The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1889-06-29
SINGLE BLESSEDNESS.
A Contented Old Maid Discusses
Vie Marriage Question. -,

Few Prominent Hints ON the Education
of Girls Marriage u Sad Lottery and.
ct the Best, y State Full Of Cares
Worry and Anxlcties. a.A4-
l have met with very few unmarried
ladies who have not appeared to me to feel,
after the age of thirty, that their existence
was thoroughly comfortless and wretched,
writes IN "Old Maid" in the Now York
Ledger. Many have heard express them
selves thus openly; and that such Is the.
fact can very easily be learned by an &C.
curate observer of the human countenance.
tits also certain that three out Of every five
OF the ycuiis, ladies of the present day must
remain unmarried, because so many young
men think they can not erist on less than
two thousand year when married; and
how few men there are with two thousand q
year compared with the number OF young
ladies IN the country! There are sometimes
five. six, eight girls in one family; gener-.
ally all to,erably pretty, and most of them
pleasing and accomplished w0men--mapy
possessing talents of no ordinary stamp.
yet. perhaps, in our drawing rooms these
lovely and accomplished beings are COM
pletely neglected by the other sex, "be-
cause" Il must repeat the sentiments /
have heard from thousands Of young men
Of fashiop) 81 never talk to girls. dare not
pay attention to unmarried women, because
am not marrying man; my friend, -,
hirted with so-and-so, and was accused of
behaving improperly. don't like to ex-
cite false hopes; shall never marry, unless
| can find wife with at least two or three
thousand q year, because am much richer
unmarried with the small fortune have"
1t is Of no use to quarrel with the state of
society as it IS at present constituted, for
we can not alter it; but think it might be
beneficial to give few hints on the educa-
ton Of women, which might perhaps be
useful in procuring them, In state of
single blessedness, as 1t Is very falsely
called, greater share of happiness, or q
less load Of misery, than they at present ap-
pear to me to possess after tho awful age Of
thirty.
A girl at thirty Is called an old maid. She
goes to o ball, and generally sits neglected
all the evening, or dance with some gentle.
man who has been asked often TO dine 1t
her fathers house, and who, perhaps, re-
marks: 'iiss-is rather pdssee--a good
old girl-and must do my duty there; and
now shall dance with the ,beautiful Miss
-" My heart always bleeds for the
notifications see endured by these poor
old girls continually. There are certainly
some single women whose talents have made
them AZ much considered in society as they
ought to be; but, then, have generally OBJ
served that they have fortunes, or have
had advantages above others TO bring them:
into notice, and to give to, the natural ambt-
tion Of the human species some scope 81
action.
Twin suppose q case in which there'Nfe
four girls-a moderate proportion In one
family--and two sons; and I will suppoSo
their father possesses five thousand a year.
Twill suppose one Of the four young ladies'
very pretty, one tolerably pretty md the
other two rather plain. They have been ed.
ucated, in all probability, asT4he greater
proportion Of American girls are. EHSt0f
all they go every Sunday to church, and are
moderately rich, perfectly honorable, up
right and well principled. 1t 10 only for
their own happiness that would propose
any change in the education Of class Tor
whom entertain so high respect M 81 ~!
These four young ladies' have all hesr
brought up with the idea that they will be-
come wives and mothers, and are taught ID
IL
some remote chance one out Of the four ever
does marry, will make her SO amiable and
lovely as married woman. They are all
allowed to read modern novels, at least all
such as are considered to have q moral
tendency. Now, maintain that there Il
scarcely oneof these works which does not
impress any young woman with the idea
that happiness can alone be found in love
and marriage. ~, :
The heroine is very amable and perfect,
surrounded with admirers, all contending
for the honors Of her least notice; but where
Is the novel which represents four poor,
pretty, unnoticed girls, who are destined
TO pass their young years without 90 much
as one admirer amongst themi Year
after year passes-their bloom and
beauty fade-and my four lovely and
accomplished warm-hearted beings, hay.
ing seen all their youthful castles
TAU one BY one, become listless and
unhappy. They have little in life to in.
terest them; one dies Of complaint OF the
spine; another lives many years on arrow.
root and calf's-foot jelly, and Is envsloped ia
flannel even In July; third u under the
caro- Of Dr. 8. for indignation: and. psr-
haps, the fourth, who Ii made Of tougher
materials and born with less feeling Imam
the others-or, perhaps, from having come
thing to occupy her mind, In preparing the
arrow.root for one sister and ordering the
hard dumplinRs prepared by DIS. tor tho
other-out.ives her sorrows ana disappoint-
ments; and, II she takes IN interest IN her
brothers. children, Or . share In their edu-
cation, or in something which gives vent to
those affections which are implanted by
nature in the breast Of woman, she becomes
happy. E
This, then, appears to me 70 be the De.