The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1906-12-22
EARLY MARRIAGES ARE NO
LONGER POPULAR.
Attractions of Bachelor Life in Large
Measure Responsible for Changed
Conditions - Excessive eau
ton Among Young Folks.
81 MARaARET &. sANGsTER.

BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
II somebody who lived on this planet
100 years ago could return and walk,
an unsuspeeted observer, through cur
modern cities, one of the first notes
he would make in his tablets would be
to the effect that people no longer
| married in their early tWenties. In
his day he would remember, with a
puzzled shake of spectral head, that
the wedding bells rang for girls Of 16
and boys of 10 respectively, and that
such marriages were common and a
matter of course.
Except in primitive communities,
apart from the beaten tracks of civili-
cation, girls and boys do not now mar
ny and take on themselves the respon-
sibilities of bringing up large families.
marriage is more and more postponed
until women have gone beyond 25, and
men 33 and 81 years of age. What is
the occasion of the change?
Life in the great cities is extremely
easy for the bachelor whether he be
a man of large means or of compare
lively limited income. When bachelor
apartment houses became the fashion,
they took the place with many men
that was once filed by the home ideal.
A man used to fancy that he needed
wife to look after his domestic COM
fort, to sit at his dinner table, to pour
help him entertain his friends. These
were few of the prosaic details in
cluded in his theory of married life.
AS things are now managed, a single
man may live inexpensive1y and very
comfortably in rooms for which ne
nays a monthly or weekly rental His
meals are obtained at a restaurant in
the building or in the neighborhood;
he is free TO go and come without en-.
cumbranee.
His visiting list may ne long or
short He may spend much money
or little: live simply or luxuriously
as he may choose. His independence
is absolute and at an instant's notice
he may give his landlord warning
store his furniture or resign the key
of his furnished room and go to the
end of the earth. He is a welcome
guest in the homes of married friends
and if he be gallant and debonaire he
is a favorite in society and, on the
whole, has very good time
The shadows of a lonely future dc
not project themselves across the path
of the man under 40. He declares that
he cannot afford to marry, and very
possibly the fact that the cost Of living
is constantly on the increase has much
to do with his contented and some
what selfish bachelor state. There
are people who for a small remunera-
ton will keep his clothing in order,
and his linen immaculate. His din.
ners are apt to be good. and he may
know, if he like, to a fraction, the
amount he must spend annually to
maintain his position, and the amount
he may save for rainy day.
With women the reasons for the
postponement OF marriage are more
complex. The love of home, the love
of children and the need to be dear
and precious to some one out Of the
whole world, are inwoven in feminine
character. Yet women do not often
marry for convenience, or that they
may change their names from Miss
Priscilla Jones to Mrs. Jonathan Rob-
bins, or that they may attain breyet