The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-07-14
Why More Men
Do MOI Marry


From the Providence Journal.
Mrs. Kate Gannett Wells, who has
evidently made a study of the matter
tells us in the North American Review
why more men do not marry. They are
deferred by the bogie of expense to be-
gin with. our modern way of living is
so much more elaborate than that of a
former generation, we include so many
things in our list of necessities that our
fathers and mothers regarded as luXuries,
that it costs a great deal more to sup
port a household than formerly. Hy-
glenc science demands better sanitation,
larger sleeping rooms, and a multitude of
improvements of which the people of an
earlier period did not dream. The social
requirements of the average family are
increasing every year, the outlay for
amusenents is growing, the popularity
of outdoor sports constitutes an impor-
tant drain. Most young men are able to
get along comfortably on the income they
have, but they shrink from the effort to
make it do for two They listen respect
fully to the marital enthusiasts who in
sist that they will save more money af-
ter they are married, but decline to be
convinced by this argument.
o.
The summer girl, according to Mrs.
Wells, has an adverse influence upon the
inclination of most men to marry. ''Sne
lego youth and adores his fresh young
man,iness. She leads him a jig in the
dance of his feelings, too wary 10 accept
more than bonbCns, and ready to- hold
him in leash as a brother when he runs
to sentiment. One or two such expert
ences teach him in turn, as he grows old
er, the art of flirtatious fencing and of
breaking off in the middle of a declara-
ton. At the end of a season mis- vanity
has not been hurt by a refusal, and her
conscience consoles her for not having
brought him to the point" 1t is only
natural that after. a little of this the
young man should lose something of mis-
zest for marriage and prefer a test of
his emotions which will not eliminate in
the fixity of feeling requisite for a we'd
ding" The summer girl, II we are to
believe Mrs. Wells, has destroyed his
ability to love but one person steadily.
o
The higher education which has now
become so common, acts as a forcible de-
terrent in the same direction. 1t used to
be custom among college graduates to
announce their engagement on class day.
Now many of them look forward to a
lengthy course in a professional school,
and to subsequent struggle for a suit
able income. BY the time they feel they
are in position to marry they have be-
come set in their bachelor ways, over
particular ABOUT lne girl OF tnclr cnOlce,
perhaps, and more inclined to postpone
thei wedding day. In a similar way
club-life initiates against marriage. So
many comforts may be obtained at his
club, and without the worry incident TO
the management of a house of his own,
that many man sees no need to change
his condition. He likes the trained obeis-
ance of the club attendants. He enjoys
the freedom he knows he would be COM
PEELED to sacrifice If he were to marry.
Club life provides that easy affluence,
personal independence and qualification
of the palate which a fellow on a small
salary can command as a bachelor, but
which would be impossible If he had
wife, even If both lived la carte, that
unsatisfactory process of mental Jug
Cling by which two persons make be-
lieve that each has had enough when
both are still hungry"
O.
These and other considerations, says
Mrs Wells, deter many men from mar
rying, but the fact remains that most
men do marry and that when n man falls
in love in what has come to be called the
old-fashioned way, he usually asks the
woman to have him. What she is in
clined to say about It Is another story.
Mrs. Wells or some other observer might
now proceed to tell us why the number
OF women who do not look forward to
marriage as their matter-of-course des-
tiny is increasing.