The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-01-24
NOT ON THE MARRY.
Millions Of Young Mon Who Pre-.
fer Single Life.
Although There Arc Plenty OF W,vcs to
BE Had tho Selfish Creatures Cling
to the Joys of Bach
clurhoOd.

1t is estimated that there are three
million young men of marriagea BILE age
in the United States who obstinatcly
neglect to provide themselves with
wives. and this implies the existence of
at least an equal number of young
women of marriagcablc age who are
waiting for proposals that never come.
The fact is important, says the st.
Louis Globc-Dcmocrat, us indicating
one of the social tendencies of the
period. 1t cannot be doubted that the
popularity of matrimony has material
ly declined in recent years and that II
kind OF general hesitancy seems to pre-
vail respecting the negotiations of such
alliance. There was time when the
young people of the country FASTENED
to pair themselves with birdlikc eager
ness and delight rs soon as they were
out of school, and society not only en-
couraged them but practically com
manded them to take that course.
They We're considered supcriluous and
burdensomc until they got married.
The true work OF life could not begin
with them, they were taught, so long
as they remained single; it was their
duty to become yollcd without I'M
necessary delay, and it was disgrace
to miss reasonable opportunities in
that relation. But it is decidedly diff
ferent at the present day. The prac-
tice OF wedlocll is no longer imperative,
nor does discrcdit attend the minated
state. even when prolonged into the
thirtics There is as much advice given
against marriage us III favor of it bv
the wise and experienced of both sexes,
and the result is n steady decrease in
the proportion of actual weddings to
possible ones
The causes which have produced this
marked change are not sufficiently
definite for satisfactory analysis. 1t is
probably true that our eNtravagant
style of living is one of the effective
influences The cost of supporting a
wife and raising a family is much larger
than 1T used to be, and this feature of
the matter often gives pause on both
sides. We have come to measure so
many things by money that matrimony
has not escaped the rule. The young
people are disinclined to start in n hum
bic way and gradually improve their
situation: they want all that their
parents have without waiting and striv-
ing for it. Many proposals are unques-
tlonably delayed or rejected on this ac-
count. Then, it is we'll known that the
new avenues of employment open to
women have made them more indie
pendent and probably also more exact
ing as to the qualifications of husbands.
1t is not nearly so common as it once
was for girls to marry simply in order
to secure a home and a 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 prog
ress of women in education and in social
power has led them to look less favor
ably upon the connubial condition of
subordinating their hearts to their
heads, SO to speak. And finally it can
not but be that the abundance of criti-
cism to which the marriage system has
been subjected by writer's of pro-
nounccd vigor and skill has served to
and to disparagc the quality of sacred
ness that is its highest claim to respect
and honor.
There is no reason as yet, however,
to lament the prevailing tendency as a
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 response
bilities of human life, and if people are
learning to be slow and careful about
making contracts of SO much Importance
it is hardly sign of decay or threat
of calamity. Whenever any two per-
sons care SO much for each other that
they cannot happily live apart they will
be welded in spite of all opposing in
hucnces, and perhaps those are the only
circumstances under which q wedding
ought ever to take place. 1t would not
do to say with Hamlet that "we will
have no moro marriages." and that ali
who are now single ''shall keep as they
are" but we are justified in thinking
that the rate of matrimonial happiness
is likely to be increased according to
the measure of marriages that are
brought about by reflective instead of
emotional means. The system with
which the critics find so much fault is
not perfect, but it is much better than
they represent it to be, or it would not
have survived SO long. With all their
haw-picl1ing, they have not been able
to devise an acceptable substitute for
it, and until they are able to do SO it
will continue to stand as the most
bencficent of those great agencies which
regulate and control the affairs of civ
iliZation.