The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-10-07
BY ETFIE SHANNON

BY ETFIE SHANNON.
The answer TO this question is one
that must always remain a matter of
more or less personal prejudice. Those
men and women who have married when
very young and found happiness Will al
wavs plead for the early union, and they
will offer the soundest of arguments to
support their claims. On the other hand,
where such marriages have turned out
badly, YOU will find the contracting
PARTIES laying nine-tenths of the blame
IIpon their youth and ineNperience. quite
ignoring the possibility that had they
been ten or even twenty years older
things might have been even worse.
Then there are those men and women
whom chance or circumstance has kept
apart until well along in middle age Al
last they marry, 10 find much happiness
straightway declaring that the proper
age to marry is when one is In the
meridian of life. If, on the other hand
they make a mess of their affairs, they
are held I'D by their friends and ac-
uuaiutances as horrible example OF
the futile attempt to cheat the little God
OF Love who looks with favor only upon
dewey maidenhood and callow youth.
As matter of fact. il is as foolish
arbitrarily to determine an age for mar
riage as it would be to prescribe
remedy for a physical ailment. 1t all
depends What will cure one man, may
kill another Some people never grow
old enough to marry. Indeed. l be-
Iicyc that this is one of the explanations
for OH enormously increasing divorce
statistics-the contracting parties are the
sort that never may hope to attain that
maturity Of metal and spiritual develop
mcnt which is absolutely essential to the
Il 70 lnsatn saP
in marriage or out Of il.
Age Has Little 10 Do with IL.
Personally ] do not think that age
that is, physical age. has much to do
with the question Of happy marriage.
Maturity. however. does play a most
important part-maturity of heart, Of
mind. and Of the emotional nature. This
maturity. VIC have already observed.
comes to many men and women late in
life to mauy others never at all. few
rare individuals attain it at eighteen and
twenty. Most people not until well along
in middle life.
One OF the happiest marriages of which
/ know is that of a couple who married
when the woman was not quite seventeen
and the man a little over nineteen. they
have now been married twenty-five years
and are the parents of six boys and
girls all healthy. bright, and as essen
TALLY normal as their parents. To spend
an hour or so in this charming family
circle and to see this couple still in
the very prime OF their lives with grown
sons and daughters about them, is
most agreeable spectacle and A wholesome
experience! 1t does not. however. in the
least constitute any argument in favor
Of early marriages On the contrary. it
may he construed as a COgent argument
..gainst it. for the perfect happiness and
success Of this early marriage is only
The exception that proves the rule that
most such unions turn out otherwise.
On the other hand, take another amaZ-
ngly happy marriage | happen to know
". This marriage preSents the very
antitheSs of the one l have just quoted.
Here both the contracting parties had
tong since reached middle life. To be
exact the womans age on the wedding
Hay was fOrty-eight, just the age Of the
woman whose Part / am now playing
in Years Of Discretion while the man
was five years beyond the half century
mark. Neither had been married before;
he was a bachelor and she a spinster.
A fact which makes their case all the
more remarkable, for while it is a common
enough thing for two people in middle
life TO marry and jog along very happily
together. such marriages are usually not
the first experience of either the man or
the woman.
Result Different Likely.
The interesting fact about this paTticu-
lar instance is the very great probability
that had these elderly lovers married in
their youth, or even five years earlier
than they did, the result would have
been quite different 1 happen to have
known both the man and woman for
more than twenty years, and from my
own observation of their characters ana |
the testimony of their relatives and best
friends, l am safe in saying that at any
earlier period in their lives no man
could have lived with the woman and |
no woman would have lived with the !
man.
She was Capricious. vain, and an au- /
tOCrat of the most unyislding sort-a |
type of woman whose name is legion. |
As for him. he was, if may speak blunt |
ly, that which hundreds of thousands |
of other men are, though perhaps I'M
cOnsciously-an essential polygamist. II |
he had married this woman or any other |
one year before he did. he would not and |
could not have been faithful to her. As |
il is. they have now been married six |
years, and have not yet seen the wan
ing of their honeymoon. The explanation
is not far to seek-at forTy-eight and |
fifty-five: respectively, this woman and |
this man reached that maturity which
certain other and more fortunate people |
attain earlier in life.
The question Of the right age TO marry, |
would. thAl, it seems to me, resolve it.
self simply into determining at what age
any individual man or woman may be /
considered as having attained some de-
gree of mental and spiritual maturity.
II This age is fifty, sixty, or even sew
enty, we'll and good. Who shall deny
the right of elderly men and women TO
a belated happiness and the companio;-
ship of each other in their old age. If, |
on the other. ii is eighteen or twenty, so
50 much the better for everybody con-
CeTned.
CIn the next fnstalIment of this
series MIR. Louis Massen, who play the
part of an elderly lover I'm @Years of
Discretion will make a spirited plea
for carly marriaEe.D
Blister Crepe.