Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-08-29
a. B1ighted Race Of Women.
From the New York Sur.

IF there was ever a blighted race of
women" said gentleman of this. city,
recently returned from visit to Cape
God, 1T exists in the peninsular villages
of Massachusetts, villages which de-
pend ON the fisheries, for the support OF
their inhabitants. Nowhere else in all
New England will one see so high an
average of female beauty, especially in
symmetry Of form and freshness Of coma
plexion, as is noticeable among the
young girls Of these Cape Cod fisher
mems towns, girls ranging from Is to 20
years of age. But it will not take one
long to discover the startling and mel
ancholy fact that if this gir1ish beauty
and freshness is unusual and 11nexpeot-
ed, it is also only too apparent that it's
duration is brief. The change produc-
ed in these girls by the lapse of a few
years is painful in the extreme. No
matronly graces are to be seen among
them after their girlhood days are past.
The charming middle stage Of matur-
ing womanhood, between the freshness
and buoyancy Of the girl Of 20 and the
woman of 35 or 40, is entirely absent.
The heightened color Of the cheeks is.
gone. The eyes are sunken and wear
look of sadness and anxiety. Gray hair
in heads over which g score and half
Of years have scarcely passed, and deep
are lines in faces which should show no
trace of age for 25 years to come, rather
tie rule than the exception. These
women, besides suffering from all the
inevitable sorrows which fall to woman 8
lot, no matter in what station she may
be placed, have an added intense and
perpetual SORROW all their own. Theirs
is @ life of continual suspense and anxi-
ETY., which is almost certain to be in
time embittered by an overwhelming
GRIEF. .. ~.#~l' '5.8%r,l5. .*@s...
"The most obtuse observer needs not
TO ask the cause Of. this lack Of complete
matron1y beauty among these women
whose bidding days open with the
greatest promise of a superb physical
womanhood, and for the utter .extinc-
tion of that ight.heartedness and
brightness which marked their gir1ish
life. The cause suggests itself at once
to one who secs, the congregations of
women on the beaches and in the quiet
streets Of the sleepy villages. He viii
notice occasionally a feeble old man
among them, generally supported on
the arm of some female com anion,
who, most likely, carries on her other
arm q chubby faced child Of lusty lungs.
But in these groups, or anywhere about
the village, the observer will look in
vain for the presence Of males between
tottering years of these relics Of thu.
past and the prattling days Of baby
hood. It is the fishing season, and
there are no men or boys on shore.
Their smacks are tossing on the treach-
er ous waters Of The fishing banks, and
their return, il they return at all, is
as uncertain as the weather, which
forms the one grert subject Of
conjecture and apprehension among the
villagers. Husbands, sons, fathers,
brothers and sWeethearts are seme-
where on the bosom Of the sea, proba-
bly,. homeWard bound perhaps steering
for still more distant waters, perhaps
struggling for life among the waves,
Fair weather keeps hope warm ii many
an anxious woman's heart; the bowling
northeaster chills it with doubt aud
despair. Constantly waite ching BY day,
waking In the night to listen TO sounds.
from the sea, whether they may be the
roaring of b the dreaded tempest or
merely the moan Of The surf on the
beach, IS il, any wonder that the torture
Of mind and heart, and strain Of nerve
and vital force that must follow this
perpetual suspense and LONGING should
destroy the fountains Of youth and
beauty il these patient, suffering won
en- and place upon them the marks Of
age while they are yet young
Yet the girls grow up with bslt one
thought of what their future LOT viii
be. with but one Obj ectt iii view upon
which their visions OF happiness are
based Go among any syronp pf these
3brigh buoy ant girls IA 81, Of the syil
lagos of the class i am sl,sa king d. and
you viii find that 8 out sff &c them
look forward to q unio n 81 it'll some one
who pill spend his life fishing the
summer and c0astiDR he winter.