Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-07-19
Can Clever Women Marry?

The other day at Vassar College. ono
OF the orators of the occasion. sDpakine
70 the. graduating class, declared that il
Ihe higher education Of women was 4
par 10 matrimony, the higher education
must 90.
So say that we ALL for whether yot
regard marriage as a profession or a re-
Wafd, II IS the career in which woman
nhds not only her greatest usefulness in
the world, but her highest happiness as
wen, but the statement is interesting rs
showing the lneNtlnguishable popular be
ileL Jnat mdirmony and intelligence art
neon patlble, SO Tar as women are con
This can be explained on no rational
grounds. Other things being euuuI ON.
would say that the educated woman
would be apt to make a more reasonable
companion and better housekeeper and
manager than her Anticipated sister. aud
hence a more desirable wife.
II a lack of book knowledge p1odicated
knowledge of domestic affairs there
would be some sense in men rushing
after silly girls Who never read any
thing but Marie Corelli, and know moth
ing but the bargain counter, but ii
doesn't. Some of the -orst housekeepers
in the world are women who are Just
as ignorant of cooking as they are of
Sanskrit. and who can no more add I'M
the butchers bill than they can solve a
problem in geometry.
1t IS not the prepOnderance Of intelli-
gence among wives that is at the bottom
OF the domestic diScOrdS of which we
hear so much. 1t is not too much sense.
but the lack of sense that leads fool
women into the ways that end in the
divorce court.
Still, for all that, there is no use in
denying that, broadly speaking the high
est education of women is a bar to mat
riJnnnU and sanSilla nj 70 80 InA q
girls looks decide whether to send her
to college or not. If she is ugly and I'M
attractive move heaven and earth to give
her enough education to offset her lack
of beauty. and ut least provide her with
some way Of supporting herself. If she
is dImpled darling, with rose-leaf skin,
matrimony and not higher mathematics
is her predestined career, and knowledge
does not matter.
In all good truth, and in spite Of its
beirg the time o day Of civilization ii is.
for a woman TO be highly educated is
about the heaviest possible handicap she
can carry if she wants to marry. There
are several reasons for this. One is that
our young men 20 to work instead of TO
school as general thing, and that
makes q curious condition Of affairs that
the college-bred woman must face.
The man who can support her cant Ell
terrain her. and the man who can enter
tain her can't support her. and she must
choose between the two. or remain an old
maid. The average business man. be
sides, doesn't want to marry n college
girl. He wants Jolly girl. whose tastes
are in the same key as his own. and
whose grammar is not a reproach 10 his
own unfcttered speech. and who pre-
fers "The Little Duchess and ''The
Wild Rose" to Wagner and symphony
concerts
Nor is the c0llege-bred girl red-bot
favorite as a wife with the colIege-bred
man It is almost an axiom that the
cleverer the man the bigger fool he
wants for wife. and half the most in
telligent men YOU know are married to
women whose intellectual pabulum never
rises above the sterilized baby food
brand.
There are exceptions to all rules. Of
course. but as a general thing If fathers
and mothers want 10 keep their daugh-
ters hanging on the parent stem they can
come pretty nearly guaranteeing the re-
sult by giving them a college education.
The reputation Of being learned is still