Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-10-02
A Bachelors Lament.

III lDc oJODc III - IcctUl udtc WdE ~ v
| print of a letter entitled "A Bellies La
| ment." The fair In snown regrets
seven weary years Of social toll. She
is t%wcnty-four, and has been hattered
and complimented, and with the slight
est encouragement might now have
been Il loving wife. She says: ut is
lamcntably true, that. like many an
other girl, my ears have grown to ac-
customed compliments that they are
only empty, meaningless sounds, for
despite the victory IA woman achieves
every time somebody tells her she il
beautiful, particularly when she knows
there is truth in the assertion, the fact
remains and overwhelms her like an
avalanche from which there is no es-
cape that among all the knightly gal
lants not n Of the praiseful throng
has the manliness or courage to ask
her hand in marriage"
She points out the folly and figures
the expense of this fiuttering-around-
he-light-without-co ming-to-the-poin
business and adds: '.Isn't it simply
heart-rending for a girl of my years
and my qualifications, too, | may add
to contemplate? Is it any wonder |
sit in my room every day, after IA night
Of decollete dressing and silly waltz
ing, and shed bitter tears because
though men %tlatter, they refuse TO think
well enough of me to marry me?'
| truly sympathize with the young wo-
men; but let me ask: ''Is the lot of the
young men who fiatter but dare not
we'd lovely damsels of her stamp any
more enviableP" How often have |
not returned from q full dress rout, d.
vested myself of the infallible spike
tail" esconsced myself comfortably
with my slippered feet on the mantcl,
fired the final cigar-philosophised.
Through the curling smoke | see visions
of the fair being upon whom I've ex-
pended my best efforts at persiflage
only IN hour since. think how coy
it would be were she to be gazing at
the dying embers Of the hearth, sitting
on a low stool by my side, and how
tenderly I'd kiss those pretty shoulders
that | bat IN hour since compared with
those OF the Venus at the Louvre. The
picture is so enchanting | ever serious
ly speculate upon Il g possibility IF
making it real. A little sober reason
ing and ii is all dissolved into smoke
eve like the cigar, the remnants of
which | throw among the blackened
Goals. I'm twenty-eight and a strug-
Cling barristcr. The battle is not won.
I've a reputation to make-position to
gain. Ewes fair daughters of to-day
do not cast their lot with struggling
young men, win or lose, rise
or go under. The young
lady of the period is too wei
trained to do anything that is not
strictly good form, don't you know,
and it is not good form to give away to
sentiment to the extent Of marrying Il
man who has not wealth or position.
If it is not an absolute drinking for
eigner with IA title, it is n 50-year-old
millionaire, with a neck the size of her
waist that "a successfully bid for the
favors of the fair maiden of to-day.
She will listen to your tribute to her
beauty. She eve grows a connoisseur
in the matter of the quality of your
compliments. She is not stupid and
you must sharpen your wits in order to
invent palatable food for her vanity.
She waltzes with You, flirts with you
even INDUCES in tender little scenes
with You; but marry you-dear, no;
s'he's such a dear fellow, but then be
is SO wretchedly poor, and one must
wed n brilliant party You know" ! do
not know where the fault lies; but that
marriage among the better bred'people
is becoming beautifully less cannot be
denied. That the effect upon both
sexes is demoralizing is equally APP
parent. | know scores Of Young men
with brains and education who shun So
ciety and the fashionable young woman
for the reason that they well know that
marriage cannot be thought of until
much later in life with women in her
sphere, and to follow in her wake an
admiring swain is IA thankless and
costly task fraught with more vexation
than pleasure. The result is that in
most large cities there are are coteries
of young men-and usually the best
ones, too-who live rather fast lives
and in consequence when they do
marry at a late day are unfit 10 be hus-
bands and fathers. ] know scores of
young men who would be willing to
maryland in many cases il would be
their saiy ation-couId they find Young
women CT equal school attachments who
would brar, he struggle with them.
The Ii : Of lost Of these young men
can be Dciled down AS follows: A
more or less-according to disposition
gay bachelor life, and if not wrecked
by the vayside. when they get fat.
tlabby and bald, a brilliant wedding
with an ambitious bud. Il short honey
moon, mutual disgust, big funeral, in
teresting young widow-tra la.