The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-01

BY John Strange W inter,
Personally, I believe i'll early marriages,
always providing of course, that the girl
marries the right man. l think that
everything tells for an early marriage
and nothing reasonable can be urged
against. We are accustomed to hear
great deal Of the enjoyment of youth.
We are told by some people that 1t Is a
pity to curtail girlhood. Now, what is
there about girlhood that 1t Is pity to
curtail? 1t Is a period of probation. 1t
is a time when a girl is on her promotion.
1t is half life at best l think that when
a girl marries young, that is from il TO
%, according to her temperament and po-
sition, and always supposing. that she
marries husband whose age is contem-
porary to her own (for surely nothing
can be more against the original inten
ton of marriage than a difference of
generation between husband and wife)
she has a better chance of bringing
healthy children into the world. If she
waits eight or ten years she usually Weds
a husband eight or ten years older than
she would have chosen in her youth.
She gains nothing by this; on the con-
trary, she gives up it is true, few pleas
ures, or stay, she may have to give up
few pleasures, for what does the Ameri
can girl enjoy that the American young
woman is shut out from? She takes GER
tain responsibilities upon her; after all,
they are natural responsibilities and
would come no easier to her in ten years
time-quite otherwise. Then there is an
other argument in favor of early mar
rlages 1t is that mother and children
viii be young together l have heard a
great deal said lately of the advantages
of women marrying as men do, at from
Sc to 80; but a woman who marrles when
she is over 30 will probably have daugh-
tiers growing up and wishing to be taken
into the world at the most trying period
of a mothers life. How much better if
her daughters in their turn are married
and can go about the world on their own
account before that time arrives.
There is another thing in favor Of early
marriage. 1t Is that it is much easier to
take I'D q new life than when habits have
become very set. This applies as much to
men as to women. l know that some
critics may take me up and say, What
chance Of enjoyment has a young wife
in middle class life? 1t is very we'll to
speak OF the pleasures of the young
married woman of society, but 1t is not
So important to legislate for her We
want to know where the pleasure of the
young married girl in the humber class
es comes in Well, I think any reason
able person viii admit that 1t comes in
in exactly the same proportion as that in
the upper classes. Your girl In middle
class life has no such brilliant time,
few dances IN the winter, a few visits to
the theateT, very small amount Of pri-
vale visiting If you take a girl who is
in an Office or store, what wonderful
pleasure does her life afford? Her mar
RED sister is spoken of as a drudge in
nursery or kitchen, but even granted that
she does the greater part of the labor
IN nursery and kitchen, is that more
drudgery than store hours? Nursery and
kitchen, presumably the care of one or
two small children and the supervision
of a servant, do not take I'D tho tvegTts-
four hours which compose a day. Il Sir
were not married and were employed IN
one OF the large stores her hours at
the very least would be from to 6.
Surely IN nine hours young wife might
supervise the preparation of her nus
bands dinner and wash and dress the ba-
bies.
There are very few old maids nova
days. They have all become bachelor
women, but even so the married woman
has the best of 1t. She has status and
dignity that no unmarried woman ever
gets. If she be poor, and by poer 1 mean
of the class which cannot afford to keep
its daughters in idleness, she does not
nave to work harder, and at all events
she is working for herself, and to work
for herself is TO take away half the
drudgery of labor. So l say that the
sooner young girls marry the better, al
ways provided that both physically and
morally they are really grown up, and
nest important Of all that they marry
the right man.