, 1892-03-06
\ DEFENSE OF THE "oLD MAID.H
The Lot of the Single Woman Is by No
Means an Unenviable One.

Means an UnenviabIe One.
What is all this nonsense about old
maids?
Leap year not only gives us an extra
day of work and worriment, but it gets
up on its tiptoes and raises a terrible
hullaballoo because there are some
women in this world sufficiently indie
pendent and self content to get along
without having men forever hanging to
their apron strings. No sooner does one
of these miserable years hat is Invisible
by four poke its quadricolored nose
over the top of the time table Than some
body blows the whistle for the funny
men to begin work on the old maids.
What a shamel What a mean, despic-
able thing for an adult male, whose
hours might be spent to better adyan-
tage in some useful employment, to ply
his pencil in caricaturing the noblest
typs of womanhood that exists!
The old maid is the'grandest mon
ment civilization has unveiled.
Look at her. She is not a weak, wishy
washy, gun chewing, letter writing,
beau hunting creature. In a world
where woman as n rule thinks it her
duty to cling TO somebody or something,
where men and women are propped
against each other in an apparently
helpless, mutually dependent way, the
old maid stands alonea and asks odds of
nobody. She gets up in the morning
and looks with clear eyes upon a bright
and cheerful sky; she walks through
the day felicitous and %unruffled, seeing
good everywhere and joy in everything,
and when she goes to bed at night pleas
ant dreams and refreshing rest are her
portion. She has a heart, and it beats a
healthy response to every note that
m~ultivoiced nature sings. 1t is not IN
aerated heart, porous and pincushiony,
that is sensitive to every sigh of the OPP
posite sex and that bounds like a rubber
ball every time a man glances its way.
She has a good heart, a true heart, a
perfect woman's heart, and it beams
with true and honest love, not for self,
not for one person, or for any set of per-
sons, but for the whole world and all
that is beautiful and lovable in it. The
old maid is n sweetheart at large, if |
ii use the expression. Her affection
belongs to nobody in particular-unless
it happens to be to her dear old tabby or
her little canary-but to everybody in
btAAtAaAs An htA ~ 1At 10 hlAAIu0s
A manproof woman is n rarity. A girl
who can carry her heart safely through
the wiles and over the pitfalls hat the
other sex prepare for her is worthy OF
honor and the best regard, and that is
why have put on my wal paint and ar
rayed myself on the side of the old maid.
And why call her old, pray2
Nobody really knows when the age of
spiDsterhood begins. Some say that a
girl who passes twenty without vowing
fealty to some young man or showing a
disposition to xpose her cardiac to Gu
pid's shafts is tending toward the condi-
ton hat is described as old maid. Some
claim that she must pass twenty-five and
others favor thirty years rs the limit.
But years, my dear people, have nothing
to do with age. Oliver Wendell Holmes
saying that he was EIGHTY years young
meant a great deal. The youngest wom-
en- in the world are the so called old
maids.
What is there to bother them2 No
anxieties TO burn out their souls. They
sit up waiting for nobody. The club
and business down town" do not cause
wrinkles to cluster on their brows. They
know nothing of the deception and trick
cry that trouble the lives of married
women. Life is smooth and flower spread
for their feet and their eyes are filled
with the luster of the stars. The rose
wreath of youth is forever on their brows.
1t is a good thing to be an old maid. |
confess / like it as far as I've got, and if
there are any old maids who are restless
i'll their single blessedness and would like
to desert our band | want to say to them
that now is their chance. Wake up, girlsl
This is 1S92.-New York World.