Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-06-05
FOUR OLD MAIDS,
AN ENGLISH FAMILY HISTORY.


she Is an antiquity; not merely record OF The
past, but the very past itself: she has escaped
great change. and sympathizeS not Ia the or
binary mutations of morality. She inhabits 2
little eternity or her own. She Is miss from the
beginning or the chapter to the end. | do not
like to heer her called mistress, as IS sometimes
lne pIacuce, lor That looks and sounds like the
resignation OF despair, q voluntary extinction
OF hope. do not know whether marriages are
made In heaven: some people say that they are,
but am almost sure that old maids are. There
Is something about them thar IS not OF the earth
earthly. They are spectators OF the world, not
adyeI turerS nor raInblerS; perhaps guard ans;
we say nothing OF tattiers. They are, evident
~, predestiDatest TO be what they are They
owe not the siDgularity OF their condition to
any lack or beauty, wisdom, wit. or good tenn
per; there Is nc accounting for il but on the
principle OF fatality. / have known many old
maids, and Of them all. not one that has not
possessed as many good and amiable qualities
as ninety and zine out OF a hundred OF my M lr-
ried acquaintance. Why, then, are they single?
1t Is their fate.
On the left hand OF the road between LONDON
and Liverpool, there is a village, which, for
not so far crafty the curiosity OF idle in
quirerS as 10 say whether it is nearer TO Lon
Don or TO Liverpool; but 1t Is very pretty
village, and let the reader keep sharp lookout
Tor Ii next time he travels that road. 1t Is
situated in valley, through which runs
tiny r1vulet as bright as silver, but hardly wide
enough 1or trout 10 turn round In. over the
little stream there Is bridge, which seems to
TO- have been built merely out of compliment
TO the liquid thread, TO save IL the modification
or being hoped over by every urchin and
clodpole In the parish. The church Is covered
With Ivy, even halfway up the Steepie but the
sexton has removed the green intrusion from
the face OF the clock, which, with It's white sur
face and black figures, looks at distance like
an owl In an ivy bush. A little to the left of
the church Is the parsonage-hOuSe, almost
Smothered with hOneySIckleS; In front OF the
house Is grass plot, and up TO the door, there
Is What is called 1. carriage-drive; but [ never
saw Carriage drive up there, for 1t is so steep
h0r c-fx-
carriage up and there is not room enough
for more than one. Somewhat farther up the
hill, which bounds the little valley where the
village stands, there IS a cottage; the inhabi-
tants OF Ltlleton call IL the white cottage. It
is merely smell. whitewashed house but as IL
Is occupied B.; genteeliSh sort OF people, VINO
cannot AFFORD large house, 1t is generally
called a Cottage
An these beautiful and picturesque objects,
and great many more which have not de-
Scubed have lost with me their interest 1t
would make me melancholy TO go into that
church. The interest which had In the par
Sonage-house was transferred TO the white cot
tage, and the interest which had In the white
cottage, is now removed TO the church yard
and the interest is In four graves that lie par
allel to each other, with headStoneS OF nearly
one date. In these four graves lie the remains
OF four Old maids. Poor things, their remains,
Alack, alack, there was not much that remain
ed OF them. There was but little left OF them
to bury. The bearers had but light work. 1
wondered why they should have four separate
graves, and four distinct tombstoneS. The
sexton told me that it was their
particular desire. In order to make the church.
yard look respectable; and they Left behind
them Just sufficient money TO pay the under
takers bills and 10 erect four grave5toneS. /
saw these ladies twice, and that az an interval
OF 80 years. i mace one more attempt to see
them. and was more grieved than / could
have anticipated, when the neighbors showed
me their Eewiy ,osed graves. Bat no one long
pftieS the dead. and | was after while glad
that they had not been long separated. I saw
these ladies twice, / said: and the first time
that Saw them the only doubt was which of
the four would lie 1rSt married. should have
fallen in love with one OF them myself. do not
know which, but | understood that they were
all four more or less engaged. They were all
pretty, they were al sensible, they were all
good humored- and they knew the world, for
they had all read Rollins Ancient History.
