Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-06
WHY THEY MARRY OFFICERS.


vantages ms Husbands.
From the New York Times.
In West Point, at table, on the terrace
Capt. Archibald Wellington Perry rolls a
cigarette. Mrs. Perry hands a lighted mat:n
to him. He puffs. and. suddenly:
He-Do you know that Hanley is to be
married?
she-He. too? He will be the fourth after
us this year.
He-Yes. he makes me think of people
who throw themselves in a we'll CT hang
themselves in a barn because others have
done SO.
She-Oh. how your comparisons are COM
olimentaryi
He-Pshaw. One can say these things
pleasantly.
She-You are Hen-yjamesizing. my dear;
and so Hanley is to marry a young girl.
pretty, finely formed, of excellent family,
and ornamented with O great lot Of little
talents.
He-Who told you.
She-All officers find pearls Of this descrip-
ton.
He-Georgie. your modesty will not stifie
you.
Shell hope not
Heater all, you are right. We are sur
prlsingly popular in the marriage market
She-l have often asked myself the same
question. Ii were sure that you would not
make fun of me. l would tell you under
what conditions l first thought of it,
He-l am as grave as a bicyclist on his
wheel.
She-Well, you remember that you asked
me to marry you by letter.
He-My parents lived in the south, and
old not know when l could see your father
in person.
Sne-The true reason is that military men,
with all their brave airs, are timid. When
papa showed your letter to me- L fell into
tears without replying anything AS you
were TO come Sunday tor an answer / ask
Ell time Tor rejection, and every night
could have NJ other idea than that / had
the time to decide. Thus 1t happened that
Sunday morning l had not yet decided
Young women do not think. They are fas-
cirated by the tinsel, the gilt the sword and
me style OF the UNIFORM; they are victims of
sort or indolent admiration; the word in
toXicates them-"Otiicer! Otficerr' When one
or our friends n'arries a captain we fall
into Mysteries of jealousy and swear to
marry at least a colonel; we think nothing
or the obligations of an officers life
1 was thinking of these things in nv
little white bed. and it was too late to ask
ADVICE OF grave persons. Then I remem-
bered the experience of Edith, our first
bridesmaid. One morning she was in n
hurry to go to confession, in order that she
might take communion that day. She teIe-
phoned to the sacristy, and, alone in her
iathers Office, related her little affairs to
her confeSSor in the TELEPHONE When the
priest gave her dissolution she did not know
II she was to kneel before the receiver for
this. you know, is not provided for in the
catechism.
Then what did 1 do? 1 ran in NV long
nightgown to fathers library and tele-
phoned for the curate. Fortunately he
was in the sacristy. l asked him what he
thought or my marrying an officer. l hear
him still: My dear child. 1 have had the
honor n knnyin0 ofHo
on battlefields. when 1 was chaplain.
They seem brilliant. but they are good
people. They are straight. simple, guarded
by their rough life from mundane dissipa-
tons. 1 wish you much happiness in the
grand sacrament of marriage"
He-An intelligent man, your father con-
fessor.
She-Wait moment. I asked my uncle,
the Congressman. He called for his sec
rotary, but i said: Uncle what do YOU
think of officers as husbands?" He replied:
Officers are honest people. Thus they are
different from everybody else. These OBJ
scure heroes" 1 interrupted him, because
had often heard this commencement of a
phrase. the only phrase that he ever spoke
in the House of Representatives, the one
which Is called in the family "uncle's
phrase" I asked him to get his wife, my
coed Aunt Alice. To my first words she re-
piled: "You are right to marry an officer
They are good, very good. husbands They
are big children, and it is amusing to turn
them around ones finger
In order to finish my consultation with
my little Senate, 1 telephoned for my other
aunt, Penelope. She said: 1.-The Lord pre-
serve you from marrying an officer, my
child. Young girls are influenced by uni
forms. and after they are married they find
themselves imprisoned in a narrow world
with special customs" etc, etc.
He-Yes, OF course, she wanted you to
marry her son.
She-But the more she talked the more
determined 1 was. All the objections that
she enumerated attracted me as much as
the advantages that thought of. Father
entered and found me in my nightgown on
the tips of my toes before his telephone
He said, We'll, what are you doing here?'
Then l fell into his arms and stammered.
Father, want to marry Mr.. Perry"