The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-04-30
Old M aid s.

I not amoGg Its least excellent AMI useiu "
members, and that as class their merits
their claims TO respect and affection aud
<, attitude are such as add a fresh crown
TO. the name of woman. The more civil
zed the community the more readily these
merits are acknowledged. Nor is it al.
ways required that old maids should be
elegant, cultivated, rich, bepevolent, with
some story of romance lingering round
them like an aureole, TO Intensity and
sweeten all the other attractions A cap
able eye knows good article when il
sees 1t, whether enhanced by external
accessories or not. GIven sense, integ-
rity, industry and a warm heart, the hold
er OF these will find appreciation among
the best, always and everywhere.
What an unspeakable treasure in a
family or in neig ghborhood is the mid
dle-aged woman who accepts celibacy a.
her portion, lives for ''other people,
and makes her home in other people :
houses 1t is then that she appears
to best advantage, for the old maid who
keeps house is apt to become as selfish as
the rest Of US.
There was a class of single women
when | was young which seems to have
disappeared with the advent ofthe sewing
machine. They lived literally from house
to house, seamstresses by profession, but
in many cases they acted as housckeepers
and nurses as well, and were in truth
| the friends of the family-sont for iD the
hour of need and relied upon in every
event. Who among US, the elders of So
ciety, cannot look back upon some such
women, constant 10 sick ness and trouble,
whose sympathy and advice and active
aid were felt like pillars in the small So
cial circle where they moved. Was it a
wedding they beat the eggs for the
bride-cake, they put the last stitches into
the wedding dress, they set forth the
wedding feast and best ofall. they cleared
up when all was over, and remained be-
hind to comfort the survivors and get
things on an everyday basis once more.
Was it press Of spring or fall sewing P
they alone knew how to arrange with
best advantage the righttul succession"
of family garments, they alone could
transpose and transfer and transmit with
out fear of detection. With them has
departed | fear, the art Of plain sewing.
What buttoD-holes, wha: feeling, what
fine stitching, what rolling and whip
ping" what henming, what ''stroking
of gather" they accomplished and taught
to the little girls of the family who sat
round emulous with their dolls.
Was it case of sickness ?-whose step
more light than theirs whose hand more
kindly, whose watch more vigilant? On
whom could the doctor so rely when the
sad end approached? To whom did we
commit the last offices OF love-on whom
did We lean when paralyzed with grief and
eXhaustion-Ou whose firmnesS and sym
pathy and power of seli-repres sion? Was
it not some old maid, whose generous
heart and ready hand, instead of having
been garnered up for herself and her own,
belonged to others, and were spent in
their service?
More than forty years ago | knew two
sisters who, coming to the village of
Chapel Hill, lived among our people for
thirty years or more, and so as to win
and retain the entire good will and res
pect OF all classes of society. They came
first as seamstresses, and for years their
arrival into the house with pincushion,
When the sewing machine threw them
out of employment one of them became
a valued housekeeper, the other devel-
oped into sick-nurse, aud in these sew
eTal capacities they at last drifted out Of
my neighborhood
We heard from them, or saw them
from time to time, through ten years or
more, and always with unyarying affec-
ton and esteem. In all these many years
they had family home of their own, to
which they could retire among their re
lations when so disposed To this home,
situated in the upper part Of Durham
county, | followed them, on a charming
d1y in last October, having heard that
there had been sickness and death ia their
family, and that III their old age they
were probably in need of aid lie all these
years of association with Miss Sally
and Miss Matilda none of US had ever
seen their house" or knew how or ex-
actly where they lived. We had to in
quire each mile of our road
Miss Sally had always been the supe
rior of the two. She had that unfailing
sign of superiority loved book.
Her greatest happiness was to hear read
ing while she piled her needle. and ID
return for my well-doing in that line She
would, in her young days, regale me with
and old-world song. She used to sing
Captain Kidd Lament with good el
fect-a sort of monoton0us twang rot
inconsistent with tie monotone of the
LamentatiOn.
Miss Sally was active, ohservant shrewd
and somewhat self asserting. She gloried
in being able to keep secret Her sis
ter was humility personified. If she ever
expressed an OF inion Of her own it was
done with lowered breath and 10 the dark
Together fer more than thirty years they
had known most of the affairs, the say
ings and doings OF every family in Chapel
Hill, and never once used this knowledge,
either indiscreetly or unkindly. | took
as the com panion of my drive young
lady whose cradle they had watched, and
as we went merrily along IN the mellow
October sunshine we bad many affection
ate "reminiscences of the sisters and stored
up thousand things to SAY to them. To
see them would be turning back to the
days before the war the days of my
own youth and childhood when
Chapel Hell was in its flush times. :"
when many, o, how many wer2 promi
ncnt and busy aud beloved whose places
have clean forgot them To talk To them
would be like turning back to the first
chapters IN the first volume.
4 The errand on which we were going
gave secret spring to our spirits. The
day was peculiarly bright aud genial
Never before did see SO many per-
+ simmon trees or SO many persimmons-
never before 50 many locusts. And the
grapes. and the red berries, the late
asterS ard gnden rod, Their name was
legion. The bickories were never 80 gol-
den. the NAPLES never 50 scarlet the
sweeteums 30 purple the pines aud edars
50 green. We crnS- ei tic New Hon e.