The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-12-15
MY LADY sPINsTER.
Reasons why Some Women DO Not Enter
the Married state.

Reasons why Some Women DO Not Enter
the Married State.
While we acknowledge that happy
married life is by far the most desirable
lot of the majority of women, and the
conditions of wifehood and motherhood
the most useful and natural, we must
also acknowledge that there are many
women for whom married life is not
the best, and who are much happier to
remain single if they can do so content
edly and thankfully. Hu ndreds of deli
cate, beautiful. self-sacrifcing souls
are, for unknown but necessarily wise
reasons, imprisoned in bodies tortured
by disease or unsightly through de-
formity. For such marriage is general
ly impossible. Many are as obviously
incompatible as if the word were en-
blazoned on their foreheads
lncompatibility is sugg estive word,
but does not necessarily imply ILL
nature. To sister or brother, with
whose relations no au thority is
mingled, the Incompatible may be all
that is lovely. A change of environ
ment and relationship, the marked diff
ference of being an ordinary member of
family and assuming the reins of
government, marks with her. it may
be, the difference of happy, useful
life, and one of CALLING restraint. OF
the married incompatibilities we hear
every day, either in the divorce courts
or in the course of morning call OF
the unmarried, whom merciful Provi-
dence has restrained from like I'M
happy fate, all sorts of good deeds are
recorded.
There is class of women, Fortunate
ly not large by comparison, but real
existence nevertheless, whose hearts
are as cold and Indifferent to the real
ing diamond to the action Of the suns
rays. Often brilliant, and endowed
with great beauty or wit, or both, they
laugh at the folly of their victims, and
suffer no pain in refusal.
Would l marry?" laughed lovely
young lady of five and twenty, dependent
on her income as teacher for support.
well, no. When / consider the lot of
my married friends, am thankful for
common sense enough to remain single.
l thoroughly enjoy my free and unfet-
tered life. To be sure go to my work
in the schoolroom each day, but my
married friends have household cares
as imperative as mine, with far greater
chances of falling to give satisfaction.
| have no husband to find fault with
the coffee or the state of my wardrobe;
no children to worry my peaceful
hours: no servants to cater to- have not
to plan for three times 1856 meals each
year, and no hungry family comes in to
devour in one brief hour the result of
my hard mornings toll in the kitchen
No stern tyrant of husband deals out
with grudging hand small bank bills to
supply my needs and those of my chill
dren. If am engulfed in whirlpool
of extravaganza, and purchase a lovely
gown, a pair of delectable evening boots
or a morsel of French bonnet, | can
endure the reproaches of my own con-
science with some equanimity; but the
scowls of an angry spouse would wither
my very soul
when the blessed summer vacation
nent at my disposal, and according as
have been economical or luxurious, ]
may choose my summer outing. Old
age? Yes, it may come to me. 1t will
come to my married friends, and may
find them widows with a half dozen
children to work for. But if the worst
comes and cannot work or find snug
corner in an old ladies' home, fancy /
could win some gray-haired lover who
would offer me a home. There is gen
orally some one around you know" and
the cold-hearted little beauty whisked
off around the corner, leaving her mar
ried friend to reflect that perhaps all
the advantages were not with the mat
rimonial state, rs she had been taught
to believe.
Thousands Of women are to-day single
and dependent on their own cxertions
for support because some weak lover
could not forego the sensual dissipa-
tions that so mercilessly enchain their
victims The maiden yields her claim
on the lovers heart grudglngly, and
only when she sadly perceives that a
power stronger than her love is gaining
possession OF his life. Better weep
alone, she says, than spend fruitless
years grieving for a love that would die
if the winecup were my rival. The
drunkard's home is the saddest home
that woman can fill" Prisons and
reformatories, insane and inebriate asy
lums, disgraced lives in foreign lands,
selfish and aimless lives of men who
ought to be working for some noble
woman, answer the question why mul.
| titudes OF women never marry.
The fact that many thoroughly mar
riageable women never meet the man
whom they would choose to marry is
one evidence that there is place in
| the world for single women With
some all the paths of life seem to be
crossed by lines of an adverse fate. The
lover was ready to tell his tale, the
letter was written and sent, the en-
gagement ring was on the finger, the
trousseau was prepared But swift
messenger Of death or disaster, a lost
mail bag Misunderstanding or acct
dent of some one OF the thou sand kinds
of which nature has large reserve
stock, interfered, and the maiden re-
manned unwed.