Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-05-28
Seventeen Girls Join In lncor-
porating the Dot Society.
A SMALL FARM PURCHASED.
Young Women Will Raise Hens, Flow
ers, Etc, to Earn Dowries-Vow Not
to Wed Until $500 Is Set Aside as
Start In Married Life.

Ioun9 women VIII hdISe F1eHSY floW-
ers, Etc, to Earn Dowries-Vow Not
to Wed Until $500 is Set Aside as
Start In Married Life.
81 solemnly vow that | will not wed
until have earned with my own hands
a dowry of $500"
The above Is the pledge seventeen
fair maids of New York have taken.
AS evidence of sincerity they have in
corporated under New York state laws
as the Dot society have purchased an
acre of land at Northport, N. Y, and
have made arrangements to become
farmers.
Two years must elapse, according to
their optimistic calculations before
they will be able to marry, and several
of them, it is admitted, are engaged
now. They have agreed that marriage
nowadays requires that the bride shall
have money besides beauty, and so
they intend to silence the wedding
bells until the entire $500 is amassed.
Miss Abba Newlin Brown of New
York city is the originator and presi-
dent of the Dot society. The financing
of the movement has fallen to her and
Miss Charlotte NJ. Robson, who lives
in Boston at present, and Miss Eliza
beth Gardener Phillips, who is living in
Philadelphia temporarily. Each con-
tributed a third of the $500 paid for
the land, and they will supply the
funds with which to erect the house in
which the girl farmers will live.
The other fourteen young women will
be asked TO pay a certain sum, but this
will be necessary to purchase farming
implements and other accessories and
to maintain the group until they are
able to put their produce on the mar
ket.
Parental objection has been strong
in the cases of all seventeen maidens,
sbut they have succeeded in having
their way.
Il suppose most folks will think we
are lot of spinsters who have hit
upon this plan of buying husbands"
said Miss Brown the other day to a re-
porter of the New York American, "but
that isn't true. There isn't girl among
If she Were willing.
at is matter of principle with us.
Why should a young woman rush into
wedding with rash young man when
neither has any money? 1t is ridicu-
lous. A husband cannot support his
wife on her good looks. He requires
hard cash. In Europe they discovered
this long ago, and when a girl becomes
a wife she takes to her husband n
dowry, or, as it is commonly called, a
dot.
THAT is what we intend to do. When
one of US is married she will be able
to furnish her home and start in with
out mountain of debt on her shoul-
ders. | suppose we shall insist that
the young men have some money. That
would not he any more than fair. But
each girl will have TO settle that for
herself.
1--WE are all very serious about the
matter We expect the society to live
long after the original members have
married.
"To a certain extent the colony will
be SOclallSuc. Each girl VIII lie re
Quired to work eight hours a day for
the society. The proceeds will 90 into
the general fund, from which the dots
will be apportioned. But during the
rest OF the time the money they earn
10y doing other work will go to the ac-
count of each individually.
What will we raise on our farm?
Well, chickens-that involves eggs
and flowers and mushrooms.
"Wlll we run the farm entirely by
ourselves? Certainly. From the time
we take possession the sign NO Admit
tance' will meet all men who come
along. oh, yes, we're quite able to
protect ourselves. Our ages run from
about eighteen to twenty-threc. and
were quite out of the childhood state
I'VE can't be frightened out of this
thing. We're bound that we're going
to have our dowries, and we're bound
also that the Dot society shall go right
on as New York institution. Just as
soon as one girl drops out to get mar
ried we shall admit another"