They Lot only had admirers, but two Of them
even then had serious suitors- The whole VII
Iage OF L1ttleJon. and many other villages In
the neighbOrhood rang with the praise of the
accomplished aud agreeable daughters OF the
rector; nor were the young ladies dependent
good qualities; they had the reputation Of
wealth. Which reputation, / am constrained 10
say. was rather bubble. The rectory Of Lit
Teton was said TO be worth thousand year
but 1t never produced more than six hundred.
And the worthy rector was said to be worth
f10.oo0 or c12c0. Bless him, he might be
worth that and great deaimore, but he never
possessed SO much; the utmost OF his private
fortune was cisco in the per cents
1t Is enough TO designate the ladies' by their
boast that bis daughters had really Christian
names. Tie eldest was Mary, the second
Martha. the ID ri Anna, and the youngest Eliza
beth. The eldest was, when first knew them,
actually engaged 10 a young gentleman who
had Just taken wrangler'S degree at Cam
bridge. and lad gained prize for Greek ep!-
gram. Sucn effort OF genius seemed next TO
miraculous at LitJletOn, for the people OF the
Village never gain prizes for Greek epigramS.
The farmers, who had heard OF his success, used
to stare at him for prodigy, and almost wonder
no q
ton, and lIOw do you do?" like the rest of the
world AMI every body said he was such a nice
man. He never skipped irreverelty over the
river. as some young men OF his age would do,
but always went over the bridge IL was edlfy-
Ing to see how gracefully he handed the young
last. Though She was the eldest. The Young
squire OF the parish was generally considered as
the sutton Of the second. The third had many
admirers; she was what is called SNOWY young
woman. ha,iDg little or the theatrical in her
style. She Was eloquent, lively and attltudiniZ-
Ing. She had a most beautiful voice, and her
good papa used 70 say: my dear Anna the
sound OF your voice is very delightful and it
does me good TO hear you sing to your own
harpsicEOTd, but wish could hear you sing at
church Poor man! he did not consider that
there was DO possibility OF hearing any other
Voice while that OF the parish clerk was dIng1ng
In his ears. Elizabeth, the youngest, was decid-
edly the pretjiest of the four; sentimentality
was her folte, or, more properly speaking, her
foiole. She sighed much herself, and was the
cause or sig hing 10 others little thought when
ITSt saw lnFm Jnf-I DenelQ nest or predeS-
tined old maids; but IL was So and the next
time that / saw them they were all living to-
gether, sQilSterS- How was occupied the next
thirty years would be tedious TO relate there
fore pass over that period, and come again to
Ltttleton.
Tine Is Ike mischievous urchin that plays
sad tricks In orr absence, and so dlSarranges
things and persons too, that when we come
back again we hardly know where to ind them
When made my second visit TO Littleton, the
good old rector had been several years In his
grave; and when asked after his daughters, /
was told that they were living and were TO
gether, and that they occupied the white cot
tage. was rather pleased 10 hear that they
We're single, though was SURPRISED at the In
formation / knew that / should be well re-
ceived. that should not find all their old afrec-
IONS alienated by new ties. / knew that
should OF have 10 encounter the naughty and
InteIrogatory eyes OF husbands; that should
Hot De Under the necessity OF accommodating
M!Seu 70 new manners / had, indeed some
OIncuiiy In making myself known and still
more olfncuity In Distinguishing the ladies fhe
one from the other and Connecting their nresenf
WIN tnelr past appearance: for Annals Altman
nlZ1ng days were over, and EljZah.,th had caaSod
10 Sgn- But when the recogn had talon
place, We were exceedingly glad In Gee aach
other, and we all talked together ahonE evart
body and everything at once. ''oi'
My call at the white cottage was at the ,.t,or
end OF Aug uSt. The weather was fine but rhara
had recently been much rain and there u,o
some few heavy clouds, and some little 0roWI
ing OF the wind, Ike the aspect and tons of q =
angry Schocl-maSter, who had Just given how
sound thTashing, and looks as II he were mai,
ln NOD sNas~ tt~.ss