The San Francisco call., 1904-12-08

in luckier days implied marriage, now
az an ephemeral passion, butterfly
hued, and light on the wing.
Recently the clerk of the marriage
license bureau made the interesting
statement that for the last twenty-five
years the average age of marriage has
not varied from % years for man and
"a years for woman. While the actual
number of licenses taken out by the
very young and by the very old has
increased with the growth of the popu-
lation, the proportion has not changed
enough to affect statistics appreciably"
This general postponement of mar
riage until maturity means, without
doubt, many heartaches for early
youth. Boys and girls fall in love with
each other without regard to the out
ccme-or to the income. for that mat
ter Sometimes they defy common
Sc nse and marry on nothing a year. to
their ultimate regret But more often
they fall out of love as naturally and
as comfortably as they fell in. And
each puts to good use in succeeding
love affairs the knowledge gained from
the first experiment.
At the beginning of the twentieth
century. when bread costs what cake
used to, and turkey is to many city
household an unsubstantial holiday
dream, marriage is the widest extrav-
. agance of which youth in its teens is
capable, unless it can go right on liv-
ing at home with papa. The license
and the ring are the cheapest part of
it. even when they do take all your
pocket money.
A boy is not qualified to take care
of a wife. He is hardly competent to
take care of himself. When starting
out in business life he has need, for
his own use, of all the resources at
his command. A wife and family are
no help to him; they keep him depend
! ent by cutting off that freedom of
! choice in work which is likely to open
( for him the road to success.
Then his tastes are not yet formed.
His judgment is not firm enough. He
is not ready to take his place among
men as the head of a household and
the father of a family. When married
he is still boy and one who is enter
! ing manhood with a heavy handicap.
! And the girl who marries early is
rcbbing herself of one-half of the zest
OF life She is making a short hurdle
race out of girlhood, courtship and
marriage.
/ Is the game worth the candle?
/ | say that any stake is too great
when it is your happiness. And that
! is what you jeopardize when you take
90 madly your matrimonial fences.
! But first love as an educational ex-
pefience is distinctly worth while for
| either sex. 1t is a course of training
! which is of general utility. 1t is as
| good as a year at military school to
teach a young fellow to hold up his
! head.
1t is a pleasant and inexpensive kind
! of beauty culture for young women. 1t
! develops both sexes Intellectually, emo
tionally. morally. And it gives them
1 an artistic sense of perspective and
/ chiaroscuro.
! No. / have listened respectfully to
| ali the weighty remarks that clerical
gentlemen have made in favor of early
marriages and have not been con-
vinced, in spite of my receptive atti-
tude Without question marriage is a
/ lottery. Even those who have drawn
! prizes are willing to admit this fact
, And l do not believe that before years
of discretion come the exhilaration of
! the risk warrants ones taking it.