The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1883-05-17
Old Maids.

for those who have somehow missed
what seems 50 irksome to many who
have IT, the blessing Of husband and
children and homep- for those who at
thirty or thirty-fve find their youth
thing Of the past and the dreaded term
"old maid" beginning to fasten upon
theme Patiently and lovingly have
their best years been given 10 comfort
a widowed father or mother, or in car
ing for Young brothers or sisters. At
last the aged parent goes to well-earned
rest; the brothers and sisters no longer
need her care, and the busy hands Of
the cold maid" of thirty-live are idle
now No one, not even one little child,
depends on her for happiness. What
can she do? What work will fill the
empty hands and hungry hearth What
would she not give for the clasping of
little hands, for something, anything,
TO live for to work for.
As ''misery is said to love company
it might comfort our friend to know
that ''old maids" are not the only in
diyidnals that go through life hungry
hearted. If she will look over the circle
Of her friends and acquaintances she
will find very few withwhom she would
be willing to change places. She will
find many wives married but not mated,
many mothers whose children are a
source of as much pain and anxiety MS
Of pleasure. and widows whose "crown
of fsorrOw is remembering happier days.
This will not lessen the "chill she must
feel who warns herself at another's
fireside,N but it may enable her to bear
il with greater fortitude. The best way
of managing the stigma of being called
cold maid Is 10 accept the designa-
tion heartily, in accordance with the
facts, to make no secret of ones age, of
ones preference for married life If it
could be properly realized, and OF tho
reasons which have compelled single
life. These facts need not be obtrpded,
but when they are suggested their full
recognition IL the best policy.
It is true, no doubt, that most Of those
who live unmarried lose not only the
greatest happiness but the best discip
line Of life in never losing the con
seiousncss of self. Na
Love took M the Harp OF Life, smote on all it,
chords with might,
Snote the cord of Self that, trembling, pass'd
in music out ofslght i.Hi tAlU8.a
The blessedness of perfect marriage
lies largely in the consciousness that
the center Of self is i'm the other and
dearer half, and has passed TO this cen
ter sin musicH; or, to use q simila
. which Is exactly in point, the two halves,
like binary stars, reyolveround II center
!. common to both and common only to
both Each knows all the heart, all the
thought. all the being of the other; as
the soul and body are one, 50 the hns,
band and wife are one, in an intimacy
as sacred as it is pure and entire, and
which in the Scriptures is compared to
the relation between Christ and the
\ Church.
K Then in the mother-love there is the
same or greater abnegation of self. The
mother delights in giving her life TO her
child and for her child If need be, and
this devotion, far from requiring an ef-
X fort il Is impossible for her TO repress.
'.Can mother forget her chld?"
1t is the want Of this discipline and
all that it implies, SO pleasant to take
4 that il seems TO demand another name,
that prevents the majority Of .'old
maids from being loyable and lovely,
that leaves them narrow and narrowing
and 'sparticular. = The loving wife
easily learns TO overlook or make al
I lowance for such faults as She may dis
cover in her husband, and tocnre them
il they can be cured, not by direct at
tack, but by gentle and wisely-deyised
/ flank movements. She learns also TO
have her own faults corrected by a low
ing hand. The mother submits almost
with pleasure to the pulling Of her hair,
the disarranging of her dress, by the
4 dear little hands Of her baby, to its
..getting into things" and the strewing
of its playthings along the floor, and
( even to the prints Of its fingers on the
window-pane II could be wished in
some cases that the .'divine phrensyH
Il Of mother-loge were in these matters
Il less pronounced than il Is. The single
H woman has little or none of this special
Kind Of discipline.
y sNot even one little child depends
| on her far happiness. What can she
\ dop What work viii fill the empty
\ hands and hungry hcart?' And yet or
4 phan asylums are full to ovcrfowing.
Innumerable motherless waits are float
( ing about in society perishing for want
II Of loving care. In such q world as this
there is surely enough 10 do for all who
I would relieve sorrow and painand bring
joy to the anguished heart and light 10
7 the darkened soul. Wisely, indeed,
has the "Mother Church. provided
'syocationsu for the women in her
membership, and made it possible for
her whose heart overflews with charity
and tile desire Of doing good, but whose
hands are empty, 10 associate herself
with schemes Of organized benevolence
in fields that are always ''white TO the
Harvest" Some of our Protestant COM
munion have followed this example,
and the 'fSisters Of Mercy are happy
in their work. Lacking association Of
this kind, she who is really in earnest
TO bring happiness TO herself by Great
ing it in the hearts Of others will find
the way open as she advances. X,
Tribune. iis, sasa.as s-a 3
Co,,,a dsl,ts.,. T.. ALL nan. e,,. ,f,,. fla