Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-27
EDEN WITHOUT AN EVE
Comfort and Luxury which Surround
Bachelors on Easy Street.
WHY SOME MEN DO NOT MARRY
High LOnesomes Exalt Their Freedom
Possible to Live I'm n House
without the Aid of
Woman.

1t cannot be proved by statistics, says the
New York Evening Post, that bachelors are
increasing in New York, out of proportion
to the rapid increase of population, but the
belief prevails that they are. OF the two
classes. the bachelors OF necessity, as dis
tinguished from the bachelors of choice, are
growing more numerous with the increasing
herceness OF competition in business and
professional life, and with the always ad-
vancing cost Of living in the crowded cities.
Mere existence is expensive. growing more
expensive yearly, and at the same time the
standard Of living is rising constantly.
Among the young invaders Of New York
who make up by far the greater part of the
city's force of fresh energy-it has come to
be a matter Of comment for a man under
80 TO win a position where the salary or in
come ~justihes him in marrying. Certainly,
the young physician, after four years OF col
lege, four OF medical school and two of
hospital practice, cannot hope to build up a
practice in the two years left on the hither
sido Of 80 that will justify him in taking a
wife. The man who secures a $10-a-week
clerkship in a law ONCE at %, the average
age Of graduates of the best law schools,
can assuredly count on FIVE years Of effort
before he begins to feel solid ground under
his financial feet. And the quickly won
success in any business. whether It be that
Of broker. merchant or even historical
novel, is rare.
For many the period Of enforced bach
elorhood Is unduly prolonged by family
necessity. A steady, capable newspaper
man, now earning $35 a week and sure of
advancement. sends more than half of that
amount weekly to a mother and sister in an
upstate town. Another, whose short stor-
les within the last two years have sold
freely at good prices. supports an estab-
lishment over which his mother presides.
So, in another case, the man lives in an
apartment with an only sister. To men like
these New York means opportunity: first to
discharge family obligations, and afterward
to become the heads OF families In a differ
emit sense.
If 1t were permissible to classify the
bachelors Of choice, the temptation would
be strong to call them the workers and
the spenders. Here would be two distinct
types. OF the workers certain things are
true-they are consumed with the ambition
to win big material success, with which
they suppose matrimony will conflict: they
are stubborn, preserving literary hacks
or unrecognized young artists. who are
literally too poor to marry; or they arc
what may be termed matrimonial cow
ards. All Of these deliberately set their
ambition, hopes, or prejudices before
them and say: Until such ambitions be
realized, or such hopes fulfilled. or such
preiudices removed. We must go on
alone"
The Way of the spender.
The spenders, with none Of the foregoing
reasons for renouncing matrimony, may be
OF that fairly numerous class Of young men
who, inheriting wealth in some more or
less obscure part Of the country, come to
New York TO "cut their eye teeth" The
phrase is suggestive Of their career. They
may be New Workers. of inherited wealth
and insured social position who care for
freedom Of movement back and forth across
the Atlantic, and who are selfish enough
to think they can order their own pleasure
10 best advantage. Then there are the
wealthy bachelors who pose-as artists, or
singers, or literary men-and court the no.
tice of press and public as bachelor geniuses.
Some bachelors live in boarding houses.
mixing naturally with the boarding house
population; but these are few. With the
growth of the bachelor habit, the Instinct
OF segregation develops. II is not unlikely
that the first year OF life in New York
will see the struggling lawyer taking one
or two furnished rooms. either alone or
with another OF his professional associates.
and the doctors and brokers' clerks do
likewise. From the furnished room the
establishment is likely to grow into an
"apartment"-always occupied by as few
as the required to meet the extortionate
rent bill. II is well enough to encourage
family life, the bachelor argues, but he
wonders why landlords. the moment they
dub their structures bachelor apaTtments,'