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Show j ,' Resolved, that greater happiness ;; can I;e attained when a girl marries ' at the age of 18 than at the age of ' 45, Is the question for debate In the . Gould family. . Vivien Gould, who In January. , 1911, at IS years old, became the ,- fa wife of Lord Docies, an army of- f m fleer of England, the other day in p , San Francisco, took tho affirmative i aide of the question and calmly I fixed the age for American girls to marry at IS years, if- thoy would be L . happy. 'Then she should settle Jy down and establish a family," said' I Lady Decies, with a royal gesture ; f calculated to convoy the Information j ' the question was settled' for all time.- 1 ',. And Iiady Decies' decision settles a host of other questions for the i American gfrl. Henceforth, if wo j follow her advice, there Is to be no more flitting around from year to year, worrying men to death over "whether the v girl will have him or not. On,, the other hand men can I, ! no longer put off the question. There should be no more unmarried unmar-ried girls past 18, according to her ladyship." In other words, "young man, pop the question quickly or go unmated." -The girls will not wait until they pass dnto the bright side of 30. Girls of 19 -will bo old ! maids. .They ' ae old maids. Her I ladyship has spoken. v ' But as she' speaks we learn that down hi New' Tork lives, one, Mrs. Flnloy J; Shcpard, who for a quarter of a.' century was winning prominence promi-nence as the most generous old maid In the country. Helen Gould . was becoming more of an old maid every day until it was almost certain cer-tain that she would always be an ! old maid. Just then MIsb Gould stepped Into the limelight by nn-F nn-F nouncing to the world that one should-not marry until she was old i enough to. knpw. her own mind. In t that way there never would be a f mistaken, marriage Sho was almost i 45 when she made the statement . and ln'a few days she married one ; of the handsomest and mostscour- ' teous men- on the Missouri Pacific, Finlcy J. Shepard, assistant to the 5 president of the road, j Miss Gould announced she was marrying for love at her age and would be happy. After a year's trial . she still is happy. No woman is an old maid when she is young at 44, says ' Mrs. Shcpard. That gives tho older-women a chance. Anne Mor- j Kan and Jane Addams are almost j debutantes. " j The age of . marriage has risen steadily In recent years. Women marry older than they did in the flays of our mothers. There are so tnany social distractions now that women haven't time to think of marrying young." At 18 years old their education Is only partly com- Ipleted. They are In their twenties before they begin to think seriously of marrying In most cases. I ' OLD MAID AGE I SLOWLY OLDER. f' The latter part of the teens and . the early twenties are years of sce- , . lng how they like different fellows. It Is not until they are nearly 30 that women begin to reel they are old maids. In 0iQCn times and on th frontier women married early ln llffk. because there were few so-rd so-rd clal diversions and there were fewer inl men- to meet socially. Neighboring people grew up side by side and V v?L 8u0li pIcMd out the ones they j jllked best and loved. Girls had llt- Jle choice In Hfe flflde from marry. l ,rj- "It seems like you arc getting t m enough to marry." was not an m uncommon greeting girls heard j when thoy did not marry soon after j reaching their eighteenth year. Today many fields are open to m women. They can choose what they j 7?h t0 do without consulting their , elders, A girl can marry when sho ; m wishes or she can havo "a career." 1 J ? d not ony married, but ehe had a cRrcer, too. "Who's V7ho t- Ml ll f1??1,:'' Pubn'J Just before VB x Gould-Shepard wedding, classed V Miss Gould as a philanthropist. M pearly all- the rest of America )'1 classed her'as the best of women. Bho Is a-lawyer, having been graduated grad-uated from the School of Law of Columbia" University"; In 1898. .Before Her marrlagq she gave 5360,000 to the UniverslW of the City of New York Library. She gave the Railroad y. Zl. C. A. 550O.P00. When war broke out with Spain ln 189S she proved her- patriotism by giving 5100,000 for war purposes. She later gave U00.000 for hospital purposes durlng-the Spanish-American War.. The Navv Y. ir C received' $2 50,000. The. San Francisco, Fran-cisco, flee .-sufferers and many other need;- ones received from her munificent mu-nificent hand. It was while making a tour of the X-. yc. A. -institutions on the l'hat she mot Fley Sheparcl. Shepard was assigned to take care of her car and to make ilL eL, wVellnK arrangements. I15111 of 'd ho courteously responded to all her wlahcs. When he l9ft the of flee of the president of the railroad with lnstructlone to without fortune. 