The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1910-03-09

WHY SHOULD A NAN MARRY?
"Why should . man marry. I do
not mean should in the sense OF
ought to-: but what is there in it for
him?
"Man is the conquering hero. He
is the power that is. The laws are his,
for he made 'em. The sea IL his, for
he owns the yachts. The land is his,
for he votes the taxes and improve.
ments. The beasts of the fields are
his, unless he prefers a motor-car.
The sky is his for aeroplares. The
fishes with fins and the mermaids
without tails are his-till be marries.
"Why should he marry us? Why
not be honest: Isn't it the plain, un-
vanished truth, that man who con.
templates exchanging his undeniably
blessed singleness by asking to be
doubled with some fluttering and un-
certain female ought to be examined
for the 81 mptoms Of some mild phase
of insanity? Isn't there room for q
suspicion as to the quality and kind Of
his gray matter?
acquiring a wife, he is at home
nowhere except at home! It's the
only place where he really ought to be
when he is not in his Office, earning
the wherewithal to pay for the cage.
Every hour brings its proof that he
has given up his freedom.
"And for what? For one Ofus.
"What are We? What is there in
one IF us to pay for all he relinquish
Is? BY what divine right are We
commissioned to make him over!
What gives US the privilege Of regulat-
ing-or trying to regulate-the num-
her Of cigars he smokes and the price
thereof
Summarized, a man has only to feel
a longing and have the price. There
is just one person ON whom he really
ought to spend his money-that is him.
self. Afterward-well, he has to fight
with his conscience or his wife before
he can waste good cash on the foolish,
unnecessary, but delightful desires
which, before he married, to feel was
to crafty.
1T may sound jocose, all this talk
about what a man gives up; but it is
no Joke for him! Once free and un,
trammeled, he marries to find himself
corraled by a whole lot of written and
unwritten laws of convention that sit
on the fence of matrimony and peck
At him he tries even to peep over it.
Marriage has invested him with it,
seriousness. He has exchanged the
good things he has known for the good
things he believes you to he, my sister.
you cost money, and you take more
floor space than he needed for himself
alone. He has to live in . locality
far removed from his former haunts, in
order to accommodate you. When he
gets home. he stays therefor various
reasons. He drops away from his old
associates. If he tries to keep in with
them. his new sense of accountability
makes killjoy and::a bore. And why
does he do it? What says the profit
side of the sheet to balance the account
of the loss page? What makes him
pay SO big price for you? Why will
he exchange the almost ideal state Of
his single days for the risks, compli-
cations, expenses. and sacrifice of COM
fort and self:love that he must assume
when he marries you?
Behind the superficial carelessness.
underneath the apparent conscience
lessness with which men indulge them
selves, there is deep. instructive. and
like all of natures institutions TN
alterable wish to love some one more
than self. and to make that love the
beautiful highway that leads to some
one better than self-to the child!
"Were nst this instinct to create SO
strong that it rides down every barrier
of selfconsideration, no sane man
would ever marry. Why should he,
What would he get? In getting you,
he had some disagreeable moments
during the interview with papa and
mama. He remembers how they
skinned him bare ofpretense. He re-
calls how they dived into his pocket
book and examined his bank account.
He thinks Of the way they probed to
find how he stood with the head of his
firm, and what chance he had for ad-
vancement. He has sold. hurt con-
seriousness that h. was gulled; that the
questions were clever thrusts put in be-