THE MERRY WIDOW.

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2644, 13 October 1919, Page 2

THE MERRY WIDOW.

■ AS MAN IS NO MYSTERY TO HER ' SHE EASILY SCORES OVER HEP, UNMARRIED SISTER. The spinster will indeed have to look to her laurels if, as it is stated in the papers, the merry widow is “capturing far more than her share of husbands just now.” But the news is by no means startling to these who have studied matrimonial figures, for the widow always makes the running in the race for the altar, with the spinster a bad second. The fact is that at any age the widow’s arts of conquest are greater or at least more successful, than those of her unmarried sister. Thus at ages under 10, for every husband won by spinsters, widows, in proportion to their number, capture three. From 20 to 2d one widow out of every eight makes a trip to the altar, compared with one spinster out of thirteen. Between 25 and 34 the former has three times as good a chance of a wedding-ring as the latter. Between 35 and 44 her superiority is a little less marked, for while one widow out of every 23 remarries, only one spinster out of 45 can find a weddingring. And at still more advanced periods—from 45 to G4—widows take three husbands to every two won by spinsters. Thus young, middle-aged, or old, when a widow enters into rivalry with a single lady the odds are always on her capturing the ring.. And she is by no means content to leave the bachelors to the spinsters. There is no mistaken chivalry about her when it comes to matrimonial rivalry, for widows secure more than their share of the unmarried men ; the “fair share” being, let us say, 1.000 ;■ the actual number won, 1,025. With the widowers they are much more successful ; for instead of the 1.000 husbands they have a right to expect, they stand at the altar with no fewer than 1,470 —nearly 50 per cent, more than they are strictly entitled to. In the marriage-roster widows oi 20 to 24 take the first place, beating spinsters at their best by a big margin. Widows arc, in fact, the champions of all marrying women. The second place on the list is taken by widows of ages 25 to 34 ; and the most successful of the single ladies, those between 25 and 34, have to be content with a poor third. The fourth and fifth places are taken by widows of the ages of 15-19 and 35-44 respectively, followed at a long interval by spinsters between 35 and 44. Thus, of the first six places in the matrimonial tripos, widows take the lion’s share of five. If this too successful rivalry is bitter to the woman who is making her first bid for the matrimonial stakes, she has at least the consolation of knowing that her chances of a second husband will be much greater thau those of a first !