Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-04-16
A WANE IN WEDLOCK.
JUNlUS HENRI BROWNE SEES IT AND
GIVES THE REASON

GIVES THE REASON.
He Says Tt Is One Result of wornan's New
Sense of Freedom-A Word Concerning
Matrimonial Discords-A Cynical Jest
Carried out.
Ever since the institution Of marriage
in its true sense-the legal union Of two
members of different sex-woman has
been supposed to be eager to get hus-
band She has never been supposed to
be more eager than in this new repub-
lie, where matrimony has been the rule
and hope the basis Of the experiment.
She is still supposed to be as eager as
ever, presuming her to have been eager
before, but she is not by any means.
The last 25 or 30 years have wrought a
decided change in her mind, if not in
her heart, respecting wedlock She no
longer looks on it as entirely romantic,
as is thought to have been her wont, but
more or less in practical light; which
is wholesome and desirable She has
never had at least she has never shown,
so much common sense as now on this
subject, and ON subjects in general; the
reason being. as is believed, that she
has undertaken to do something for her
self
As the main motive for marriage with
women has been, it is assumed, to be
taken care Of. it is easy to see why
that motive must at this time have lost
much Of its force, and why it is likely
to lose much more. Altogether the most
important question in life is material
liYing-physical snbsistence-and if
woman can earn this for herself, as she
has abundantly proved, why should she,
aside from emotionalism, want a hus-
band? Love, sympathy, the divine pas
sion, the hunger Of the heart, the neces-
sity. Of close companionShip, the abso-
lutte need Of spiritual comradery, though
vague and poetic. must be reckoned
with, but what are they compared with
what is vulgarly known as the bread
and butter problem?
We men all know what sense Of
freedom. expansion, independence, the
realized capacity to earn money to sus-
tain ourselves affords US Women, to
whom such capacity is new. are vastly
more affected by its possession. Its earli.
est consciousness is sufficient to make
them resent the very idea Of control, Of
domination, of authority, with which
many Of them have naturally associat-
ed conjugality, with man the head Of
the firm. They are apt to. they general
ly do, alter their feeling about marriage
when they become interested in a man
whom they regard as their prospective
husband, but there is little doubt that
their first feeling after pecuniary inde-
pendence is one Of revolt against we'd
lock. Their power to turn work into
wages may not render them averse from
matrimony in the concrete, but it makes
them consider it carefully before enter
ing into it, and careful consideration is
always inhibitive.
1t is not needful for them to have the
actual experience to be acquainted with
marriage Everything il published now
adays in the newspapers. and they are
so full Of matrimonial discords and dis
tresses of every kind that any reader
might readily be prejudiced against the
institution. Detailed divorce trials dis
close how couples who had every reason
to believe that they would Be harmoni-
Gus, and who were so for years, have
disagreed suddenly and violently, have
quarreled like cats and dogs and have
come to hate as much as they loved one
another in the beginning. They are
enough to discourage the most passion
ate, enthusiastic, confident lover Of Ell
ther sex-to convince the public that
matrimony and wretchedness are synony-
nous, and that no prudent person
wonld incur the risk Of forsaking sin
gleness for doubleness, whatever the
promise CT the temptation Added to
newspaper accounts is any amount of
private gossip, which we cannot help
hearing, that portrays many welded
folks who appear to enjoy their cnndi-
tion deplorably mismated and extreme
Iy miserable. The favorable side of con
jugality does not reach our ears What
we call happiness is usually silent. No
wonder, therefore, that women still
free from all nuptial entanglements
should look warily at them, should hold
them in wholesome dread. Celibacy is
at least safe MatrimoDy is uncertain
and stuffed with per;ls
One evidence that women have today
relinquished expectation and thought Of
marriage is that SO many Of them, wage
earners and still young, are constantly
forming partnerships, in all large cities.
for cooperative housekeeping They
rent rooms or small apartment togeth-
er, share the expense and live comfort
ably and contentedly, rendering hus-
bands superduous. The new plan has
thus far proved eminently successful
with the new order of women and is
finding imitators everywhere.
Misogamic bachelors have often said
in the past, why don women men
alone, and marry one another?n The
cynical Jest has been acted on and car
ried to a prosperous issue, so far as one
sided wedlock can be prosperous. Bach
elorhood has long been increasing in
America, and the recent development Of
assured spinsterhood has greatly stimu-
lated the increase. And both sexes, hap
PLY, are satisfied with the novel ar
rangement. JUNIUs HENRI BROWNE
GIFTED AND HANDSOME.