The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-10-16

eveetness and 10Y Of living. 1t mas ho'
heap so long since early marriages W.
tba rule. but now when we hear OF d siii
.E.aon oatting married we extend 10
tho hairless little victim the same cohipaS-
eio, ,ga bestow on the child brides OF IN
dio Moreover we wonder at the unso-
,bieticated taste of a man who sun Tti-
isbes bread and butter, and ask ourselves
if ba isn't-just a little-liable 10 get tiFeu
of i and crave something a trlfle more
piquant.
viewed from the practical standpoint
of oe1tiDg as much happiness out
of existence as possible, q girl has every
thing TO gain by ~postponing marriage 10 q
date well beyond her teens. 10 marry
tho moment she gets out of the school
room is 10 deliberately rob herself OF the
playtime of life. AS affairs are ordeIeu
in this country, the young daughter Is Tue
despot of the home. If she belongs 10
rich people you meet her dragging souls
papa. grumbling and protesting, 10 hu-
rope, or you find apoplectic mamma pant
ine around the golf links after her. II
she is poor, mother may have TO huste
out of bed at dawn to get the breakfast.
but everybody goes by Maud's door on
tiptoe TO keep from waking her Up. What
ever economies must be practiced, she
is exempt. Whatever hardships must be
endured. she is spared. Her mission IN
life is to enjoy herself, and with the self
annexation possessed alone by the early
Christian martyrs and American parents
nothing is expected of her but to have a
good time
Married life. even under the happiest
auspices, can offer no such holiday 10 Il
woman. Matrimony brings responslpln-
ties that none escape. For one thing,
the average bride finds herself up at once
against the awful servant problem. II IS
her first intimation that life is real, ana
she sheds bitter tears over the discovery.
Then. if she is a fool, she gives up the
struggle with incompetent cooks and
saucy maids, and takes refuge in a board
ing house. If she is sensible she tics On
her apron and goes down into the kitch-
en- and fights the battle out. She knows
she is starting out to learn the hardest
and most exacting profession in the world
and that never again will life be a %
mic. where somebody else pays for he
BAND and furnishes the refreshments.
She finds, too, that she has somehow
gotten off her pedestal and is expected
to burn incense before another gc1. At
home everybody considered her tastes
and pleasures, but as married woman
she ascertains that she is the one who
must do the pleasing. 1t is the man
whose temper and little peculiarities
must be rubbed the right way of the fur.
More serious still is the question of moth
erhood, and, in truth, there are few sights
in the world more pathetic than that of
the girl mOther-herself a ~child-igno-
rantly and incompetently struggling with
a teething baby.
On pretty much the same principle that
the reformed roue makes the best hus-
band, the woman who does not marry I'M
til she has seen a good deal of life makes
the most cOntented wife. Men seldom
| marry until they are weary of society and
long for fireside peace. If they wed a
young girl she is still anxious for the
pleasures she has not enjoyed. She wants
to so because she has not seen the show
of life. He wants to stay at home be-
cause he has seen too much of it, and
there is no subject Of discOrd more fire.
quent than the antagOnistic attitude of
husband and wife on the amusement ques-
lion. The mature woman has had her
fling, too. She is tired of the gay whirl
and is glad to settle down.
The clinching argument against early
| marriages for women, however, is that
the woman who has had time to come
to herself knows what she wants. She
may not always get it, but at least she
makes her bargain in the market with
open eyes. A young girl is like one who
risks her all in a lottery where the odds
are desperately against her, for she takes
chances not only en- what the man is, but
what she is going to be herself. The
curled. mustache lay figure that thrilled
her at seventeen fills her with disgust
and loathing at thirty. Happy, then, if
che hoe not tod q Ennf with hnr fonu,,n
she cannot unite with her teen. No
tragedies are more bitter than those
caused by the young wife o~utgrowing her
youthful romance and the husband to
whom she is bound.
DOROTHY DIX.