Searchlights on Health: The Science of EugenicsJefferis, B. G. (Benjamin Grant)
Philosophy
Searchlights on Health: The Science of Eugenics
Jefferis, B. G. (Benjamin Grant)
Eugenics; Hygiene; Marriage; Medicine, Popular; Sexual ethics
4. It is a fact well answered by statistics that there is more crime
committed, more vices practiced, and more immorality among single
men than among married men. Let the young man be pure in heart like
Bunyan's Pilgrim, and he can pass the deadly dens, the roaring lions,
and overcome the ravenous fires of passion, unscathed. The vices of
single men support the most flagrant of evils of modern society,
hence let every young man beware and keep his body clean and pure. His
future happiness largely depends upon his chastity while a single man.
[Illustration: "MADE IN U.S.A."]
[Illustration: I WILL NEVER MARRY.]
* * * * *
OLD MAIDS.
1. MODERN ORIGIN.--The prejudice which certainly still exists in the
average mind against unmarried women must be of comparatively
modern origin. From the earliest ages to ancient Greece, and Rome
particularly, the highest honors were paid them. They were the
ministers of the old religions, and regarded with superstitious awe.
2. MATRIMONY.--Since the reformation, especially during the last
century, and in our own land, matrimony has been so much esteemed,
notably by women, that it has come to be regarded as in some sort
discreditable for them to remain single. Old maids are mentioned on
every hand with mingled pity and disdain, arising no doubt from the
belief, conscious or unconscious, that they would not be what they
are if they could help it. Few persons have a good word for them as
a class. We are constantly hearing of lovely maidens, charming wives,
buxom widows, but almost never of attractive old maids.
3. DISCARDING PREJUDICE.--The real old maid is like any other woman.
She has faults necessarily, though not those commonly conceived
of. She is often plump, pretty, amiable, interesting, intellectual,
cultured, warm-hearted, benevolent, and has ardent friends of both
sexes. These constantly wonder why she has not married, for they feel
that she must have had many opportunities. Some of them may know why;
she may have made them her confidantes. She usually has a sentimental,
romantic, frequently a sad and pathetic past, of which she does not
speak unless in the sacredness of intimacy.
4. NOT QUARRELSOME.--She is not dissatisfied, querulous nor envious.
On the contrary, she is, for the most part, singularly content,
patient and serene,--more so than many wives who have household duties
and domestic cares to tire and trouble them.
5. REMAIN SINGLE FROM NECESSITY.--It is a stupid, as well as a heinous
mistake, that women who remain single do so from necessity. Almost
any woman can get a husband if she is so minded, as daily observation
attests. When we see the multitudes of wives who have no visible signs
of matrimonial recommendation, why should we think that old maids have
been totally neglected? We may meet those who do not look inviting.
But we meet any number of wives who are even less inviting.
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