The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-05
THE BEST AGE
 FOR MARRIAGE Quite An Opportunity for the
 Discussion MAY SUTTON'S VIEWS Tennis Champion Breaks of Engage ment on Ground that Woman
 Should Not Marry Till
 She Is 25.
From the London Daily Mail.

From the London Daily Mail.
 It Is tonic of perennial interest that Miss Mary Sutton, the American lawn tennis champion, has flung into the arena of popular discussion by breaking off her engagement on the ground that no woman ought to marry, before 25. It is not the custom in this country for young women, however prominent. to take the newspapers into their confidence on an occasion of this kind. In the Uni ted States, however, the habit of living in a glass-fronted house with the blinds up makes the course which Miss Sutton took quite regular; and although we may be in favor of private affairs being con- ducted privately. yet some of us cannot help feeling a little grateful to her for turning attention to a matter which might with great advantage be studied more than 1t is in this country
 That the theories of the professors of eugenics will ever be put into practice we do not believe. Men and women will not be persuaded to mate on scientific principles until they have ceased to be men and women as they now are, and
 
 record of their wilful, passionate. intense ly attractive and interesting lives.
 They might in the course of time develr op into creatures of pure reason, but In that case they would probably fulfil Sir Walter Besant's prophecy by living very long and very dull lives and very infre- quently mating at all. Or they might re- vert to the condition of animals then, however, they would go back to the in- stinctive method of choosing partners. which perhaps would produce the effect which eugenics aims at, though certainly not in the cold-blooded. professional. eugenical way.
 But while it seems reasonable to as- sume that either individual preference or parental arrangement will continue to be the chief factors in marriage, yet much could be done to lessen the evil effects of thoughtlessness and disregard of the plain facts of human nature if only mar riage were more often looked at from the cemmon-sense and less often from the romantic standpoint
 Whether girl is. as rule, actually unfit to take her place as a full-hedged matron until she is 25 years old is dis putable point. Some may disable Miss Suttons argument by denying that a young wife need be full-hedged all at once, and hinting that girls who are pre- pared to turn into matrons so quickly would probably find very few suitors-at all events among the young men of to- day.
 Others may maintain that a girl of 2o if she has been properly trained, can manage house quite as well as one of 25. But there Is at the same time one sense in which Miss Sutton is perfectly right.
 Among doctors there exists, we be- lieve, a general agreement that not until she Is 25 does the average woman reach her fullest stage of development. Clear ly 1t is not until she is fully developed that a woman should take upon herself the responsibilities of marriage To this rule there are, no doubt, many exoep- tons; but that need not prevent 1t from being accepted as sound principle for the general run of women.
 In a matter of this kind argument from particular cases is worthless. But 1t is useful to note that for more than half a century past the marriage age for women has been growing later. In the '5os and even the eos it was quite common for girls to marry at 19 or even before. The idea then was that husband and wife should start their lives together. Neith- CT was expected to have much experience; they had to pick 1t up together If they did not get along very happily they had to make the best of 1t, and very often this sense of the finality of their bond helped them to patch up a working agree ment and to lead quite fairly comfort able lives
 Today we have travelled . long way from that view. It still obtains. it is true. among large sections of the indus trial working class. and it's results, in spite of the frequent police court ap- pearances of boy and girl husbands and wives, are not on the whole So deplorable as most people think. But in the more highly educated and cultivated ranks of society 1t is generally held nowadays that the safest plan is to marry late.
 For this there are too many reasons to be discussed here-among then the increased luxury of the age; the more active pursuit of pleasure and tho de- yelopment of the individuality of women, which in many cases makes girls disin- clined to ''surrender their independence" while in many others 1t deters men from inviting them to do 50. Probably the age is in many cases made too late. If girl of 20 does not know her own mind there Is an equal Likelihood that the woman of Ss will know hers much too well to tolerate any second opinion, even from . husband.
 We all agree that Dorothea Casaubon madesa mistake in marrying her Drya- dust before she had emerged from roman tic girlhood. and we all sympathise with David Copperfeid in the trying time he had with his child-wife, Dora. In fact, there arc plenty of famous cases in fic- tion which illustrate the evils of early marriage. But are there not just as many disadvantages attaching to the late mar riagef Here is . fine opportunity for a noveiist-a field which has scarcely been scratched as yet. and which would yield q rich harvest l. 1et un of4Ar fhA idna ,zith