Omaha daily bee., 1886-09-12
The Old Maid of To-Day.

Milwaukee Telegraph According to
the IDEAS of things which prevailed not
so very long ago, the woman who did not
marry was.a blighted being. 1t did not
matter whether she remained single
from choice or necessity, for, since it was
considered woman's only, manifest and
unalterable destiny to marry, she must,
of course, be regarded as failure in life
if she did not do this. And though she
may have refused forty offers of mar
riage, or have had the most imperative
duties of any sort, or developed the most
decided talent for some vocation in life
other than marriage, yet neither one nor
all of these would have been accepted as
a valid reason why she should not follow
what society had decided was the only
proper course in life for her. Failing to
become the mistress of her own home she
was doomed to a life of dependence IN
that OF some friend or relative, q useful
creature who took care of tho children
and did the family mending, but was re-
garded with either pity or contempt even
by those who protited most directly from
her labor.
From this condition of things there
arose in literature and the minds of peo-
pie in general the typical "old maid y She
was always pictured as gaunt angular
and forbidding in appearance; morose
and i'll tempered in disposition, as be-
came blighted and disappointed being;
hating youth and pleasure of all sorts,
with special grudge against love making
and lovers, since they reminded her of her
own vanished youth and the opportuni
ties which she had never had or, having,
had neglected. The part which she had
played in the story was usually that of q
butt for the others to scratch jokes upon; /;
or of q marplot and feminine villain
whom all were glad to see discomfited in
the end.
But we have changed all that in these
later days. With the education of women
and the broadening of their opportuni-
les in every way, their destinles have
:roadened also. A woman is still, per-
APPS, expected first to marry, and it is
)est for her that she should, provided
lcr marriage can be n happy ana suita-
OH one. But if from her own choice, or
II necessity arising from IA lack of apprc-
clation on the part OF the other and more
stupid sex, she remains at the end of her
days what some one calls an unclaimed
blessing" she Is no longer considered,
1rom this circumstance alone, n failure
and an unhappy creature. She is no
longer doomed to life of dependence in
the house of another, for n score of voca-
tons are open to her, in any one of
which she may WIN livelihood, or even
competence. Consequently she COM
mands respect, and far from being sub
lect for contempt or pity, she is more
likely the object OF open or secret envy
on the part of most of her married ac-
quaintances.
And so il has come about that the
typical old maid of former times has
passed away, and IN the literature of to-
day we find new type conforming to
the new facts in the case, and quite differ
enU from the old The modern old maid
is not angular and forbidding in appear
ance, but plump and pleasing. She is
not morose and ill-tempered, but jolly
and good natured to an extent that makes
her tho best of company, AS she has
never had the all-absorbing cares which
come with marriage and has no family
of sons and daughters growing up about
her 10 remind her of the flight of years,
she has naturally forgotten TO grow old,
and young people regard her as one oi
themselves when good times are being
planned; while in the matter of lovers and
making she has had that experience
which makes her simply invaluable as
Copiidante and adviser, and she is the
repository of all the secrets of this sor
which exist within the range of her &C
auaintancc. She dresses in eXqulsit,
taste, she pets pug dog or white rat
golden beetle, or whatever animal fash
ion may dictate; she entertains beauti
fully: is idolised by her family. especially
her Young nephews; has hosts of admir-
ers, but is discretion and proprietV per
soniiiod; is the guiding spirit in orphan
Rsylums, hospital fairs. associated charity
matters, and other good works, and, il
short lives out 20 the end ot her days /
happy, useful, well-romded existence.
Jhe single woman who mas her OWL