MATRIMONIAL EXAMINATION. RICH BACHELOR AS A PRIZE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 149, 21 December 1906, Page 2

MATRIMONIAL EXAMINATION. RICH BACHELOR AS A PRIZE.

Mr. Charles W. Haynes, a rich and eccentric bachelor^ wf the little town of Claton, near Atlanta, has set the fashion of selecting a wife by competitive examination (writes the New York correspondent of the London Daily Mail). Fifteen marriageable ladies of the locality competed. They assembled in a schoolhouse, when an examining board, consisting of library trustees and a local editor, put a series of questions, to be answered both in writing and viva voce, framed by Mr. Haynes for the purpose of testing the competitors' suitability and qualifications for his wife. They were awarded marks for correct answers, and sho who gained the highest aggregate was declared the winner. Mr. Haynes has long been regarded as a desirable parti, but professed a number of old bachelor notions about women which made him a difficult subject. Ho publicly lamented that girls at present do not make such good wives and do not merit or receive the same love and devotion as their mothers and grandmothers did, Because they are lacking in housewifely qualifications. If a woman were skilled in the conduct of a house, tho control of servants, the pToper dispensation of hospitality and observance of social duties, above all in submission to her husband, if in a word, she was a perfect housewife, then, and only then, was she loveable. He declared that if he could find such a perfect woman ho would marry her first, with full assurance that love would follow. Whether he intended it or not, this declaration was taken literally, and Mr. Haynes found himself committed to accepting the result of tho competiti.vo examination. Thero were four widows among the fifteen contestants assembled, and the questions to be answered on paper included: Name seven lands of pie and describe how each is best prepared. Should dinner be served at midday or in the evening? Do you advocate the use of chewing rings for teething children? Tell the difference between "selfraising" and yeast bread. Say how each is prepared. Describe a suitable emergency lunch in caso your husband unexpectedly bronght home throe male guests. Give jn a hundred words vout views on suitable dress when married. Givo a list of half a dozen names, male and female, which you consider suitable for children. Mr. Haynes professed tho utmost unconcern as to which of the fifteen would obtain the highest marks. Ho was, howevor, unaware that secretly th© fifteen, before being examined, had entered into a solemn compact that, whoever won, she should decline his hand when he proposed —this by way of demonstrating that one of the qualifications of a wife which the lordly .bachelor had overlooked was the woman's consent. Miss May Tatum was declared to be the winner, being many marks ahead. She confesses to forty-three, is tall and angular, and is not considered a beauty. But Mr. Haynes, steadfast to his word, wrote requesting an interview, called, and formally proposed. Somewhat to the general surprise Miss Tatum held to the compact. Mr. Haynes approached the proximo. accossit, Miss Rouse, who is twenty-three, pretty, plump, and distinctly "possible." Sho declined emphatically. Mr. Haynes, realising that a practical joke was being played on him, and that he was in danger of becoming the laughing stock of the locality, extricated himself by a master stroke a few hours after Miss Rouse's refusal. Calling the examining board, he announced his engagement to Mrs Belle Brandt, a protty young widow, and the only eligible lady in the town who declined to enter tho competition. Tho competitors, especially tho winner, accuse Mr. Haynes of insincerity, and reproach Mrs. Brandt with not playing fair.