Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-06-08
A SHORT SER W o N ON
RACHETORS.


BACHEL
Every now ard again Samaritan of the
press has to pour oil into the wounds o.
some traveller that the World has had dowI
and tussled sorely. This time it is that
person described by the world at large, and
particularly Icy that part of it that wears
bonnets, as "a crusty old bacEelor.' The
term itself is delusion, and begets de
lusons. It is not to be denied that, in the
ewes of the world, unmarried men of IN
certain age do not gain favor. The father
Of half dozen boys who break the
neighbours windows and kill his chick
ems, is, by some strange process of rea-
soning. far more respected than the
unmarried man, who has brought none
of these troubles into the world. In
deed, so true is this that if those boys
were to break the bachelors windows, and
even snowfall him in winter, and blow
putty~balls at him in summer, his troubles
would, by another mysterious process of
reasoning, be viewed as if deserved. or,
still more unjustly, as being brought on
by himself He is put down as # a class
of men in whom no interest is to be felt.
1t is of him that the landlady says, as he
passes by up stairs, that sit is nobody but
Mr.. PERKINS, and that is mel ely the re
Election of the worlds opinion, except that
it generally adds, "a crusty old bachelor"
People forget, when they speak lightly
of bachelors, who it is that have beer
bachelors. That chief of the Apostles
PAUL, whose writings are to-day more read
than any of the Twelve, was a bachelor.
and. by-the-by, he is text book, for those
who are willing to remain single, and face
frowning world. 1t is not necessary t.
quote his remark, that they who marry
do well, but they who marry not do bet
ter. for this creed is not written against
marriages. most admirable institution of
quite ancient origin. but what we wish to
enforce is the fact that he knew the griefs
of much maligned class. What heart so
hard as not to have been touched at his
explanation, that ''with these hands'' he
worked Does any bachelor need to be
reminded what this work wasp How
many Sabbath mornings in that little two
story house at Damascus did that noble
apostle sit on the side of the bed and sew
buttons On his garments; how often darn
his sainted socks How neglected was he
of women, and yet how grateful! He was
not 'sexpected' of the heads of houses, al d
his lodging seem to have been constant
trouble. ''But, withal,' he constantly re-
marks to PHILEMON, ''prepare me also
a lodging How different all this would
have been had there been Mrs. PAUL to
talk about the family after she visited
them How careful would they have been
to have prepared the best lodgings How
a gentle allusion to what MI. PAUL al
ways hunted,the market for, when at home.
would have improved the bill of fare. And
then how grateful this Chief of Bachelors
was to every woman that helped him, ''Sa-
lutte PHGBEH' he says s'for she hath oft
succored me,'' and Mary, ''for sht hath
bestowed much labor on us.'' Labor
Perhaps, pin, to fix his collar on! For
next to dog there is no creature more
humbly grateful than bachelor for the
smallest attention from women. A graft
tude that, if the truth were known, has
caused more marriae es than all the re.ll or
artificial charms that women ever pos
sessed
Of course with some of the tenets held
by PAUL, we cannot agree, nor is it eXpec-
ted Of any man desiring to live in peace in
community, that he should openly avOw
his coincidence with them. His remarks
about widows and his opinion of women
that talk a great deal are some Of them
They may partially account for his
having had to sew his own buttons Oh and
also for his having had his hospitality made
so precarious. Doubtless such sentiments
could only have applied to the women of
hi. day. 1t is well known that nothing
ill-natured can be said of the widows of to-
day, and quite as true is it that in this
century there are no women who talk a |
great deal. But, however all that may
be, and mark you, we are not justifying
him in the slightest degree for anything
he may have said in that connection, we