The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-08-31
GIRLS WHO GET LEFT.
Not all Of Them are Forlorn Objects.
81. Louis ReDubIic.

For time she is an object of in
tercst and speculation girl no
is on the shelf, and then her friends
get ed to her and her position in
life and cease to ask her why she does
not marry, and to wonder if she really
will not meet, before she is quite
passe, a man who will love her we'll
enough to win her.
l do not like the term con the
shelf but it is an old familiar one
and is a little more comprehensive
than the one Of 'old maid"
The girl who is on the shelf is not
always homcly. Beauty is so attrac-
tive that when an exceedingly plain
girl remains unsought and unwcd one
Immediately finds in her lack of good
looks an explanation Of the why of her
singlcncss. No; there is the very
pretty woman who has outgrown her
girlhoOd. And now as woman Of
such charming ways and sweet smile
and smooth brow we look at her and
cannot, for the life Of us, guess how
1T could have been that she was not
chosen long ago as queen of some
body heart and home. OF course we
do not for a moment imagine, when
reviewing the girls that are left on the
shelf, that the reason Of their being
left is vested in themselves, many and
many time. We have just gone on
thinking all the while that the un-
welded woman had no choice in the
matter, that through the ruling of
unkind fate the little love god proved
himself blind to all her charms and
grsces by passing her by, or that she
was Tilted.
In taking stock Of the girls on the
shelf one may find the girl who was
too superior to marry. This l know
is reason that mcn-all men. abhor
But the superior girl-now a gracious
woman-if you can induce her to be
interviewed, will tell you, but without
any show Of cgotism, just what is the
truth, that fate never chanccd to
throw in her way a man that she felt
was her superior. 1t is fact, though
the truth of it is seldom granted, that
the strongest-mindcd woman that ever
lived likes, when she marrics, to real
iZe that she has husband that is
capable Of guiding her and not one
that she can guide 1t often happens
that she does not marry such, but do
you find her happy when realizing the
necessity to rule, she rules after mar
riage?
Then there is tho pretty girl who
was honest and earnest, and hating
fattery and receiving much, came to
believe that "men do not mean half
they say" and in time grew doubtful
and then: just skeptical and cydical
enough to spoil her chances as social
favorite.
Then there is the busy girl-at
home and abroad-whose time was all
80 occupied with necessary and i'm
portant affairs that though a dozen
Prince Charmings that may have rid
den her way she did not lift her eyes
to look at them, but promised her
self that when she had more time
she would think Of love and marriage.
And so the years slipped on. The
little brothers and sisters that she
stood in the light Of mother to grew
up, finished school and went out into
the world or we're married, and when
that wonderful leisure time came that
she had promised herself she would
devote just to her own interests, there
were silvcry strcaks in the pretty
brown hair and settled conviction
that the quiet home was rcstful and
not 80 bad after all. Or, if busy rs
one Of the worlds workers, she saw
her dreams realized and her ambitions
satisfied and forgot that time had hur-
ried on until some wellmeen;rg friend
said, do you know J. have often
wondered why you did not marry?"
Did not" That put all oppor-
tunities in the past. If the friend
had only said "do not" But it was
the did not" that set her thinking.
But she answered with light little
laugh and shrug of the shoulders,
Oh. l never found anybody that
wanted me" Then the friend imme-
dlately concluded that that girl on the
shelf was not telling the truth, that
there had been "a romance in her
life" for does any woman but the one
that has at least had "chances" de-