4 '"II ITPPER leftLady Decies. u Upper right Mrs. Fin-ley Fin-ley J. Shepard. Center left Campbell Studio copyright copy-right portrait of Lord Decies. De-cies. CenterMr. and Mrs. . Shepard at the church. Center Cen-ter right Finley J. Shepard. Shep-ard. Below Lady and Lord Decies, photographed after their wedding. Shepard, and never did a knight of old. win-a . more noblo lady. He was her companion in everything, every-thing, coming between her and tho crowds of curious ones. Ho saw sho had every traveling convenience and anything else he thought she wanted. When ho returned to his main office at the return of his trip with v3Ilss Gould no one thought tho .young railroad man who had , -. ;''v.' ,v. , ' : - ' ' worked himself, up from the ranks had won the heart of Aliss Gould. When the announcement was made of ' the engagement his friends jumped to.ihelr feet and-demanded how he had the nerve to aalc her. Several hundred poor- baphelors throughout tho land who had met Helen Gould on occasions, began to ; kick themselves. "I could have had her myself," one said to another. , "I never '. thought sho would marry a poor man after she had turned dpwn a'll the rich ones In the country." "Shut up!" said the other 'man. i "She was' waiting for a man -and not for . a selfish boo"b like you." That tho right maa came she ad- . mltted blushlngly. That he is' all" she expected of him she -continues . to assert. ' VIVIEN GOULD'S . , ' ROMANCE DIXEERS. -; . -Far- diflercnt was tho romance, of . ' ' .-rf! ' : Vivien Gould. Brought up in lux-cry, lux-cry, as her aunt, she wont forth' to the-home of her own while, still a girl. The Helon Gould romance was-a was-a typical roj'nanco of America, whero two persons meet each other without with-out matrimonial intentions until after long acquaintance. Loi'd Decies came to America frankly admitting ho was looking for a wife, ' and" ho admitted he iVould not turn down one with money. VivlOn dutifully consulted .papa and. mamma.- In fact, the parents par-ents had; as much or more to do with, the match as tho girl herself. . From an Inexperienced girl. Lady -Declcfi-haa su'ddenIybecome a-worn-- ' an of prominence, who can give , authoritative;' interviews, onall subjects. sub-jects. Although only 21- years old, sho ' passes -judgment on' what' women and girls should do. It Is in accordance ac-cordance with that feeling of maturity ma-turity that she says American girls should riuirr'yat IS years old and be happy. With the. same spirit sho announces that sho is a suffragist. "Oh, yes. I'm a suffragette. I believe, be-lieve, in It," said Lady Decies," ln answer an-swer to a question. "But I don't believe - in - the. militant methods. You know; Lord Decies' sisters aro active suffragettes, hut. they aren't In the militant-brigade. I think tho militant mothods have retarded the granting of suffrage In England, but It-'. will come. It Is bound to come. "My Ideas about children let me soe.,what arc th'qy? I really haven't given-them. a . gre,at,deal of thought uritll'.today, forillfave never-had to outline them before. .X really don't 1 know what theories L'll follow. Tou see the children are so very young, J and tho 'fashion' In ideas may J change radically before I have to begin to practice my theories. "My baby tangoes. And she docs more than that. She calls her grand- father George. She greets hlrli with 'How do you do. George?' "Yes, she's a regular American. I i want my children to love America. I want to bring them over to New h York every year so that they will if know and love this country and the y; home people. jf' "I'm not interested in organized .f welfare work," said Lady Decies. i "But I do try, in our own village, to j see that people don't go without tho ! things they really need. You see. with my two daughters I haven't jc a great deal of time to be Interested m In London's social welfare work." j ? SAYS AMERICAN ) i GIRL IS SUPERIOR. i And this Is how she compares : ' English and American girls. "The American girl of 1G is as j old as the English girl of IS. .This j Is more or less inevitable. The $i American girl of means and oppor- tunities docs much traveling. She jft seems to feel her own country 13 W very large and presents a great d.1- 9- vorsity of thing?. So she begins by & seeing her own country first. After- j; ward she wishes to make comparl- v, sons and so she goes abroad. Tho result Is that she is much further 4:. advanced than th1 English girl, who j: does not do so much traveling. j- "The English girl Is. on the other h hand, generally speaking, in school 1' until he is IS. Encllsh girls have jj already learned much from Amerl- I- ' can girls and they ai'c going to leara j' more. ii ' "The English women and Engli?h - girls do not wish to see their cr.cat ! matrimonial prizes carried off( bv 1 their smarter and better dressed Yankee sisters. So they have learned 1; to dress from the American girls anil (l women. Engll3h women, before tho , Invasion of the pretty American slr f. became such an. Increasing and over i) present factor, were very dowdy in J; . tlieir- dress. But they are remedy- ' , lng that as rapidly as possible." jj (Lady Decies was one of tho sea- 1 . son's most attractive debutantes j; "- when she was Introduced to New J York'c exclusive set in November, .h 1910. Her parents. Mr. and Mrs. George Gould, had reared her with i a love for outdoor life, and she rodoa " to hounds, played golf and tennis. swam, fenced and was proficient la $ P" 'most' athletic sports. Inheriting her mother's lovo nf 1 dancing, she Avas placed under the i , Instruction nf n ballet master at an -3 early age Her dancing at rharltihle fl entertainments given by the ennrt a set. attracted widespread attention. j! |