Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1885 — SOME MATRIMONIAL ADVICE. [ARTICLE]

SOME MATRIMONIAL ADVICE.

Bill Nye Goes Into the Solemn Warning Business. M'y Dear Sir : Would it be asking too much for me to request a brief reply to one o* two questions which many other married women as well as myself would like to have answered ? I have been married now for five years. To-day is the anniversary of my marriage. When I was single I 'was a teacher and supported myself in comfort., I had more pocket-money and dressed fully as well if not better than Ido now. Why should girls who are abundantly able to earn their own livelihood struggle to become the slave of a husband and children and tie themselves to a man when they might be free and happy ? I think too much is said by the men in a light and flippant manner about the anxiety of young ladies to secure a home and a husband, and still they do deserve a part of it, as I feel that I do now for assuming a great burden when I was comparatively independent and comfortable. Now, will you suggest any advice that you think would benefit the yet unmarried and. self-supporting girls who are liable to make the same mistake that I did, and thus warn them in a manner that would be so much more universal in its range and reach so many more people than I could if I should raise my voice? Do this, and you will be gratefully remembered by Ethel. It would indeed be a tough, tough man who could ignore thy gentle plea, Ethel; tougher far than the pale, intellectual hired man who nowaddresscs you -in this private and underhand' manner. <*> You say that you had more pocketmoney before you were married than you have since, Ethel, and you regret your rash step. lam sorry to hear it. You also say that you wore better clothes when you were single than you do now. You are also pained over that. It seems that marriage with you has not paid any cash diyidends. So if you married Mr. Ethel as a financial venture it was a mistake. You do not state how it has affected your husband. and better clothes before he married than he has since. Sometimes two people do well in business by themselves, but tvhen they go into partnership they bust higher than a kite, if you will allow me tho free English translation of a Roman expression which you might not fully understand if I should give it to you in the original Roman. Lots of self-supporting young ladies have married, and have to go very light on pin money after that, and still they did not squeal as you, dear Ethel. They did not marry for revenue only. They married for protection. [This is a little political bon mot which I thought of myself. Some of my best jokes this spring are jokes that I thought of myself, j * No, Ethel, if you married expecting to be<a dormant partner during the day and then to go through Mr. Ethel’s pockets at night and declare a dividend, of course life is full of bitter, bitter regret and disappointment. Of course 1 want to do what is right in the solemn warning business, so I will give notice to all simple young women who are now self-supporting and happy that there is no statute requiring them to assume the burdens of wifehood and motherhood unless they prefer to do so. If they now have an abundance Of pin-money and new clothes, they may remain single if they wish without violating the laws of the land. This rule is also good when applied to young and self-supporting young men who wear good clothes and have money id their pockets. No young man who is free, happy, and indOpend-< ent need invest his money in a family pr carry a colicky child twenty-seven miled and two laps in the night unless he prefers it. But those who go into it with the right spirit, Ethel, do not rej gret it. j I would just as soon tell you, Ethel, if you will promise that it shall go no further, that I do not wear as good clotnes as I did before I was married. I don’t have to.. My good clothes have accomplished what I got them for. I played them for all they were worth, and since I got married the idea of wearing clothes as a vocation has not occurred to ihe. Please give my kind regards to Mr. Ethel, and tell him that, although I do not know him personally, I cannot help feeling sorry for him. Very sincerely

yours,

BILL NYE.