The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-08-31

There is a bright young woman, who
is quite independent in the possession
of neat little income, who says she
would be quite happy if it were not
the determination of her friends to
"get her married and settled At
Christmas she is invited to visit a
classmate' home. This clsssmate
having been married some 10 years
before and now the mother Of a brood
of rosy, noisy youngsters. do
come, my dear, writes Madame Mat
ron, ssfor Toms brother will be here,
and I've just set my heart on making
a match. -
The invitation is accepted but the
bright young woman says that she
feels like perfect goose because she
is conscious every moment her little
matronly school friend is watching
the progress Of events, while all the
time she is fairly detesting '"Tom's
brother
And then in the summertime, from
seashore or mountains, there come
more invitations to visit, and it is the
rarest thing if each does not contain
promise to help along "a match. .
The young woman goes, not because
Of the promised assistance to Dan
Cupid, but because she loves her dear,
well-meaning friends who seem to
have long ago forgotten that there
came into her life a romance, and that
the memory Of it still fingers. But
how can they guess about the memo
ry? And how do they know that
about her neck on slender gold chain
there hangs locket inclosirg little
oval picture? And they never attach
any significance to the one little hoop
Of gold, with a. tiny glittering stone
that she always wears. To them that
lopg-ago romance is but thing of the
past, not worth remembering, and the
fear Of these good and well-meaning
friends is that the bright young wo-
man that they care so much for will
soon be regarded as in that doleful
predicament Of being con the shelf.
To the little happily welded school
mate this would be terrible.
1t is happier time now for women
who are not married as soon as school
room doors close behind them than it
used to be. There is less signing if
the knight that is necessary to make
the life-story of every woman COM
plete, does not appear at once on the
scene. There are no more old women
these days. All are too busy to let
age daunt them. The woman who has
passed 80 does not put behind her all
social gaiety and say with pathetic
little sigh: 90: I leave all that for
the younger folks In fact it is
rather difficult nowadays to discover
when woman has passed her twen-
ties. Much of it is due to dress, but
more Of it is due to activity, to her
interest in helping and working for
others if there are not enough per-
sonal affairs to occupy her.
The.girl of the period has not grown
bit away from her womanliness,
either. Contrast the girls on the
shelf to-day with the girls on the
shelf at the period when this horrid
term originated, and if they are not a
vast improvement over that dolesome
lot then I'll take back all I have put
down as creditable to the still un-
welded ones Of to-day.
Here is tip for the bachelor who
has not yet met his ideal of woman
hood: Look among the girls who
have been left on the shelf, for among
them. 1 have discovered, there are
more whose ideals are higher than the
average woman's, than there are those
who have simply been passed by be-
cause they were not charming. And
who knows, but this very bachelor
may prove the ideal man whose COM
ing one Of the most delightful of these
women has been waiting? All the
pretty women, witty women and noble
women have not yet been made wives.
I hope the hard-to-please bachelor
will profit by this friendly trip.
MARGARET HANNIs.