Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-09
ENGLAND'S SURPLUS WIDOWS.
The Surprising Discovery that The,
Number Nearly q Million.
From the San Francisco Call.

From the San Francisco Call.
1t appears from the last statistical returns
that there are about 1000, 900 more women
| than men in England, and that these are nearly
all widows. This is a very surprising discovery.
| 1t may be explained, however InEngland. as
| in all old settled countries. women predomi-
nate numerically over men, partly in conse-
quence Of the superior vitality of girl babies
| over boy babies; partly because of the large
number of young men who go abroad to seek
their fortunes, leaving their sisters behind
and partly because of the greater mortality
among men, owing to the hazardous nature OF
| the employments they follow. According to
the tables more boys are born in England than
girls. the figures being 104, 81 males to 100 OOO
| females; but at ten years of age there are
100000 girls to every 81, 800 boys, and the dis
crepancy increases regularly for twenty years
| afterward.
Why, however, should the excess of females
consist mainly of widows? In India a widow
| may not marry. 1t was probably to avoid the
! crowding of the market that the suttee was in
| stituted. But in England widows may and do
| marry. In fact, they are addicted to the prac-
| tice. How then does it come that the number
| of widows so largely predominates over that OF
widowers? The explanation is that there are
| more old men who marry young women than
| there are young men who marry old women.
large class of men postpone matrimony until
late III life. They enjoy the desolate freedom
Of the bachelor; they are afraid of marrying
on scanty means; they dread the loss of their
freedom; they have never met the right girl.
Thus they only resort to matrimony when they
find they absolutely need female companion
| ship. Such middle-aged men usually marry
women of twenty-five, or, at any rate. women
| under thirty. 1t is obvious that, all other
| things being equal. the chances are that a
woman OF twenty-five will outlive man OF
| forty five. The average life of men in easy
| circumstances is not over sixty years. II the
husband dies at sixty, the wife, if she is mar
| ried at twenty-five, will be forty at the time OF
his death, and she will have fair prospect OF
twenty years more life. Hence the surplus OF
| widows.
In sagacious nation of antiquity it was
| held that women of forty made the best wives
| and boys on matrimony bent were required to
| choose a helpmeet of that age or over A SIM
liar rule was adopted by the Oneida community
| In New York. But the practice is not popular
| despite such shining examples as George Eliot
and Lord Beaconsfeld. Our modern fashion
which induces young men to postpone mar
| rage until they are in a position to give their
| wife a horse and a carriage naturally leads to
an accumulation of widows
| Girls complain that men do not marry. The
| complaint is threadbare; 1t was the pet griey-
ance of the mothers and the grandmothers OF
| the present generation, yet a comfortable pro-
| portion OF the fair complainants became
| mothers OF families when their turns came
| There are few girls in American society who
| cannot marry II they choose. Only they must
not reckon on starting in life where their
mothers left off. II the daughter of rich man
| proposes to enjoy as married woman the
| comforts and Injuries she had in her maiden
home she must take middle-aged man for her
| spouse-one who has drunk the cup of romance
to the dregs and for whom life has no illusions
She will have her carriage and her servants
and her Injuries: but of such a husband she
may fairly expect some day to be the widow II
she wants partner in life with heart as fresh
as her own and capacity for savoring the
sweet Stiffness of young love- she must take a
youth whose buttons she will have to sew on
whose dinner she will have to oversee, if not to
/ cook, and whose narrow income she will have
to exc out so as to make both ends meet In
such case she may possibly never wear O
widows weeds. Which alternative offers the
fairest prospect of happiness girls must decide
for themselves.