The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-11-16
Cure for Decline OF Manly chivalry
Found in Emiaration-Matri-
inoniai Market.
BY YE OLD TIMER.
tPittsburg pispatch.)

hehs q lbSSsu iutereSteu IN Two wee
little news items hfden In odd cor.
ners Of The Dispatch-not because
either by Itself is of any particular
Importance, but because they call at.
tention TO certain social conditions.
The first squib told about the prop.
osition of a girlless telephone promo
ter In Paris to provide for 1000 dam.
sells whom his machines would de.
prtve Of employment, by sending
them at his own expense to Western
Canada. where husbands a-plenty are
to be had--not exactly for the maid.
ems asking, but for the asking by the
desired men themselves.
The other dispatch announced the
organization of feminine club in a
Hoosier town to limit the hours of
courtship TO the right of 10 o'clock P.
NJ, coupled with a threat of strike
for the enforcement of union hours.
The Paris story reminds one of
these facts that obtain in the older
centers Of civilization, like Paris AMI
Pittsburg:
That the average young man is not
so eager to hunt wife and trouble
as he used to be.
That the relative attitude of the
sexes toward each other shows signs
Of becoming reversed, the man less
ara less seeking the woman and the
wsian more and more seeking the
man. Time was, in the game of love,
when the man was the hunter and
the woman the trapper; the time
threatens TO come when man will be
neither hunter nor trapper, while the
woman will become both.
Now these three facts may be ac-
counted for by fourth fact that is
also distressing. In the older commit
mites the girls outnumber the boys.
OF course. there are other causes,
such as the increased difficulty of
providing for wife in society that
demands more in the way of show
and appearance than used to be re.
CURED. But even with that consider
alton omitted the prepondenance Of
girls Is alone sufficient to explain the
social change already mentioned.
1t may sound brutal to apply COM
mercial principles to the romantic
work Of Cupid. nevertheless they are
applicable Chivalry arose because
woman once was prize to be com.
peted for and fought for. The knight
Of old was put upon his mettle not
only to fight his rivals, but to meet
their competition by offering the high.
4 est market price for the object of his
desires, in the form OF gentleness and
courtesy. Increase the supply of
matrimonial prizes. and of course
their market value will diminish. Com
petition will fall off with the grow.
ing ease of winning wife That
means the average bachelor has lost
the incentive that prompted his
father to give up his seat in the car
to a baby.
Then, when any prize is costly and
difficult to win. man will strive for it
for that very reason: when 1t be.
comes cheap he will no longer care
for IL. And the matrimonial prize ia
! NO exception.
s. u takes an old married man to OBJ.
ferVe certain facts that the young
fellow may not grasp, because 1t is not
70 the interest OF the girls to en-
tighten him. Among these is that
The winning Of husband who is
worth his salt is becoming more
difficult every year. The maiden
Of the day finds it no longer suffi.
cient to trap for a man-she must
hunt him. And her struggle is the
more heart-breaking because social
opinion has not quite kept pace with
Y social necessity, SO her hunt must
not be too open and aggressive.
1t is really painful for an onlook.
err at a party-an old curmudgeon like
ye Old Timer--to watch the frantic
Efforts OF the many girls present to
interest the few youths present
I great, big, lazy, weIl.dressed louts-
in the little games Of the evening.
The young fellows don't care They