Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-11-17
LOVE AND DISCRETION.
Has the Temperins of the One with the
Other Affected Matrimony?

1t cannot be doubted that the popular
ity of matrimony has materially de-
clined in recent years, and that kind
of general hesitancy seems to prevail re-
specting the negotiation of such alh-
Gnces. There was time when the young
people of the country hastened to pair
themselves with birdlike eagerness and
delight as soon as they were out OF
school, and society not only encouraged
them. but practically commanded them
to take that course. They were con-
sidered superiuous and burdensome un-
til they got married. The true work of
life could not begin with them, they
were taught, so long as they remained
single. 1t was their duty to become
yoked without unnecessary delay, and 1t
was disgrace to miss reasonable oppor-
tunities in that relation. But it is de-
cidedly different at the present day.
The practice of wedlock is no longer i'm
perative, nor does discredit attend the
minated state, even when prolonged in
to the thirties. There is as much ad-
vice given against marriage as in favor
of it by the wise and experienced OF
both sexes, and the result is steady de-
crease in the proportion of actual
weddings to possible ones.
The causes which have produced this
marked change are not sufficiently def
mite for satisfactory analysis. 1t is
probably true that OH extravagant style
of living as compared with that of former
times is one of the effective influences.
The cost of supporting a wife and rails
ing family is much larger than it used
to be, and this feature of the matter
often gives pause on both sides. We
have come to measure so many other
things by money that matrimony has
not escaped the rule. The young people
are disinclined to start in humble way
and gradually improve their situation.
They want all that their parents have
without waiting and striving for it.
Many proposals are unquestionably de-
layed or rejected on this account.
Then it is well known that the new
avenues of employment open to women
have made them more independent, and
probably also more exacting as to the
QUALIFICATIONS Ol HuSUdHOs IL ID nOl
nearly so common as it once was for
girls to marry simply in order to secure
a home and living; they are able now
to earn good wages and to take their
time about assuming the duties of wives
and mothers. We may safely believe,
moreover, that the progress Of women
in education and in social power has led
them to look less favorably upon the
connubial condition by subordinating
their hearts to their heads, so to speak.
And finally 1t cannot but be that the
abundance of criticism to which the
marriage system has been subjected by
writers of pronounced vigor and skill
has served to weaken 1t in the popular
estimation, and to disparage the quality |
of sacredness that is its highest claim to
respect and honor.
There is no reason as yet, however, to
lament the prevailing tendency as q |
national misfortune. The amount Of
marrying is still large enough for all
ordinary purposes, and it may be that
less rather than more of it would best |
promote the interests of society. Such
unions should be formed with some
other object than that Of merely propa-
eating the species. They involve the
most serious obligations and respond-
bilities of human life, and if people are
learning to be slow and careful about
making contracts of so much inpor- |
tance it is hardly sign of decay or |
threat of calamity.-St. Louis Globe
Democrat