Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1850-02-27
MISCE "A N Y.
OLD MAIDS.

We might say maiden ladies !'-but we wish to
redeem two plain monosyllables from certain un-
defnable stigma that they have borne too long. Old
implies years, and gears implywisdom; why should
we despse the one and not the other2 Why, un-
less it be that the word old, when coupled with
maid, is held up as bugbear 10 frghten girls into
hasty and injudicous marriages. or is perverted into
another term for shriveed vinegarfaced spinster,
in whose nature the milk of human kindness has
been soured by disappointment, and turns TO acid
every sweet that il comes in contact with. Words
being but signs of ideas, if such is the apparilion
coniured TO the mind of any by the phrase old maid
we cannot wonder that It seems formidaby odious.
To us, very different associations are connected
with il the stgmalized name seems almost sacred
conveying to The mind, as it DIES, the image of a
pure, patient, doing and enduring spirit, well nigh
divested of the seshness that innate, controls the
infant, the child, the belle, and even the wife and
mother-that ideal Of perfect woman i'm short The
embodiment Of disinterestedness. And who that
will take off the glasses of prejudice, look around
and call up recoectiOns of domestic life either at
home, OF in other homes, can fail to discover some
form and face--possiby attenuated and wrinkled by
time and care--moving about the house from morn
ing ill night, ever bent on some errand ofgoOd to
its inmates; now nursing the sick; now contrIving
some deicacy for the table, or to crafty juvenile
appetite now bravely leading on to the fight soap
and water regiment at that semi-annual internal
revolution called housecleanng, herself in the
thickest of the fray now arranging wardrobes for
the Spring and Autumn comfort Of the household
save herself now remaining through the heat and
roxious atmosphere Of a summer in thecty, to keep
the house in safety while its proprietors, children,
and even servants are enjoying cool sea-breeges,
of boalf in he froo
air of the country; now watching the raooa, with
weary but sleepless eyes, the uninvited, awaiting
the return ofiavited guests from some party or mas
querade in the brief, spending and being spent in
the service Of perhaps sister, cousin or nece,
whose return for untiring, disnerested affection. is
the selfish love that considers its recipient invaua-
bic, not as gentle, unpretendng associate, but as
a reliable convenience!
But let us look at the causes as well as effects OF
single life in women. f,he histories ofall old maids
were written, what disclosures of female heroism
would be made In how many cases could celibacy
be traced, not 10 want of personal mental attrac
tions; nor of admiration or love but 70 that heroic
nature which, though capable Of the deepest and
most enduring passion has the fOrtude to live alone
rather than be buund not atnited, to uncongenal
being And if'.He that ruleth his spirit be greater
than he that taketh city," surely she that ruleth
her heart is greater than she that laketh name for
the sake of name or to aviod one stigmatized in
Love is the instinct of the female heart; almost
every woman who has lived to- see thirty years, has
felt the outgoings Of affections well-spring but
hers is not often the power of choosing though it is
of refusing Who may tell the inward conf1icts,the
unu,tered agonies the protracted soul-slckness OF
conquered passion2 But when true woman once
trumphs over an inexpedient OF unreciprocated at
tachmen: she triumphs over self, and becomes, that
nobest of feminine spirits, the dslnterested friend
of mankind! BE sure that the scandal-monger the
tart-mouthed old maid is one whose inner heart has
never felt the wound tha, opens passage for human
sympathies to flow out; but is smartng under su-
pericia notifications, that like poison introduced
only skin deep, tester and rrate continually. Hare
are such cases and yet few as they are they infect
the general mind, 50 that old maid, thus considered
is noun of multitude, including all who choose or
are destined to live single lives And how many
unhappy marriages are the consequence Of this oP-
problum!
Even the single hearted piety of unmarried fe-
males is derded. Who has not heared such rlbald-
ry as this, "O she's getting religion now that she
can't get h,tsband" But isit the inspired Apos-
tie who says, "The unmarried woman careth for
the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both
in body and in spirit" Thus do we see oftenes in
the single woman that perfect love to God, which
manifests itself in love to all his creatures.
For our part, we venerate the very name OF Old
Maid-its heroism, its benevolence, its piety fe,
who are blessed with an aunt Fanny, an aunt Pol
ly, or an aunt Betsey-names too venerable to be
spelled with the modern ie, which in your own per-
chance is substituted for the old fashioned y-do ye
ever think that, though unwedded, she has heart
with all human sympa,hies2 Ah, you cannot feel
but that it is on her countless mnistrations oryour
comfort But do you ever realize thatshe feels not
love for herself in return, but for her deeds, and