The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-05-18
EVENING CHAT
BIZ RUTH CAMERON

"A society for the prevention of mar
rfed firts"-though it doesn't call it
self by Just that nam@is the latest
thing IN the way of new organtza-
tons
The aim of this society is to try
to further the custom of the wearing
of wedding rings by married men
We believe young girls will not firt
with married men if thew know the
men are married. says the leader of
the eighteen Pittsburg women who
make up this unique organization
I'VE Will ask our husbands to wear
a plain gold band ring as a token of
being married, and we hope the Gus
tom will be adopted universally
Although I do not believe with the
cheerful optimism of the Pittsburg
ladies. that the adjustment of the
married firt is to be accom- pIished by
any such simple method I hail the
formation of this society as a step in
the march Of progress towards one
goal Of my great desire-a single
standard Of morality for man and
woman
For centuries the married woman
has been set aside by the seal of the
ring and the label of the prefix Mrs. -
Wherever she goes she : indeHbIy
marked as a married woman, unless
she deliberately tries TO evade such q
status.
The married man on the other hand
as soon as he passes out of the small
group of people who know him and
his personal affairs Intimately, be
comes an unknown quantity to those
single condition is concerned.
He may not take advantage of this
state of affairs, but he is perfectly free
TO do so If he wishes.
OF course. someone IS going to pro-
test that even if a married man wore
WaG6fnO EEnTIff he
simple to slip il Off
Yes, and so it would be for the
married woman, and yet she certainly
doesn't do it very often. and neither
would her husband if the custom be
came as universal for men as it is for
women
OF course the deliberate. hardened.
married f1frt wouldn't mind taking off
his wedding ring any more than he
would telling other lies. but such men
are the exception. not the rule
Besides, 1T isn't so much for what
It would accomplish in individual cases
that I want to see the double ring
service become universal It is more
because of what 1t symboiizes.
II seems TO me that 1t would be a
ecoguization of the absolutely equal
obligations for man and woman i'm
piled in the marriage contract, and as
such be a step towards the single
standard of morality.
1 suppose what I am going to say
next Will be hailed by some as ridic-
ulous, but 1 am going to say it just
the same I wish there might not only
be wedding rings for men but also en-
gagement rings.
I think there is quite as much need
for them Indeed L fancy there are a
good many more cases of unsuspecting
hearts broken by engaged men posing
as unattached. than by married men
under the same conditions because
| the pose is easier for the engaged man
to maintain
Many men do not like TO wear pre-
cious stones on their hands very well.
| The engagement ring could be simply
I n gold ring unset or set with a cameo
or one Of the matrixes that men are
wearing 50 much now And it would
only be worn until replaced by the
wedding ring
Do not instantly hail this as ride
ulous simply because it is a new idea.
/ Only fools call things absurd merely
/ because they are new.
The first few men who wore we'd
ding rings were doubtless looked upon
as rather freaky. but that custom is
not now unusual enough TO cause the
slightest comment. and the engage
ment ring would be in tn same class
| a few years after some brave man had
| had the courage to do something never
done before
I should be glad to see women get
gether in every city in the United
States to pledge themselves to work
/ for d single standard of morality, and
two Of their lines of action might we'll
be to make universal the double ring
wedding service, symbol of equal mar
rfage obligations. and to inaugurate
7 the TarT0Te rim haTr0ThzT