The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-08-10
CAPE con WOMEN.
EisAermea's Wives and sweeihsArts whose
Lives are Full OF sorrow.

FisAermea's Wives and sweethsarts whoss
Lives Full OF sorrow.
IF there was ever a blighted race of
women" said o gentleman Of this city. recently
returned from visit to Cape Cod. lit exists in
tho peninsular villages Of Massachusetts,. viii
lagos which depend on the fisheries for the
support OF their inhabitants Nowhere else in
oil New England will one see SO high an aver
age Of female beauty especially in SYM
metry Of form and freshness Of complexion.
ss IL noticeable among the young girls
OF these Cape Cod flshermens towns. girls
ranging from Ii to 20 years OF age.
But 1t will not take one long to discover the
startling and melancholy fact that II this girlish
beauty and freshness Ia unusual and unex-
pected. 1t Is also only too apparent that its
duration Is brief. The change produced in
these girls by the lapse OF few years Is painful
in the extreme. No matrony graces are to be
seen among them after their girlhood days are
past That charming middle stage OF matur-
ing womanhood. between tho freshness and
buoyancy OF tho girl OF 20 and the woman Of SO
or 49, is entirely absent. The heightened color
of the cheeks is gone. Tho eyes arc sunken
and wear q constant look OF sadness and
anxiety. Gray hair in heads over which
a score and a half OF years have scarce
ly passed. and deep lines In faces
which should show no trace Of ago for
twenty-five years to come. are rHther tho rule
than the exception. These women. besides suf-
fering from oil the inevitable SORROWS which
she may bo pIacsti. have an added intense and
perpetual sorrow oil their own. Theirs Ia q life
al sn s IN % Sy an
overwhelming grief.
Tho most o6tuse observer needs not to ask
tho cause OF this lack OF complete matrOnly
beauty among these women whose budding
days open with, the greatest promise Of
utter extinction Of that llshthearte,inss s
and brightness which marked their girlish
to one enc wb cause sec. s
streets Of the sleepy villages He will notice
generally supported on the arm Of some female
conmpanion: who, most likely. carries . on her
Rut in these groups. or anywhere about the
village the observer will look in vain for the
these relics Of the past and the prattins s days
OF babyhood. 1t il the fishing season. and there
arc no men or boys on shore. Their
waters OF the fishing banks. and their return
u they return at all. Is as uncertain 90 the
conjecture and apprehension among the vii:
layers. Husbands. sons. fathers. brothers and
are somswhsre out on the bosom
perhaps strusxline for lie among the waves.
| easter chills 1t with doubt and despair. Con-
to listen to sounds from The sea. whether tfoy
may be the roaring OF the dreaded tempest or
merely the moan Of the surf on the beach, Is It
and strain Of nerve and vital force that must
| follow, this perpetual suspense and longing
| should destroy tho fountains Of youth and
beauty in these patient. suffering women and
place upon them tho marks of age while they
-" Yet the girls grow up with but one thought
| OF what thoir future lot Will he. with but one
object in Wow upon which their visions OF hap.
| piness are based. Go among any group Of
these bright, buoyant girls in any OF tho villages
Of the class am speaking Of. and you will find
Union With some n, one who will spend his lie
fishing in the summer and coastng in the
other future for them than the one which is to
! come to them as il-hermsn's Wives or that the
NE OF fisherman herman wife Is anytime dilsrH9,
never seems to occur 70 them.
| Looking at ono Of these bright. happy girls
| chatting and rompins amid half dozen sad
eyed young wives and mothers on the beach OF
| at the landing where some one is always wait.
cannot prevent his imagination from seeking q
most melancholy channel; There is the cir
S viii not Se BE- ,w "ny before shs Y
alone In her little home. her baby in the cradle
and tho north wind bowling without. shC
whose return she is longing and praying ma,
DO struggling in tho breakers whio the HIsh
sss ON h W se for ua sbs s bs osy 40 s n
snur OF land that rises behind her house t.
see the skeleton OF a ship which foundercC
only few months ago. ami all her crew
In tho little churchyard recall to her every Sun
day how. In one night by tho wreca of fshins
craft homeward bound, over seventy women q
widowed left childless. AMI nearly every hom,
made desolate. 1t is to future attended will
painful suggestions such as these an'
with unceasipg suspense and ever presen
agony OF mind, that these bright. fair younI
girls sacrifice all their youth and beauty AM