Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1828-10-02
yHsgCeliaue0u8.
HANCE OF MARRIAGE.


Of fifteen or sixteen years, she begins
TO think OF the mysterious subject OF ma
trimony; a state the delights of which
| her youthful Imagination shadows forth
I in the most captivating forms II is
made the topic ofllght aud incidental
discourse among her companions, and it
is recureed TO with increasing interest
every time i, is brought upon the taps.
When she grows q little older, she cea-
SEES to smatter about matrimony, aud
thinks more iu,enily DC the all important
subject. IL engrosses her thoughts by
dap aud her dreams by night; and she
pic,ores TO herself the felicity OF being
welded 20 the youth for whom she cher.
ishes q secret, but consuming FAM
She surveys herself in the mirror, and,
as it generally tells "a lattering tale, >
she turns from it with q pleasing con
viclion, that her beauty will! enable her
to onque the heart of The most obdu
rate, aud that, whoever else may die in
O state of 'siDgie blessedness," she is
destined to become, ere many years roll
by, a happy bride.
From the age Of eighteen TO twenty is
"the very witchina time" OF female life.
During that period, the female heart is
more susceptible of the soft and tender
influences OF love than at airy other;
and we appeal to u fair readers TO
say, whether, if inclination alene were
consulted in the business, more maria
ges would not take place, during that
licklish season, than in any by which
il is preceded or followed. IL is the
grand climacler Of love; and she who
passes it, without entering into the
state matrimonial, may chance 10 pass
several years OF her life ere she is caught
in the meshes Of Hymen. The truth
is, that the majority OF women begin
10 be more thoughtful when they have
turned the age OF twenty. The giddi
ness of he girl gives place to the sohri
ETY. ofthe Fiivolity is succee
ded by reflection; and reason reigus
where passion previously held undis
puted sway The cares aud the ankle.
ties oflife press themselves more on the
attention; and, as It's sober realities be
come more pa'pable, they tend TO wea
ken the effect of sanguIne a%nticipations
OF unmingled felicity IN the marriage
state which the mind had tormedin its
youthful day dreams In short, 10 Use
a common phrase, women, after TWEEN
ty-one, "look before they leap
Matrimony, however, though not so
ardently longed Tor by the damsel who
has passed what we have styled the
grand climacter Of love, is never lost
sight of, either by the youngest or BY
the most aged spinstcr in his Majesty's
dominions II is a state on which the
eyes OF the whole female world are TOR.
ned with the most pleasurable auticipa.
tions; and the spinster of forty is as foil
of hope OF one day being married as
the damseI of twenty one But sorry
as we always are to utter any thing
which may tend to damp the hopes or
% cloud the prospects ofa fair lady ,iruih
'eompele US to say, that, when Once
she has crossed the line, which. or the
map of love, is marked thirty, the
chances are feariully against the pro
liability OF her obtaining q husband, e.
ven of the sedate age of forty or fifty
If she pass many degrees beyond the
line, her state becomes almost hopeless,
nay, desperate, and she may reconcile
herself TO live and die an old maid -
All experience confirms this lamentable
truth. M wonder, therefore, that wo
men make a mighty secret of,heir age,
and that they occasionally tell a par
donable flo, in lhe attempt to indnc,
the men to belieYe that they are severa-
years younger tiAn they really are -
Who can blamesthem for practising q
little hnesse onthls awful subject, SEE
ing that their sge, if divulged, nigh
utterly annlhilale The chances of their
ever enjoying the blessings,of weddec
love!
Experience, we have said, confirm.