The Savannah morning news., 1903-05-31
THE OLD MAID AGE RECEDES.

A few years ago % was regarded as
the age at which a woman became
an old maid.
The limit has now been set at 80.
In other words, says the New York
Sun. at 80 is the imaginary line which
separates the term of spinsterhood in
to halves, the first stage being that of
eligibility to matrimony and the sec
ond that of forced or voluntary res
ignation to single blessedness.
Although the cry of "old maid" may
still be heard, it has ceased to alarm.
Indeed, there are no old maids in the
sense in which the expression was
once used. and the idea that mar
riage is the chief aim of woman no
longer exists in the minds of sensible
people.
Nor is woman supposed to have
lost all power of attraction because
she has entered her third decade Bal
woman at 30 is at her most fascinating
and dangerous age-dangerous, that is,
to the hearts of men.
She cannot boast, perhaps, of a long
train of admirers. Partners at balls
are less persistent and fewer in num-
Der. The delicate aroma of f1attery
has become fainter, and now and then
very young man may make her feel
like her own grandmother by asking
advice about his love affairs. Never
theless. many women who have en-
tered the thirties are the center of a
drama upon which the curtain is not
likely to fall for many years.
In all womanly honesty, 1t may be,
she revels in her part of heroine, and
in the disturbances and agitations of
which she is the cause. This kind of
woman, as Lander puts it, warns
both hands at the fire of life"
1t is not only a fact that women
marry later in life than they used to,
but it is equally true that everywhere
the more mature woman is to the fore.
The young and inexperienced bud has
ceased to be the reigning queen of the
hour She has been forced to yield
her place to the maturer woman, the
woman of broader experience and
wider knowledge.
AS a matter of fact, the woman of
thirty or thereabouts often has a feel
ing which is akin to pity for the sweet
young thing of eighteen-a feeling
which would doubtless surprise the
wide-eyed girl in muslin and blue rib
bons, who thinks the whole world lies
at her feet
Zone thing I am thankful for" says
the bachelor maid, land that is that
I am no longer a bread-and- butter
miss.
There is no period of her existence,
I think, wherein woman appears to less
advantage. 1t is almost impossible for
girl of eighteen not to be conscious,
and she has so little knowledge of the
world that she is unable to hide her
awkwardness.
"It is amusing, even pathetic, to see
the efforts of the poor thing to say
her little say without betraying that
she has prepared it beforehand"
A word to the glorified spinster of
to-day-let her take her stand boldly,
firmly. Let her never pretend to a day
lass than her years really number. Let
her look as pretty as she can. Let
her preserve all the graces and CO.
quetries of womanhood that possess
so potent an attraction. This is her
woman's prerogative.
But no kittenishness. No juvenility,
no shyness. That is not her role. Shy
ness in 2 young girl is charming. But
it weakens the position of the I'M
married woman. 1t makes her seem
apologize, and this she should never
seem to be, as her position needs no
apOlORV