| Show u A HAS FAJIIXE A Eesiaent > f the IVoumnlcs Won tlerluml lourishisig then Lan tc the-n of Diogenes A correspc dent of the New York Sun writes to th paper as follows Sninc I tune in Feb ary a semijocular Dakota I valentine bt ring my humble signature appeared in the columns of the New Worlds grea newspaper illuminator the Sni which sfines I for all at two cents a copy It gei ly but firmly set forth the matrimonial leeds and troubles of the American rthwest and especially of this mighty young queen of the Territories Terri-tories It ted of the awful scarcity of young wome and the vast surplusage of young men j of how the census a few years ago gji j us seventeen and a half men to everywoman and girl and how even now in some regions the ratio is four and a haf to one The fact tljit this halfjestful squib has brought me n six or eight weeks nearly aJthousand Idters l from young girls old maids and wUovs all over the country desiring husbihds or situations in a region re-gion where husbands are at least a possibility possi-bility not only shows the marvelous potency po-tency of the Sun ItS an advertising medium me-dium but it indicates an alarming scarcity of eligibl fellowa throughout the olderStates of the Union What are the ils to do once said a recognized belle if one of the most aristocratic aris-tocratic little Atlantic cities to me Here there are in the besi society of our city in my own circle over 259 marriageable girls Many of them as you know highly accomplished and attractive women fitted to grace any rosition and we have not a dozen really eligible men We have hosts of heaus but no prospective husbands hus-bands Our street swarm with pleasant young fellows who do for escorts lancing lanc-ing parties and flirtation material but we have absolutely in < 5 men to whom an intelligent in-telligent spirited ambitious girl could possibly think of lying herself and her fortuned They Lick education independence inde-pendence purpose everything that i is necessary to rise There is no future for them and apparently none for us but to form an old maid brigade and start on a crusade to feome of the far Western Territories Terri-tories where sterling men are said to be plenty and women scarce They did not come crusading to the West and today the lamentations of my fair friend finds full justification in the fact that her proud and beautiful old city is literally overrun with those most estimable estima-ble but seldom envied or enviable misfits in the Divine economy known as old maids Go where one will or may throughout the East from Boston and Providence to Baltimore Richmond Charleston and Mobile and the same sad condition of things exists Every ballroom ball-room and parlor wall is richly tapestried with these slightly faded flowers The same complaint goes up from every city in the land Cincinnati Louisville St Louis and a hundred other municipalities municipali-ties send forth gentle moans of sympathetic sym-pathetic woe Plenty of girls lovely as as ever the sun shone on hut a panicky lack of desirable young men Only a short timo ipo the bright ynnngr daughter of an eminent St Louis lawyer said to me You mockingly criticise us for encouraging the attentions of what you contemptuously style whippersnappers whippersnap-pers snips dudes and callow goslings gos-lings hut how can we help it There are twenty of these little fellows in society so-ciety where there is one really desirable man and if it were not for them we would miss many an entertainment that we want to attend many an opera and play many a set in dancing that we now enjoy But for these very pigmies with their threehair power moustaches that you speak of so scornfully every girl in St Louis would be left at home half the times she now gets out and would ba a wall flower more than half the time when she managed to enveigle her father or brother into escorting her to parties and receptions You find me plenty of those brainy cultivated aspiring men with a future that you talk about and I will find you plenty of girls capable of appreciating them and ready to drop all their retinue of pomatumed snips for them any time Bring on your real men Trot out your thoroughbreds She was only a debutante but do you know she had nonplussed me I told over all the masculine beads of my society so-ciety rosary I took a lightningcalcu lator inventory of all my trouserswear ing acquaintance in what is known as good society j I reviewed long processions proces-sions of the bifurcated ornaments of seaside sea-side and mountain and lakeside resorts of balls and routs and operatic first nights and I had to admit that this vehement young girl indictment was a true blue All over the country a I man famine prevails I |
