MARRIAGE AND LEAP YEAR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 162, 2 April 1908, Page 3

MARRIAGE AND LEAP YEAR.

JUSTIFICATION EOil WOMEN'S PRO •.: y posals ix isos. '(By; Elizabeth,S.- /,,Gkesspr;;. M.'8,,,. in ,' - the. : ; 'hi';!. - , .! "Daily 1 Ex'pressiM)i.;. ;ui . 'It is ,'a^, litfje,, : ce'ut.uiy, young;woman has; still 'to depend'on a inan fpr: a;.,'proposal. 7/In ,spite of:,hei emancipation,. her .freedom ■; from .ir.qst pf. >the/rbstHcMonV-aiidriimita^iMs'-'of'hcr. "mother,; sho'yet cannot' ' talce the initiative when .it comes, ! to\ a., proposal. of, marriage.The newest wbman, the,most.emancipated of her sex,. is conventionality' itself so far as proposing .is' concerned.,. And yet. marriage means inore'.to.a woman; she is more dependent > for. her happiness, upon its good 01; ijl' success. ' But slio cannot "cho'oso" her life partner.. It is her'• natural profession, her life's; work to "iuako-of.'herself,a.'good ■wifo. and mother. If .' nlarriage is a: failure,; the-wifq has • far less opportunity- of ' linc]ing'comnchsatii)ii : ' in work; or outside '. interests. J The, ' average' ' woman's chief interests centre'in the .home. Natural, woman., believes "-in. her inmost heart that, ith'e 'advantages' of' niarriage far-,'out-number iti disadvaiitages.;; V. ' •' : ••• , 'There is a good/ deal of nonsense talked labo'ut tho. modern .woman' preferring bachelor independence to matrimony. > • . •" V ,• ■' - WOMAN'S " INTEREST IN MARRIAUE.

. - -Marriage is still the greatest absorbing interest to tho average woman,', in. spite of the changing, conditions of .'life to-day. -. Look at .woman's attitude/towards ;i lovo:affair ; com■pare her keen interest -and sympathy with man's half-contemptuous 1 toleration.-The crowds of - women /.spectators ; at', a' wedding, the • excitement - winch ,'an' engagement creates among, the feminine - friends . and' relations, the unconscious.' air/of". -superiority/ 'of '. tho newly-engage;l, all illustrate.the greater, "in-terest-of the-'gentler sek in marriage as an 'institution. „ • * • Tho great, mass of -women still regard mar_r«ge.;as their- ultimate ■ end;, /Even- the ■ wo f ;lung-woman hopes, '• unconsciously' perhaps-, that; her working days will bo - limited ..and that' a'lnisbaud' and a home of her own will be-.her .portion'.at some futuro!.date;' Because. "work" only.-satisfms .woman' while' she has; youth' and ' vitality - and energy to fic-ht thp_world with. '■ , , . ' ' : ° . Not. one girl, in ,a ; thousand, would''hositate between, her' "career" and- the ; 'man; she cares for.. If - shfr does "not marry,', it-mfeahs that' she has riot met that .man, or that he has not.asked her.,.''' Ought she to bo blamed for' not marrying: the man, who i has asked, but who, does, not attract- her? LATER' MARRIAGES - -Women,' marry later' in life nowadays, not froin choice, but necessity. ■' Whereas marriage : under. twenty .was'.-.usu'al. a i generation and.to'bo: over twenty-fivo was!to\be a confirmed spinster, far' more ■ gjrls' marry botwe-on -twentyrfive' and thirty.: Few.'men nowadays ccatn t afford to; marry much'--before-tho ago of, thirty.: ■ ; . • jTh,e.jnodorj».yoimg' man does-not relish, the, idea; of marriage on, a small income.' ' A long engaefipient-, or a still longer, "understanding,.is. '.much .less 'expensive; r.than S. a i l - 18 *} He. is \cute enough to-, realise that .what, is sufficient for one is not nearly. for two without the' cconomy' and the doing .without'!, he is .'not willing to attempt;.. His income.would.not run to.the luxuries; of- life;; so, tho- far-seeing modern youth dccides. not to propose.., ... Sometimes he does-, not .feel, justified in asking - a girl, accustomed, to: every luxury to share his. small income; ' A "sense of honour' keeps .him . silent ; a fooling that it would not bo'..fair, to'tho girl to ask her to leave a life of irrosponsibility for. the grind of double/harness: with a .general' sorvant- or .a.-couple 'of inexperienced maids. In nine ca .f. c . B out of , ton the girl would bo. only too willing -to try/ but.sho must wait-for .tho proposal that. does riot como, a;id-wander why tho man she knows is in lovo-with her refuses to say-so/' It is in such eases that there would be every excuse for the': girl to do the proposing. The mail judges so. much from appearances: He-sees a girl who spends her days at bridge and hockey and golf—a girl/who is always well dressed and accustomed to every comfort.. He cannot imagine her dressed in ready-made clothes and half-guinea hats. Tho girl may-dress herself on £20 a year a'qd make half tho things herself, but slio cannot say so. LOST HAPPINESS. Many a man and _ girl liavo lost their chance of happincSs simply because tho man is afraid to proposo arid the girl cannot. The nicest men are often tho very ones who would, bo only too pleased to marry if it were not for thp proposal. Leap year provides an opportunity. How many will tako advantate of i>J>; Probably-not one woman.

