The Washington herald., 1917-06-25
At What Age Should a Man Marry?
By DOROTHY DIX.
The worlds Highest Paid Woman writer.

A young woman writes me a letter
In which she asks me at what age a
man Is likely TO make the best hus-
band.
This Is a question that is impossible
to answer by the. calendar. It depends
are easiest domesticated II caught
while young and tender. Others can
never be tanned untfi age and rheuna-
tism makes them feel that they would
Ike to eat out OF a good, kind. moth
erly wffe's hand. Aid there are other
men who can never be thoroughly
house-broken at any age.
Generally speaking, however, q pru-
dent woman who desires TO be happy.
though married, viii avoid the two
extremes OF age in selecting her hus-
band, and VIII say mo" to both young
Romeo and tottering Grandpa when
Trey come a-wooing.
OF course there is no denying that
there Is something peculiarly appeal
ing and aliuring In a boys 1oveInak-
ing. He Is so impassioned, SO deadly
in earnest, so convinced that love Is
the only thing in the world, and that
no human being In the whole history
OF humanity ever experienced the
same emotions that are surgfng
IL foolish girl is swept OF OF her
feet by IL, and lets him persuade her
to make the fatal journey to the altar
with him.
Alas, it is the undoing OF both Of
them. Cold statistics show that most
of the marriages that end in divorces
began in calf love romance and were
were too young TO know their own
minds or what they really desired in
| a life partner. Common observation
bears out the danger OF early mar
riages, especially the marriages OF
boys.
that in almost every scandal In which
married man and a woman figure
you will find out that the man mar
| ried when he was q mere lad. Also
when you see faded, washed out,
neglected woman sitting alone at home
while her goodloobng and fascinating
husband roams around in society," and
is pitied by all who know him for
being tied to a dowdy wife whom he
has outgrown. you viii ascertain, II
you investigate. that he picked her
out when he was an uniformed boy
and Is spending his maturity repent
ing his salad days tastes.
There are no such unfaithful hus-
bands as those who qualified in the
husband class too young.
The truth Is that nothing equals the
ease with which "a boy can fall in
love. except the facility with which
he can fall out of love Youthful
passion in a masculine breast is fierce
| flame that burns itself out 30 COM
pletely il doesn't even leave a Gin
der on the hearts hearth to remem-
Der the girl by.
The kind Of a girl a boy adores In
the early twenties bores him In the
late thirtIes. This Is the case wheth-
er he is married to her or not. That
| Is why a woman is nothing short Of
an imbecile to trust her fate to a
man before his tastes are formed;
before he has seen enough Of women
to know what he is doing when he
selects one for keeps, and especially
| before he has tasted enough Of ro-
nance to have had his fill of Il, and
TO be willing to settle down to a daily
diet of the domestic brew.
Another reason why a girl Is TAX
ing a long shot at happiness IL she
marries a very young man is because
boy Is almost invariably seff1sh'
| undisciplined, and egotsticaL He lacks
| the patience to bear with another .
| faults and weaknesses; the wisdom to
/ steer the matrimonial ship into safe
port, and when he finds out that mar
| riage doesn't mean billing and COO
ing but bills and bad cooking, and
| heavy responsibilities, why, he's
| mighty apt to turn surly and grouchy
| and blame his wife for the hardships
| he mas GOWN on nlt own nGdO.
He's just too young and weak TO
bear the load he has shouldered, for
matrimony is a grown mans job. not
| boys.
| But If a young man makes a selfish
| and tyrannical husband, an old man
makes a worse one. Never was there
\ less truth in any adage than the one
about II being better to be an old
mans darling than a young mans
| slave.
The young woman who marries an
/ old man in the fatuous belief that
! she is going to be able to twist him
/ around her little finger. finds out that
| she has made the mistake of her life,
particularly II he is an old bachelor.
He Is encased from head to foot in
a lifetime of selfshness that she can
no more break through than she could
break through armor plate. He has
habits fifty or sixty years old that
make his character about as pliable
as granite. and that he could not
| change II he would, and he wouldn't
for any living woman.
| Moreover, the old man is old. He
has exhausted all of the pleasures
OF youth. Hes tired. His only bones
yearn for the comforts of red flannel,
and the chimney corner when night
comes, instead OF the fox trot and
| draughty theaters and ball rooms.
He wants health food instead of lob
| ster Newburgh for dinner, and he
expects any chit Of a girl he marries