St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-01-04
Plausible Reasons Why Some
Men Fail to Find Matpi-
mOnial Bliss.
Few Bachelors Remain in the
Lonely, Unmarried State
From Choice.
When Bapkis Is Willin' Peg
goty Outlines Hangs Back
Reluctantly.
But No One Sympathizes With
the Poor, Unmarried Un-
fortunate.

The Daily Chronicle having begun
soberly enough by discussing the pre-
ponderance of unmarried women over
single men shown by recent statistics,
mas fallen into somewhat heated argu-
ment as to why men will not marry.
we remember. not very long ago, a very
similar correspondence which filed the
columns of the Daily Telegraph for the
whole of the silly season.; and judg-
ing from the extreme similarity of the
tone and the style of the letters adj
dressed to both, we are inclined to think
that the correspondents of one paper
are also the correspondents of the other
"a theory which we are the more dis
posed to hold because, after a fashion,
1t limits the amount of human folly and
faulty which the correspondence ex-
poses.
One thing at least is noticeable in the
case of both papers. The discussion is
founded on the assumption that women
remain unmarried because the men will
not marry them. And this state of
things is attributed by the male dis
putantS to the fact that women are too
eXacting in their demands, by the dis
putants of the gentle sex to the selfish
ness and cowardice of the male crea-
ton. No one has yet seen fit to deplore
the lot of the unmarried men, and to
say good word for those unhappy NOR
tails who are debarred from marriage
either by the want of attractions to
wonan'S eye, or by the want of means
to support wife and family. And yet
one would think that the lot of the I'M
marriageable man who cannot find a
mate is just as hard to bear as that of
the marriageabie but unmarried woman.
Indeed, the anger and bitterness
which the two disputants, especially the
women, bring into discussion of this
kind seem to blind them entirely to the
real facts of the case. a calm consid-
Grafton of those facts would probably
convince them that the evil of which
they complain is an order of things
more or less inevitable. There is moth
ing. perhaps. more misleading than sta
tistics: but there is one fact which bears
directly upon the case aud which may
explain to great extent the large num-
Der OF unmarried women. There are in
England, as 1t is admitted. S97. 900 more
manageable women than marriageabIe
men: very nearly a million women con-
demned to life of single blessedness,
not because the men won't marry them,
but ecauSe there are no men to marry
them.
As long as polygamy is discouraged by
our laws and customs we do not under
stand how these women can expect to
be married. The main reason for men
being interchangeable is that they do
not exist in sufficient quantities to meet
the demands of women. Whether this
is the result of the preponderance of
10 10 nj ~
mortality among the men, or of the emf
grafton of the men. matters little: the
fact remains that there are in England
nearly 100000 women who cannot be
married, whether every man be willing
to marry or not. And of the rest of
manageable men and women, who re-
main in equal proportions, there IS no
evidence to show their want of union is
rather the fault of the man than that of
the woman, except the fact that the
Initiative i'll proposing lies with the
first.
1t may be that "Barkis is wiling,
after all, though Peggotty declares that
he is hanging back: and that, were the
positions reversed. and the onus of pro-
posing laid upon Peggotty's shoulders,
she would show herself to be more will
Ing than he has shown himself. We
really believe, and the belief is compli-
mentary to the fairer sex, that there are
no more bachelors than there are spin
sters who remain in that state from
choice. One THU e at least we have re-
marked-that though we have heard of
many spinSterS who have boasted that
they have refused offers by the dozen,
we have rarely, il ever, heard of
bachelor who would admit that he had
been rejected more than once: from
which we might infer that the willing
ness and the modeSty are all upon one
side, and the hardness of heart upon the
other.
The correspondents of the Daily
Chronicle, although they throw but
little light upon the question in general,
often throw good deal of light upon
the question as it affects their own par
ticular case. "A Contented Bachelor"
"A Wide-Awake Bachelor" and An
other WideAwake Bachelor" are sig
natures that explain themselves, and do
no particular honor either to the wits or
the good feeling of those who write
above them. No enc would be disposed
to quarrel with such gentlemen because
they choose to remain single. Perhaps
the most notable letter from one of their
sex, though of a different persuasion, is
that of clergyman.
Having been for years." he writes,
"a clergyman in the heart of Belgravia,
and in other districts of varying degrees
of gentility," he has remarked that his
clerical brethren can only be induced to
marry the richest woman of their con-
gregations, whether she be eminent
for piety. or the reverse" whence he
sagely Opines that money is the root
of all evil" and kindly gives the neces-
sary reference for that text. However
much the degrees of gentiiitv varied,
the degree of the reverend gentleman's
charity seems to have been an unvary-
ing factor in his observation of his
neighbOrs.
most gentle epistles; to the Pour
Working Girls" who answer one par
ticular bachelor, and add to their rail-
ing a delightful postscript-does the
bachelor require knitted socks? because
they will be glad to knit him some
should he be in want of them: to the in
dlgnant young woman who complains
that young men think too much of their
clubs, and signs herself "a Domestic
Servant and to the splendid rhetoric
of the lady who describes "hearts
until death relieves Them" and declares
that responsible for such state of
things are our false-tO-nature, one-sided,
man-made laws which have ever aimed
from the beginning at woman's subjec-
tion.''
1t is without surprise that one finds
the signature of Lady Florence Dixie
appended to this outburst of eloquence.
Curious above all others, however, is
the contribution OF "a Curio- Spinster''
who must be very curio-spinster in
deed, judging from the unique character
of her confessions. She is disposed to
take her readers into her complete con-
f1dence. Il have an oversenSitive nat
ure," she informs US, land am too apt
to think that have been insulted when,
perhaps, no harm was meant, and, hay
ing an unlucky knack of speaking my
mind, get disliked in consequence. But
charms than most women, l have had
many admirers and would-be suitors,