The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-06-05
WOMAN AND HOME.
THE PATHETIC SIDE OF AN "OLO
MAIDS" LIFE
Children in New YOrk--EIow Two Women
Kept HOuse-Wearing Ear-Rings-
Airing ROoms-FrOm a Ser
mOn-Various Items.
[san FRANCISCO Chronicle

An old maid is simply woman whose
body is old, but whose heart is young.
Hearts, souls and affections do not grow old
at all. 1t is only the physical garments in
which these qualities are clothed that de-
cay. Pity it should be so. The great dis
coverer may yet come who shall be able to
teach such as will hear how the decay of
the body consequent ON what we call "old
age" may be arrested and permanent ma
turity be realized instead. No one is to be
blamed for dreading old age We talk of
growing old gracefully" and indulge in
all that sorts of whistling through the woods
to keep our courage up.
But what does growing old mean? Loss of
vigor, loss of attractiveness, loss of ability to
keep our place in the world IL means that
we become objects of repulsion. 1t means
that we are shelveI by friends, family and
community; put away in corner and
labeled "obsolete," useless, :" played out. 1t
means that henceforth we have only to totter
down TO the Office, where our smart young
run the business and feel in somebody's
way; totter back home again, where all the
young hoydens Of girls chattering over
coming wedding, and feel ourselves in the
way there, even though We own the whole
concern. It means growing isolation and
a growing sense that those about us are
simply enduring US and waiting with patience
for us to totter into the grave And when
into that receptacle we are laid decorOusly
and decently and the appropriate prayers
said over US, the family return solemnly
home and talk over plans for refurnishing
and recognizing the hOuse-a sche me so
long and inconveniently delayed by our
hardness in stepping out. That is what old
age means.
1t is little wonder that an old maid grows
sour and ill-natured-as some do and others
do not An unloved life is an unnatural life
and an unhealthy life 1t breeds disease of
the mind and disease of the body. Indeed,
most OF our diseases come of the mind first.
A human being is placed in the world, in
whom exists the quality of sympathy, the
desire of caring for some one and Of being
cared for. This is not myth, it is power;
and being power resident in human nature,
it demands exercise. If a man keeps one of
his arms tied down to his side for years, he
will in time lose the use of that arm and his
whole body will suffer in consequence.
/ believe that it is with the mind, or ma
ture, even as it is with the body, and that
where quality, sympathy, emotion
is denied expression, there results great
and lasting injury. The old maid is
shut off from a range of expression
which belongs to her. Besides she knows
herself to be known as an old maid-as q
sort of pariah, Ostracised from the world Of
youth, hope and beauty, to which once she
DSASnBSuf hueH Sue Heu al the OAO ulalQS
of her prime. Comforting, isn't it, to reflect
on month after month and year after year,
while the glass shows age growing her
facet Heuce:she becomes an "old cat" No
wonder She may go tot church and hear
comforting sermons preached by the young
minister, but he is apt to shake hands in
more comforting sort Of way with the
younger and prettier of his flock, and when
he does so with her it is in that perfunctory.
facb TO bars haf
he feels he has done his duty and is even glad
it is done. 1t takes lot of Christian grace
to overcome all that and prevent one from
becoming an "old cat"