Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-07-28
The Usual Complaint of the Bachelor.

The modern young man is inveighed
against by the hostesses of today for
many reasons. Crystalize them. and
you will find that they consist of only
two: He has sporting instincts and he
is poor.
Just as man will not go out shoot
ing if he may never under any crcum-
stances hit anything; just as he will
eschew fishing if he is not permitted to
catch fish, so in precisely the same
wav he avoids the dance, the dinner and
the afternoon tea, because he knows that
they can all lead to nothing.
The language of the eyes. the whis-
pered soft nothings, the palm-covered.
Sequestered hooks, only pave the way
that leads to marriage. Ana our young
man, just because he is a sportsman.
just because he knows that for the pres
ent marriage is beyond ms reach. hest
tates to raise hopes i'll. young feminine
heart, heSitates, too, for fear of finding
himself on the brink of the matrimonial
abyss, which at so early a date can
only bring ruin to his own career and
that of the woman ne may learn to
love.
For one man who can afford to marry
under 30 years of age there are ninety
nine who cannot; and it is the ninety
nine, not the one, who would make the
partners of the ballroom.
And why?
Because the fiat of society has gone
forth that a wife must be a luxury: and
mXuries are not the lot of the average
young man.
And here. forsooth. are hostesses
Crumbling because we struggling clerks,
striving doctors, hitherto briefless bar
risters. underpaid schoolmasters. are not
eager to marry. 1t is not as if these
embryo brides were of the kind TO helm
Us III our onward struggle.
Such ladies must be kept in that sta
ton Of life iii which it has pleased God
to call them: and. indeed, they are fit for
no other. They cannot sew; to cook
they are ashamed. They are completely
ignorant Of the proper organization Of
houSehold their experience in dealing
with servants they propose To buy at
the bridcgroom's expense.
In fine. the sum total Of their attain
ments consists in a limited knowledge of
the rules Of bridge and distant hope
Of succeeding in golf.
Meanwhile. their parents sit with fold
ed hands. smUgly satisfied with their
brilliant offspring hoping for the mod
ern young man to come along and offer
if we may compare so delicate a sub
iect to hEsiuess-their daughters q posi-
riou which commands an enormous sal
AIRY. and for which they have had no
training and no experience
! wonder how many maidens Of today
realize amid their round of social gaiety,
the wonderful, inestimable value Of a
wife's sympathy and cooperation: how
its presence may take man soaring up
10 the heights over every difficulty. every
danger. every obstacle: how its absence
NAV draw him down. down to the lowest
depths, whittier he would never have
gone alonet
The majority of us are poor, with our
living 10 make. and our names to write
if only in tiny letterS-somewhere on the
scroll of fame. 1t is not that we are
ungallant. it is not that we do not adj
mire these butterfly maidens. Bot
hope deferred makvth the heart sick: :"
and to begin a Irritation at -, with the
prospective bride Of ones fortieth year.
does not appeal 10 many Of Us.
IF. then. matters are TO be mended, if
bathrooms are to be filed with dinner
parties patronized. the maiden Of today
must descend from her lofty pedestal.
or. at least. make clear to Us that the
steps which lead 10 her feet need not be
paved with gold. Let her take her
Young life. at any rate. as seriously as
we DO ours. Let her realize that she