The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1906-12-25
BY MARGARET E. sANesTER.

BY MARGARET E. sANGsTER.
If somebody who lived On this planet
100 years ago could return and walk,
an unsupported observer, through our
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
ry and take on themselves the respon-
sibilities Of bringing up large families.
Marriage Is more and more postponed
until women have gone beyond rs, and
men 33 and "a years of age. What is
the occasion of the change?
The ghost could not grapple with
the problem. He would have nothing
in his experience of human life to ex-
plain it. With us affairs are differ
ent. We understand the forces that
combine to influence the prudent lover
quite sympathize with parents who are
aghast at the very thought that their
sons and daughters In some hour of
impulse, may marry at the age they
thought entirely proper in their own
case.
Life in the great cities is extremely
easy for the bachelor whether he be
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 filled 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
his tea, to mend his stockings and
help him entertain his friends. These
we're a few of the prosaic details in
cluded in his theory of married life.
AS things are now managed, a single
man may live inexpensively and very
comfortably in rooms for which he
pays 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-
cumbrance.
His visiting list may DC 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 welcome
guest in the homes of married friends,
and if he be gallant and debonaire he
Is favorite in society and, on the
whole, has a very good time.
The shadows of lonely future do
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 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 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