River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-09-24
WHY THEY DO NOT MARRY

/ III group That discussed the dlStaste
/ for marriage which characterizes the
girlhood of the day. One young lady
clipping on the subject, which she drew
| from her pocket and read, as further
substantiating her position. 1t was to
the effect that misunderstanding maid
ems, young or old, were very much
scarcer than of yore, that instead of
being anxious to marry. girls were
slow of inducement in that direction
1T is true. said Young lady. u
scarcely know girl who wants to mar
ry, They are Tearing something in the
way of a profession, something that
will interest them as well as support
them, two roles in which husbands
Just now tail The truth is, we are all
scared away from any desire to marry
by seeing how wretched those who do
marry are. Where would we look for
husbands? Among the ships and
characterless young men that fill our
drawing rooms? They are insuiler-
able as mere acquaintance or beaux:
who could contemplate them as hus-
bands? | have always thought that if
could find a young man at all like
my father could love him and marry
him; but that school of men has vanish
ed from the younger ranks.
Nobody doubts that she expressed
the convictions of a large representation
of Young women. Their lack of inter-
est in marriage is not to the larger
activities which continually open before
woIaen, but to the unattractive, unreli-
able 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 aroused their respect
and admiration. The order of maiden
hood that could content itself with an
inferior article of husband merely for
the sake of being married has also van
ished. 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 uncongenal
union to escape it.
Tie Ndiitt tNtllllG Htti Il ClldA Will
my bright Young hostess about ineifi-
cient men, a sort of annex to the con
versation Just recorded She wondered
what would become of the human race
if the men kept on deteriorating 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 families, and at the
end of two or three years We're
pensioners on the relations OF
their wives. 1T is astonishing, she
said, chow few young women who are
supposed to be rich really depend upon
their husbands for luxuries or even
support Their fathers or grand
fathers furnish the money that sup
plies their homes oftener than the out
side 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 be
somewhere, since they are not within
her own circle. and she looks for them
in extraordinary places the box of
her fathers coach and on huckster
the nature of efficiency attracts her,
because she is sick of inef1iciency. The
man who can drive coach may be
very unsteady in grammar. but his
mastery of the horses appeals more to
the Imagination than the fine phrases
Of an inefficient dude 1t indicates a
certain degree of force and strength,
and I'll women like that in men.
Al L Il
men are really increasingly ! asked.
''A4armingly, and in all ranks of
society, but most among the rich. |
scarcely know Il married woman inti-
mately who feels secure--who has con
fidence in her husband $ energy, ability
and efficiency. Look at the number of
married women engaged in some kind
of business 1t all means something.
| don know what, but certainly it is
the reverse of promising for the future
greatness of man.
TIE OTHER SIDE.
The foregoing structures upon the worth
less young men of the period are strik-
ingly true. The picture is not over
drawn, though sketched by youthful
hand of the opposite sex. Bat every
medal has its diverse and reverse side.
We have read the Inscription by the
hand of this young artist on the diverse
side. Let us turn it over and look at the
reverse. and see what stern truth must
inscribe upon it. The young man is
idle, inefficient, worthless. He dresses
in the height of the fashion, lives
luxuriously, smokes his cigarettes,
twirls his cane, handles around the
other sex, attends his club, and looks
to the governor" to foot his bills.
He is "all right as long as this lasts.
But, if thrown upon his own resources,
he utterly fails, breaks down, becomes
seedy in apparel, loses the respect of
society, loses his own respect, and be-
comes an utter wreck
The young women of the period is
the idol of her parents, She is in
dulged in everything, educated super
ticially, perhaps has smattering of
French, can torture the piano, but
knows little or nothing of the principles
of music, because she is too lazy to
learn. She can talk of the opera, and
of the latest novel, but knows nothing
of the practical duties of life, cannot
boil ham or bake a custard, nor make
a good loaf of bread, or a good pound
of butter. She knows nothing of do
nestle economy. She rather prides
herself upon her ignorance of these
things. and deems it an evidence of her
high-bred gentility. She would rather
be out of the world than out of the
fashion, and her wardrobe costs as
much as an ordinary farm is worth.
She carries daily upon her shoulders
the price of a year wages of an aver
age Young man, who lives by his own
industry. He secs this, and is deferred
from asking her hand. for he knows
that he could not support her in this
extravagant style Of living. She is
consequently left to dandle her
pug or her poodle, instead of a
darling babe, and end her wretch
ed life as disappointed and
dissatisfied spinster, instead of noble
matron, with her lovely ''olive branch
es' around the table. who rise up and
call her blessed. Yes, it is true, and
pity it is tbs true, that the young wom-
en- of the period are as worthless and
good-for-nothing as the young men,
and it is this worthlessness of both
sexes that prevents marriage and is
lessening comparatively the number of
happy homes in the land. Formerly the
young men and young women were
self-reliant. industrious, frugal, simpler
in their tastes and manners, and could
g