DEFERRED MARRIAGES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 29, 29 October 1907, Page 3

DEFERRED MARRIAGES.

;•■.!.;, Ap,E WOi\tEN,TO BLAME?. .'. / There is a wail going up from the ;grcat British middlo. classes (writes Emma.'Gadby in the -London .'.'Daily Mail',') .and their cry is, "That , they.cannot marry .until, tlioy, arc. iniddloriigcdi" ■ , .'.'■.. -■'Certainly enough to.wail about, to be, micl-dlo-c|«s's and iriicTdlc-agod.Why can they.Hot marry, until an age when money-making lias driven-all the romance oiyt of .their'lives?. \ybbsc .fault is .'it? .Are, the mon.as forid.iof luxury /arid the expensive tilings of this life asjth'o women, or do" tho.-'women fix the in-, come,! at. , .which they arc','willing to'run in dpuble-; harness?-. The very poor., all marry! yoliiig,-. and. though, ive may.style them thrift-" ilessiwo'cannot take/from them the years that the; caroful- middle-class will never" have— those year spf happy carelessness when nothing matters, and .they laugh' together, at .jthc^niany.mishaps. The middle-class/woman marying at 35 will have" finished with laughter.',a'ikj take on her responsibilities with all seriousness, and will, without doubt, have a very dull time of it. . ' '

: .-./ When a-mau'is in love, nothing else matters but the'girl arid, his need'of her. Then it must be lithe woman .who is not content to,live economically with tho man sho loves. JPerhaps she sfes no romanco in it; that-.-s because she •is _ 35. ■'.- At 18 she would .have tlipuglit it a .constant' picnic. Of course , sho must be in io've with the man' to see , the .charm of this secluded life; he must be licr world.and she his. 1 •

Surely the fault is. on the -woman's side. Anylman, if he,is a.nihnj would like.to marry (say)'at 25, and to his credit be it said, lie .thinks of : possessing, a-wife, whereas sho thinks of-possessing a-house aiid furniture. ;[tas/the waiting for,the.:'household gods' — .nb"'idler'term in'-this case—which their life. It- is a-wonderful thing,' this love of.*iiseless lumber which keeps the wife- at homo a martyr of too much furniture, while oho-'hus'band tinds : consolation'elsewhere. , Wo are ]noi all houdswives, and 'some of'us are not:! above doing our best to make a inan happy apart irom housekeeping;' What is the u'sc'of a-good Samaritan in the shape of ])r. .Oldfiold giving us a practical illustration on "How to -live and keep well on 2d. a day"? if some one else says,'"lt canr.ot boMono under £400 a yeaiyandthattho State ought not to allow marriages otherwise.". )'■ •..-.- ( .The some one else is, of course, a business man, and imagines in tho place where bis ■heart ought to be, that,'given a money basis, air marriages would bo happy.- So much for his opinion; ho may know how to accumulate; mdricy ;but it is n far cry from money to art. H.'o-:might say, "Money will buy aft,". but this is-where love, as an art, differs from all 'others. ■: .-.''..

; rjjovo is the ground rock of home lifo, and •thrivesi ■in -quiot places.- That is why it docs ■not.suit the niodorirwbman; she wants notoriety; even if it is the notoriety-of the prjson coll , . ■ ■ .• ■ '■ Whcn women realise that: thoy. are missing ■ thu'best-that life can offer thorn thoy will 'turn their attention in the right direction, .and'imakc somc : man happy —or at least trv to,, do so. . .