The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1889-05-10
NEW ENGLAND SPINSTERS.
What becomes Of the surpiusage Of wo-
men In the Eastern states.

IL has often been asked what becomes
Of the surplus OF the female over the
male population OF some Of the States,
especially OF Massachusetts and Con-
necticut and perhaps OF some Of the
other "down east" commonwealth.
An estlmable lady by the name Of Miss
Rebecca Jones, who herself belongs 10
;hat number and who was a school
teacher for nearly twenty years in a
small New England town, and who is
now visiting friends in Brooklyn, gave
some interesting statistics bearing upon
this point 20 the writer Of this article.
Said she:
IL have kept record OF the girls
who have graduated from the high
school OF my native village, whore |
have been school teacher since 1871,
what they have done and what has be-
come OF them"
She gave the figures for the classes
Of theyears 1871 TO lS7G-from eighteen
10 eleven years ago-and strange fig
ures for any marrying and giving in
marriage community they arc. Con-
tinulng, she said:
"The average age OF the female
graduates from IA typical New England
school is between sixteen or seventeen
years. Hence it will appear that the
women Of whom this list has been
made, ranging to-day between twenty
nine and thirty-four years old, have
done the greater part Of oil the set
thing In life that they are likely 10 do
Out Of total Of ninety-nine graduates
there were twenty-seven marriages,
eleven deaths and sixty-nine are still
single. Strange rs IL may seem, tho
eleven deaths were all caused by con-
sumption. There have been two cases
Of insanity, both Of the twenty-seven
married group. The largest number
OF children Of any is three. Three Of
the girls went to college after leaving
the high school, all Of whom are mar
ricd.
"Of tho unmarried sixty-one, twenty
one follow n very usual feminine call
ing-that of schoolma'am. One is al
Hampton, Va, teaching the Indians;
the other twenty are in country schools
in or near by their homes. Three set
type; one reads proof; one Is head dress
makor in "A large establishment in New
York city; four are dressmakers on
their own hook; one Is practicing med
icine; three are music teachers, fifteen
are stitchers and buttonhole makers in
shoe shops, and tho rest are home bod
les.
Just what has brought about such n
prepondcrance OF spinstcrhood il is not
altogether easy TO say. Some people
have contended that it did not exist, but
statistics provo TO the contrary. Such
people have explained tho great surplus
OF women in New England on the sup
position that most of them are widows,
made SO by the hazardous occupation Of
the men along the Eastern coast Wild
ows there are in plenty, but the sixty
one of my records certainly never mar
rcd.
"Probably most OF them never had an
opportunity TO marry. There are few
lllhI phbl' NbAhA iAi'lA HN Ahb i'o'iiN
time to be found in most Of tho small
Now England towns. The serene quiet
of this most lctharglc rural section Of
tho country does not suit the active
spirit of young men of the day. They
go away before they are Old enough to
marry, and tho chances are that they
don't come back again.
IF they do return they are impressed
with the lack Of money In Now Eng
land, outside of the cities, by the length
painted and the amount of calculation
required before he can find place
whore he can satisfactorily spend a
dollar. They do not stay long enough
to admire the hardy thrift that can
wiring n comfortable support from the
stony soil where a New Yorker would
starvo, and the girls they left behind
them can not compare, SO they seem
TO think, for beauty of dress, fascinat-
ing coquetry or small talk OF society
with tho Establishments of the city girls,
who have insensibly become to them the
standard for admiration.
"Those things considered, it is for
tunato for the spinstor that she is fast
learning to think it natural and not
altogether unpleasant state OF affairs to
be what she is. They do not look an
unhappy lot, and New England is learn
ing to be tender OF and appreciate them.
She does not call them old maids, and
the fiction Of their youth is kept up til
they die. One may hear of the Fisher
girls tho Smith girls. and so on fol
weeks before the truth dawns that the
girls are we'll past the half century
milestone of life They never married
and no one was ever cruel enough tC
mark out any line beyond which the!
ceased TO be young. They are self-re
spccting and universally respected
There are New England town. ii
great numbers, where the best oducat
ed and best bred Yankee girl. OF th'
best colonial families. can go into tn,
shoe shop and work thore for years af
ter she has ceased to be a girl. save b.
courtesy, and still read the classics an'
move in, perhaps lead, the most aristo
cratic society of tho town."-N 7
Mail and Express.
-
nowhere In Edrope Is Lenton kept
rs vigorously as il is i'm Russia. Their,