The Washington herald., 1913-10-12
What Is tn" Proper Age TO Marry:
by HERBERT KELCEN.


by HERBERT KELCEN.
This is a ueustion 10 which there are
many sides, all OF which can be rein
forced with excellent arguments. For
instance, I might here and now present |
any number of sound and logical rea- !
sons why very early marriages were to I
be desired, and 1 might with equal |
facility present the same number Of |
equally excellent reasons in favor of the !
union contracted when bride and bride |
groom had reached the Years of Dis /
cretiOn,' which Miss Efie Shannon and |
myself are represented as having at
tained in Mr.. BelascO's production of !
that name. In other words, I can prove
to your entire satisfaction that the right ,
age TO marry is twenty or fifty, but after |
] have finished We will both discover |
that after all We have not solved the |
problem at all. We will find that we
have been dealing entirely with sophs- !
tries. that our arguments have been
based upon wrong premises from the !
very start. You know, and so do I, !
that men and women who marry in !
early life are just as likely to be happy i
as those who wait until they are thirty. |
or forty or fifty And conversely, those |
who launch their matrimonial craft in |
life have no better chance of avoiding |
in the ignorance and inexperience of |
youth.
How. then. you ask. is one to con- |
slider this question? What is the answer? !
Consider Relative Ages.
In reply to which, I would venture the
opinion that in determining the right age /
to marry. ii behooves us to concern our !
selves. not with the individual ages Of !
the parties to the contract, but rather |
with their relative ages, one to the /
other. That is to say, it is not so much |
a question whether a man marries at |
twenty or at thirty, as it is a question OF |
the relation Of his brides age to his own. 1
FOr<nstanCe. man of twenty to twenty |
five will have a greater chance for hap
piness by marrying a woman just as
near his own age as possible. Up to the !
age Of twenty-five no man should marry
woman older than himself. nor should I
he marry one very much younger. After |
twenty-five. however, he will do we'll to |
marry woman older than himself. And |
the longer he defers marriage. the great !
eF should be the disparity of years be-
tween them. Thus, for instance, a man of /
thirty will 90 well to wed a woman Of
thirty-tve, and a man of forty should |
find his greatest happiness and comfort !
by choosing d wife OF an age anywhere
from nifty to fifty-five, rather than of
forty or forty-five.
Bound to Raise Protest.
Such an opinion I am well aware is
bound to raise a storm of protest from
the rank and file of people who are
stepped in the curious superstition that
disparity of age should favor the woman
-ather than the man. I am likewise well
aware of all the old stock arguments
which from time immemorial have been
used in favor of a mans selecting a wife
younger than himself. Those arguments
] am prepared not only to meet and COM
bat. but to VanQuish utterly.
First, there is ancient theory that
women grow old sooner than men. This
is the very backbone of the OId-fashioned
prejudice which forbade a wifes age be-
ing greater than her husband. "A wife
ought to be some years younger, because
she becomes an old woman long before
her husband becomes an old man. If a
man married woman older than him
self. he finds after while that he has
an old woman on his hands while he Is
still IN his prime" &c, &c. Are these
phrases not familiar TO you? Are they
not familiar to every one? In all proba-
LIlity you yourself have thoughtlessly re-
peated them.
say thoughtlessly because one could
only repeat them so. The truth is that
they are just 50 many fallaCies, just so
many lies, just so many fables generally
agreed upon until they have come to ring
With the semblance of truth.
Now let us look the facts in the face,
the facts being these:
WCmen-that is, civilized women-do not
grow old sooner than men. On the con-
trary, next to children, women are the
youngest things in the universe. This is
not any compliment on my part TO the
fair sex. 1t is scientific fact that can
not be denied. Women are stronger than
i I
are stronger. Women live longer than
men-much longer. and that in spite OF
the handicaps of her sex. the dangers and
hardships of child-bearing and rearing,
&c. Women fight disease, mental and
physical, much more successfully than
men do. and old age finds them younger
than men in heart, in mind, and in body
Startling Revelation.
so much for the proved. scientific facts
Of the matter. Now for the evidence
of your own observation and experience.
Look about among your acquaintances,
separate the men from the women, and
sort them into lots Of Iorty, fifty and
sixty years, respectively.
You will be startled, yes. positively
startled. to discover how very much old
er aJI your fOrty-year old men are as I
compared with your fOrty-year old wom-
en-. You will be even more startled when
YOU compare the tfty-year-Old men with
the fifty-year- women. And as to the
siXty-year-old groups. you will marvel
that you could for years have gone about
with the delusion that men retain their
youth longer than women. You will find
your average woman of sixty intensely I
interested in life-more interested, in 1
fact than she was at fifty, and
infinitely more so than at forty. You
will find your average woman of sixty
possessed of all her little essential femi-
nine vanities. She takes the same pleas
ure, perhaps more, in dress and frap-
peries, and she is eager for pleasure to as .
great or greater degree than in early ,
Youth. Furthermore, unless she is in con- !
firmed ill-health, she looks youthful, she !
is fresh-faced and bright-eyed, and is ,
possessed of the cheerful disposition of .
2 child. In fact, you cannot fail to be /
impressed with how very chiId-like she J