marry.
New York Mail and Express.

tnat discussed the dlstaste for marriage
which characterizes the girlhood of the
day. Ore young lady had fortified
herself with newspaper clipping on
the subject, which she drew from her
pocket and read, as further substantial
ting her position. 1t was to the effect
that husband hunting maidens, young
and old, were very much scarcer than
of yore that instead of being anxious
to marry, girls were slow of induce
ment in that direction,
at is true" said the young lady, Il
scarcely know girl who wants to
marry They are learning something
in the way of profession, something
that will interest them as well as sup
port them, two roles in which husbands
just now fail. The truth is, we are all
scared away from any desire to marry
be seeing how wretched those who do
marry are, Where would we look for
husbands? Among the 'snips' and
characterless young men that fill our
drawingrooms? They are insuferable
as mere acquaintance or beaux; who
could contemplate them as husbands?
have always thought that if | could
find young man at all like my father
| could love him and marry him; but
that school of men have vanished from
the younger ranks"
Nobody doubts that she expressed
the convictions Of large representation
of young women. Their lack of in.
terest in marriage is not due to the
large activities which continually open
before women, but to the unattractive,
unreliable material in the way of hus.
bands. 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 respect and admiration. The
order of maidenhood that could con-
tent itself with an inferior article 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 be-
ing 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 inefi-
Gent men, sort of annex to the con,
versation just recorded. She wonder
ed what would become of the human
race if the men kept on deterioration al
the rate of the last twenty yeats. She
declared it was almost exceptional fol
the young men of first-class society to
support their wives. They married in.
to rich families, and at the end of two
or three years were pensioners on the
relations of their wives. at is aston
ishing," she said, show 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 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 that her ideal man 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 wa,
CONS or on the stage. Anything in
the nature of efficiency attracts her,
because she is sick of ineficiency. The
man who can drive coach may be
very unsteady in grammar, but his
: mastery ofthe horses appeals more tc
her imagination than the fine phrases
of an inefficient dude. 1t indicates 6
certain degree of force and strength,
and all women like that in men,"
"Do yot think the class of inefi
: Gent men are really increasingly"
3 asked.
> "Alarmngly, and in all ranks o
: society, bG most among the rich.
scarcely know a married woman in
: timately VINO feels secure-who ha
3 confdencein her husbands energy