WEDLOCK AFTER THE WAR

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 193, 21 July 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

WEDLOCK AFTER THE WAR

REASSURING WORDS FOR THE FAIR SEX. j It is said that one reason for the present epidemic of weddings is the fear that, after the war, husbands will be far to seek, and the consequent anxiety of a large numl>er of girls not to miss the exceptional, and possibly their last, opportunity of wearing a wedding-ring. As one young girl, with more tliain an average share of attractions, said to the writer, "After the war there will be no one to marry except boys and old men; and unless I find a husband soon I shall almost certain'} - di.e an old maid, which as you admit is not a very pleasant prospect. Undoubtedly there is some truth >n this statement. Young women, whoso natural desire is to marry, are feaif.il of the future. They argue that a very large number of the mcu who are going to fight our battles, and those in manv cases the bravest and tho best, will never return; and that thus, not only will their chance of marriage be seriously reduced, but they will be obliged, if they wed at all, to give their hand either to the "least desirable of young men or to men " old enough to he thenfathers."

A DEARTH OF MARRIAGEABLE MEN?

This foreboding is perhaps not unnatural; but is it justifiable? It is unhappily quite certain that many who would'have made excellent husbands will not survive the war, and thus the supply of marriageable men wjll be reduced. How large this number will be it is. of course, impossible to say. Let us, however, for the sake of argument, take an outside figure. Let us assume that by the time peace comes half-a-million of our soldiers are killed or tota'ly disabled. This is an enormous number —probably much larger than the actual figure; but, after all. it only represents roughly one out ot every sixteen of our manhood between the ages of 19 and 40. Thus, there will still be left fifteen potential husbands for every sixteen before the war; and a woman's chance of wedlock will only be reduced a little over six per cent.—and this only between the ages given. It must also lie remembered that at the 'ower ages there were before the war more marriageable men than women. Thus between the ages ot 20 and 24 there were 1,000 unappropriated men to 973 women; and (extending the range), l>etween 20 and 30, there was still more than one possible husband for every marriageable woman within the same limits of age. Thus a reduction of a woman's matrimonial chances by a shade over 6 per cent, s not a very serious matter.

Nor is it correct to say that ail the b»st men, and thus the most desirable husbands, will be no longer available. In war death takes its toll more or less indiscriminately. The brave so .die r takes the greater risks, no doubt; butthe " slacker" has no immunity, and the bullet that spares a gallant man may strike him down. The strong and the weak together find their places in the casualty lists; the strong as well as the weak will be among the survivors; and the average quality of the manhood that comes through, will probably be no lower than before the war. Thus we see there is good reason to expect that when peace comes woman s chance of marriage will not be at a 1 seriously diminished, and that theie wi'l still remain a very large army of acceptable husbands apart from che middle-aged. THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE. Another thing is quite clear—that after the war it will be a national necessity for men to marry in mu:!i larger numbers than in previous years. For many years past the decline in the marriage-rate in the United Kingdom has been disquieting. Thus for every 17 men who took themselves wives in 1901, there were only 14.9 in 113, the year before, the war began; and in the same period the birth-rate had fallen from 28 in every thousand of the population to 23.9. If we go still further back, we find that the average annual birth-rate had droppca from '35.5 to 24, between the years IS7I and 1914. So serious has heen the decline that, in the last quarter of a century, Britain's birth-rate shows a greater decrease than that of any other nation in Europe, with the exception of Germany. This is a grave matter, a serious menace to our future as a nation; and it will be the duty of our manhood to see that this menace is as far as possible removed after the war, in the on'y way possible, by increasing the marriage-rate, thus adding a comfortable number to the army of marrying men.

Having thus, as I bopo, reassured my lady-readers as to the matrimonii! prospects of the future, let us to sec what the effect of the war will le on married lite itself. In the first place it is to 1)0 foarcd that mswiy of the women who have hurried into matrimony during the war, from emotiona. reasons or from fear of losing their opportunity, will be sorry they had 'l.it waited and made a saner and more careful choice of a life-partner. Man> of these war-marriages, entered into from sudden impulse, and after a fev\ days' acquaintance, seemed doomed to disillusion if not to disaster; and on? can only hope that the proportion will lie 'ess than one fears. For those who have wisely been content to wait for peace and a caretul, unemotional choice ot husbands, the prospect seems to be much brighte". Manv of these "wise virgins" will n > doubt find themselves in a much better and more independent position to consider the problem of marriage than n the days before the war. They will, a verv large number of them, no longer he obliged to choose between wedlock and a life of struggle or even poverty ; for they will have learnt the secret 'of supporting themselves and thus making themselves independent of men for their support; and the means oi earning their own living wdl, in the majority oi cases, ue theirs in the I'iture. They can afford to " bide their time." If the right man comes along, tliev can give liiin their bands, anl their heart with it: if not they can get on quite well without him, and crt,iinly much better than il wedded .o :in uncongenial husband. If the\ marry, they cm M.-in-ely fail to bt> better and more u.-eiul. and thuhappier, wive- tiiai.i would have been possible before the war: for they have learnt many of the lessons which are invaluable in wedded life. 1 hey ! l:nv ;, in verv manv cases, acquired habits <a industry ami self-discipline ami sacrifice; they have learned the value ci

monev (for it ionly by earning moil *v by hard work that on." knows ,ts va'ue and how to make the best us-' of it) : they have learned to take seiions practical vk ve oi life, a id tlm» have devc Toned a strength of _will an 1 cli irai tcr which wdl of infinite vin t!ie h'U'.e life. Moreover, if at any inn. l the brc 'd-wilin°" -hoidd tail tliein th/yv will lie able, in a large measure, fn take his p'ttce ami keep t!ie home together.