New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-07-14
Merely Housokeepers.


From the Philadeiphia Record.
One Of the questions relating to
women which has lately absorbed
much of the attention of writer's is at
what age girls ought to marry. The
diversity OF these opinions, ranging as
they do over the entire period of girl
hood, from eighteen to thirty, render
them OF little value in point CT advice,
and there is no hope that they would
be needed if they were. Wheni comes
to affairs OF the. heart all the advisory
councils in the. world are of small &C.
count. Girls are pretty apt to take
the reins in their own hands when the
subject under consideration is matri-
mony. And it is right that they
should when 1t happens that they are
blessed with well-balanced heads, or
have arrived at years of discretion.
But the well-balanced head is not all
ways the result OF age, neither do wears
always bring discretion.
.,
be attributed to various sources. Not
all OF them can be laid to the folly of
youth, although early marriages are
undoubtedly a fruitful source OF do
mestic woe: The marriage de conven-
ance must bear its share of the bur-
den. A fac establishment is often con-
sidered OF paramor0t Importance to
the necessary accompaniment in the
form OF a husband. who is, indeed, not
lnfrequently looked upon in the light
OF an lncumbrance at the very outset,
when, If ever. there is some glamour of
romance. But the age has nothing to
DO with this sort Of matrimonial COM
pact. The discreet" young woman
who forms such an alliance generally
does so with her eyes wide open, and,
Whatever be her measure of misery, is
deserving Of little sympathy OF very
near kin to her case is that OF the wom-
an who sees "her shadow grow long at
her feet, and with old-maidism, with
its attendant horrors, staring her full
IN the face, makes up her mind
to marry, and does marry, the
first man who offers. merely
for the privilege OF writing sMrs." on
her visiting card. The chit OF sixteen
could hardly be guilty OF greater folly,
to call it by no harsher name, although
it can hardly be reckoned short of
crime when committed deliberately.
The priest has no right, even had he
the power, to look down into hearts,
and such marriages, if marriages they
are. are every day consecrated and
sanctioned by the law. And it is in
accord with the universal rule of re-
tributive justice that they carry with
them consequent bitterness.
One OF the strongest arguments
brought to bear against early marriag-
es is that a girl under the age of twenty
is hardly through with her school,
books, and that she has had no OPP
portunity to acquire any domestic
knowledge to say nothing OF the great
world OF human nature. Experience,
which is needed to tone down the ar
rogance OF youth she has not had, and
amiable and lovely as she may be, she
has not learned the divine art of 81
lence. Another source OF domestic dis
satisfaction in the case OF too youth
full marriage is that women rarely ad-
vance IN literary requirements after
they have taken upon themselves the
vows OF wifehood, whereas men, as
rule, go on until they have passed
their prime. The pretty little
wife who was once his equal, and met
every requirement OF his taste, has
fallen sadly into the background, and
although he may continue to cherish
her, he will very likely in his mind
contrast herwith the woman VINO is up
with the times, who can converse with
him and appreciate him. Possibly the
brainy woman would not keep his
house SO well, but man is so consti-
tuted that, however much he maylike
creature comforts, he wants COM
panion in his wife, and not merely a
housekeeper. The latter can be hired
for a compensation in dollars and
cents. He wants his wife TO be some
thing above and beyond all this.
THERE'S another side to the ques-
ton. The children-and there are still
sometimes children even in American
families-will have as their birthright
stronger and finer brains if born OF a
mother who is full grown in mind; and
as they pass from the animal stage Of
their existence, and advance in book
lore and become worldly wise If the
mother-mind is OF such a grain that
it can enter into their pursuits, they
will not grow away from her and
home.
| do not mean to say there are no
happy marriages consumated in ear
ly youth, but the chances are against
it. Diana OF Poictiers at the age of
thirteen married a widower Of fifty,
and there is no record that her twenty
years of married life did not hold its
full measure OF bliss, although her sub
sequent years would seem to attest
the contrary. However, it was dam
gerous experiment. It is the law of
nature for gay youth to love gay
youth, and awide discrepancy in point
OF years is quite as likely to result ia
tally as a wide discrepancy in point
OF taste. It is not often that girl OF
TWENTY-FIVE has the same taste she