in a million,' bccause,'• although there is no moral, practical, or romantic reason against a woman proposing; convention is too strong for us all. : After all, the actual spoken proposal has very little to do with tho matter. A girl has a" hundred ways of letting a man know that sho favours his "suit." Tho average man has a very good idea of his chances of success. Leap year lias very littlo influence on tho marriage rate. .Last leap year the rate per 1000 was lower than it had been for some years; this year the Registrar-General will doubtless be satisfied if the averago is kept up. • Although marriages are certainly later than formerly, and fewer per 1000 of the population than- the case, say, forty years ago, the decrease is not nearly 'so marked as tho alarmist makes out. Statistics show; that the tendency to later marriages has increased these last twenty years.. In the last, ten years, however, the figures work out to Indicate that the averago bridegroom to-day. is only live months older than .his predecessor of ten years -ago. The • average spinster is four months older than her sister —or, perhaps, her aunt —of ten years ago. The mean age for bridges is twenty-five years six- months; the average bridegroom is just over twenty-sevefn. Tho figures are satisfactory from the common-sense point of view. Marriage at'siicb ages js much' more likely to turn out well than early marriage with the bride in her teens and her groom 111 his early twenties. /• The marriage of minors is nearly always to bo deplored, so that it is pleasing ,to note the marked decrease in tho .number of marriages under age in the last ten or a dozen years. In the late seventies, 77 bridegrooms out of 1000 were minors, in 1906 there were only 43 per 1000. From 217 brides under ■age in the seventies, the rate fell to 145 per 1000 in 1906. Marriage is always more or less a lottery, but the chances of happiness are more hopeful whero both are in their midr die twenties at any rate.

. A cheap deck chair, transformed by -wood stain, and ail embroidered or stencilled slip into a thing of beauty, is -frequently to be met, with. Rare, however, is tho handy little folding stool, treated in tho same mariner. A strip of undressed leather, fringed at the ends arid set in With brass pailsj looks arid wears well, though tho drill ; or linen slip is cheaper. - Quite out of tlie way, and yet easy, to make, and quite delightful when made, js the canvas hammock. \lt has side pieces liko 'a. Manila haminpek—far tho most graceful variety .of these : most comfortable articles—and these side pieces .mako a brave show if of an embroidered or, stencilled design: Strong hessian, covered with holland, makes a. most desirable hammock. So does strong; unbleached, twilled packing cloth. ■ A hammock of either material, with 'side/, pieces, finished with a deep band of gaily embroidered huckaback, adds very considerably to the comfort, as .well, as tho pic-' t-uresqueness of the most ordinary garden.