The Bachelor's Rebuttal
A young suitor gets an earful from a skeptical woman who prefers independence to the reality of 1880s marriage.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
They were seated together, side by side, on the sofa, in the most approved lover fashion, his arm encircling her taper waist. 'Lizzie,' he said, 'you must have read my heart ere this; you must know how dearly I love you.' 'Yes, Fred, you have certainly been very attentive,' said Lizzie. 'But, Lizzie darling, do you love me? Will you be my wife?' 'Your wife, Fred! Of all things, no! Not I, indeed, nor any one else's.' 'What do you mean?' 'Just what I say, Fred. I've two married sisters.' 'Certainly; and Mrs. Hopkins and Mrs. Skinner have very good husbands, I believe.' 'So people say; but I wouldn't like to stand in either May's or Nell's shoes—that's all.' Lizzie went on to explain her reluctance: she enjoyed her independence, her sleighing trips, and her freedom to choose her own entertainment, rather than being confined to a domestic life where her husband might leave her to pick her way alone along icy streets or vent his ill-tempers behind closed doors. When Fred insisted that he would be different, Lizzie remained unmoved. 'No, Fred: as a lover you are just perfect, and I shall hate awfully to give you up. Still, if you are bent on marrying, there are plenty of girls who have not married sisters, or who are not wise enough to profit by their example.' Fred left in a huff, slamming the door, leaving Lizzie to conclude: 'He'll make a perfect bear of a husband, but I'm sorry he came to the point so soon, for he was just a splendid beau.'
“I'm of a dependent, clinging nature, and I need the protection of a strong arm... but I shouldn't like to be left to pick my way along the slippery places, at the risk of breaking my neck, while he walked along unconsciously by my side.”
While framed as a domestic comedy of the era, the story echoes modern debates about the transactional and often unequal nature of marriage. Lizzie's refusal to trade her social autonomy for the risks of 'domestic affairs' resonates with current conversations about the economic and personal costs of the traditional household.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.