The Washington herald., 1918-01-18
Ne,us and Veus of Interest the Women Readers OF The

into doing great humanitarian work.
will find when it is ended that they
cannot go back and make a career Of
bridge, fox trotting and clothes.
Poor women who have made only a
small pittance as domestic servants or
seamstresses will ind out that they
can earn big money doing expert
work in factories that II has hereto
fore been thought only men could do,
and women everywhere will find such
/ opportunities as they had never hoped
for in their widest dreams.
All of this is going to make many
changes in the relationship between
men and women-changes that will
force US to alter out point Of view on
many subjects-and this Is perhaps
the most momentous change Of all
that war will bring to women.
The big change is that it's going to
doom to spinsterhood millions OF
young women who, but for this war,
would have married. The girl OF to-
! day can no longer look forward con-
/ fdently to wifehood and motherhood
\ as her predestined avocation in life.
For couple of generations to come,
at least. husbands will belong to the
| AhAuAy SldSS anu lilC uO-
nestle necessities of the household.
Before the war England and Ger
many already had an immense sur
plus female population. How much
| this has been augmented by the ter
! rible loss of men in battle heaven only
4 knows, but 1t Is certain there will be
IN every European country that is
now engaged in this bloody strife,
| millinna Af fnr N
be no possible opportunity of mar
| riage.
Conditions will not be quite so bad
/ in our own country, but what with
the loss of young men who must in
evitably perish in the struggle, and
those who will be too wrecked by
war to think of marrying, and with
the hordes of foreign women who will
undoubtedly emigrate to America at
the close of the war, the matrimonial
situation even here will be desperate
indeed. These are discouraging facts,
but they are facts.
The girl of today, therefore. is fool
ish indeed IL she does not see the
handwriting on the wall that spells
spinster and does not prepare herself
10 follow some gainful occupation
whereby she may support herself in
| comfort, and do herself" as our
EnGllsh friends say, as well as a
! husband would be able TO do for her.
! Now aside from the census view of
the matter, whether it is a misfor-
tune or not for girl to be an old
maid depends entirely upon her own
attitude toward the subject.
| The chief objection that most girls
nave TO remaining single is that they
are ashamed of being old maids. They
think that II indicates that they are
less attractive than their sisters who
! secure husbands. II the truth were
told, the average woman would con.
Tess that she married not so much
for love as because all of her friends
were getting married and were ask
ing her why she didn't marry, and
because she had gotten tired of trot.
ting around to balls and parties and
wanted some real work to do and
some established place in the world
to fill.
or course the traditional stigma upon
old maids will be automatically re.
moved when marriage becomes the
exception, and not the rule, among
young women. and when the faires,
flowers remain unplucked on the
parent bough. That will take away
one OF the main objections to spinster-
hood. So will another disadvantage &c
De eliminated when girls are moi
only able to make enough money to
support themselves in comfort but
nave the interest and excitement OF
business to fill in their days.
NO girl is foolish enough to believe
that marriage will inevitably secure
n
knows it for what it Is-the mos
desperate gamble on earth-heaven n
! you win. the other place il you lose
Furthermore. her observation amons
her friends shows her that the aver,
age unmarried woman looks about
ten years younger and generally has
better clothes and more peace OF
mind than her married sister.
But the girl has been taught that 4
she doesn't marry she will miss tn,
greatest good that could come to ;
woman; that the love of some man II
the whole OF life for a woman. anf
! that II she does not have a romano,
she has nothing.
Hence these tears over being an oil,
maid. instead of being chirpy as ;
man is about enjoying single blessed
ness. And it's the mans point o
view that the young women will hav,
TO acquire-that real love and ro
nance. If they come your way, are /
thing to thank God for on your knees
but if they don't, life is full of excel
lent substitutes
Women have put too much stress o,
love and sentiment and live too mucl
in their emotions, anyway, and it
going to do them good to have to Sc
their teeth in the real meat of lif
instead of gorging themselves ol
sweetmeats and getting heartburn
from them. When marriage become!
thing that isn't being done this sea
son, women will not fight, as has beel
prophesied, over the few availabI
husbands. They will accept spinster
mood with resignation and devot
their energies to business, to the pro
tessions, to civic reforms and t
mothering the universe.
A ~ IzN l.