El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-08-15
Systen OF "Marrying Off" Girls
Is Obsolete And Unfair Method
Woman Should Learn the Real Meaning of Life and
Educate and Develop Herself Before
Choosing Life Companion.

OF course you hope your daughter
Owiu marry.
Every unselfish mother wishes hel
own girl to have as wide and full a
life as possible. TO become some day
happy wife and as ecstatic mother
But which kind Of parent are you
the kind that feels it is her response
bility TO marry off" her daughter. to
provide her with an agreeable back
ground, to see that she meets eligible
young men. to stay conscientiously
on the maternal Job until the wedding
bells have actually ruus2 Or the kind
that feels that marriage and tine Sc
lection Of a husband are a girls own
affair. and that-uluh the exception
of slooing the rest of the family OF
when Dorothy has a caller-her own
part is purely that Of a passive. if
rather fluttery, spectator
Is il a duty indeed the most inn
portant Of all maternal duties. to
marry Off the charming young Is
year old2 or is any effort OF this
sort an odious and almost vulgar in
reference, which a girl Of delicacy
and high spirit might properly re-
sent2
If finding a husband for your
daughter really is a duty, we have TO
admit that it's duty that's less and
less observed With every year that
passes girls and women take their
own lives. careers, romance and all,
more thoroughly into their own
hands is this thing TO be Ia
mented?
"ArranEed7 Marriages.
OF course, American parents have
never arranged marriages. in what
seems to US the cold blooded Euro
pean way. The American mother has
never gone any further than inviting
manageable young men to the house
and then artlessly looking the other
way as though she had no under
standing Of what she had done or Of
what might result from il.
And today il is only in society
that the business OF providing a girl
with opportunities for marriage is
done with any thorouElness. So that
sometimes YOU hear harsh CT ticism
Of parents who have allowed the good
old system TO decay. And at other
times YOU hear quiet comments 70
the effect that the marrying off sys-
TEN never worked with any preci-
sion anyway and that quite as many
girls marry nowadays on their own
initiative as ever tamely acceDte1
husbands Of their parents choosing.
Not Ions ago. IN magazine ar
tiCle on this subject, the writer gave
an entertaining instance Of a wen 20
do American wiCoWer who had 1egur
to take very seriously the future Of
his two baby girls. He believed they
should marry. And he believed that
as they had no mother, It devolved
uDon him to bring about this desir-
able end, and to set the necessary
machinery in motion as early as he
could
But he had a totally new theory
If hrr p fa anI Nra 20
inc out parties" no debutante fri
vOliues. no diliEent. day after day
ensnaring OF guarded. Indifferent
youths. when these little girls should
grow upr'
on the contrary. this flther had
determined that they should both be-
come trained nurses. and this was
his argument
To Find Husbands.
The kind OF young men they ought
20 marry, earnest. energetic. success
ful yOung men, don't 30 10 teas md
balls. They're too busy. In fact.
they're so busy that they overworlS-
and so. after A while. theT break
down and fall I'll SO T~e ~i-l -N7-
ronvalescent eyes first fall on, the girl
their conv1lescent hearts fret tnrob
for. isn't the chiffon clad debutante;
but the sturdy. Young creature in low
heels and a white muslin can, who
spends her whole time in eNnertly
fofrg TIE r7ost delightful things for
their comfort
They nrom7tlv succumb. Of course.
and marry their nurses as soon as
they are able to staEger to the mar
riage license bureau. And the WHY
parents. in the BACKGROUND. heave
deep siehs OF triumph and RELIEF.
It isn't necessary 10 take tbs
father with entire seriousness It
isn't necessary 70 protest aF7in-t
the possible unf7irness Of shifting
a man when he's down. Because. how