The Washington herald., 1918-02-20
Is it selfish for a woman who love

4s II scllisu IOr u WOuidu VINO IOVcs
a poor young man to marry him
This is a very interesting problem
that 10 discussed in q brilliant new
play. In this play the young woman
is in love with a young scientist who
has Just begun to climb the ladder
Of success, and who is on the thresh-
hold OF achieving fame and fortune
for himself, and of doing great good
to humanity. He needs every cent
of his small salary for books, instru-
ments. study and travel
These he cannot have II what he
earns has to go to support a family,
and the girl feels that she loves
him too well to permit him to sac
rifice his career by marrying her.
The play settles the question, as 1t
is not settled by real life, by a philan-
thropist coming along and giving the
young couple plenty of money to
marry on. so that they can have
their cake and eat it, too.
The dramatist has touched upon one
Of the most vital and perplexing
questions of our day. and one that
Is troubling thousands of intelligent,
educated, thinking young people. They
are in love. They want to marry,
but they are poor and ambitious,
and even when the man is willing
to offer up his aspirations on the altar
of domesticity, the woman hesitates
to let him make the sacrifice.
Both have seen so much genius
smothered under butchers, bakers
and grocery bills. Both have seen the
door Of opportunity shut SO often in
the TACT OF shabby coat and broken
| shoes. Both have seen the man who
would have climbed held down to
earth by the weight of the wife and
pack OF children on his back.
There was A with his wonderful
gifts as surgeon, who might have
| risen to the top of his profession If
he had stayed single. But he married.
He had to go and live in a shabby
| neighborhood, and take any kind Of a
| cheap practice in order that his family
might be supported. He had neither
time nor money to take special
courses. or to go among the people
who could push his fortune. His mar
riage doomed him to obscurity and
/ poverty.
And there's B who was already gain
| ing a reputation as a novelist of un-
| usual freshness and charm. The
critics were prophesying great things
for him. But he got married, and
\ with wife to support he could not
| risk the uncertain income Of one who
had to wait on inspiration. So he was
forced to harnass his Pegasus to the
| family dinner cart, and do whatever
| hack work would pay him best. The
necessity of feeding the children of
his body starved to death the children
| nf hiQ hTaiFn and he h4 oh ho
| been great, sunk into mediocrity,
pulled down by marriage.
And there was c, who has spent
all his life on a clerks stool. Yet
when c was young he was clever
and energetic, and alert, and
thought to have unusual promises
in him. But c married while he
was getting a small salary. The
babies came quick and fast, and ex-
penses piled up on him so swiftly
that he has never been a lap ahead
! of the bill collector. He has never
dared to ask for a raise in salary.
look for a better situation, or make
any move that would jeopardize his
job because there was ALWAYS the
| nest full of hungry mouths to feed
at home. He has run way behind
the field in the financial race SIM
ply because the matrimonial handi-
cap was too heavy for him to carry.
Every young couple knows DOZENS
| Of cases like these. They know that
| nothing breaks a mans spirit, moth
ing takes the snap and ginger out
| of him, nothing s1ays ambition as
does the daily fight with the wolf
at the door. Nothing takes the
heart out of a man as does the in
cessant nagging of poverty. 1t tor
| lures him with the perpetual fear
| of bills that must be paid, and
leaves him no clear moment in
| which to give his whole thoughts to
his work.
After all Success is a snob who
| smiles her sweetest on those who
| seem to need her least, and many a
man is kept from the just rewards
Of his talents and ability by the
lack OF good clothes, and the price
Of an admission card into the circle
where the prizes are being given
| out. To look a failure is to he
branded a failure in a world that
judges mostly by outside appear
ances.
When a woman takes this view Of
| the situation, and it is a very real
! and practical view that she cannot
afford to overlook, it is no wonder
that she feels that poor woman who
marries poor and ambitious man is
the most selfish being on earth, and
that her love should be great enough
to sacrifice itself to his good.
Undoubtedly, so far as a mans ma
terial advancement is concerned, ''he
travels the fastest who travels alone .
but man Is not wholly material.
| There is the snirift,ai sIda aI.o ana