Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-05-09
The Argus Daily Short Story
Compulsory Marriage-By F. A. Mitchell
Copyrighted. 1910. by Associated Literary PresA

The population of Dalmaria had been
running down for years. The marriage
licenses. which formerly had been is
sued by the city government at the
rate of about a hundred a week. had
diminished to ten or dozen a month.
TO remedy the evil the government
passed a law that all men should be
married by their twenty-first birthday
and no girl should refuse an offer I'M
less she could prove the proposer to be
a man of bad character or that he was
not able to support her.
There was CONSERVATION among the
unmarried of both sexes at the pas
sage of this law. Single men began
to bestir themselves to secure-as some
of them expressed 1.-THE least unde-
sirable girl in the town. A woman
who had received a proposition was
given a week TO examine into her pro-
poSer'S fitness and come tor decision.
But at the end of the week a new pro-
poser might be accepted. Consequently
the girl was not necessarily compelled
TO marry the first proposer unless no
one else entered a claim. This was
considered very wise expedient since
it admitted of competition. Neverthe-
less it resulted in considerable litiga-
non. Girls finding themselves unable
to decide between several applicants
would defer decision till the limit of
time had passed Sometimes young
man within a few days of his twenty
first birthday would be put of till he
had broken the law.
That which has been called the DUN
bleton case has come down TO us as
cause celebre of this city of compul-
sorry marriages. Irene Dumbleton was
what is now called a fiirt. 1t is said
that she once met a man at ball and
so twisted his brain that within cou-
pie of days be lay down TO an eternal
sleep on the bottom of a river. An
other within a week after meeting her
is reported TO have climbed out of the
sixth story window of a building and
dived to the sidewalk below. Irene
Dumbleton could do anything she liked
with a man. either reduce him TO
dough or bake him so hard that she
could kill an elephant with him. New
ertheless the instances mentioned were
doubtless exaggerated.
When the marriage statute became
law Miss Dumbleton saw that she
must marry some man who might pro-
pose to her. She did not intend that
the wrong proposer should come with
in the limits of the law. She did not
mean to wait for a proposition. She
made It her object to draw into her
net within week after her first offer
as many proposers as possible in order
that she might choose between them.
The morning after the law had gone
into effect Miss Dumbleton received
basketful of proposals. Some of the
proposers We're desira BILE. some were
and some midway between
the two. She wrote all the names of
men she considered available on cards
and laid them in row in order of
their desirability. The next day
brought an accession to the list with
a consequent introduction of new
names and rearrangement of the or
der of value. The second and subse-
quent days brought still larger acces-
sions. until at the last day of grace
of the eligible bachelors
of her class had proposed to her.
One would think that with "a eaan1