The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-02
HOW SINGLE BLESSED
 NESS MAY TURN OUT

T never wrote for money, nays Ho
 wish for fame,
 But the thought it was my duty stirred
 my heart to flame.
 I've longed to put my dreams in songs,
 like the wild bird on the bough, Just as I felt the soulful song and na-
 ture taught me how.
 The free bird sings where none. can
 hear but the silent, signing trees, Where it can never touch the ear, but
 dies upon the breeze"
 Should young girls be encouraged to believe marriage to be the goal to- ward which their ambitions and hopes should be aimed?" A letter from an aged, single minister of the gospel came to me on a bright May morning, a year ago, making this inquiry.
 The same mail brought me-among more than a hundred others-three letters from widely different points which had a direct bearing upon his query. One was from young girl of IS, a .s1avey in a sWeatshop in New York. She wrote in part: God bless you for giving me the hope that some day may meet one who will care for me enough to ask me to marry. It is. the one bright jewel of hope that makes my life of toll endurable.''
 Another wrote: eff I could write 
 girls that they can live very happy lives without so much as a thought wasted on a man and marriage. am young, single and happy, independent of mere man in the pursuit of what shall give me life contentment and shall continue to remain so. Advise girls against love and matrimony.
 The third was apparently written by a shaking hand. The writer confessed to over 50 years, signing herself "A Spinster." She wrote in part: T have just been reading one of your articles on love and marriage, and it has brought tears to my eyes. It is so true-every word of it. When I was a young girl was told that it showed weakness of character to think of having beau and that no woman should marry until she was well in her thirties-in short, of an age capa- ble of judging men accurately as to their qualifications for marriage or their unfitness. I, crushed the natural impulses of youth to encourage the would-be lovers who sought my so- ciety and turned my attention to duty. was praised for this by my kinsfolk, called sensible and independent. I ar rived at the age of 30. The youths who had sighed for me in my youthful days were all welded had happy homes. contented wives and joyous children. I realized the truth. Youth IlIff6 IS love s own tune ana the time for mating. It is a grievous mistake in most cases to delay it. Ten years more passed and still another ten. The theory that single b1essedness is a happy existence is all wrong"
 Still another letter from one who signs herself "A Mother,''> says in part: You are doing great and mo- ble work in calling the attention of young girls in your own ininitable way to the fact that their love dreams providing, of course, that the man upon whom they bestow their affec- tfon is worthy-should look to mar riage as the proper climax of their romance, The girls who have the thought and hope of marriage ahead are the careful ones who are not led astray, etc." &f
 That my articles on heart topics should be wise and worthy T caused letters to young girls, single women just past the first bloom of woman hood and elderly spinsters, mothers and widows, to be sent out asking their experience and views on the sub ject as to whether or not young girls should be encouraged to believe mar riage to be the goal toward which their ambition and hopes should be aimed. In every instance a reply, di-