The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-07-16
Young Girls Stand Very Little
Show against the Wise
Old SpinSterS.
Luis Manuel ROjns. stnndingi

Old Maids in Kansas arc taking ad-
vantage Of leap year and youths. In
cidentally they are proving that belat-
ed marriage has its advantages Many
OF these old maids, who perhaps were
envious when their girl friends were
welded few years ago or several
years ago, as the case may he, will
live to see the day when these objects
Of their former envy either arc widows
or have decrepit old husbands on their
hands to be nursed and pampered,
while the former old maids have Wig
OrouB, active husbands to provide for
them in their declining years
For the older single women OF Kan
sas not only are proposing during this
leap year, 1916, records indicate. but
they are popping the question" to
inexperienced young men-men who
have not learned to say no. or who
have not mastered the art of artful
lodging A study of tho records Of
marriage licenses issued in Shawnee
county during the present year indi-
Gates that the women are out after the
men and are landing them, and it's
the young men that the old girls are
capturing.
Young Girls Are Left Behind.
What chance has a youth Of 81 when
an ardent wooer Of sc or whereabouts
decides she wants n man and wants
that particular man?
No chance at all, and mothers should
be more careful about the company
their sons keep.
And the young girls!
Well, they seem to be getting left
behind. There has been n decided
falling off in the total number Of mar
rlago licenses granted, but there is
surprising increase in tho number
Of licenses issued to couples Of which
the woman is the senior.
1t took just two weeks for the old
maids to strike their stride and get
to going good in the matrimonial race
when twelve months open season
on manageable men was declared on
January l, 1916.
Start Early and Keep Going.
On January Is the returns on the
old maids campign began coming in
at the office of Hugh Mcfarland, pro-
bate Judge. During the first two weeks
Of the year not a single marriage IL
cense was issued to man and wom-
an of whom the woman was older than
the man. On January Is one such IL
cense was issued, but In the next ten
days eleven couples with the ConVen-
tional relative ages reversed appeared
and along in February tho old girls
were going even stronger.
Like falling stone they are trav-
cling with accelerating speed. They
are gaining momentum as the year
progresses and of thirteen licenses is
sued in three days in June, five are for
couples in which the age Of the wom-
an is greater than that Of the man.
Wlstful Waiting Has Ceased.
That each month shows an increase
over the preceding suggests that pos
sibly only a small percentage Of old
maids are capable of conducting
successful rapid-fve loving making,
and that the habit Of wistful waiting
can not be shaken in a day 1t took
fourteen days for the first one and
from fourteen to twenty-five days for
the next eleven to complete the first
dozen in the January drive Of youth
full leap year gTOoms.
That the old maid who captures
man younger than herself does not
like to have the fact paraded at home
is indicated by the fact that very
large percentage Of the licenses Is
sued to such couples go to people llv-
ing in distant parts Of the state. More
than half Of them are to persons liv-
ing outside Of Shawnee county.
Leap-Year Ratio Large.
The records show that 1854 mar
rage licenses have been issued by the
probate Judge Of Shawnee county this
year. OF this number ffty-two were
to couples in which the woman is
older than the man. No such ratio is
shown for 1915, for that was not leap
year. The ratio Of marriages in which
the woman is older than the man prob
ably is higher than the records indi-
cate, for whenever, by strainlng a
point, the woman can give her age the
same as that Of the man, it is done.
Approximately one-third Of the IL
censes issued this year show the ages
Of the contracting parties to be the
same. No such ratio as this appears
in the records Of 1915. Courtesy IL