Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-04-26
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OLD MAIDS.

This name, as term of reproach, or a
thing to be sighted and sneered at, is like
| ly to become one of the lost arts. 1t is be-
coming to be post of honor, and shows
that a woman has too much sense and dis
cretion to accept the first, or, even the sec
ond offer, merely for the purpose of escap-
ing an odium or getting home. Single
blessedness is far better than double misery,
or even mediocrity. In proof of the num-
Der of mistakes made in this particular, we
need only refer you to the divorce mania
which is sweeping over the North and
West. In every one of these cases mistakes
have been made, and that is resOrted to as
means of correcting them. Happy is she,
| in many instances, that escapes matrlmony,
but some are slow to believe it. Better,
far better, to be a happy maid than an un-
happy wife.
There is some hope for an Old maid, for
many of them marry late in life, and they
can comfort themselves with the notices,
"better late than never" and "While there
is life there is hope," but when a matrimo-
nial mistake is made, it is made for life.
There can be no looking forward to prOspec-
tive relief, and the only hope is in the death
of one or the other of the parties. The
mistake of life time is the most serious
one a woman can make, or man either,
for even the sterner sex is liable to make
blunders in this respect. They have been
blinded by the dazzling beauty OF charm
ing deceiver, which they realized to their
cost when it was too late to retreat. 1t is a
rule that will, and often does, work both
ways, and he that would play the bitter has
been known to get bit. An old bachelor is
considered to have the advantage OF an old
maid in the estimation of the public, for
L. 1>x,o n
it from choice, but she from necessity,
which suppositiOn, however, is not always
true. In our miscellaneous reading we
stumbled upon the following article, pub
lished in one of our exchanges without
credit, and we use it as an appropriate con-
clusion.
"The term is already almost an extinct
one. The world is beginning to realize that
many noble woman are too honest, too
brave and too pure to use marriage as a
makeshift. Andit is plain that there cannot
now be in existence more thoughtful, more
large-hearted, more self-sacriticing, more
modest, tender and truthful women than
these. AS society comes to see that woman
is as separate an entity, as distinct an lndl--
viduality as a man, it will pay less regard
to her accidents and more to herself. 1t
is granted that she has had 'disappolnt-
ment" at a tender age, or buried her youth
full lover, or been the victim OF mlsunder-
standing, if she writes herself Miss" atfor-
ty. Nor will it audibly wonder why a
charming woman is unmarried after she is
twenty-five. It will admire her for her adj
mirableness, whether that has had the GER
tifcate of some mans expressed appreciation
or not. 1t will permit her to live her own
life In the past the patience Of single wo--
men has been too self-sacritcing. Almost
with one accord have they consented to ef-
face themselves, as the French say, grieving
the while in silence that married sisters and
preOccupied brOthers-in-laW and gay young
nieces-alas that even disappointed pa
rents-were so ready to efface them.
"They have seemed content to live only
for others. But this virtue Of self-sacrifice
is greatly misunderstood. TO deny ones
self is great end; to help the weak, to re-
lieve the burdened, that is heroic. But only
to sew for the idle, to take steps for the in
considerate, to pamper vanity and folly
with endless services, to be an unpaid upper
servant for unappreciative kindred, to make
ones self of no account, that seltishness may
prosper, this is selfish and perpetuates ty-
ranny. This degradesand belittles her who
ministers, as it initiates and miSleads her
who is ministered unto. BY cultivating a
little of that Selfshness which she sees IN
others, the single woman may command re-
spect. She should not slight her dress, and
put away from her the ornaments and
graces of life. They are her armor and de-
tense, her argument and appeal, for it is for
her to show, in her own person, how much
more is the woman than the wife, and how
incontestable is her right to place in the
house, in society and in the world"