The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-04
-v MAncARET E .sANGsTER.

DY MARGARET E .sANGsTEn. {. dCopyright, 1906, by Joseph b bowIes.l
 If somebody who lived on this planet 100 years ago could return and walk, .r vnsusnected observer. through our r,o6ern cities. one of the first notes 2 he would make in his tablets would pc : to the effect that people no longer ma, ried in their early twenties. III ms day he would remember, with q pug xled shake of spectral head. that tne wedding bells rang for siris e. to snnh m boys of 10 respectively, and that such msrriares were common and matter
 Ercept in primitive communities apart from inc beaten tracks of civilization, iwiris and boys do not now marry ana fake on themselves the responsipliitIes ef bringing up large families Mar. vi.ra I'd more and more postponed until women have gone beyond 25. and men B and 34 years of age. what is 'ne occasion of the change?
 The ghost could not grapple with the problem He would have nothing m i,is experience of human life to explain understand the forces that combine 10 influence the prudent lover and to re- strain the ardent one. and we Quite avmpathixe with parents who are aehast at the very thought that their sons and daughters in some hour or im- pulse. may marry at the age they fhousht entirely proper in their own case. easy for the bachelor. whether he be . man of large means or of compara- lively limited income. When bacheior 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 a wife to look after his domestic com fort. to sit at his dinner table, to pour hfs tea, to mend his stockings and help him entertain his friends. These were . few of the prosaic details in- cluded in his theory of married lire. As things are now managed, single man may live inexpensively and very com fortabiy in rooms for which he pays q monthly or weekly rental His meals are obtained at a restaurant in the building or in q neighborhood; he is free to so and come without encum- branse.
 His visiting list may be long or phorr. He may spend much money CT little; live simply or luxuriously, ns he may ohoLse. His independence s absolute and at an instants notice ne may givs his landlord warning. store his furniture or resign the key of his furnished room and go to the end ol H the earth. He is a welcome guest In the' homes vf married friends. and If he be gallant and debonnaire he is a fla yorite in society and. on the whole, has a very good time.
 The shadows of lonely future do not project themselves across the path nf fine man under 40. He declares that he cannot afford to marry, and very possibly the fact that the cost of liv- ing Is constantly on the increase has smuch to do with his contented and 'somewhat selfish bachelor state. There are people who for small remunera- tion will keep his clothing in order, and his linen immaculate. Ills din- ners are apt to be good, and he may know, if he like, to fraction. the ssamount 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 bins, Or that they may attain breve' rank in the community by being mar rie& Women are largely self-support- ing. It is today almost an unheard of thing that man shall remain single to support his unmarried sis ters. Before the civil war. an epocf which materially changed other socla conditions in this country, for all time it was frequent occurrence that 2 man quietly and unselfshly gave UT his own preference for marriage that he might toll for the maintenance oi his sisters.
 The war cloud that broke in terrific storm over the States in 1861 swept away from North and South into lowly graves, vast host of bread-winners It spared and sent home to their wn-