The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1878-01-23
MISCELLANY.
UsEFuGNEss or OH mAsps.

People who exist in this latter half of the
nineteenth century, are wont to discuss the
question of the availability of ancient maidens
for useful purposes, with the most absurd
gravity; as if celbacy might Of itself, unfit
one for the ordinary duties of life, and as If
marriage were the only gates to the land of
usefulness. But, strange as it may seem, it
has been proved that old maids can do great
many things very we'll. 1t is evident to all
close observers, that woman has been known
to cook, sweep, scrub, in short, to perform all
the labors and duties of a housekceper, and
that In the best manner, without ever having
visited the matrimonial altar. 1t has also
been clearly shown that she can be first
class milliner tailor, sales-woman, teacher,
book seller, telegraph operator and has shown
herself efficient in many other ways that
"time would fail me to tell Of" without ever
saying over, even to herself in whisper, the
marriage formula.
That old maids can win royal position Ii.
literature and art, there is more than hint
in the names of Alice and Phoebe Cary, Fred
erika Bremen, Charlotte Cushman, Rosa Bon
heur, Harriet Hosmer, and very many 9TH
ers.
And yet there are those who, in the face of
the record that single women have made in
all the past, will ever and anon raise the sol.
enin inquiry, "Is there any place for old
maids in the social economy? Is there any
way to utilize them ?" They will ask this
with the most ridiculous earnestness, as IL the
old maid were a new kind of bug or animal,
discovered very recently, and with haunts
and habits wholly unknown.
But perhaps, with them the question is
whether old maids will have usefulness Pc
culiar to themselves. In other words, do
they subserve any purpose which as married
women, they could not
The case seems little doubtful, but let us
see. There has been much written about the
self-sacriicing old maid who yields herself up
a willing victim to the demands of numerous
brothers. sisters and their little ones, and so
manages to annul her natural worthessness.
Well, some of them do that way and some do
not, and besides widowed sister or aunt
might do just as effective service in tho mar
tyr enterprise, SO that does net prove any
thing.
can think Of but two branches of business
of which old maids have the monopoly, and it
takes two kinds ofspinsters to attend to those.
The hatchet-faced, vinegary piece of antiquity
may DO useful in driving weak, timid souls
into matrimony from fear of being, some
day, like unto her while the gentle, sweet
faced, serene specimens serve to encourage
others TO be true to their womanly instincts
and walk bravely through solitary life, rath-
er than do violence to their natures by mar
riage based upon anything else than pure af-
lection.
know Of no other mission peculiar to old
maids but as there is such abundant testi-
mony to the variety and Importance of their
work, it seems rather unfair to that they do
everything that other women do, and very
great deal besides, to prove their right to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And
when we ponder the fact that old maids have
even trained up children to maturity of hon.
or and usefulness, it does seriously suggest the
idea of an essay or two upon the usefulness
Of married women, as SUCH"