Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-11-27
EN- MAIDS.

Ia the good old fa9nloneo nome2re6ds
Is the farmers holiday.
eLD MAIDS.
T. You who are 50 ready Nth wordsof
encouragement and helpful sympa-
| thy for the weary, overburdeued
mothers, have you any kind words
for another classt-for those who
have somehow missed what seems
so irksome to many who have it, the
blessing of husband and children and
home?--for those who at thirty or
thirty five find their youth thing of
the past and the dreaded term "old
maid" beginning to fasten uDon
them2 Patiently and lovingly have
their best years been given to CON-
fort a widowed father or mother, or
in caring for young brothers or sis
tefs. 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 s'old maid" of
thirty-iive are idle now. No one,
not even one little child, depends on
her for happiness What can she
do? What work viii. I'LL the empty
hands and hungry heart. What
would she not give for the clasping
OF little hands. for something, any
thing, to live for, to work for.
As misery is said to lore compa-
n.y." it might comfort our friend to
know that 'old maids are not the
only individuals that go through life
hungry-hearted. If she will look
over the circle Of her friends and ac-
quaintances she will find very few
with whom she would be willing to
change places. She will f5Dd many
wives married bue not mated, many
mothers whose children are source
of as much pain and anxiety as OF
pleasure, and widows whose ''crOwn
of sorrow is remembering happier
days" This will not lessen the ''chill
she must feel who warns herself at
another's fireside" but It may enable
her to bear 1t with greater fortitUde.
The best way of managing che stig
ma OF being called ''old maid" 10 to
accept the designation heartily IN
accordance with the facts, to make
no secret of ones age, of ones pref
erence for married life If it could be
properly realized, and of theNreasoHs
which have compelled single life
These facts need not be obtruded,
hut when they are suggested their
full recognition is the best policy.
1t is true, no doubt, that most of
those who live unmarried lose not
only the greatest happiness but the
best discipline of life in never losing
the consciousness of self.
Love took ND the harp of Life, smote on
all its chords with might.
Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling
psss'd In music out OF sight.
The blessedness of perfect marriage
lies largely in the consciousness that
the center of self is in the other and
dearer half, and has passed to this
center ''in music;" or, to usea simile
which is exactly in point, the two
halves, like binary stars, revolye
round q 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 enc, 80 the husband and
wife are one, in an intimacy as sa-
cred as it is pure and entire and which
In the Scriptures Is compared to the
relation between Christ and the
| Church.
Then la 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 effort, 1t is impossible
| for her to repress. Can mother
forget her childs"
Il is the want of this discipline and
all that il implies. so pleasant TO take
| that Ii seems to demand another
name, that it prevents the majority
of "old maids" from being lovable
and lovely. that leaves them narrow
| and narrowing and particular" The
loving wife easily learns To overlook
or make allowance for such faults as
she may discover in her husband.
and to cure them If they can be cur
ed, not by direct attack, but by gen.
tie and wisely-devised flank move
ments. She learns also TO have her
own faults corrected by a loving
hand. The mother submits almost
with pleasure 10 the pulling of her
hair, the disarranging of her dress.
by the dear little hands of her baby,
10 its getting into things" and the
strewing of its playthings along the
floor, and even 10 the prints of its
fingers on the window pane. It
could be wished IN some cases that
the ''tlivine phrensy" of mother-.ove
were in these matters less pronoune-
ed thaa IL is. The single woman has
little or none OF lthis special kind OF
discipline.
Not even one little child depends
on her for happiness. What can she
dos What work will I'LL the empty
hands and hungry hearI.' Aud yet
orphan ssylums are full 10 overflow
ing. Innumerable inotherless waits
are floating about In society perish.
ing for want OF loving care. In such
a world as this there is surely enough
To do For all who would relieve sor-
row and pain aud bring joy 10 the
anguished heart and light 10 the
darkened soul. Wisely. indeed, has
the Mother Church provided ''vo-
cations" for the Women In her men,
brrsAIp. aud made il possible for her
whose heart overflows with charity
and the desire of doing good. but
| whose hands are empty. TO associate