The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-24

slipped around in the quiet dusk to tell me
that she was going to be married.
After ALL" she said. with something
that was between a laugh and a sob
after all 1 am not making what the
world calls brilliant match. am mar
rying a man who has his fortune still TO
make. and the most I can say for mother
is that she is reconciled. She isn't jubi.
lent like she was when Sally married
Col. Croesus. or when Mary married
Jack Benton. Poor mother! 1 am aw-
fully sorry for her, and it almost broke
my heart to disappoiut her so, but what
was I to do? There was Jim, and we
were In love with each other, and bread
and cheese and kisses seemed better TO
me with him, than trufles and cham
payne with anybody else. But you
haven't any idea what I went through
with trying to make mother see 1t in any
other light than a case of premediated
suicide.
Il didn't blame her 1t was just her
love for me, and her mistaken idea of
trying to save me from every hardship.
4
time should come TO US all when the luxu-
nes of life outweigh Its sentiments-kind
of q you'll be romantic a very little while,
but you can be comfortable a long. long
time feeling, Ell? Only, you know, IL
hasn't come to me yet, and We couldn't
see things from the same point of view.
did you ever think" the girl went on,
sometimes mother love can be the cruel
est thing in the world? 1t isn't often
that II is a vulgar love of money for
moneys sake that makes a woman want
to see her daughter marry rich man.
She wants to shield her from work, from
privations, from worry and cares. and
she forgets how many things money
won't buy. If our mothers could have
their way, they would put US all in nice,
soft, satin-ltned boxes, and pat us on
the head and say: There, there. dear,
you are so nice and comfortable. You
have everything a reasonable woman can
want. Now, just keep still and be good.
oh, of course you feel bit smothery,
and you want to get out and stretch
your wings, and take your part in life;
but YOU will get over that feeling after
a while, and If you went out in the
world, you might get hurt. Believe me.
there Is nothing like a satin-lined box
for comfort and thank heaven that IL
gave you a mother who didn't let you
have your own way, but insisted on see
ing that you were properly provided for
''Of course, you may say that no one can
make a girl marry any one but the one
whom she prefers, and that the good old
DAYS are past when a daughter could be
locked up in her room and fed on bread
and water until she was in proper frame
of mind to accept the sutton her parents
had selected for her. Nobody would dream
of doing anything Of that kind now, but
there are moral thumbscrews that are Just
as agonizingly effective as the physical
ones ever were. and ii takes deal of cour-
age and a backbone like a telephone pole
10 brace up a girl who goes against her
family when she marries.
Take the case of a girl whose people
belong to a good family, but are not well
off in this worlds goods. They have made
sacrifices to educate her, and dress her so
she can go in society. She knows of all
the pinching economies hidden from the
public. She remembers how often her
mothers black silk has been made over
in order that she may have taffetas for
germans. She knows how many luxuries
her father has done without to buy her
satin slippers for parties. know ii is the
fashion to speak of society girls as heart
less wretches who keep their fathers on
the rack TO pay their bills. but il is not
true. Often and often it is none of the
girls doing. She would far rather live
simpler, and not attempt to keep the pace
OF the rich and fashionable, but her moth
ar Is ambitious. Perhaps the girl is pref
~, or clever, or has some charm that
makes her sought after. Nobody puts Il
into words, but she knows as well as she
knows anything that she is expected TO
marry rich and that only by doing so can
she repay the family for what they have
sacrificed for her.
Don't think that II is easy for a cir,
like that to marry poor man, no matter
how much she loves him. She sees her
mothers face with the tired, worn look
that struggling and striving have placed
there, she looks at her fathers bent shoul-
ders. perhaps she has younger sisters
that would benefit by her making a brill
liant match-sympathy, gratitude, her duty
10 others, are all urged on her, openly
or tacitly, and she knows that il she goes
her own way. and makes her own choice
that she Is adding another sorrow to bur-
dens that were already crushing before
And the strange part of all this is that
1t is nothing but Al-judged love that makes
the mother urge her on. She would die
for the girl, but the more she has str7Ie-
gied and been denied, the more she IS de-
termined that her daughter shall have all
the physical comforts that money can
buy. If there is anything beyond or above
that she shuts her eyes and will not look
at IL.
"One could better understand a mothers
desire for her daughter to marry rich
IL rich people were invariably happy or
to make a brilliant match. IL brilliant
matches always turned out brilliantly. But
they don't. We have all known of brill
liant marriages. the splendor of whose de-
tails were telegraphed all over the coun
try and whose sequel was a broken
hearted woman coming back 10 her own
people after a few years of intolerable
misery. We have seen young girls array
ed In bridal white walk up the church
aisle with men cid enough to be their
fathers, and heard the whispered com
ments OF how lucky Lucy Poorgirl was
10 catch that rich railroad president. and
how well her mother had managed for her
daughters; and later on we all sat in
judgment on the poor girl, when her
heart rebelling against Its fate straved
across the borderland of conVentionality
and found its own mate. We have every
one Of us seen riches take wings, and the
girl whose wedding was celebrated with
a pomp BETTING royalty almost, taking
In sewing TO support herself and her chill
a.