American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-03-23
The Old Maid Of the Family.

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Pal Nall Gazette.
The Old Maid Of the Family.
As rule we do not place much faith in
signs. There is so much to mislead Ills
in this life that if we want to preserve
our reputation for sagacity it is advisable
never to predict an event until it has hap
pened. There is one prophecy, however,
| in which man can indulge with the sat
| isfaction of discovering that his predic-
tion is very likely to be falfilled. A close
observer can almost invariably hit upon
the old maid of the family. He can rec
ogniZe her as quickly amongst the rest of
| her sisters as if she alone did not bear
| the mark, Going to be married. She may
| not be matter of fact; on the contrary,
| she may be far more idealistic in her tenn
| permanent than the rest of her family
| She may not be bad, or quick-tempered;
for her character may be very sweet, full
of the unobtrusive beauties of virtue that
make up the perfect womanhood. She
need not fulfill any one of the conditions
which form the conventional theory of
the old maid; and yet traits there are in
her character which proclaim her. She
stands contest" to use an expression of
the old poets, by the determinable eccen-
tricities with which she variegates the
routine of her life. Eccentricities they
must be, for they find no assimilation
with the characteristics of other girls of
her own age. Even when she pursues
the path chalked out by the social prac-
tees of her own sex, her imitation has
an air different from that suggested by
that of the others. She is coqucttish
with an effort, though her coquetry may
want no piquancy from beauty. With
he, Irritation is love; and her love has an
earnestness that repels by unexpected fer
vor. Indeed, earnestness is her great
foible; it is-the sign that betrays her fu-
ture. She has no Observation-Disclosures the
graceful capacity of lighting on flower after
flower, imparting zest to the pursuit of the
lover, who is as child in the chase.
Here is an undue tensity of faith, a fixity
of idea. She resembles some star which
all other stars pass and repass forever
beaming forth unbroken light from the
high altitude of her own belief She
seems to have no mission but that of lone
seeking. She is born with a stationary
beauty but her earnestness repels for
there can be no allurement where there
seems so much eargerness to allure.
She may be a young girl, and still you
can foreshadow her future by the subdued
air of her present life. Her earnestness
has taught her an odd experience, and
later dealings shall embitter the knowl-
edge. The secret of her celibacy lies in
the intense refinement of the chastity of
her thought and the purity of her char
acter. Both these virtues are too often
sickled DER with simple sort of senti-
mentalism. Her impressionability works
her matrimonial ruin. She mistakes the
shadow of love for itself and hugs for
long while, incapable of being convinced
of her error, the phantom of her heart,
like the woman in the story who was DIS
covered fOndiing the smooth bones of the
skeleton the sight of which had driven
her mad. There is an infinity to be ex-
tracted from the life of the old maid OF
the family. The rude, undiscerning eye
may see in her conduct and character
only woman's heart at variance with
one of the most natuai conditions of life
But deeper gaze can penetrate the
underlying secret, and mourn over
the young earnestness sanctifying itself
by Its patience, but consuming itself
She always loves when young, and
loves with singular purity
and power. She has found some hero,
and has proclaimed to herself his royal
ty. But her powers of demonstration are
not rendered with the faculty of tact. She
sees her lover in the light of her own
love; never once dreaming that she has
min W itH no Quiet eInOtlOu tlstu
a larger self-conceit. Her conduct to-
wards him is animated with the enthusi- |
asm of alteration. The curse of earnest
ness is on her. There is no effort to WOO |
in her love; for the love having been in
spired the period of courtship with her |
has passed; there is no other desire now
than to mingle soul and soul. Rarely it
happens that such a love meets with the
sign and the response for which it longs
to n silver rod, that vibrates with respon-
other.
1t is such fruitless love that first devel-
Dpes the character of the old maid. 1t is
easy to grow cynical over such abortive
sentiment and deride its unworldly views
But out of SO trifling IA tragedy as this
Tor the Staying of love makes tragical the
life of the heart in which love lies dead
comes the influence that is to bias the
whole future of the mourner. There is
an instinct amongst families as
20 whom the old maid shall be- They
OOk upon her as a fat accompH. There is
/ kind of comical pity. The girl seems to
guess at her fate, and accepts it smiling
y. She is not piqued she has tasted the
bitterness Of love; and should ever Fate
Drofler her again the cup, she knows how
much of the memory of that bitterness
you'd minglc itself with the sweets
Lon,ion Leaeier
MISUNDERSTANDING CREsswEIL has
ssued the following, "Owing to the
apid increase in the mails, and the estab-
ishmcnt of many new Post-oiiiccs
throughout the country, this Department
inds il necessary, in order to facilitate the
distribution and to secure a speedy trans
mission of all the heavy mails now pass