Semi=weekly graphic., 1899-05-03
A Woman We All Admire.

A Woman We All Admire.
 Iknow there is a worthy place for some women in the professions, and for more of them in business life. know that go far as ability is con- cerned these women excel some of their brothers in these pursuits. I know that there are exceptional cases where it isno doubt better, and therefore right, for women to shut out from their thought any idea of a home of their own, and to every woman who is not married because other people are dependentupon you for support we send the most kindly greeting this Sunday morning. You are not ashamed to acknowledge that you would like 10 be in a home of your own, the wife of q true-heart- ed man. But circumstances have been anu are against you, and you are what you are because of your innate nobility. Yours is a life of self-sacrifice which is the sublimest expression of love. You have an aged mother, or an invalid sister, or an unfortunate father who needs your financial aid. To withdraw your support from the family would cause the wolf to cross the door-sill And s3 you hide your secret in your worthy heart, and go forth daily to your toil, inspired by the thought that your sacrifice means comfort and happiness to a life that is de- pendent upon your efforts. Your badge of spinsterhood is one to be proud of There is reason, and most excellent, too. that you Ire what you are, All honor to you! and thousands ofreaders will. we think, re-echo our sentiment.
 l But the majority of our maiden sisters are single not because they have others dependent upon them for support; not because they are so absorbed in other walks in life that marriage becomes secondary thing; not because they look with disdain upon Che marriage tie; not because they wouldn't get married i if the right opportunity occurred, for they frankly say they would be glad to unite heart and hands with somebody else upoa the highway of l life.
 one-sided Social Custom.
 Why then? Partly because they are victims of social custom, which, for one, I should like to see modified to a considerable degree. As things are now men do the picking in the field of matrimony, and women must wait to be picked Yes, wait like berries on the social bush for some body to come along and pick them. Abominable custom! and one which has led more than ore woman to take up with somebody whom she knew was not her social and intel lectual equal, and instead of whom she would have preferred another if she could have followed the instincts of her nature without fear of being called forward, bold, unw omanly, and in a hurry to get married.
 Science and Love Combined.
 Where lies the remedy for this 1 thing? Some readers will not agree with me in what I am about to write, but I am free to say I think that rightly conducted matrimonial bureaus would be a blessing. Do not misunderstood me. do not mean these match making concerns which, fear, leave people worse off than they find them, and which are ope- rated in order to get the money of the oyer-credulous and the foolish. Look about you. Take into consid- eration the thousands of unmarried women who have a wealth of wom- anly character to bestow on other lives, when right opportunities come. Contemplate the marriages in which women have taken up with men who were their interiors, a thing they would not have done had conditions been different. See the lack of reason disp.ayed in the too-young and silly marriages that are made In a word, see the people who come together at the marriage alter without any re- 1 ference wha fever fN fhp Urnof lovvS