Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-01-23
pajamas. she reclines upon sofa and
reads "Ouo Vadis't

pajamas, she reclines upon sofa ana
reads "Quo Vadis'!
Who would not be woman, ana pay
five shllings year In taxes for the same!
And so, though the unmarried man Is
permItted bg the law and social usage TO
enjoy very free existence, he must pro-
vide his own comforts and mourniuiiy
sing to himself, "Noboby's Darling Am
l."
with rickety buttons. torn trousers
and gloves. and a cheerless home the
bachelor Is an object OF profound COM
miseration. why accentuate his misery
by taxation7 II may be be hugs the de-
fusion to his lonely soul that button
ready to TALL off Is not so troublesome as
the baby with a bad case OF colo. and
that torn trousers are as nothing beside
the bills for sealskin capes and Easter
bonnets.
And rightly thinks, with modern life at
high tide. that the old story OF love In
cottage is exploded. For In this vain and
competitive age he must first OF all things
have money. Wife. children. domestic
happiness, all demand money as the
prime essential
Deny Il as we will, certainly celibacy
is becoming moro popular every year.
TWO KINDS OF BACHELORS
And not only the gentlman bachelor,
but the girl bachelor-that latest product
of American indvidualisnl-is growing
yearly more exclusive in her freedom.
Tax them all. every bachelor among
them who reaches the age of IS without
showing good cause therefore Danish
the women to Wyoming, and send the
boy bachelors 10 Bostonl
Ask a bachelor of average means and
station why he does not marry, and in
nine cases out OF ten his answer VIII
be: II cannot afford 10 marry"
As mechanics or clerks. with wages
| from $40 to SIS a month. they usually lind
| girls OF their own standing, pure good
| loving women, able TO keep house. who
will marry. and the hundreds OF cosey
| little homes on the side streets or
suburbs of large cities show that such
marriages are anything but fahures.
The hitch-but not the matrimonial
hitch-comes in with the professional
men. 1t Is too much culture. Our Nj.
! DIS, and A. MS, y. AS. and legal
| lights, have been educated 10 hlSn
| pitch of mental culture.
| AS bachelors, they get along gloriousy
| say, on incomes of from $1,000 TO Sl,SOI
per annum. But the girls-the young
/ women whom these bachelors meet
| whose tastes and education and socia
| customs are similar TO their own, &c
| you suppose lnaL SUCH girls itduhy bif'
| I'D the elegancies of their fathers
homes for $50 a month houses and one
hired girl?
Well. not to any great extent, and TIM
is why our lucl<less bachelor Is in. DANCE
Of repeating history. OF course. there ar
! exceptions; sometimes they "fall IN love
and these unions are idyllic.
Too often, alas, the attritlon that ever,
day brings with it will soon wea
away the gold that is not hardened b.
an alloy of baser metal.
WANTS THE EARTH.
And our bachelor does not marry In TIL
class where the laboring-men find sucl
good wives, because. forsooth, he want
the earth.
He marries a girl who can, and does
keep his house well. and helps him Il
save money, but because she is neithe
literary, artistic, nor musical; because sh
WAS. and is, outside Of his intellectual
environment. after the first novelty wear
away too often the husband and wifi
drift apart-and the sequel follows.
Better the bachelor tax and string O
blackbrds and crows as penalty for hi
blessedness.
But that men don't marry as I so ofte
read. because of the extravaganza o
women is-concentrated boshl
In the first place they don't marry be
/ cause they do not wish 10. In the next
they should have the grace to say so.
1t Is just as often because OF their ow