Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-01-10
THE SPlNSTERS' REST.
An Abnormal Social Condition in the
Hucks County Metropolis.

An Abnormal Social Condition In the
Eucls County Metropolis.
Bristol, the prosperous manuTactar-
ing center of Bucks county, is an old
maids town. Well informed citizens
of that cnterpr:sing borough claim that
there are more unmarried but mar
riaSeablc women there in proportion to
the population than can be found i'll
any other place between the slfvcry
Delaware and the Ohio state line.
Careful estimates made by the census
enumerators place the number of e!iGi-
bles whose years range fro.l 80 years
upward at go. Ola residcntcrs, who
have kept keen watch upon the soli-
tarv maids about them, make the fig
tres much larger than those of the
enumeratorS.
In a quiet Quaker home on aristo-
cratic Radcliffe street is Il brood of five
maids the oldest; is nearing three score
and ten, and the Youngest is approach
ing the. meridian of life. Not SO far
away dwels the oldest old maid in the
town. She is u leader in the Friends
church. and three-Quarters of q century
measures her years. She has Il sister
who is already far beyond the point at
which the majority of women marry.
Radcliffe street is the most faShiona-
Sole portion of the town and stretches
along the river front On it live no
fewer than twenty-six females who be-
long to that class commonly called
..old maids" Proud as Radcliffe
street may besof its record in clinging
to its girls, Wood and Cedar streets
surpass it The men with marriage in
their eyes seem to have avoided these
two thoroughfarcs entirely.
There are nineteen lady school teach
ers in the borough, and q gentleman
connected with the board said that
with bat Il few tritling exceptions all
had passed the border line that bounds
girlhood. Among the number who are
enjoying single life is Miss Eliza Van
Horn. maiden OF 60 odd years, who
looks upon marriage neither as dead
failure nor the consulnnation of bliss.
She remarked:
"Oh, no, don't believe marriage is
q failure. bat | do think there is q
sound, practical reason for our Bristol
girls not marrying. know of q num-
Der of cases where peculiar circun-
stances separated devoted lovers, and
the girls are old and unmarried yet.
There is pleasure in single rs we'll as in
married life"
Another maiden lady, past the half
century marx, said: Il lad no use for
husband, and so paid no attention to
the men who came with offers of mar
riage. y man in the majority of cases
is only that much extra luggage for the
woman to carry
James Monroe Bruden, who cast his
first presidential vote for Gen. Jackson,
said. concerning the fair sex:
There is an unmarried woman of
over 25 years old in pretty nearly all
the houses in town. I can't tell YOU
why, but they are there. Now, this
strange condition of things is not the
fault of the girls, for Bristol has as
many pretty girls as any town in the
state. Only last week two young men
of our town married girls from outside
the borough. Now, that wasn't right. y
The wife OF q census enarnorator was
questioned about old maids, and she
studied minute end then replied:
Yes, | know few in our ward. ! can
name eighteen whom l know PERSONAL
IL, and this is one Of the smallest wards
in the town Ny husband says there
arc more women in the town than men,
but there arc few bachelors. "-Phila-
dclphia Record.