The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-10-03
Shall She Marry
Professional \
NJ a n ,
BY BETTY VINCENT
THO marry or not to marry that's
the question.

All of those in favor say
The ayes have it-unanimously
Why, of course-I knew it all the
time.
Now that that's settled, whom shall
it be?
Please don't anybody tell that ancient
one "Who is he? What is he? Where
p is he?
Rather let us think of the great ad-
venture as a wonderful romance. Let
us picture to ourselves a graceful church
spire: let us attune our ears to the
soothing chimes of wedding bells and
the dream-drooning melodies of Mendels-
sohn. Let us feast our eyes on the white
sheen of bridal veil and robe. Let us
lull our senses with soft, permeating per-
fumes of rose and orange blossom, car
ressingly onward in unison with the
blissful twain whose hearts are beating
time with their light footsteps along the
church aisle.
That's a vision.
But we must be practical, so who
shall it be?
There was a very clever woman II
think her name was George Elliott who
said that given propinquity, any woman
could marry any man she chose.
Propinquity, dear girls, covers a null
titude of matrimonial matches-the kind
that flare up like those that come in
sandpapered boxes or the old-fashioned
sulphur-headed sort-slow but steady.
Granted, therefore, that with propin-
putty and wit and tact a girl may Sc
lect a husband of her own choosing,
now, what sort of a husband should
: she choose?
Go over the list of your kindergarten
days-if you will:
! Doctor,
Lawyer,
Merchant,
Chief,
Rich man,
Poor man,
Beggar man,
Thief.
And then, to meet modern require
ments let's change the list to:
. The professional man,
The business man,
The artistic type (the painter, poet,
Musician,
The millionaire.
. The man with no definite program in
= life.
So, having voted that you want hus-
band, you have these general types OF
men from which to choose. And, after
all, there is nothing very shame-faced
about this choosing of life-partner
When a girl gets beyond the doll age
and begins to worry about freckles and
becomes finicky about the size OF the
comb which holds back her bob, and
every Halloween walks backward down
the cellar stairs, peering into a mirror
to get a glimpse of her future husband
who would scare her into fits II she
saw him-yet, when she begins to do
all these things, then she is Just ar
irving at what hard-shelled scientists
would call the age of reason which can
be stretched all the elastic way from
16 to eouiyocating fat, fair and forty.
Thus having reason, a girl picks out
her high school where she is to pre-
mare for college and then she picks the
q colleRe-if she be studiously inclined.
If she yearns for career she picks the
career. Some call it lob, but she
picks it, and she picks it with discern
ment because of the future.
Now, don't forget, young ladies, that
the biggest job you'll ever get is mar
riage, and the most important business
you'lJ ever have in hand is making the
right kind of marriage. And SO you need
make no excuses for carelessly deciding
!. not only the sort of man you are going
to choose for your life partner, but the
sort of a job he holds down.
Suppose you are considering the pro-
fessional man.
1t sounds pretty nice to tell May.
Madge or Jenny that You are engaged
to a lawyer. Well, the laws's an hon
ored profession, but if you are decid-
eddy practical you want to remember
that there are lawyers and lawyers. SO
:, with doctors. So with professors. SO
with ministers. Because a man sticks
out sign does not mean that he is
engaged in actual practice.
But the point to get at is what sort
of husbands do these professional gen
tlemen make.
Has the professional man a different
character from the on-professional
man?
Yes and no.
After all, the heart is tempered by
sentiment, and the finest temperament
comes through refinement, which in turn
;s rronnuIgated by education. Thus, on