The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-17

tail and abide in the narrowest of mar
row ruts. Do we not all know married
women with large families who are
nevertheless old maids to the back
bone; Just as we know adorable elder
ly spinsters who have the minds or
girls and the hearts of mothers? And
do we not also know numbers of the
(so-called) stronger sex whose absorp-
ton in trifes and avidity OF gossip
proclaim them old maids of the purest
water?
II admit that the typical old-maid
ish character-in whateveT state or sex
it may be found-is neither lovable nor
stimulating. Its sympathies are so
narrow-its methods so circumscribed.
To live with it for long is to feel that
you are looking at life through NIL
croscope which makes dragons of mi
crobes and cart ropes of hairs, and
which never gives you a glimpse of the
mountains or the stars at all.
But the old maid (falsely so called
who is one by state and not by nature
who has no right to the epithet at
all, save that in her career she has
missed the incident of. marriage-what
a delightful person she can be-and
often is. There is a certain charm
about her which in the very nature OF
things the married woman lacks.
In her case the flower of romance
has never changed and developed and
become O. fruit; it is still flower
even if slightly faded-with a flowers
subtle fragrance and delicate bloom.
The garden is still her place rather
than the storeroom-the atmosphere
which surrounds her is yet the breath
of spring. She has never crossed over
and entered into that promised land of
which all girls dream in life's begin
ming; she has only stood alone upon
the mountain tops and seen its beau
ties from affair." For her the morning
mists have never faded away in the
light of MONDAY, but still surround her
with their soft and pearly haze.
Therefore her sympathy with those
who are no older in years than she is
in mind is perfect, for at heart she is
as young as they; only in her case
youths romance is tempered by wom-
anhoods Wsdom-youths hopefulness
by womanhoodS tenderneSS-and
youths smiles by womanhood's tears
She is fresh without being crude, in
experienced without being hard, i'm
aginative without being vague.
"Of a truth there is no more delight
full parsonage living than your delight
full old maid $50 called. And it takes
far clever woman to be an admirable
old maid than an admirable wife; let
no one forget that.
There is a growing tendency among
the girls Of the present day not to mar
ry. In our grandmothers time every
woman considered marriage as her
| raison de'etre and spinsterhood as an
unmitigated calamity; but nowadays
many women deliberately prefer to
remain single. And there is much to
| be said in favor of the single life
with its independence and it's freedom
from anxiety and responsibility. 1t
has fewer joys than the married state
but also fewer cares. And a single
! woman has a far better time now
than she ever had before, owing to
! her increased liberty and freedom
Nevertheless, this present reaction
against marriage is not altogether
good thing.
1T is all right for a woman with
means and position of her own; she
can afford to please herself; but there
are numberless daughters of middle
class men who have comfortable homes
and a good time during their fathers
life and refuse suitable offers in their
teens or their early twenties and then
when the old home is broken up
they find themselves left in their thir-
ties or fortes alone and unprovided
for, and with no further chance of
changing their state.
Sometimes they make this mistake
because they prefer the pleasure and
| independence of a single life, and some
| times they do it in the hope that if
they wait little something better will
| turn up-something, in short, which
they consider more worthy of their
choice. Hundreds of girls spoil their
lives by expecting too much. And
the absurd thing is that while they
demand so much they offer so LITTLE
What are they forsooth, that they
should expect ideal perfection of mind,
body and estate in a husband? What
do they propose to give in exchange
for all this fairy princeliness?
"'Of a truth they had better
Down on their knees
And thank heaven fasting for a good
mans love-
even though the good man may in
cline to rotundity of figure and have
his name unwritten in the Red Book
l would advise those fastidious young
| ladies to remember the story of the
Scotch beauty who, on being asked
why she had never married, replied: I
wadna look at the walkers and the
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