The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-11-12
A PROBLEM OF THE r=
. UNMARRIED WOMAN
BY Polly Penn.

=. "No,' she said, with half play
full, half sad little shake of her head:
81 can't leave home. Mother would
never hear to it. Oh, yes. Caroline left.
but it was to marry; and in my moth
er's. ewes matrimony is the one cause
to Justify a woman in forsaking the
parental roof. H..
:'It never occurs ITO the folks that
may have an ambition as dear to me
as Caroline s ambition of home was
to her. may want my own home quite
as badly, and my own particular way
Of having things and my own congenial
friends about me. But the only en-
trance to all these things, it seems, is
thru a wedding ring. The mere acct
my horizon, or failing to appear, is
made the hinge on which all my future
prospects hang. "-
III don't wonder" she said, little
bitterly, "that many girls marry un-
suitably, since all hope of any individ-
uality and freedom of existence is made
to depend upon matrimony. Two Of my
sisters married, as it turned out, very
unhappily. Yet NO one said them nay.
They were free to, leave home, because
Of that magic open sesame wedding
my own ife, happy in my work and
my friends. No.. such catastrophes
could possibly await me as awaited my
sisters. I should be far happier and
freer to live my best and do my best
than I shall ever. be at home. Yet. I
must not 20. Ny. people would be
shocked to put it, in words, yet what
they are actually, saying in practice is
that even a bad marriage is superior
to a single and useful career. ~ :,-...,@
'HThere are natures that grow up a
perfect reflection Of their surroundings.
AS a matter Of course, they read the
same books, think the same thoughts,
and care for the same things their
fathers, and mothers do. L was never
that kind. It is'impossible that wom-
an like myself should live otwenty.nine
years without having strongly individ-
ual tastes which are fol-, the. most part
family as is the north pole from the
south. ~ .- =
az have longed' with all mytheart to
form my own little home. If, only "a
room or two somewhere near my work,
where I could exercise the right Of
every normal being Of mature age to
live my own life and be free to think
and do as choose. leave a luxuri-
GUS home like this! > cry my. people,
where is every material comfort you
needl You must be crazyl' ,.,1 49,
not matter of, walls and a roof, fur
niture and food. To me it, is the place
| where I can express myself in every hing
about me, be happy in the way can
best be happy, and offer a refuge where
the friends I love can. come and be
happy. 1t is the place where I should
be able to be myself.
zone should be able to. have this,
if one can support it, even tho, one
does not marry. No woman's right to
happiness and freedom should be de-
fewer unhappy marriages when the
wedding ring ceases to be the only door
to freedom. - ..'...' :..@ -. -
."No, I shall never have a home, in
the real sense. I never expect to mar
ry, and tho I have a legal right to de-
sert my family rooftree, can It wound
SO bitterly those who CAM and won It
understand my motives and bid me
Godspeed. Ism It it funny, my folks
would beam thru their parting tears
to. see me walk down the pathway the
bride of an, unknown masculine guam,
tity. :, But sfrowns and cold shoulders
would follow my departure as a single
woman, no matter how happily I pro.
posed to set up for myself. ~
! '"Wasn It it Ibsen. who said in his let.
ters he must have no relatives around
him who are intellectually his enemies
'The costliness 81, keeping friends; he
wrote, docs not lie in what one does
for them, but in what one, out of con.
sideration for them, refrains from do.
ing. This means the crushing Of many
an intellectual germ So to conduct
ones life as to realize ones self-this
seemed to him., he wrote, the highest
attainment possible to a human being.
"Happy Ibsenls e. That's the very
thing our families are bent on prevent.
ing us from doing.s You we got to be
a genius to be brutal enough to break
the. bonds and insist on realizing your.
! GOLF - ..- ...-4 f.~.-. j. - -Et - .s