Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-05-16
MODERN MATRIMONY.
WHY GIRLS ARE NOT so ANXIOUS
TO MARRY AS FORMERLY.

Women Are Now Able to Earn a Living
without Being Obliged to lie Dependent
on Men, and So They Are Not Driven
Into Marriage For Simply a Home.
One Of the San Francisco dailies sent
around its reporters to interview people on
1.-THE decline of matrimony" The contro-
versy over the decrease of marriages
which, by the way, is not an absolutely in
controvertible fact-has advanced step by
the contention Of some of those interviewed
that, in the present condition of affairs,
women are not as anxious to be married rs
they were, and that theperplexing problem
of the hour is not what shall become of the
maids, but what is going to become Of the
unmarried men.
Men are being supplanted in almost every
walk of life by women, who are steadier,
more reliable less dissipated, and less
extravagant than the majority of men.
Hence a state of things is prefgured in
which the woman shall not be driven to
marry for q home. 1t is said that there
are in New York alone $1,000 female wage
ea ners, besides domestic servants.
IL results from this condition of affairs
that girls are not worrying as much as they
did about the future and are willing to let
the coniugai question settle itself They
are ranging themselves on the same plane
as men, willing to marry if the right man
comes along and the conditions are favor
able, but equally willing to remain single
and to fight the battle Of life alone rather
than risk an inharmonious match or "A
CHASTITY shipwreck. The old stories of hus-
band hunting are relics of past age.
The old maid Of our early recollections is
not the old maid Of today. She was scrawny,
angular without curve or a grace, with
hshy blue eyes and a wTinkled high brow,
thin nose, thin lips, a hard mouth sharp
chin, scant hair and shriil voice; her ma
ture was stiff, prim, austere, narrow, carp
ing, enyiOus, fussy, intolcrant, whereas
the end-of-the-century old maid at 40. is
fresher, younger and better preserved than
most married women. She has known
fewer cares and pains than her married sis
ter; therefore her nerves are quieter, her
manners gentler. her temper under better
control She is apt to be amiable.
This picture is familiar to the average
girl, and when she coBtemplates it, after
reading one of the belligerent divorce cases
with which the newspapers abound, she Is
less inclined than ever 70 throw herself into
the arms of a man whom, flirt with him as
she may, she never can know until she has
been his wife, and more disposed to do as
her brother does-acquire a knowledge of a
calling which will support her and make
matrimOny a secondary consideration in her
life.
Men have used old maidism as a whip 10
coerce girls into saying yes when their in
stlncts prompted them to say no. II old
maidisn loses its terrors, the relations of
the sexes will undergo change The
coarse bruteS who now secure wives simply
because they can offer girl home and
the position of a spouse, will then be dere-
lict
The girl who, having to choose between
supporting herself by work or supporting
herself by marriage, elects in favor Of the
latter does herself an injustice Of which she
may hereafter repent.
Mr.. Labouchere, fully approaching the
crisis which the question has reached, pro
poses to meet the new society which is be-
Ing evolved out OF the rains Of the old with
aplan which would wrest from men their
monopoly of the right of making offers of
marriage. The suggestion is worth consid. /
ering. There is no natural reason why the
man should choose and the woman be
chosen. There probably lives no girl who, (
at some time or other, has not seen man /
whom she could have loved and made hap ]
Ply if she could have spoken, but who has |
passed her by unconscious. while her mouth /
was sealed by conventional rule. lift were /
possible, the experiment would be worth |
trying. If men lad to prink in the hope Of /.
attracting an offer from a girl. their be- /
havior would be more circumspect, and |
they would be more Umiable creatures than |
they are
A sound view on the subject is that |
which was expressed by one of the ladies |
interviewed, Mrs. Bunker of the Woman's |
union. She says that women do not marry |
as often As they used to do, because they ]
are not now forced into marriage by want |
or at the point Of public opinion. A woman |
may marry or not, rs she pleases. She can !
take care Of herself, and no one criticises |
her conduct. That seems to be the com
mon sense Of the question and points the |
way for its solution.
When Italy for the fourth time rose in |
arms to throw or the yoke Of Austria,
France offered her assistance. Italy had
had a cruel experience Of such help, and
Charles Albert by one of those inspirations
which sometimes come to a man, declined
the offer with the historic words, "LiItalia
fara di Sc" When women can afford to
say to men that they can take care of them
selves, the conjugal problem will be solved
San Francisco Argonaut.