The morning journal-courier., 1908-09-05
ROLE OF THE BROTHER.
Most of the old Maids fin Families fin
 Which There Are No Sons.

The most eminent novellsts have not scrupled to give the mother first place in literature as a matchmaker. They have held that her business tal- ent along that line Is as brilliant as 1t Is interruptions. and they have pried into and exposed her various methods, praisng or blaming them according 10 their humor. There Is scarcely an English novel written that does not convey to the mother some subtle compliment for her prowess at match making
 The dowager, with half a dozen daughters to marry off, nuttering in the face of the ineligibles like an angry hen. keeping the younger girls In socks and short frocks till the older ones have secured their prizes in the matrimonial lottery, adroitly planning campaigns, taking the outposts of the most reluctant suitors and finally binding the suitors themselves to her triumphant chariot wheels, Is a fa- miliar figure to every novel reader.
 Even in America, where daughters are supposed 10 be well able to look out for themselevs. the mother plays no unimportant part in providing suitable husbands for her progeny.
 Lacking a mother, the father has usually been considered the best sub sttute as an advance agent and bus mess manager for family of daugh- ters
 We know how cleverly old Lady Kew ridicued the least eligible of her granddaughter's lovers, and the adroit management of the Biblical Ruth by her mother.in-la Is a matter of his- tory; but no one has ever looked upon the brother as the real sponsor of all the matrimonial projects in his fami- ly, yet 1t Is to his credit that most of his sisters brilliant matches must be put down, whether they acknowledge it or not There is nothing even faint ly suggested in matchmaking in the brothers get-up. He is ostensibly con- temptuous of his sisters charms he doesn't hesitate 10 tell her just what he thinks of her. in season and out of season, and when he invites Jimmie Gotrox or Billy Croesus to spend a week end with him he certainly has no avowed intention of making a brother-n-law of him,
 He is the bit of fiction necessary to make the match strike. In the case of the father or mother there Is no overwhelming anxiety to throw the would-be lovers together In fact they can't very well escape each other They are thrust at each other at every turn, and a mutual dlstaste is as often as not, the result But with the brother calling down anathema or his sisters head for being spoil-spor and making all sorts of plans to sepa- rate the pair and keep them apart the result Is quite the reverse. They vii steal opportunities to be together, tho poor brother is looked upon as the natural enemy of all lovers and lit. tie later, if the bride is honest enough to acknowledge her Indebtedness, i is her brother who comes in for tho big slice of the wedding cake.
 Most of the old maids come iron families in which there are nov brothers. Maneuvering mammas the, may have had and papas skilled witt the lasso, but the lack of a brothe to forage innocently for them ha doomed them to single sulenness al their days, Therefore if a sonles family Is determined to marry off it daughters let it first adopt a brothe for them, and husbands shall b speedily added unto them The broth CT in the house is the lodestone tha attracts others of his sex From hi earliest school days, while he runs i at recess with this or that youngste to get bite of lunch, up to the mo ment when he is best man at the mar riage of that youngster with his fay orte sister, he is the usefullest mem Der of the household in the match making line, and the sooner he is rec ' ognized as such the easier will be hi , lot and the less anxious will be hi parents.-New York Press.