The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1891-03-26
WHY DO NOT WOMEN WE'D 2
Is 1t Wholly the Fault Of Men, or are Wo-
men to Blame?

Is 1t Wholly the Fault of Men, OF are wo-
men to Blame?
It requires considerable temerity to
recommend to the attention of q reading
public already distracted with prolong-
ed and bystcrical discussion of the ques-
ton, "Is marriage Failure?" the con.
siderat;on Of another question auteda.ipg
the fosmcrin sequence ifnot in impor-
tance, namely: "Why Women do Not
Marry" or rather why so few in propor-
tior to their numbers attain the dignity
Of wifehood.
But an ingenious man correspondent
Of the Pail Mall Gazette has thrown down
the guantlet by declaring with the assur-
ance peculiar to his sex that the reason
is simply because men do not propose,
supporting his premise by a collateral
assertion to the effect that men do not
propose because one.half of the women
world is too modest to attract and the
other half not modest enough to win the
regard of the superior creatures of the
genus homo. Twas ever thus since the
days of the feasting of forbidden fruit in
the garden, woman is always the offender,
the originator and precipitation of disaa-
ter.
With all due respect to the Gasctte's
"Moderu Daniel come to judgment" it
is safe to assert that the real reason of
the cslibacy of woman is not due to their
own deficiency in grace or person or man.
ner, but simply to the fact that there are
not men enough in the world to marry.
Go where you will-to the seashore, in
the mountains, to receptions, balls, teas,
any of the important functions of social
life where men and women are gathered
together-the men are in the minority.
Il is safe to premise that not one woman
in fifty ever lived to be 40 years old with.
out receiving one or more proposals of
marriage, and not one in 500. may be
found who might not have received more
offers than she did if she had not avoided
them with all 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, usefulness
and honor that the necessity of woman
has opened and is continually widening
make some future possible for every wo.
man of intelligence besides that compass.
ed by the clear starcEing of one mans
linen and the cooking of one mans din.
ners to that standard of excellence es.
tablished by the way his mother did it.
Marriage is to many women the inter-
ruption rather than the consummation
of her ambition, and she is inclined to
weigh we'll in her mind the worth Of the
man who honors her with his regard
before she reliuquishes interests endeared
to her to bear his name, provide for his
home and rear his children, all for the
sake support, in many cases less salts.
factory than she could if .untrammeled,
secure for herself aud for his love, which
sometimes outlasts the decay of her
beauty aud survives the fascination of
the first fair face that comes under bis
observation and frequently does not.
As has been already stated, there are
more women qualified to become compe.
tent wives than there are men capable 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, greater
proportion ofgirls grow up into sweet, wo.
manly women than there are Of boys who
develop into honorable, successful men.
Formerly there vas no alternative but
for the girls to wed the boys, worthy OF
unworthy. A woman unwed was wo-
man disbonored. The old maids prayer
for "Oh, any man; good Lord" was un-
consciously the desire of every girls
inner consciousness. Now the stigma of
dishonor has been removed from the
brow of the spiDster, and the petition is
changed from "auy one" to "the one,
good Lord";; for, in spite of being br0ck-
eted with senior wranglers; holding pro.
fessorships and Offices of honor and trust,
Notwithstanding the writing of books,
and the perfection ofgreat enterprises by
woman, the woman's heart vibrates just
as sweetly, as tenderly, as gladly to the
touch of true love as in the days when
Adam wog bis consort in the garden,
when Paul wooed Virginia and Siegfried
kissed Brunhilda's silent lips to life and
love.
Now the average woman ofintelligence
realizes that the unmarried girl has the
best oft. As some one has said, sin the
soul of every unwon woman there lies
eternal youth" Within her heart is
hidden still the holy of holies, violated