The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-11-20

kSN'ihS "h'sh 'iNf eiopAey >o'A'N'"
plating the domestic joys of their mar
ried friends.
Alteration is another failing of ar
cient maidens that calls forth frequent
satire-thc oppressive dread of no!
appearing young, and, in consequence
assuming the dress as well as the
kittenish airs and graces of eighteen.
But in looking about among my fel.
low-womeD, | have observed quite as
many married as single ones who We're
victims of this sort of folly. 1t is the
special province of woman to look as
| pretty as she can, and to hold on to
her youth to the utmost is her duty;
but there are ways and ways of doing
this without making herself a subject
of ridiculc instead of admiration
The .'autumnal sisterhood' are more
over distinguished for ingenuity, pa
tiencc and charity. Not all the good
sisters who devote their lives to works
of mercy wear the hood and gown
which proclaims their mission 10 man-
kind. They are everywhere among
US, and are without doubt often the
butt of snecrs and false lmputations
from the careless and mthinking.
Somebody has said 'it is better to be
laughed at because you are not mar
ried than not to be able to laugh be-
cause you are The saying applies
admirably, in many cases, to the con.
fusion of scotiers.
A writer of a century age tells us
that the illustrious fathers of the church
held the doctrine that when our pro-
genitors were created it was the inten-
ton of Heaven that Eve herself should
become an old maid. And further that,
according to St. Romwald, Eve in the
ninety-ninth year Of the world created
a religious Order Of Young Women,
who were to continue virgins and to
preserve uneytinguished the fire which
had fallen from Heaven on the sacri.
fee of Able. The latter myth is
identical with that of the origin of the
Vestal Virgins in Rome. There are
numerous mythical traditions of like
character, al showing that old maids
were regarded with honor and respect.
Then there came a period, during the
reign Of the Jews, in which no record
is found of the existence of any one
distinguished old maid. The state OF
spinsterhood was also held in d~isfayor
among the Greeks and Romans of that
time. But after the Christian era there
came q wonderful revulsion of feeling,
and a marked increase of unmarried
women of marriageable age. According
to ancient historians the whole sex seem
to have been inflamed with a passion for
vlrginity which was most eargerly
fostered by many of the most distin-
guished fathers of the church. st.
Chrysostom, st. Augustine, st. Basil,
st. Gregory, and many more wrote
passionate and eloquent rhapsodies on
~celibacy as the most honorable condi-
ton of woman, and, indeed, to such
an cXces was this generation for the
single state carried in the second cent.
ury that some preachers acclaimed
against marriage as the suggestion,
of the Devil. Coming down to mod
ern days we find that many of the
most illuStrious women have remained
spinstcrs all the days of their lives.
Elizabeth, Of England, one of the most
remarkable of l%atter-day sovereigns,
and a woman of remarkable acuteness,
courage and political sagaci:y, was
an Old maid. So was Maria Edge.
worth, whose literary work prompted
Sir Walter Scott to begin the Waiver.
Icy novels; so was Caroline Herschcl
so was Jane Porter; so was Joanna
Baltic; so was Mary Russell Milford;
50 vas Jane Austen. to whom Macau.
lay awards a very high place in tho
field of fiction; so were Harriet Mart.
%incau, Frances Power Cobbe, and hun.
dreds of others whose works live after
them.
Who will doubt that such women as
Florence Nightingale, Emily Faithful
and Clara Barton, single women though
they be. have done and are doing
double duty for humanitya Some of the
most eminent women of every civilized
land are found in the pursuit Of sci.
encc, literature, art or bencvolcncc, |
and are welded only to their chosen
calling. The tendcrest ministrations
to sick and suffering strangers in our
hospitals and on our battle-fields come
from the hands of the sisterhood. Are