The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-05-29
A Ghair nf MnfrimnnY.

Ihe Michigan man, who was be-
.queathed half a million dollars by his
uncle on condition that he married within
five years; proposes that colleges es-
tablish chairs of matrimony to aid young
men and women, desiring to marry, in
selecting suitable wives aud husbands.
His belief is that too many marriages
are the result of impulse, and that as a
consequence many incompatible matches
are formed which end in lifelong mis-
cry or an attempt to rectify the mistake
through tae divorce courts. With COM
p~etitiye examinations as to intellectual
attainments and mental characteristics,
many Of these ill-sorted unions would
be avoided and o greater degree Of mari
tai happiness reached.
This suggestion from Michigan de-
serves more than o passing notice. The
man who makes it has had unusually
good opportunities for observing the
ease with which mismatches are made in
matrimonial life. The terms of his I'M
cles will became known when placed
on tile two years ago, and since that
time he has undergone q continual siege
from manageable maidens who were
eager to help him to comply with the
conditions necessary to the inheritance
of $500, DOC. He is a methodical man,
so he kept tally Of the eligible misses
who offered themselves within the first
two weeks after the will had been pro-
bated. The number was 1O5, but this
was only the vanguard of the host that
besieged him personally and by mail,
not only from this country, but from
Europe and South America.
He has at last made his choice, and,
like a sensible man, selected a Michigan
girl whom he has known and admired
for years. The strain, however, to
which he has been subjected by the task
has prompted him to propose a method
by which other men and women can es-
cape a similar unpleasant experience.
The same idea has doubtless suggested
itself to others who have observed the
impulsive, hap-hazard way in which
most young people choose companions
for life. A chance acquaintanceship, a
al or imaginary attraction, a pursuit
spurred on, perhaps, by a little rivalry,
and the thing is done. And while all this
is going on most parents are silent, and
act as if they had nothing to do with
their children's choice in a.matter which
concerns their happiness and usefulness
in life more than anything else. So the
young people take the whole business
under their management and give their
emotions and impulses full rein, for
which they too often pay by lifetime
of misery.
This is q period of reform in college
work. Many institutions are recasting
their courses and adding to their de.
partments, and a general endeavor is
observable to make the college studies
serve the practical more and the specu.
lative less. Chairs of biology and soci-
ology and departments of political and
social science are multiplying. Per-
haps, in this branching out into more
comprehensive and profitable fields OF
work, some institution may adopt the
suggestive idea of the Michigan man,
and establish a chair Of matrimony-
on condition, of course, that he will
endow it with a part of the sum he in
herits by marrying and complying with
the terms of his bachelor uncle's will
PHILADELPHIA Press.