The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-09

| essening number of weddings on the
CHER education of women, declaring
+ at men do not care for a steady diet
)f brains for breakfast, while Others
tccuse men of having grown so selfish
hat they fear to fly from the COM
crt CT the bachelor apartments that
hey have, to the perilS of the house
ieeping they know not of A third Sc
{ philosophers accounts for the in
rease in celibacy by the career craze
II women, While a fourth ascribes il
o the economic conditions of the
ines: and the difficulty q man eX.
Jerienccs in making enough bread anC
outter for two.
woman might answer the ques-
ion of why people do not marry az
much as formerly by replying, as did
he milkmaid in the old song: mo.
body axed me, sir" she said
And in this lies the crux of the
whole matter. People do not marry
because they do not desire to. Fol
;ome unknown reason Cupid keep:
inon hours instead of working over
ime as he used to do. Comradeshil
las been substituted for love between
nen and women and they are conten
o be friends instead of husbands anC
.TiVes. AS for all the specious reasons
hat political and social economist
give for the fewer number of marri
nan enamored Of woman's eyes
eVer yet stopped to think whether sh,
vas wise or silly. No woman ever We
ived who, when the right man came
llong, wouldn't have snapped off
aurel wreath for a kiss and though
,he got the best of the bargain Will
Is for the sordid financial matter o
icing able to support wife, it's tn
yery last thing that Romeo ever con
SiGerS
Now the blame for this diSinclna
lion towards matrimony may be tail
laid upon the shoulders of mel
Few women ever eSpOuSe career unit
hey fail to espouse a husband. TIL
,eason that women do not oftener su,
eed in business is said to be becaus
they are always ready to give up
Job for a wedding ring, and even tn
fact that women compete with men i
abor and thus lower wages, is Solel
attributed TO the fact that, failing I
achieve a husband to support then
hey are forced to support themselves
There is nothing to SHOW that women
ire averse to matrimoEy, or being
properly urged refuse to enter into
he holy estate with the proper party
The unacceptable inference of all of
this is that women are not as attrac-
i've to men as they formerly We're
md that with all the accomplishments
| that the modern girl is taught she
| acks one art in which her grandmoth-
| ar eXcelled-the art of catching a
husband. 1t is sadly true that there
! are no such bellies now as there once
we're no woman who is the toast of
| her city. or village, or county, and
| for whom men do daring and reckless
| things and are willing to fight and
perchance die. The girl of today lis
| tens with pea-green envy to her
L I, l. -
! suitors who sighed at her door. who
| logged her footsteps wherever she
i went and who bes eyed her with of
| ters Of their hearts and hands. She
| might have picked and chosen among
a score of good offers, and when her
| granddaughter compares this retinue
| of lovers with the two or three men in
| her own train who are almost often
! svely frank in declaring that their at
| tentions are without intentions, and
| who knows that she will be dead
| lucky if she gets single good matri-
| mOnial offer, she wonders why this is
/ thus, and why men are colder lovers.
and masculine hearts more impregna-
bic than they were of old.
| 1t is certainly not because of the de-
terioration of women. Never in the
| history of the world, not even among
| the ancient Greeks, was the percent
| age of female pulchritude so high as
| it is now. The cult of the body has
| become almost Il relig on among wo-
men. More intelligence in eating, and
drinking, and bathing, and exercise
have developed Il generation of young
girls who are veritable Hebes, and
who would make their aenemic. thin
cheSted, past complexion grandmam-
mas look like cand dates for an in
valid's home. So If man seeks for
beauty in a wife, he may shut his
eyes, and makes q grab in the dark in
any group of women and be sure of
getting one who, had she lived in his
grandfather's time would have had all
the poets writing sOnnets to her eye
brows, and all the beauX fighting duels
| for her smiles.
Women are more intelligent than
| they were before. more versatile. moro
| sympathetic, more cOmpanionablt
Time was when talking to woma
| must have been as fatiguing as anus
| ing a baby, SO limited was the rang
of subjects in which she was interest
| ed, and so insistent was she in keepln
! the conversation in the personal key
Now woman fits herself to entertail
man, and he has no fad or fancy t.
which she is not able and willing t.
minister. She is willing to enter int
his mood and discuss politics or pie
prize il9IIS VI p-Sly, SSoliCliy VI sun
as he pleasec, and it is pathetic t.
think that woman, having devoted
such pains and trouble to prepare her
self to be the ideal wife, SO seldom
gets a chance to do it.
Inasmuch, then as woman is as
charming as she ever was, how is it
| that she fails to fire mans fancy as
she once did? There can be but one
answer. There are lost arts, and just
as the secret of giving to steel the
| fine temper of the Damascus blade
| lies buried in the past, just as no hand
| has now the skill to give stained glass
| the rainbow hues that the craftsman
| OF old did, so women, to a great de-
gree, have lost the art of winning hus-
| bands. Their methods are bunglng
crude, and they present even to the
man that marries them the practical
advantages OF having a side partner
| instead of the glory and romance of