Why learn really technical specialized things years and years
before they are needed? Why learn them at a time when it is not
certain that they will be needed at all?
The modern postponement of marriage is here a controlling
element.
The fact that in Boston, among women from thirty to thirty-four
years of age, 297 out of every 1,000 (more than a quarter) are
still unmarried is usually put down to a scarcity of men. That
scarcity is exaggerated.
Observe the comparative numbers of unmarried women and of
unmarried men in that age-period in Boston:
Unmarried Women 8,081
Unmarried Men 10,651.
Observe further:
The total number of men of all conjugal conditions in the
age-period in question is 28,603.
A little work with pencil and paper will now still further weaken
the scarcity theory by revealing the fact that in Boston, among
men from thirty to thirty-four years of age, 372 out of every
1,000 are still single.
Social conditions in rural communities tend to approach those of
urban communities. Social conditions in the West tend to approach
those in the East. Boston is not eccentric.
Pages:
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376