Year: 1877

This is the question that greet


every girl so soon as she mas reache,


the falsely termed years of discre


ton; and as she nears the terribl


twenty-five that marks her as al


old maid the query is accompanies


by q look of sympathy, such as WI


sometimes see upon the face of ;
| physician who would, but canno


avert the death of patient.


"Yes-why don't you marry? ID,


you not see that the years are glid


ing by-you have youth and beauty


now, these soon will fade. When


these are gone wherewith will YOU


catch husband? ? Now is your har.


vest time-now is the good day fol


the fishers of men--cast in your net


and draw forth your prize before the


tide goes out"


Thus the world reasons and maid.


ems heed, since maidens sometimes


seem only made for needing.


Some heathen philosophers teach


that immortality is never bestowed


upon the matelesS woman; and it
seems to me the doctrine has its be-
levers in this Christian land. If
our souls salvation depended upon
our getting husbands, and that right
speedily-the exhortations we re-
ceive could not be more earnest than
at present. There is a tinge of heath
enism lurking in our highest civili-
zation, and this insatiate mania for
every girl to marry is relic of bar
barous days. Why must she mar
ry?


Because, unless wife, she is moth
ing. Her influence, her talent, her
usefulness go for naught-she must
be sheltered beneath the umbra of
some mans name else her life is a
failure, no matter how noble and
true it may be itself?


In this teaching there is the mini
mum of sense, and the maximum
of nonsense. 1t is good and right
that a woman marry, if she marry
wisely, but it is not right that she
marry simply because she is a wom-
an. 1t Is not to marry per Sc that
we object, but it is to the idea that
every woman may, can, must, could,
would or should marry, no matter
what the circumstances that sur
round her.


If girl be true-hearted and pure
she wishes and intends to marry.
When she tells me she never means
to do so, know she is telling me
or is not a natural woman.


In the heart of every woman,
deep down though it may be, yet
pure and undying, is the longing
for the peace and love of a home
for the heart of some true man to
glOrify that home with love. Most
women, / think, are happier and
better as wife and mother than they
would otherwise be-prOUileG they
have chosen man who fills their
life with love, and their home with
the strength of his presence.


But alas so many women do not
choose wisely, and / earnestly be-
lieve that if a girl were left as free
as man in the matter of marrying
there would not be so many cases of
divorce, nor unhappy homes in our
fair land. If she felt that ,here was
no special need that she be in haste
about choosing a husband-if she |
were given few years to sound the |
depths of her own heart, 50 as to |
know what are the requirements of
her nature, she would bring to the !
choice wisdom and honesty which /!
no undevelOped girl of seventeen
can possibly possess.


But the thought that she is expect |
ed to marry hurries many a girl in
to marriage that in her maturer |
years she would never make.


A man feels that he can marry at |
any time-that he need be in no hur- |
ry-a woman ought to be left with |
as much freedom.


1t is absurd for a woman to feel |
that her education, all her beauty, |
every good gift of heart or brain are |
only snares with which to catch a
husband. She ought to feel that she |
IS being educated to make a good /
woman, because God meant that |
woman should be good and lovely,
and not merely to attract the oppO-
Ute sex. To my thinking, the wo-
nan who would make the happiest
marriage, and in whose love a man
would be most blest, is the woman
who feels that, if fate so determine,
he could go through life alone, with
/ brave heart and fearless.


The charms that are cultivated on
Y to catch a husband, will be laid
lside as soon as he is caught. Love
hould be spOntaneous-els ii is no
owe at all-marriage should be the
esult of the coming together of kim
lred souls, and not thing of calcu-
alton or design.


A true marriage is the most beau
iful thing on earth--a marriage
hat proves a mistake, what Pande-
nOnium can compare with it? Next
o religion there is nothing that
hOuld be more earnestly considered,
md shudder to think how thought
essly this sacred relation is entered
ntO.


"a loving woman finds Heaven or hell,


On the day she becomes bride"


And yet young girls, through fear
# Old-maidhood, take upon them
elves the sacred name of wife with
title thought beyond the bridal
and the wedding tour!


If girls would seek, not to marry
,arly but well-if they would re-
that the land over which
Iymen holds sway is not a land
# perpetual sunshine and flowers
how far better it would be! Then
here would be more happy wives
md fewer sad women, who look
It us with hungering eyes that tell |