Smyrna times., 1872-08-28

own time and freedom to exercise her own will,
and has found her happiness in independence,
will give her time and freedom into anothers
keepng-assuming, of course, that she has
means, however moderate to maintain her in
the same way of life. 1t would not be good
for all wOmen-perhaps for most women-to
have this undlsputed disp Isal of themselves;
but the woman who has shown herself equal to
the charge of herself is the woman to do credit
to the single state. And in women who settle
themselves in all the ehgibilites Of this condi-
tion without dreaming of change, and who are
adapted TO it by fair health of mind and body,
Is observable lasting youthfuness of mind
and spirits. Spirits will be but ftful, and
| hvefness will be forced, so long as woman are
painfully alive to the passage of Time-as of a
| power cheating them of ftheirlegitimate expecta-
tlOhs. People are at the very antipodes of
their object who are Gnri0us to seem young.
The world necessarily Judges Of age by the
register, and sensible woman however young
she feels, will regulate her conduct toward
others by that record. But not the less is she
conscious OF spring of youth i'll herself, an
elasticity of spirit, an unforccd cheerfulness, |
not to be discerned in her married compeers !
} Mothers, wives, widows, arrived at mature |
middle lite, are cheerful, but it is not the same
} cheerfulness; there is memory of tears in it
? in tender natures, or a resolute forgetting of
worries and cares lurking just around the
} corner, in spirits of boder stronger fibre. The
splnster feels young among them who Is
separated from her former self by none-by
e fewer, at least-Of the harsh breaks and disoca-
r tions which make people feel old She carries
h her former self along with her. and can recall
Il no point where the girl ended in the matron.
II The young find out this unconsciously and
J, the old maid who has not had the romance
3. knocked out of her by the sad slaveries of life
,e may be observed to be the con6dante referee,
r adviser, of all the nice girls of her circle. We
q speak, of course, comparatively. Trial comes
Ot to all. But marriage and its consequences give
lG it the keeneSt edge and most deep and lasting
. impression. The exterior will always adapt
IT, itself to the character and circumstances Of the
es mind that inhabits it; and the old maid how
al ever judicious her taste, will carry about an
ne atmosphere as it were, of ber calling, vir
IS. ginal overtrimness perhaps, cheerful, pael
at cOloring than as matron she would have
OF assumed. Something in her face will express
NJ the fact that she has no master but her owl
IS, will or that she is unsupported by back
1t ground of prestige, or that she has unchecked
or particularties; some not to be defined hint o
IN the "od madsh" may be there; but through
me il all the countenance Of this higher type Wi
raj have certain youth about it not due to tn
icy fewness of its years. Nothing makes peOpl
dg look older than long subjugation to selfish
or unsympathizing, or what goes by the nam
not of steady villa will that checks the play {
es fancy. A woman may be devoted to her hu'
In band but if she is always planning how
her compass her ends, and running her hea
ary against the rock of his inhexibility, her fac
90 will show traces of the conflict; while ii
lful spinster of her own standing holds crow
ute feet and wrinkles still in abeyance from Il
IS complacency resultant on mere liberty
live action; not but that she has a heart
lner open to the troubles Of others as Il
lon' matron, and perhaps a wider and mo
most active sympathy; but it must be admits
we that sympathy in others trials, however de-
not and long sustained, does not inhict on {
she countenance the permanent lines that the Ii
lpoh cares do in our own case
view view There have been great many speculatio
f ooufs on the number, large and increasing, OF
iu1n T class which has been our topic. We have
wv 'ne doubt that growing refinement is one gre
ocn ! cause of this increase. In the working class
lul.e where congeniality of tastes is little thOug
our of, an old maid is a rarity, though the prop
lP,e' tions of the sexes must be the same. Marrla
nuet even among the less fastidious of higl
not class can not now be owned the one object
las lfe ss it was understood to be on all hand
heI. L hundred and fifty years ago. This is vi
ner education and more refined public opin
rs have done for women they have enlarl
eoes their perception Of disagreeabe men,
leeIs @ taught them to prefer their own company
lneI the society of the vulgar, ill-tempered or
navs literate. 1t is clearly less intolerable to won
posSl to be an old maid than it has been the sir
Agep life for her has never had such good tin
1akss as now and as this fact becomes patent,
ueeu, tain prevalent characteristics open to unta'
h heI able criticism may become modified, soften
dnna n.u or even disappear again Western paper