The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-20
WOMAN'S WORLD

such matrimonial conditions. VIII he
even continue 70 love the woman he
fsncies now when she Is dainty and
pretty. when she becomes work-worn
and 6ow6y and shabby All OF US
have seen men marry girls, ana drag
them down tc poverty. and then turn
from the faded household drudge TO
some lovsly creature IN shimmering
szc1-S and fl-y izces. who answered
Ihe ideal q Sottness and beauty that
= every mans conception Of the eter-
z.s1lF feminine Il - 4 tragedy Of
tragedies with perhaps. no one TO
e1auss- i : the craving hungering
desire foT whEE appeals 10 our souls
zhEE VIII 10, he denied
&n- Is EoUEls love a whit more
lasting ST such an ill-adyised mar
-laEe Under Heaven there is no
o-hsr creature 50 fOTlorn as the wom-
az q educated and refined tastes who
Elz--5ss . very poor man. and who
must combine in her own person,
mother. wife. cook, seanlstress. laun-
dress and nurse. In comparison the
lot Of the so-cailed working woman
IS idyilic ease and luxury. for she at
ieasl, has some hour out of the twen-
ty-fOur that she can call her own, and
some money. however, little. that she
can spend on herself, whereas the un-
paid household slave has none. The
romantic goose Of a girl who is will
ing and anxious TO marry on nothing
year, dreams Of spending her life in
a rose covered cottage, where she will
hang perpetually over a rustic gate
welcoming and speeding her adoring
spouse, and IL is only when Il is too
late that she realizes that translated
into actualities, the vine embowered
cot IS two by four fiat, and that
it is her unhappy destiny to fry Cupid
10 death over the kitchen range.
But, say the advocates of universal
matrimony with money or without It,
these young people could marry and
be happy If they were only content to
go back and begin life like their pa
rents did. Il is a nonsencical beg
ging OF the question Nobody can 20
back. Nobody can go back to using
tallow dips after using electricity; no.
body can go back to the stage coach
after the vestibuled limited. 1t is
true that We demand more luxuries
than our fOrefathers did, but we are
used to more. 1t is not convincing to
say that we ought to be satisfied with
living in a log hut. or hearing the
news seni-annually because that sort
Of life satisfied our ancestors. We
are accustomed to modern improve
ments, 10 a comfort and beauty Of
which they never dreamed, and we
should be miserable without them.
Rightly or wrongly, there Is the cul-
tiVated taste to be dealt with, and
so it is a condition and not a theory
that confronts US.
This is not to contend that only the
rich should marry. Far from it. Nor
should money be an object in matri-
mony. Those who marry for money
are criminal. but those who marry
without it are imbecile, and 1t is to
be hoped that other commercial insti-
tutions will follow the precedent Of
the Chicago bank, and put discour-
ager on the particular form of lunacy
that leads man to believe that he
can support wife on love instead of
Deefsteaks. OF course, this will cause
some temporary anguish among the
Algernon's and Maud's Immediately
concerned and who have contenpIet-
ed setting up housekeeping on air.
but IL Algernon is the man he ought
10 be ne will hustle out and get the
SUCKS 10 build the nest, and If ne isn't
well, better small dent in a heart
than smashed and broken life.
whether $1,000 a year Is enough to
get married upon, depends upon the
place and the station in life 70 which
me lovers are called. Sometimes it
ls enough. Sometimes It isn't. with
out doubt the happiest and most con-
sehlai marriages are those in which
young people Of moderate means have
married and WORK heir way up to-
gether, but unless here is sufficient
income to maintain them in comfort
IN the way of life to which they have
been accustomed, matrimony is a
hazardous experiment. to try. The
wolf at the door was never intended
as the family watch dog.
Dorofhy n{r