The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-12-10
COeducatiOnal
Marriages.

By e. e. slosson.
Professor Of Chem
Isty In the University
Of Wyoming.

8 - 81 sa'' Wyoming mir ''
eeeesssssssssss
The two valuable articles In a. recent In
dependent by President Thwing and Prof.
Jordan Give several reasons why college
graduates marry late or not at all. IL IN
easy 10 show that the second cause OF those
mentioned by resident Thwing Is the most
important. and fortunately 1t 10 also the
difficulty most readily obyiatcd The isola-
ton Of tho sexes for four or moro years dur
ing the period when their affections are In
bloom is the chief reason why so many
bachelors OF arts remain matrimonial baohe-
lors This 10 proved by the fact that this
evil Is much less in ooeducstional institu-
items than IN colleges for single sex. sta
,lstics on this subject have been published
many times The only ones have at hand.
however. are those OF Bryn Mawr and the
State University OF Kansas According to
the Rev. DIR. L. w. Donald only thrty-two
of the "a graduates OF Bryn Mawr, up to and
including the class of 1894. have married. or
only IA per cent of the total number. Presi-
dent Snow states that out OF me lSo women
graduates OF the University OF Kansas w to
1884 sixty-five have married. or exactly %
per oent
That propnquity is the best matchmaker is
shown by the fact that OF these siNty-hve
women graduates OF Kansas university thirty
one married fellow students. II Is also no.
ticable from the examination OF alumni cata-
logues that not only do tho MS marry the
MS. as according to the prayerbook they
should. but also the SIS marry the rs, and
so on through the alphabet in those colleges
in the classroom. In short. II you want
young people to marry. let them be together:
II you dent want them TO marry. keep them
apart. A Few wears Isolation is sometimes
sufficient 10 MAKE confirmed bachelor. For
n couple to fall In love IL Is usually neces-
Bary for them to meet. The custom OF maxi
ing a rendezvous at n brlshwood pile IN
dreams has not become general.
A college in the eastern West once ndver-
tiaed in It's catalogue RS one OF it's greatest
attractions that there were more happy mar
riage9 among its students than in any other
Institution In the country. The statement is
q little too naive for SO arid a document
a college catalogue, but there is no disputlng
the ilct that humorous and happy marriages
are the result OF coeducaton and that,
Ttously considered. this is of more importance
than the requirement OF information and
culture which ia tho ostensblo aim of a coll
leBe course. Education should produce nor
NAL human beings. not research machines
Tho whole future of tho race depends on the
proper pairing of it's young men and women
and the subject OF how to accomplish this
should not be left entirely to the romancer
and tho humorist. as 1t Is now
That the association OF tho sexes during
education makes happier marriages ia not as
easily proved us that they are moro uumer-
Gus. and Individual observation has not much
evidental value. 1t Is. however, apparent
meet and know one another are better in
college life fhan anywhere else. In n CO.
educational college n young man makes the
ACQUAINTANCE Of some hundreds OF tho young
women OF the class most congenia TO him
by social position. education and ideals II
10 no wonder that he is more likely to ind
sultable mate among them thnn nmoug the
Tower women Of all sorts and conditions that
no would meet in ordinary life. What la of
sui more importance Ia that daily aBsocia-
ton under these circumstances gives that in
d pd atp
of the opposite sex which is essential to n
proper choice girl knows more of the at
tainments and disposition OF her male class
mates than she can know of any men out
side her home.
Tho common intellectual ideals. the equal
treatment tho informal association, the hard
work, all together enable the sexes to meet
and mingle with less self-consciousness than
in any other form of society. Tho sex ele-
ment is minmized. Marriage ia for the time
out OF the question. and 1t Is out OF their
thoughts ms much as It can or should be for
young people Frankness supplants afrectn-
ton and good comradeship becomes poasible
The path 10 matrimony is through platonic
friendship Instead of through Irritation. Al
tecuon Ia founded the realities of mutual
knowledge instead of the Illusions of g-
With the college regarded na meeting
s4puha' compare the ordinary device for as :
soelatiAg Young people. fashionable society
ana especially the ball room. Here the sex
clement is naGniiied to tho utmost, The
sensuous music, tho lights and coiors the
ctl1ueteo ana customs, the dresses designed
on mo plan OF LyourguH, all is arranged to
mako the scXe5 more attractive to each other
aud II succeeds in its laudable purpose All
the same tlno there is chance for real
ucquaiutanco with each others character and
NE ETIQUETTE requires the masking of self
by making uniformity md cancellation oh
ilsatoFy. Tho marriage market atmosphere
10 no evident in society that II taints tho
Iuost innocent of dcbutantcs and eNcites die
gust IN tho minds of the most vulgar OF
Tt1r. Get
viVed its ecclesiastical reason and still pro
walls In some parts of the United States nj
though new colleges rarely adopt II aud the
old ones are abandoning H. II is bad policy
70 separate tho aoNes at any period of life,
but 1t is during adolescence that the nncon-
scionB intimacy of men md women 10 most
sssenthi The ewige weibliche can not be-
dispensed within intellectual life any more
thap IN physical md moral. If young men
at that period OF their lives when their pas
s!ons arc strongest and their judgment least,
are aggregated from respectable members of
the opposite sex, who can wonder that they
sometimes acquire tastes and habits that
nnnt them for civilized marriage? Single
mon in barracks" military or educational.
do not make the heroes most needed in a
Christian country. Young mon who have
grown mp In ooeduoational colleges and who
go TO mems colleges TO take graduate work
are shocked a. the mixture of ignorance and
vulgsrity which tho students there show In
their talk about women Cation hnds the
cause of the dark ages In tho Bterility OF the
best men and women because of their sola-
ton IN monasteres. and President Thwing
shows that educational monasticism ia work
!ng In the same way.
The question Of tie few children In the
families OF educated parents is too wide and
deep 10 he discussed adequately In a mag
azine, Sufficient data have not been coli
leoted. and the difficulties in the way Of get
ting such statistics immense because OF
the many allowances that would have to be
made 70 eliminate all factors but the educa-
tonsl one. II will however, undoubtedly
appear that educated people nave fewer off
spring than uneducsted who marry AZ the
same age, There are probably deeper causes
for this than any mention in .he two papers.
II is general law in nature that the NOR.
highly developed the individual the fewer arr
the Offspring and this is true In different
grades OF society. whether the standard OF
classification be rank. wealth. ability or edu
cation. II is not yet decided whether a rap
idly increasing population or nearly stationary
is best for Nation whether Goldsmith .
limos read best In their original form or In
thig way.
Ill fare the lands of fastening ills the preys
Wherein en- accumulate and wealth decays
II is the eternal question between the La.
MARKHAM and parwinian factors In evolu.
ton. All civilization. all life. IN oompro
mise between these opposite principles In
how far Will quality compensate for auan-
tity In populattqp? 1t has been proved that
collegiate nlumnae raise to maturity larger