The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-01-08

Girl.
The old maid in the sense Of the typ
icaI home-b body. filling a distinct niche
! in the nations households. is passing
/ from among US. giving way to the
bachelor woman. with her own peculiar
aspirations and esta blished interests
Even now the genuine old maid is so
scarce as to have risen in value In
( another generation or two she will
have become extinct. and there will be
! only garblf d likeness of her-certaiu-
~ not one that does her justice-pre-
served to pOstcvity. In future times the
story of WOman's first decampment
from the home circle will sound in stu
dents ears as the tales of the ancients
sound now to us. interesting. romantic,
3 but very remote from current issues.
It will be told how. in the latter part
of the nineteenth century. a maiden
Eve in the sheltered home garden, all
unblemished and sound of heart. got
inkling of strangely sweet fruit called
independence How she tasted it, and
finding it good. told her sisters of it.
She told her brothers and brothers-in-
law about it also. and they esmiled in
/ diligently. independence. yes, it was a
pretty good thing. The fruit of a tree
whose tap-root reached back to crea-
tion. 1t agreed with men splendidly.
bat it was doubtful how OF would do
for women.
| What did women want with it. any
how? They had love, shelter, protec-
! ton, admiration. Even influence and
! reverence had been accorded to them,
and now they must cast eye upon an
exclusively mans prerogative. clearly
not meant for them. And the men of
the day, so the tale will continue took
| counsel together as to how the women
folk had contrived to get hold of this
peculiarly mans benefit. Had some
man turned traitor in a doting moment
and let an to sister or sweetheart as to
the wonderful qualities of indepen-
dence? Or was the discovery just some
new phase of that marvellous intuition
that lurked in the feminine makeup?
| But however the new idea started, it
must be stopped before mischief en-
sued. In the first place there was not
enough Of the fruit to go round if wo-
| man dipped into it. AS it was, even
with the entire stock kept for the stern"
err sex some man had to put up with a
! very small share. 1t must he explained
| to woman that the after-taste of indie
! pendence was bad and lessened the
pleasure in things woman had hereto
| fore delighted in. That a continual
| diet of it induced coarse tastes, deVel-
oped an understanding of money mat
tiers for one thing and cIear-siehted-
ness and critical faculty that i'll COM
ported with feminine charms.
| What chance would man have with
| woman if she brought too close criti-
cisms to bear on him What cherished
beliefs and rapturous experiences were
threatened if woman got any nearer in
likeness to man than she was then-she
who had been brought up to revere the
being masculine with all unquestioning
faith in his powers and superiority?
No. A taste of independence might
be we'll enough for woman's regalement
on occasion. Just sufficient to jolly her
| along, and that taste iudiciously mixed
with other ingredients. But for daily
| commons it was much too stimulating
for the feminine constitution.
| Well, the arguments were sounded,
the protests reiterated. But woman's
! day had come. She slipped off her do
nestle habits and traditions as natural
ly as the bud slips it's sheaths when the
moment is ripe, and made for the OPP
| I
and enthusiasm that caused her critics
| first to stare then applaud. then help
| her.
! And thereup0n all over the land was
heard the swapping Of family aies and
the air settling into hundreds and thou
sands of vacant spaces in household
| economy.
| This will be the story of woman's en-
franchisement-part of the sin
| gle Woman-portrayed in social history
many years hence: and coupled with it
will be "reminiscences of the sort Of per-
son the old maid was before she devel-
oped business capacity-hoW she had a
talent for mending, darning, comforting
and soothing the like of which never
| was secured to mans household after
her taking away; how she cared for the
| little folks of whatever household shell
tered her with an unfagging loyalty
! that was tenderness itself and knit in
| with the very marrow of her being.
! In fact. sstanch loyalty and disinter-
estedness will be the chief traits of the
old style old maid preserved to posteri-
| ty. Now it was niece upon whom
she laVished her affection, turning over
to the niece whatever store of money
she possessed, and abdicating every
slightest right to spend her own means
on herself Again it was in a cousins
home that she shone vital influence
so ever present and to be depended
upon that her ministrations were
counted as much a matter Of course as
the suns rising and setting.
Now she was volunteer foster mother
in a sisters household, cuddling and
doing for a succession of infants in the
family cradle, and so leaving the moth
er freer for social and connubfal duties
And whatever she did she did uncom-
| monty we'll, with a thorOughness that
could only come of genuine love for the
task.
There will probably never be in the
! world again such beautifully executed
the old maid bestowed on the plain lit
tie everyday article worn by her
charges. Such print-lke stitches, such