Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-08-30
BACHELORS AND sPINIsTERs.

The Baltimore Sun, perhaps In n match-
making humor. has hunted up some In
teresting statistics on the subject OF
bachelors and spinsters, and IN recent
issue the results OF its researches ere
made known to the public. According 10
the light Of information shed by our
painstakng contemporary. 1t looks as ii
the single men are unable to better their
conditions. even II 80 inclined, and that
even were all the cold maids to fan IN
the connublal line, the stronger sex would
still be a drug on the market. In Snort
the Sun is authority for the statement
that this great, grand, and glorious coun-
try has in its midst" 5,427,767 bachelors
and S22l.4 spinsters. While we are a
little embarrassed by the necessity
which compels us to reduce this cehoate
population to numerals and make caleu-
lations thereon we believe, according to
our innrm mathematical Investigations
that the bachelors haze majority or
zoos. 273. This vast horde Of individuals
pining no doubt for the refining inhu-
ences Of feminine companionship ana Tor
those little attentions which only the
mapipulators of thread and needle can
bestow. are unable to help themselves
with them it IS not a case Of they
wouldn't II they could. and they couldn't
II they would" They have no alterna-
tive but 10 accept the forlorn inevitable,
for even were all the old maids to forego
xUa1 fhQCn
myriads would still be left wifeless
Even in Massachusetts, where every
BODY is supposed 10 be "old maldlsh'
tbere are 226.OS5 unfortunate males who
SOW on their own buttons, as against 2l9,-
o. skittish females who brew their own
tea and faint at the sight of mice. AND
I'm MARYLAND s. ,7l6 whiskered beings know
not the benedictine joys and sorrows
while II SIC straight-backed spinsters con-
graduate hemselves-though very fee
bly-that fate has kept them from the
clutches of "horrid men,"
In the great Empire State, 10000 rud-
dcrless ships, I'm the crusty form OF
bachelors constitute the derelicts of New
yorks population, nor are they able 10
find propitious winds or restful matrimo-
NAL Ravens. Their condition is hopeless
for the number mentioned above is ma
iority over the number Of spinsters. No
motion to reconsider on the part of The
"old maids" will save them.
In fact-horribile dictu-California is the
only state where the majority Of the bene-
fciarics Of single blessedness assume
feminine form. Here there are 1886
spinsters and % 500 bachelors.
But all Of the Western States are not
like California. Everywhere else we find
the same predominance Of bachelors-the
same hotsam and jetsam of masculine
humanity. In Idaho there are 1881
bachelors and only LAP spinsters; in Colo
RADIO Sc. AS unmarried males and 5000 un-
married females; in Wyoming 1918 bache-
lors and .4S7 maidens. In the State OF
Washington SO.537 forlorn men are with
out consorts, while 91a damsels, of more
or less antiquity. eschew the delights OF
married life, and refuse TO be comforted
by the SO,537 from whom they are allowed
u pick.
And even in Kansas, Michigan, Mime
sofa. Missouri, New Mexico, North Da-
kota, South Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Mon
tana, and Utah. the wifeless man Is In
the majority and the spinster has wide
field from which TO select. The West,
indeed, should present many allurements
TO "old maids" providing. of course, they
are open TO engagements, though after
consulting the above figures We have
about concluded that they don't wish TO
alter their conditions.