El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-09-12
Why So Many are Single
People Have Begun to Think; No
Longer Rush BIindly Be
cnuse of Attraction.
Dorothy

TEW YORK conservation commits
sioner E. L Rittenhouse asks
u why are there more than H.
600, 600 unmarried men and women in
the United States?"
There are many reasons why people
do not marry. One is the high cost Of
living. The main reason, however, is
because people have begun to use their
heads instead of their hearts in decid-
ing the matter. Cold logic has super
seeded the mating instinct in dealing
with the problem.
Merely n Matter of Sentiment.
In former times men and women
married simply because they were at
tracted to some member of the OppO-
site sex. Whether they could feed or
clOthe a family, or whether they were
likely to beQueath some terrible in
heritance to their offspring, did not
enter into their calculation. They went
IL blind, without regard to conSe-
quences to themselves or any one else.
Now intelligent men and women con-
slider before marriage whether they
have a right to marry and bring into
the world defOrmed and diseased chill
dren. or children that they will have
to sell into child slavery because OF
poverty.
Also men and women are becoming
afraid to marry. They see that nine
tenths of the marriages in the world
are failures, so far as bringing any
haDDiness to either husband or wife
and so they decide that single bless
edness is better than double wretched-
ness.
The other day a large manufacturer
sent me a letter that was a curious
and interesting human document This
letter had been written by a little un-
taught mill girl, who was only IL,
but who, in some strange way, had
fathOmed the depths of the philosophy
of modern life. 1t was written to her
sweetheart, breaking OIL her engage
ment to MIN, and it fell into the manu-
facturer'S hands through one of his
stenOgraphers having written 1t for the
copy of it having been left lying about
Breaks Engagement.
The letter in part is as follows:
I have wanted to tell you that 1
cannot marry you, and you Know the
reason. / hope YOU Will not think hard
of me, and will understand why under
the circumstances I must refuse We
both have our living to make, and you
you make now, the way living eX-
penses are. 1t was different when our
fathers and mothers married people
then were satisfied with less, and there
were not so many things to see, and
go to, and to buy.
= know you think you could do
without some things, and l believe you
would try, but after little while you
would begin to wonder If you are get
ting enough to make up for what you
had given up. You know our friends
are not All married, and they would
still be able to go and do things when
we could not. You and 1 would still
be young folks. although we were mar
ried. and 1 think we would ootn reel
bad when we saw the good times our
single friends were having, and which
We used to have, and could not have
any more Why cannot we still be
good friends and sWeethearts, and wait
until you can get into some little bust
ness where I could help, and we would
have more to work On2
u am writing this TO you so you
cannot interrupt me until I am through
I know you love me, and 1t is nice 20
be loved. and I think YOU know 1 love
YOU but we cannot marry now. 1t
would make US both misera BILE"
why most of the 100000 men and
women in the country who are unmar-
ried don't marry. They love. They
would like to marry, but they nave
faced the fact that it takes bread and
butter as well as sentiment TO keep
a house going