The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-05-17
LOVE- At FREE
LABOR BUREAU
Pretty migrants are Married
in FOrtniOht
TALK WITH MRS. BOYLE
Who Matches Couples TO Suit
Her Taste
TALK WITH MRS. BOYLE

Sure" said Mrs. Mary Boyle. who for
tnrrty years has been matron of the
Enisrants Free Labor Bureau attached
70 the BARGE Office, men come here
looking for wives. They walk in and ask
me if I have a girl with blond hair and
blue eyes and not too tall, as calmly as
you or I might go into a department
store and ask for a yard of sateen- And
sometimes they find what they want.
People have called this the Barge
Office Matrimonial ONCE. won't say
but many d happy marriage has taken
place from meetings between girls AMI
men in this very room. But It's not a
matrimonial agency for all that, you I'M
derstand.
Thirty years I have, been down here
and seen the pretty young girls and tn
older women come in from all parts Of
the world and many is the time that
they have got married before they had
been in the country a fortnight. And all
through me or the agent, Mr.. Groden."
Mrs. Boyle who presides as Cupid's
vice-regent in the bare rooms where the
newly-arrived women immigrants seek
employment. even while she supplies less
sentimental demands for cooks and house
maids is a little old lady, with gray hair
drawn tightly back from an expansive
forehead and a manner in which natural
dignity and a consciousness of her i'm
portance as arbiter Of so many destinies
combine to impress the chance visitor
20 the Emigrants' Free Labor Bureau.
"Of course" said the matron, in telling
the writer of the many Watchers her
good offices have brought about, lit is not
part of the purpose Of the Labor Bureau
20 supply girls who want husbands TO
The men who come here asking for wives.
But it is part of our regular business to
furnish housekccpers. When a man
comes here well recommendations all
persons who seek help from the Labor
Bureau must bring a reference from
responsible party-and asks us for wife,
there is no reason why we should not
accommodate him with any young wom-
an whose looks he fancies ,as a house
Keeper and. if they set married, whose
business is it but theirs?
Then there was an old man OF eighty
six who wrote 10 me from Long Island,
asking he If I could send him wife.
He did not have time to leave the farm,
he said but he wanted me TO pick him
out a wife from the girls / had here.
He said he would send the money for
her railway fare, and she did not suit
him, he would pay all her expenses back
10 New York and give her five dollars
for her trouble He wanted a wife sent
on approval like. / spoke to some of
the GIRLS, but none Of them wanted such
an old man. Some of them would have
been willing to 60 out on Long Island
Just to see the country and earn the five
dollars, but they were too much afraid
be might want them to stay. The news
papers printed a piece about him and
began to get letters from all over the
country. Wait a while and III show you
the correspondence.
s. Dear Mrs. Boyle: VIII you please let
me know If old Mr. McReynolds objects
10 girl having been two and a half
years in the country? I come Of a good
Old Irish family, am twenty-three. and
would make n good. true and loving
wife. I would love him for himself alone
and don't mind about any marriage set
tlement
"'No. 2O2 East Forty-fourth street.
RITA
Another. letter concerning Mr.. Mercy
nolds came TO Agent Graden. It read:
e I noticed in the Evening Can a para
graph in regard to Mr.. Jonathan Nc
Reynolds wanting a wife. I beg leave
10 offer myself as one among the choice
collection Of marketable ladies' would
try TO the best OF my ability to please.
cherish and tighten the thoughts of this
old gent. I am twenty-five. and my rea-
son for answering this is I want to have
q good home. Should references be re
auired I will send them when l receive
your reply.
" MISS MARY CONROY.
50 'Frankstown. Twenty-third Ward,
Pittsburg.'
Il got at least a dozen letters from
girls all over the country wanting TO mar
y that old fellow of eighty-six. I sent
them TO him. and he chose a letter from
a window in Cincinnati as the one which
suited him best. He sent her money TO
come on to New York and they got
married
"One OF the most interesting matches
] ever brought about was that of a
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