Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-04-17

have jettisoned nearly all those silly,
artificial conventions by which the
Victorian woman set so much store, no
candid observer will deny.
Yet, even now, some of the aforesaid
silly conventions still survive, and one,
the silliest of all; 1 mean the relation
of woman to man in the preliminarieS
which lead, through courtship, to we'd
lock.
Nearly forty years ago Darwin
startled the old wives of his day by
exploding upon them, as bombshell,
his novel theory of natural selection.
1, too. in my smaller way have startled
some old wives of my generation by
torpedoing them, so to speak, with
my novel theory of matrimonial selec-
ton. But l must tell you all about
that theory; why 1 formed it, and how
l carried it into practical effect
First, then, as to why I formed it. l
had not been "out" many months
when it occurred to me to inquire into
the reason of the absurd custom by
which the right of selection and pro-
posal lies exclusively with the man; to
ask myself why it was that he should
be free to pick and choose, whereas
she-his equal in many things and his
superior in most-should have to con-
tent herself with being picked and
chosen. And when | came to look
into the point-to inquire the "why" of
1t, l discovered that there was no
"why," but that it was merely a mean
ingless convention-an empty custom,
existing because it existed, and OBJ
served because people were foolish
enough to observe it, Nay, it was
more than meaningless-it was rotten,
it was iniGuitous. If marriage means
anything to either party "a point, per-
haps. omen to discussion, upon which
l will not here EMBARK, it means more
to the woman than to the man. To
him it's but an incident, to her 1T is q
career: to him it's still the same old
tune, with variations; to her tits a
brand new piece that has to be learned
and studied alb initio. OF this fact the
name process is emblematical. Let
him be Mr. Smith, let her be Miss
Jones. They marry. What of him?
He remains Mr. Smith to the end of
the chapter. What of her? Her
miss" becomes forthwith converted
into Mrs" her Zones" transformed
into "Smith." Her former name and
style know her no more. In one word,
he is the absorber, she the absorbed.
Now to be absorbed the process of
absorption is far more momentous than
to the absorber. That is automatic.
1t therefore follows that If either one
has greater liberty than the other in
the field of selection. that one should
be the woman. But in practically a
most absurd convention-things are
precisely the reverse. Man. the alb
sorber, can select and propose to any
number he likes of the whole fair sex.
Woman, the absorbed, is limited in her
choice to just those few men that may
see fit to propose. While he has thou
sands to pick from, she has only units
and those frequently the wrong units.
That is the worst of it, She may see
the man who is just suited to her;
whom she knows she could make hap
BltI tillh any btltl W NOilldll tOult, NuO
would, in a word, be the ideal mate
for her. But he is not among those
who have proposed to her. Therefore,
he is not within practical politics. She
marries some one else as pis aller.
But the reformer who doesn't begin
by adopting in practice his own doc
trines is no true reformer. He is a
quack, charlatan, a humbug. 1 am
not that sort My motto, like Straf-
ford's, has always been Thorough"
GAS a first step" says l to myself,
"toward transferring into woman's
hands the initiative in matrimonial
selection, | will exercise that initiative
myself. Others, when they see my
success, will follow my example; and
soon the benighted custom by which
my sex are treated as mere passive
proposes will have been relegated to
the limbo of exploded fallacies"
I first mentioned my resolve to nam
ma. l did not expect support from
the amiable but obsolete old dear; and
1 certainly did not get it. Mamma
was aghast. Her hair almost stood OF
tutlf VI, IdlIltIt IL NOulu nave SIOOu OF
end had it been hers to do so. l did
not mind mammals displeasure, how
ever Was it not the fate of all re
formers to be misunderstood, abused
derided by their own families? Be
sides, was l to be turned aside from
my high emDrise by mere outburs
OF obsolescence? No, indeed! 'Tis il
such pinpricks that your whoe-heartec
revolutionist finds, not an obstruction
but a stimulus. So with me. L
spurred me on. l resolved to open m,
new campaign without a moment
delay.
The first thing to do, of course, wa
to pick out my man-my ideal mate
That was simple. In fact, l had a
ready had my eye on him for som
time. His name was Charles Wilton
his age, thirty his pedigree, uI
exceptionable; his person, prepossess
ing; his manners, agreeable; his pun
cuifc otb1ntio on6 bic moral abnrnf