Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Second series (IA playsbyjacintobe00bena).pdf/268

 is struggling to establish himself in his profession, or in business, and as yet he has not had time to inherit. Encumber yourself under these circumstances with a young lady who is accustomed to shine, and to spend money without any idea of what it costs to make it! A few years ago marriage meant a girl's first gown from the dressmaker, her first lingerie that was not the plainest of the plain; it meant her first jewelry that was of value and her introduction to society as well, and this was true even if she belonged to the uppermost classes; but now this is all changed. Marriage is a step down for a girl, it is to restrict herself, to have a poorer house, a worse table, inferior service; it is to ride in a hack or a trolley-car, instead of her own carriage; it is to remodel a dress ten times and a hat fourteen; it is to listen to her husband preach that she is spending too much money, that it is impossible to continue like this, and these things sound very differently from a husband than they do from a father. If there should be children, wives nowadays can only bring them up upon money. What with nurses and governesses and doctors at every turn, the infant does not have an opportunity to sneeze. A fortune is squandered upon laces and batistes, so as to accustom him to the refinements from the cradle, and I don't know what else besides—yes, a French priest to teach him to pray, because mothers cannot even do that nowadays. Show me the young man who is willing to marry upon a salary such as we pay men in Spain, and an income which we are pleased to call modest.

. Father seems to think that money is the supreme end of existence.

. And he is perfectly right. Money cannot make us happy, but it is the only compensation that we have for not being so.