Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1908 — Are “Men Worthy.” [ARTICLE]

Are “Men Worthy.”

The editor who dabbles with matrimonial questions is either a wse man or a fool, depending upon the mental attitude of the person who reads the article. The Hillsboro News has, opened up the subject of whether men are “worthy”. The article is as follows:

This is the season when eligible young men are tagged for matrimony. They are taken off of the shelves where they have been on exhibition for several years and are wrapped up in a bundle and sent out into the cold cheerless world with the best wishes and congratulations, with cut glass gifts and a nice little dainty wife to work for, to feed, clothe and obey all of their natural lives. We have noticed that when a bachelor loses his heart and incidentally his head, and goes galvantin’

around with somebody’s girl, and buys ‘her an engagement ring with a diamond in it as big as a hazel nut and which cost him more money than he can make in a year, the wise old ladles and men of every town, shake their heads and wonder if he’s worthy of her.

Doesn’t it make you weary when you hear them condemn him because he smokes or does something else that doesn’t suit the fancy of the most fastidious? Isn’t it rather out of place to wonder if a young man IS “worthy” and to take it as a matter of fact that the girl in the case is always worthy? It is a fact that about nine out of ten men are worthy of the wives they get and some are a little more so. It is a fact that some women worry themselves sick because their daughter is going to marry some man whom she thinks is “not worthy.’’ Look here Mrs. Maw, did you ever stop to think that you have raised your daughter in the lap of luxury, that you have taught her to want everything she sees, and given her everything she wanted? You have taught her a little music, a little embroidering and a little art, perhaps, but have you taught her any common sense, or housework? Can she bake biscuits or fry bacon? About nine out of ten girls of today demand first a diamond engagement ring that is out of proportion to the salary their prospective husband is receiving. Then they step out of a five hundred dollar cottage that their dads have been renting for fifteen years because he could never rake up enough cash to buy a home, and then demand a $5,000 home with room size rugs, hardwood floors and water. They forget that they ever had anything better than a threeply carpet at home and that the whole family washed in the same pan and wiped their hands on the same towel which hung on a nail driven into the kitchen door.

The paws and maws of these fledglings started out with a three room house, and have by hook and crook managed to add two or three more rooms and maybe a little to their bank account, and yet they wonder if the young man is “worthy.” Let’s stop and consider the girl. What about her worthiness? Can she cook, can she sew, can she keep a house neat and clean, can she work and keep in a good humor, can she make up her mind to live within the husband’s income, can she put away a little for a rainy day, can she wear clothes consistent with his salary? Many girls can do some of these things, but few of them can do them all and fewer still will do them if they can. 1

The bride of today first demands a big house, bigger than she needs, bigger than she really wants, but Mrs. So and So has a large house and this necessitates Mrs. Newlywed having as big or bigger house. Then she ge‘s into her house and finds it too large for one person to care so the hired girl question comes next. There are lots of four room women living in eight room houses and employing hired girls while their husbands work from 7 to 7 on a three room salary Many men go to their dally grind wearing a celluloid collar and a >ls suit and are allowed to stop in the afternoon long enough to gaze out of. the front store window to see their wives brush by on their way to a reception all togged up in a >2O hat and a >6O “Neimeyer” gown and all the time these husbands are wondering how they can raise enough to give the old house a coat of paint Talk about men being worthy, why, durn ’em. they are all worthy, if they do half way right