Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-06-13
THE OLD MAID AGE.
A Woman Is Not Beyond the LinA
 Now Until She Is Thirty.
Even at That Period She May Sti1I Be the Heroine of a Drama Mature Woman to the
 Fore.

A few years ago 25 was regarded an the age at which woman became an old maid.
 The limit has now been set at 30. In other words, at 30 is the imaginary line which separates the term of spinsterhood into halves, the first stage being that of eligibility to mat rimony and the second that of forced or voluntary resignation 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 marriage is the chief aim of woman no longer exists in the minds of sensible peo- pie.
 Nor is a woman supposed to have lost all power of attraction because she has entered her third decade. Balzac has laid down the theory that a woman at 30 is at h CT most fascinat~ ing and dangerous age-dangerous, that is, to the hearts of men.
 She cannot boast, perhaps, of long train of admirers. Partners at balls are less persistent and fewer in num- Der The delicate aroma of fiattery has become fainter, and now and then a 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 8 drama upon which the curtain is not likely to fall for many year.
 In all womanly honesty, it may be, she revels in her part of heroine, and dn the distcrb nces and agitations of which she is the cause. This kind of woman, as Landor puts it, warns both hands at the fire of life.'' It is not only fact that women marry later in life than they used to- but it is equally true that everywhere l the more mature woman is to the fore i The young and inexperienced bud has ceased to be the reigning queen of the l hour. She has been forced to yield 1 her place to the maturer woman, the woman of broader experience ana 1 wider knowledge.
 l As matter of fact, the woman o! / 30 or whereabouts often has a feeling which is akin to pity, for the sweet young thing of 18-a feeling which would doubtless surprise the wide 1 eyed girl in muslin and blue ribbons who thinks the whole world lies at hel feet.
 'one thing am thankful for,'' says | the bachelor maid, land that is I an no longer a bread-and- butter miss.
 "There is no period of her existence I think, wherein woman appears tS less advantage. It is almost impos sible for a girl of IS not to be con scious, and she has so little knowledg, of the wo@ld that she is unable to hid, her awkwardness.
 ''Tt is amusing, even pathetic, to SC, the efforts of the poor thing to appea, natural and at her ease and to say he, little say without betraying that sht has prepared it beforehand" { A word to the glorifed spinster O to-day--let her take her stand boldly firmly. Let her never pretend to day less than her years really number Let her look as pretty as she can anS as young as she can as long as she can Let her preserve all the graces ans coquetries of womanhood that posses so potent an attraction. This is he woman's prerogative.
 But no kittenishness. No juvenility no shyness. That is not her role Shyness in young girl is charming But it weakens the position of the un married woman. It makes her seen apologetic, and this she should neve seem to be, as her position needs n' apology. ~