The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-08-08

unmarried woman or thirty-fve, who DTes
/ on the West Side. Husbands are a cheap
commodity. I have just purchased l5s pro-
posals for IS cents
She walked over TO her desk, opened a
| drawer. and came back with a great heap
| Of opened letters in her hands
Then she explained in a matter-of-fact
way that she had put personal adver-
| tisement in newspaper asking for a hus-
/ band and had received these 153 answers.
It is necessary to know at the outset that
| the woman is interested in economies and
| that her conduct was, therefore, entirely
! impersonal. She desired to secure statis-
1 tics. She wanted TO know how many men
would marry a respectable young woman if
they knew she was willing to marry.
.The advertisement brought amazing
returns said the woman, rapidly going
| through the Pile of correspondence. 1T is
not true that good husbands are scarce. 1t
is safe TO say that a large percentage of
the men who have proposed to me in these
| letters would make excellent husbands for
| an ordinary girl. Most of them. of course,
are from men of small education; many of
them are amusing; but everyone of them
is beautifully and commercially in earnest
The lesson these letters have taught me.
however. is that there is no dearth OF hus-
bands In the marriage market and that
IL girl is only frank and brave enough
to say that she is open to proposals she
can quickly fnd a suitable mate
Here the statistical young woman drew
out an assorted bunch of letters from the
heap and began reading bits from them
and commenting on them:
Il have a good chance here 20 get a
young lady an excellent husband. a young
medical student of twenty-five at Kan
sas City medical college is eager 10 meet
me and exchange photographs with me.
the girl who takes this man might have
to live plainly for awhile but it isn't ev-
eryone who can marry professional man
Now here's farmer from Missouri
wants 10 marry me- He has ESQ acres of
land but he writes a wretched hand and
spells indiferently. He says he's been
pursuing the phantom goddess of society
till he's tired. Now he wants a pleasant
lady Well 250 acres Of good land is not
TO be sneezed at.
The man who writes on this pink paper
is another farmer. He's worth $4,000, has
never went Into SOCIETY," Neither chews nor
drinks. but confesses he's not pfous. He
signs himself. yours in matrimony.
This man here IS more exacting and
cautious. he requires explicit particulars
about my finances But here In contrast
is fine, impetuous, impulsive young man,
who. in spite OF his bad spelling, is pleas
ant te hear from. He says: / will offer my
hand in wedlock to one so noble as you
for THAR are few like you and feel that
L could love you for your stern remark
settled life / have always lived such a
life, but failed to End mate I think
that viii do very we'll for a first love let
ter. | don't like man who wants to know
particulars by first mail,
The next letter comes from young
man who belongs 20 one of the first fami-
lies in the country where he lives He
wants me to marry him off-hand. He says
he has had no late love affairs He ends
rather weakly, though. If you see fit to
play ball with gentleman who is a col
lege graduate We can see each other
don't like that ending
the next seems an excellent choice A
professional man from Topeka writes me
frank plain letter He's thirty-fiye and
needs wife. viii I or won't I? Next
comes a bachelor of forty, blacksmith
with property; next is a telegraph operate,
OF twenty-five; next is an 'unincumber
widower, who viii not give his age. After
these follow . 10y OF nineteen, who lives
on a farm with his parents and wants 10
know how much money / am worth:
widoweF from Iowa with three boys;
professional man of thirty. with a good
practice in Kansas town; bashfui
young man of twenty-four, who says he
has $4,000 a year Il suspect HIM; drug
clerk in downtown city drug store; a jol-
ly dentist who weighs eco and impiores
me to answer him; contractor and build
er, who asks for a short outline OF my
self, and man who owns an orange and
lemon grove in California.
There are farmers and blacksmiths,
clerks and bankers. printers and physi-
clans, and nearly everyone OF them is ia
tigUed with society even the man who
drives a sand wagon, and they all want
to marry a wife. Think Of the ChanceS
"A w1dower of ffty-ene comes next,
He's old. that's true. but he's steady and
sober, and he has property.
Some of my correspondents propose Gu
rious things for me to do. One man wants
me to show myself on a certain street cor
ner with q blue ribbon on my waist
romantic young clerk proposes that l meet
him at q corner with bouquet OF flowers
in my hand. He will carry an umbrella
in his left hand. His signal, when he be-
lieyes he sees me. is TO shift the umbreI
Ia from the left to the right hand. If
am the right person I must initiate him
with my bouquet. This seems to be a
young man of imagination
"A young man here wants to take ne
out bicycling riding if will tell him VIII re
and when to call. \ twenty-six-old writes:
Perhaps you are the one l am to love and
wed. Who knows? Who can tell?'
"a eonceited young abroad clerk tells
me his name has been linked with many
of society in Kansas City He wants TO
call. He says: Am very refined. Can
promise you will not be disappointed in
me- ! don't like him. He will be toa
hard to please. A bookkeeper from Mena,
Ark, gets $50 month, and believes two
can live on $50 month if they were Sd
minded
"a young swain from Burr Oak, Kan,
says: I am going to make some nice girl
q good man soon Another from Wilson,
Kan, age twenty-oDe,i says he wants 10
correspond with me with a view of early
marriage. That sounds encouraging. a
country boy who attended college in Hi
nois wants to meet me.
Il have several letters here that contain
more than a few amusing sentences A
few of them suggest rather powerfully GER
tain phases and conditions in life that are
very interesting. A drug clerk who writes
this letter is the son of a country physician
Of small means He works in the town
drug store. but leads q solitary, lonesome
life. He loves books and amusements. but
books are scarce in the town and amuse-
ments are few. He has no companions he
cares fer. He's tired of his ainfless life
and wants change. He says he would
like to meet me because I might be able to
do something to change the monotony of
his way of living.
This letter. written in a fine beautiful
hand is from a soldier at Fort Riley He
is twenty-four and his pay, above his own
expenses, is $50 month He is nearly six