The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-10-30
WHY DO NOT WOMEN WED?
Is it Wholly the Fault of Men, or are ITo-
men to BlaInc?-Perhaps There Are
Not Enough Men to go
Around.

1t requires considerable te:nerity to
recommend to the attention Of read
ing public already distracted with q
prolonged and hysterical discussion of
the question, as Marriage Fail
ure?:" the consideration Of another
question antedating the former in Sc
quence if not in Importance, namely:
"Why Women do Not Marry or
rather why so few in proportion to
their numbers attain the dignity Of
-wifehood.
But an ingenious man correspondent
Of The Pail Mall Gazette has thrown
down the grantlet by declaring with
the assurance peculiar to his sex that
the reason is simply because men do
not propose, supporting his promise
by collateral assertion to the effect
that men do not propose because one
half Of the women world is too modest
70 attract and the other half not mod
est enough to win the regard of the su-
perior creatures of the genus home.
Twas ever thus since the days of the
feasting of forbidden fruit in the gar
den, woman is always the offender,
the originator and precipitation of disas-
ter.
With all due respect to the Gazette's
"Modern Daniel come to Judgment"
it is safe to assert that the real reason
Of the celibacy Of women is not due to
their own deficiency in grace or person
or manner, but simply to the fact that
there are not men enough in the world
to marry. Go where you will-to the
seasho1e, in the mountains, to recep-
tions, balls, teas, any Of the important
functions of social life where men and
women are gathered together-the men
are in the minority.
It is safe to premise that not one
woman in fifty ever lived to be 10 years
old without receiving one or more pro-
posals of marriage, and not one in 500
may be found who might not have re-
ceived more offers than she did if she
had not avoided them with all a
woman's kindly tact and diplomacy.
In the same ratio that the old chivalric
alteration for women has diminished
among men certain dignity and
strength has developed among wo-
men.
The avenue Of employment, useful
ness and honor that the necessity of
woman has opened and is continually
widening make some future possible
for every woman of intelligence besides
that compassed by the clear starching
of one mans linen and the cooking Of
one mans dinners to that standard of
excellence established by the way his
mother did it. Marriage is to many
women the interruption rather than
the consummation of her ambition, and
she is inclined to weigh we'll in her
mind the worth Of the man who hon
ors her with his regard before she relin-
quishes interests endeared to her to
bear his name, provide for his home
and rear his children, all for the sake
of support, in many cases less satisfac-
tory than she could if untrammelled,
secure for herself and for his love,
which sometimes outlasts the decay Of
her beauty and survives the fascination
of the first fair face that comes under
his observation and frequently does
not.
AS has been already stated, there are
more women qualified to become COM
petent wives than there are men capa-
ble Of developing into worthy husbands.
In every group of children, girls and
boys in the same circumstances of life
and subjected to the same influences, a
greater proportion Of girls grow up into
sweet, womanly women there are Of
boys who develop into honorable.
successful men. Formerly there was
no alternative but for the girls to wed
the boys, worthy or unworthy. a
woman unwed was woman dishonor-
ed. The old maids prayer for "Oh,
any man; good Lord" was uncon-
sciously the desire of every girls inner
consciousness. Now the stigma of dis
honor has been removed from the brow
of the spinster, and the petition is
changed from "any one" to "the one,
good Lord"; for, in spite of being
bracketed with senior wranglers; hold
ing professorships and offices of honor
and trust, Notwithstanding the writing
of books, and the perfection of great
enterprises by woman, the woman's
heart vibrates just as sweetly, as ten
derly, as gladly to the touch to true
love as in the days when Adam won his
consort in the garden, when Paul woocd
Virginia and Siegfried kissed Brunhil-
da's silent lips to life and love.
Now the average woman of intelli-
gence realizes that the unmarried girl
has the best Of it. AS some one has
said, "In the soul of every unwon wo-
man there lies eternal YOUTH" Within
her heart is hidden still the holy of
holes, violated by no high priest, how
ever righteous, wherein golden-winged
cherubim preside over the sanctity Of
her womanhood. She is, as a rule,
fresher and fairer and better dressed
than her married sister in the same cir
cumstances, stronger in body, brighter
in intellect. Walking the floor nights
with teething ',abies and crying ones
eyes out over husbands that stay out at
the club until the keyh0le is a Whirl-
ing Catherine wheel, are not conducive