St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-09-09

SHOULD THEY MARRY?
1t is perhaps somewhat singular that
CHARLES EGBERT CRADDOCK should
express the conviction that literary peo-
pie should never marry. 1t would sur
prise no one for a cross old bachelor, or
amaiden lady in the sere and yellow leaf,
to scout the happiness of domestic life
and be infidel to its charms and delights;
but for young and beautiful lady to
lock her heart against all suitors is
something which passes understanding.
True that literature has its compensa-
tons for many self-denials, but that 1t
shuts the door to domestic happiness is
in the last degree inadmissible. The
argument that literature embodies in its
extent all that is valuable in human
progress, divine intent and action, goes
for a great deal; but it is equally true
that it assists in all the beneficial efforts
of humanity, and among them must be
classed the peace and beauty of home
life. The non-marriage theory for
literary people is based on the aSsump-
ton that their work is so delicate and
eXacting, that to do it wellreqHres on the
part of itS-servants aasingleness OF pur-
pose, a clearness of thought, an
5iz;;s:ccttness in Judgment which can
not exist wneG the external in
fluences are permitted 10 inter-
mingle. The priest who ministers al
the altar of literature, say these the
Orists, must devote his entire thought,
all he has of brain and heart, to the
shrine at which he worships. He can
not in the sacred precincts of the sane
tuaTy turn aside to haggle over the
price of poultry, the cost of fuel, and
care for the family allowance of bacon
and greens. But in reply to all this 1t
may be said that the two greatest phil
OsOphers and scientists of modern times,
TYNDALL and MILLS found in these
very things their chief delight.
SCOTT, MILTON and TENNYSoN, LONG
FELLOW, BRYANT and LOWELL
did not find marriage a barrier
to fame and fortune. Nor is the
assumption that literary men and
women are utterly unlike everybody
else a correct one. They may have
their special temperaments, their indl-
vidual idiOsyncracies, their peculiar
methods of thought, their positive sym
pathies and dislikes; but so, too, has
the lawyer, the doctor, the music
teacher, the painter, the housewife and
the charwoman. To yoke a literary
man to an ordinary woman does not i'm
pair his capability to carry on his work;
nor need it fasten on him a life of
wretchedneSs. Experience has shown
that the literary man who has domes-
tic wife has far greater chances of hap
piness than if left alone to wrestle
through his dark hours and in
evitable discOuragements. The same
is true of literary women. The
PLAIN business man, instead of provid-
ing her with q ball and chain, is gener-
ally proud of her talents, and hnds his
greatest pleasure in mlniStering to her
desires. There is, however, one rock
which is fatal to literary people. And
this rock is encountered whenever they
marry one another. The most undesir-
able of unions are those in which two
literary people resort to marriage, the
case of the BRoWNINGS to the contrary
Notwithstanding. Where there has
been one case of Browningism there
have been many in which the direct
opposite has been the result. The eX-
PLANTATION is very simple. A husband
and wife devoted to literature clash in
cessantly on the same plane. 1t is a
hostile contact between the irresistible
on the one hand and the invincible on
the other. The essential difference of
sex begets antagOnisms; the respective
ideals projected by each necessarily
differ as do masculine strength and
feminine delicacy. They cannot agree,
because each cannot be eternally prais-
ing the other. Such union is without
affinity, mechanical composition with
out positive cohesion in the particles.
But there is no friction in the domestic
life of men and women who marry out
side their domain. Such unions are
almost invariably happy-that is, ac-
cOrding to the ordinary standard of
marital life.
1t is far better to marry and take the
chances than worry on single and un-
comfortable to a growing old age.