The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-03-18
ACTRESS ON MATRIMONY
Helen Barry Gives Her a Opinion
About American Girls in
General.

General,
Why do not more girls marry? Every
one is interested in the girls,
and their happy settlement in domes-
tic life concerns the welfare of future
generations. The subject is not new
one by any means, and perhaps the
telegram is treading on dangerous
ground in bringing up this dangerous
subject. If the matter rested entirely
with the girls. a solution of the vex-
ing problem would have been made
long ago. One young lady to whom
the reporter applied for an answer re-
sponded by humming the following
melody
Why don't they let the girls
Do lust the same as the men?
Why don't they let the girls
Have freedom now and theng
Why must the dear little girls
Be led about by the noseg
Aud if a girl wants to marry a man
Why can't the girls proposef
The presence of a lady in town
more than Others competent to throw
light on the matter determined the
reporter to obtain an interview with
her. Miss Helen Barry, the clever
and accomplished artist, who has
been seen in "A Nights Frolic" by
hundreds of Troy and Albany people
the past week. is the lady in question.
When approached by the writer
Miss Barry gracefully consented to be
interviewed. The abrupt statement
of the object of his visit caused a rip
pie of unrestrained merriment to fall
from the lips of the charming woman,
"Why more girls do not marry? Only
give them a chance and see how quick
they will agree to be tied. Some
times, if they would not be so hasty,
they would be much better off. L
have discovered that people want
novelty, and a girl who does not marry
when she has a good opportunity, is
quite a novelty. The cause for SO
many divorces among theatrical peo-
pie" said Miss Barry, in answer
to a question is quite obvious. As a
rule husbands and wives seldom get
parts together in "a company, and
being so much apart they soon be-
come estranged. Like travellers, they
have no business with wives. They
seldom see theirs, and humanity
being the same the world over, they
soon have cause to seek the divorce
courts. Artists, sailors and travellers
should live in single b~lessedness. /
don't think the ma jority of girls re-
ject a man because he is poor, neither
do girls marry to secure a home.
Girls in the middle classes marry for
love. The middle classes in England
are considered the most moral.
The subject of marriage is left with
the parents, who look around them
for a suitable match for their sons or
daughters; particularly is this true in
regard to the heir. In France mar
riages in all classes are decided by the
parents. | believe the way girls fall
in love in America is the correct way.
1t is most extraordinary at what age
the American girls fall in love and
marries. The number of Opponents,
while large, seems to be on the in
crease, and many OF the girls are yet of
tender age, fourteen and fifteen years.
That is dreadful and can only be attri-
buted to the liberty the girls of the
period enjoy. This is noticeable to a
foreigner or one who travels a great
deal. AT the summer resorts and at
the hotels one sees so many young
girls without chaperones out late with
strangers. That is one of the secrets
of SO many unhappy marriages and
divorces. 1t does seem that the pres
ent generation arrange for the mar
rage and divorce at the same time.
The matrimonial bureaus, with their
matrimonial papers, have invaded
England, and, thanks to them, the
country is full of scandals. A num-
Der of divorce cases in high lite had
their beginning at the agency.
Recently a nobleman's sister who had
secured a husband through a matri-
lnonial agency, was in court pleading
forseparation. The raciest and spiciest
letters imaginable were produced at
the trial and afforded endless muse
ment for the scandal loving people.
The proper age for a girl to marry is
between twenty-three and twenty
four years OF age, while a man should
be thirty-fve years of age. At that
time the man has sown his wild oats
and got through with this world suf-
ficiently to settle down to domestic
life in earnest. | believe that there
are more disappointed lovers after
marriage than before. They form the
larger class and are the most to be
pitied. Being deprived of the society
of n that we love is a happiness in
comparison of being obliged to live
with one we detest." With this sage
remark the interview terminated, and
Miss Barry cordially bid the writer
adieu.-AtbGRy Sunday Telegraph.