Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-08-20
AN OLD MAID.

THAT term cold Maid" demands a
blush When it shall be reproach for
green apples to ripen, for buds to bloom
and crude May days to orb into midsum-
mer beauty, then shall the days draw nigh
when it shall be said that maturity de-
tracts from woman's charm. There are
acid natures that would not sweeten in
greenhouse; but would the accident Of mar
riage alter the law of natureg Would not
the fret and fume of welded life create yet
more vinegar, bring into relief sharper
angles and weary us with still more tune
less discordsP And if we yield it to be no
disgrace for the abstract woman to grow
old, is it any more so for one who, in the
chances of this busy world, finds herself
minated?
There are few women who have not
had the opportunity to marry if they
would. Did you ever count the number
of those who would be unmarried if
they could? And yet have met women
who spent their days repining at the bur
den of yoke that CALLED and whose lips
have curled with laughter at some jest
about old maids, and who would shudder
at thought of their own darling girls
doomed to lives of single le-blessedness.
All glory to the woman independent
enough to bear the stigma of &c Old Maid''
rather than link her life to dolt, and
tender reverence to the woman who re-
mains faithful to a grave and plants no
flower of second love to bloom above it.
1t is well for "Mary" while youth
dashes her cheek with crimson and lights
her eye with joys evanescent flame
while "father'' is prosperous and the
root-tree firm above her head. Life has
no greater burden than the trim
ming of bonnet or the selec-
ton of ribbon. Friends are thick
about her as chattering swallows about
the old barn when the first dreamy spring
days come-and the years stretch before
her eager feet in vistas of unbroken sun,
shine But like one who, walking
through forest, fails to gather sticks
until upon the verge of desert meadows,
behold! there is nothing left but broken
twigs, " Mary awakes one day to the fact
that girlhood has departed, younger sis
tiers are settled, school friends are matron-
ly mothers, and the family record points
away back into the mists of antiquity to
date her birth. Shall she snatch heI
crooked stick at last and hobble on her
life path? Shall she bargain herself away
for the rare felicity of yet more buttons
4 10 sew, uOuDlC 6lOCh vi luSSNN
hose to darn and man to carry her help
| lessly along road she may walk royalty
all alone if God has placed a higher ain
in her soul than clinging like a parasite
| Being a brave, sensible woman, Mary
passes by the "last chance" and emerge
alone from the songful woods into tn
companionless desert. Fathers, howeve
doting, cannot live always, earthly moth
ers are perishable, and the stoutest roof
trees crumble away. One by one they ar
taken from her while the world wonder
"What will become of Mary nO,o"
Brothers Bob and Ned and Harry rol
up their sleeves and go to work Sister
Emma and Kate peer at the unmatched
out of their trimming nests and chirl
mild rebuke that she should so wreck her
self. Their children grow up full
boisterous love for the pleasant-tace,
auntie who fits through their home, earn
ing her way all along, rocking cradles
darning socks and washing dishes.
I Johnny takes the smallpox Aunt Mar
tends him-when the baby dies Aun
Mary folds white buds in its list
less hands and drops the last tea
on its dreaming face. When the girl
are married Aunt Mary gives the tinishin
pat to the bridal fixings, and is the mott
ers rival in the brides fond love. Sh
merges her identity in the lives of thos
who love her and whom she lives for Pa
tiently she plods on her uneventful year
finding her religion in each days dut
well performed-her rights in just tn
place God has put Increasing others bu
dens, busting parlors, sweeping rooms
making beds with brave heart acceptin
each small footstep of her way, unique
tioning She is "Aunt Mary" to ever.
body. Her conventional name, whic
used in other days TO tlutter many a broa'
cloth breast is forgotten. The butch'
greets her with bluff "Good-mornin
auntie," and all the neighbors' childre
run to her with many needs. There is
bunch of violets upstairs, pressed With
the pages of an old, loved poem, pack
; of letters tied with a faded bit
blue. Over these, sometimes, wht
, the day is done, and the co
; moon floods the world with shimmerir
+ silver, she bends her patient head an
I dreams of the "might have BEEN of h
earthly life-nOt repiningly-for when h
: vigil is ended, and the wan rose Of h
= girlhood's romance faded from her chez
3 She goes cheerily about her work agai
and none but Gods tender angels note u
e grave within that homely heart, ke
A dewy green through all the dusty yea
a with the "Old Maid'sh tear-drops.
0 Bridget is sick, and the kitchen witho
: pilot, Down goes Aunt Mary" into d
c mysterious realm, and custards, tarts al
Y flaky cakes develop beneath her hand
e by the wave of fairy wand, The ch
s dren marry and rear other children; in
!. their families she carries her failing ST
II and whitening head perhaps or may
o she is pensioned, and lives quietly in hu
q BILE lodgings soaiting. Shehas long sin
. become nobody TO the world. Red Ii
smile ut her whimsicalities-manly
lips speak lightly Of her as the " 0
Il Maid" relative When her black alpa
q dress appears at the feast her place
o patronizingly yielded her for the sake
u kinship and past services, but the watt
serve her last, and the carvers give her
end bits. When the wee children ere
I. TO her arms, and the eyes--blue, blaS
brown and gray syeS-ars lifted to