Smyrna times., 1878-07-03
Young Old Maids.

The caption OF this article may seem
paradOXical, but it is not. 1t is but proper
to credit the tyranny of the Anglo-Ameri-
can language with the permission to use
the phrase: Young Old Maids" No
other words can possibly explain that which
shall follow. There are young females who
have taken on an adult look and manner
before they have crossed the bright equi-
noxial line of their teens. One may know
them by their staid demeanor, sedate eyes
and general appearance of weariness. In
the public thoroughfares they walk not
with the light, buoyant spring of youth;
they talk languidly, and their torper is not
abated by coming in contact with en-
thusiastic acquaintances. There is lone
some, far-away look out Of their eyes, which
seem to have lost some object necessary to
prevent abstraction. They do not dress
with the exquisite tasts which marked their
former years, and evince prematurely that
their married life will be cut after the slat-
tern of the domestic circle. These young
old folks differ from the genuine old maid.
The fortunate or unfortunate unmarried
woman who has welded herself with single
blessedness is really of different kind.
She is staid and prim, and precise, but that
arises from the fact that she has no admirer
to cause her eyes to sparkle, none to dress
! for, none whose varying opinions are to be
| respected. An estimable woman she is,
going through life, not a bird of brilliant
plumage and singing heart, but one that
| falls into contentment from the necessities
of co-eXistent loneliness and self-reliance.
She missed making some man good wife,
but that has its compensation, and these
she alone can experience and appreciate
Such a woman's gravity of speech and look
and manner consorts with her age, for nc
one can be called an old maid who is mo-
on the shady side of thirty. Other cause!
conspire to make the young old maid.
a girl has been compelled from early child
hood to spend her time chiefly among
, mature or elderly persons shewill un9uestioi
ably catch the expression of their faces, tn,
tones of their voices, and reflect their man
ners. Young girls want young girl com
panions, and it is an outrage to shut then
: up in social convent among females oil
, enough to be their grown sisters or mothers
7 and, indeed, grandmothers. There
another reason why girls grow prematurel
old. Does any father or mother suspeC
l what it is ? Do the girls themselves suspec
t 1t? 1t is this: Constant companionshi
4 with single beau. Girls are permitted b
s unrefecting parents to make engagement
: when they should be at school, and tha
) too, with very young males, some of whoI
g have not attained their majority, or if the
l. have, are in no pecuniary condition
marry. These young fellows are very e1
: acting; they do not wish their affianced I
c walk, talk, eat, drink, or in any way kee
ii company with other young men. The
l. are always at church waiting to escort I'll
t. affianced one home; always at other plac
y keeping away possible male companion
lr in a few words, always tugging at Il
al apron-strings of the poor girl and insstir
le that she, being engaged, has no rights b.
y, such as he is willing to accord her.
RS couse, some parents would kick such
le fellow out of their doors and free the
'l- daughters from doom which is n
RS pleasant to contemplate but there a
st others. and these constitute Slote's "lar
be majority" who let the engageme
to lengthen out like poetic Alexandra
&c How is it possible for a girl not to be
ch young old maid when she is thus COMPEL
nd to adhere to the society of single perso
er Indeed, both the engaged people becor
nd in this way old, but the female suffC
he most; for, unlike the male, she is +
lis abroad in the world, having her activit
at stimulated by varied companionship
Iot business or private life. The young {
ey maid can be seen anywhere in the metre
sly oils, and what she will be when married
nd ten or fifteen years it is best to relegate
&C. oblivion.-N Y. MtTcwy.