Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-03-01
Marrying a Poor Man
by BEATRICE FAIRFAA.

/ ought you to marry a poor man. BY
all means-if you love him. But II may
be a little hard on the poor man.
| II you have all your life had every
thing money can buy" you must by now
have proved the emptiness Of riches and
so be fitted to go without, II YOU have
/ never had anything you are about to be-
come rich i'm your endowment of love.
] Now IL the poor man is really in love
with You he may fret at seeing you so
without the diamonds and pearls and
Bagdad silks and Siberian furs in which
he would like to deck you. And his suf-
| foring at the price of possible luxury
you pay for his love Will be in direct
proportion to his refinement and his UNI
selfishness.
| SO It will be distinctly up to you TO
hide it " you miss what you have always
had or long for what you have always
dreamed of having.
We will assume that the poor man is
well educated. refined and honest, and a
salary of 81 500 a year. TO which he has
risen at the age of 30 entirely by his own
honest efforts AS matter of fact he IL
not poor at all. but simply a hard-work-
I ing. fairly well-paid man, who Is hardly
! likely to become a millionaire.
out of this 81. 500-sS0 a week-must
come house rent. living expenses clothes.
| possible doctors bills. pay for pleasures
and even a little money laid up for tae
| future in insurance or savings bank.
\ Now do you think the society of this
| thirty-dolar-a-week mar sufficient recon-
pcnse for all you must forego in life?
You must consider not whether poverty
would be an interesting experience for
year OF so, but whether you care to
chance living on a small income for the
rest of your mortal life.
| Can you face this situation gladly and
| proudly? Can you face the possibility OF
being as poor as the lmpecunious cricket
of the fable, while your ant-like friends
marry good providers" and lord 1t over
you in this years model limousines? Can
you meet your friends and relatives with
pity in your heart because they have not
each and all "as dear a boy as your
own lad?
! If not, you have no right, to think of
this marriage for another second!
If you marry a poor man IT must be
because you love him, and love him
enough to bear poverty and to bear It
/ with such proud gladness of love that he
shall never in all your life together face
4
having made a more worldly marriage"
No woman has a right to involve the
man she loves in trouble that she might
have foreseen had she taken the trouble
! to face facts honestly.
! Look at your future cold-bloodedly and
hunt for its direst possibilities. If child
rem come to you can you joyfully train
them to be workers? viii you bring them
up to respect adore and admire their
| father? viii you never sneer at him for
the lack of great material success? WIN
you never let the idea that the old man
is failure" come into the idea OF the
children of the man for whom you once
were willing to forego all the luxuries
! of life? Will you try to keep yourself
\ sweet and fine and neat and companion
| able so that you may always be sweet
hearts as well as helpmate to your hus-
| band?
Do not shirk the issue by imagining
all sorts of pleasant things that might
happen-fortunes dropping from the
clouds, marvellous Investments, unex-
rected legacies. miracles of furture. Face
| squarely the situation of being poor
really poor all your life. Accustom your
self to the idea of going without things
that may be a matter OF course TO the
girls you know today.
Answer the questions honestly. 1t
measures your franhness as a woman.
II you are not willing to face 1t, think
you scarcely deserve that any good man
should ever fall in love with you.