Show TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE I 1 BY T T S two maidens in youthful bloom and beauty sat earnestly talking their thought was reaching away into the future their theme thep e was marriage 1 I like hini wll well enough said one of them bub but 11 them she paused the objection unspoken what hat is the impediment alice I 1 his income is too small M f what is it eight beight hundred dollars a year you might live on that live bahl what kind of living not in princely style I 1 will admit ait i nor scarcely in fanny elgh beigh hundred dollars dollar wll wil why father 1 hundred dollars rent andam I 1 sure our style of living I 1 is plain enough eight hundred oh no I 1 like harry better than any young man I 1 have met I 1 could love him no doubt but he cant support a wife in any decent kind of style did your father and mother begin their married life on a larger income than harry pleasants now receives mine did not as I 1 have often heard them relate 11 4 father and mother oh according to their story jobs famous turkey was scarcely poorer than they were in the beginning mother did all her own work even to the washing and ironing J believe fathers income e was no not over three or four hundred dollars a year year 11 and they were happy together I 1 am sure I 1 I 1 no nd doubt in fact ive heard mother say that the first hard struggling years of their life were among th tee the 0 happiest she had known but that s signify for me that is no reason wh why her daughter should elect to go into the he kitchen and spend her years in washing ironing and cooking if a man wan able to support a wife genteelly gen teely and in the style to which she has been accustomed let him marry marry some irish cook sewing 1 girl or washer woman who will manage mannge ills his household with the young men en who cant earn more than thail eight hundred or a thousand dollars a year should not look into our circle for wives wies I 1 r 1 I dont like to hear bear you taik talk talk falk in this way alice allep said her companion we are not superior bens be ns but bat only the equals of the men 11 did I 1 sarwe say we were superior oge one ogo might infer from f your language e that you thought so I 1 igl 1 I dont see how the infer inference clie cilc can I 1 rit ve drawn r igou our circle for wives you just said sald 11 r now ayes axes yes fc f what do you mean byrt by ua A circle of intelligence refinement taste faste and cultivation said alice you dont donesa say gay wealth W 4 ino no Myra my father tiller though living in bodd good itil style e is cotrich no rich I 1 have heard him say more than once that we were living up to our income 11 I 1 I 1 then we have our own down sweet sel selves ves with which to td endow our husbands no houses or lands lauds nothing substantial on which to claim the right of being supported in costly idleness we must be rich indeed a to personal attractions we are educated and accomplished and and alice was a little bewildered in thought and did not finish the sentence gotbetter Not better educated or accomplished as girls than are most of the young men who as clerks earn only from seven hundred to a thousand dollars ft a year in this regard we are simply their equals but it strikes me that I 1 in another view of the case we cannot claim even an equality they are our s superiors lo 10 rs 17 not 0 t by any means leans Tl replied alice allce we wb shall see liere alere bere here is harry pleasants for instance Wh chatis what auis atis is his income I 1 think you mentioned the sum just now it eight hundred dollars a year 11 that is the interest on how much let lot me see about twelve thou thousand sad dollars to be equal as a match for harry then you should be worth twelve thousand busand th dollars how you talk sanny fanny to the pointy point I 1 dont I 1 if we agrenot are not superior to the young men who visit us sUper superior lor for simply in virtue to oun our sex then our only claim to be handsomely supported arted in irr idle idie indulgence self seif must lie in the theace fact that we endow our husbands with sufficient goods to warrant the condition you are ingenious t 1 no matter of bf fact what have you to say against my position alice are better etter than young men of equal intelligence and education no I 1 cannot say that we are ly I 1 11 i I 1 if we marry warm we must look upon these wor for husbands rich kich men as a general thing select teleet their wives from rich mens daughters our chances in that direction are are aTe not ve very y encouraging your father has las no dawfy dowry 71 for fon 0 3 his mild iid lid nor lim has mine thon their families are pre large and abid expensive and little ittle or nothing of the years income is left at eat the years close the best they can 46 for us is to give us homes and I 1 fee feel that it is not much to our credit that we are content to lean on our fathers already stomping stopping under dilder the ahe burdens of years caro care and toil toll instead of supporting ourselves the thought has troubled me of late A sober hue came over the face of alice as she sat looking into the eyes of her friend she did not reply and bannic fannic went vent on there Ther els eis is wrong in this on what ground of reason are we to bo be exempt from the commom lot of useful work we expect to become wives and mothers Is this our preparation can you bake a loaf of sweet light bread no ly Nor Norca norea canI nl or roast a sirloin dino no 11 or broil a steak just think th ink of it alice we can call manage a little useless embroidery or fancy nitting knitting can sing and play dance and chatter but as to the tile real reil rell and substantial things of life we are ignorant and helpless and wit with all this forsooth I 1 we cannot think of letan letting ourselves down to the level and condition con of virtuous intelligent young men who in daily useful work are earning a fair independence we are an so su superior e rl or that we must have husbands ab able abie I 1 e to support ua us in luxurious idleness or we wui have none we are willing to pass tho the man to whom loye