AseeksB  /  The Personals Archive  /  1886
The Anglo-American Matrimonial Journal (Toronto) · December 1886

Rather an old man’s darling than a young man’s slave

Carrie B., 19, would like to get married, on one condition.

Transcribed from original newspaper scans. Published by AseeksB.


Lower class (feminine)1886

Carrie B., aged 19, considered rather good-looking, would like to get married, but would rather be “an old man’s darling than a young man’s slave.” Address, Box 1030, Matrimonial Journal Office, Toronto.

The Anglo-American Matrimonial Journal, Toronto, Vol. 1, No. 1, December 1886, p. 3. View the original page on Canadiana

In plain English

Carrie B., 19, who is thought to be fairly good-looking, would like to marry, but would rather be the pampered wife of an older man than a younger man’s drudge.

Who wrote it, and to whom

NewspaperThe Anglo-American Matrimonial Journal, Toronto
DateDecember 1886 (Vol. 1, No. 1), page 3
SectionLower class (feminine), at one cent a word
Written byA woman, 19, signing Carrie B.
Addressed toOlder men
WhereReplies to Box 1030, Matrimonial Journal Office, Toronto

Context

The Anglo-American Matrimonial Journal was a paper of marriage ads, run from an office in Toronto. Canadiana, the Canadian Research Knowledge Network’s digital collection, holds one issue: Vol. 1, No. 1, December 1886. Its ads are sorted by class and sex, and the price rose with the class: a cent a word for the lower class, two for the middle, and three for the upper. Replies went to numbered boxes at the Journal’s office, and a few box numbers are printed twice.

Carrie quotes a proverb that was already old: John Heywood’s 1546 collection of English proverbs has it, with “warling” where she has “slave.” Her box number, 1030, is also printed with the ad below hers, from Pollie W., 26.

In the Personals Dictionary

Box, care of the office

Tagged

matrimonywritten by women

How to cite this ad

“Rather an old man’s darling than a young man’s slave.” Matrimonial advertisement, The Anglo-American Matrimonial Journal (Toronto), vol. 1, no. 1, December 1886, p. 3. Transcribed in The Personals Archive, AseeksB, https://www.aseeksb.com/archive/1886-matrimonial-journal-old-mans-darling.html.

Public domain: published in 1886.

Transcribed from the page image on Canadiana and checked against the original; spelling and punctuation are as printed, and words broken across lines are rejoined.

← 1886: A rather stout young woman, 22, with $200 saved1886: A girl in London would come out to Canada and marry a farmer →

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