love would unite us in the kenderest ten derest bonds because his income Is small and marry for position one from whom the soul turns with instinctive aversion aversi f oil oll can we wonder that so many are unhappy I 1 but eight hundred dollars fanny r how is it possible for fora a married colla couple coupie to live in any decent style in this city on eight hundred dollars a year they may live in a very comfort alil alii q style if the tho th eIfe kheife wife Is wilh natto perform herfor T her part 1 1 1 V P r 0 what do you mean by her part 1 1 fanny we will take it for ron granted that she is no better than her husband that having brough brought himo hito no fortune beyond her dear self she slie cannot claim superior privilege vilem vilen 11 wen weh alwell J 1 he has t to Q work wok through aalthe py pay fw well weli eliv under what c equitable va tabie I 1 table ruie rule is she exempt none she must do her part patti of bf course counse if there is anything to do with she must keep ills his house if he ca can adlord a house bouse but if he have havo only eight hundred huil buli dred dollars a year why rent tent alone would consume cons unie half or more mord than half of that there would be the na no housekeeping house keeping in the case they must board and the thet wife sit in idleness all the daylong she would squid haye nothing to do could she not teach ar or by aid pf af a sowing in machine earn a few dollars rs eve every ry week or engage in useful work that would yield an income and so d do 0 hen her ter I 1 part 1 gyes yes she sho might do something odthe of the kind b but ut if marriage marrae is to make worries wor kies kles of Us it were better to kempin remain single and live in unwomanly dependence on our parents and relatives no 0 alice there is a false sentiment prevailing on this subject and as I 1 think and talk I 1 seo see it more and more clea clearly elearly our parents have been weak in their joye jlove for usi us and society as constituted has gi given en us wrong estimates of things wo should have been required to do useful work in the tho household from the beginning and should have been taught that idleness and self indulgence were discreditable our brothers are put to trades anid arid professions and made to comprehend from the beginning that industry is honorable and that M the way af useful work is th the 0 iva way y by which the wo worlds rids elds brightest places are tobe reached but we ate ale ate raised daintily and uselessly and so unfitted for our duties dudles I 1 as wives and mothers our pride rid e and self esteem are fostered ang and we come to think of ou ourselves nelves as future queens who are tobe ministered to in all things instead of being a ministrant loving unloving in self seif forgetfulness to others sw no wonder that ahat anti antl marriage sentiment is beginning to prevail among young jentof men of moderate incomes in all our large cities the fault is in us alice the sl sin in lies at our door we demand too much in this we are not willing to fd do our sh share seare ard are of work our husu husbands ands must miia bear all the burdens bundens 1 1 i 1 alice sighed heava heavily 11 V M her friend continued 1 I have hilver read ad somewhere that fhe the delight of heaven is the delight pf af being useful and afia it seems seeing to me as qs I 1 dwell the thought that the nearest approach to heavenly delight here hen must bein belh that state into which a wife coffits comes when she ae stands by her husbands side and gut out of love for him deia feia removes floyes one burda burden n and another from his shoulders and dud BO so lightens his work york that smiles ta kethe placer place of weariness and the had shad owings of care if he be rich she can hardly have so great a privilege but bill if f they thley are alike poor booy and know how to mode moderate zate their desires their home may become an image of paradise eight hundred dollars alice if you were really fitted to become harrys wife you might live with him doing your part happier happler than a queen I 1 that is I 1 must take in work and earli earn money if we board or but douse housekeeping is out odthe of the question ly no it should never be out odthe question in marriage I 1 think 21 r but house rent alone nione would take half of our income i that does not follow f it does dorany for any house I 1 would consent to live uve in so pride is stronger than love but pride has its wages aswell as well weli as love iove and the one is bitter while the other is sweet it is this pride of appearances j this living liv I 1 ng for the eyes of other people who do not care a penny for us that is marring the fair fabric of ar oui our social life fine line houses houes nine fine furniture fine dresses parties artles arties shows and costly luxuries of of all kinds linds L kinds are consuming domestic happiness and burdening fathers and husbands in all grades of or society with embarras and wretchedness wretchedness alice we must mutt be wiser in our generation that is coop ourselves up in ln two or three little rooms with our dred dollar a year year husbands husban dg and do our own cooking and aad housework Isit Is it that my pretty one 4 alice boudo you do not deserve a it good man you ahe are ate hot fiot worthy towed harry pleasa pleasants ants andi and andl I 1 trust you will pass him by should he be wad weak k enough to onner offer you lis his hand he cant afford to marry a girl of your expectations he must content hilm film himself self seif with one who like ilke himself xa regards ards life ilfe as real iffe as earnest ana the way vay of duty way to true honor and arid t the h 61 highest 1 I happiness the missionary merald herald for oom april illustrating the pro progress gresA bf events in india ind la says A parsee pars ee has given for a college at surat another parsee xa to send five indiana home to study for university degrees degre esi esl with a view to the indian bari barl bar a hindmo has given to establish a library in tho the university of bombay and bafus safus has left to found a high school in that city i |