The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-04

some one referred to the scarcity Of widows
among the winters brides and suggested
that nowadays widows didn't seem to be
in such a hurry to marry as formerly.
Il could name a dozen widows, D." she said,
"women of middle age and younger, good
looking and with nice little incomes, whom
l have been expecting to step of for the last
five years, and they don't step. Not one of
them, so far as 1 know, is engaged.
AT one time there were every season
several weddings of widows who were con-
spiouous in society. 1t was almost the ex-
ception for a comparatively young and good
looking widow to stay single more than two
years"
Il do not know anything about the widows
to whom you refer" said the hostess, "but
1 do know that, taking widows as a class,
they are much less popular than they used
to be. Widows don't get the chances to
marry they once did. How do 1 account
for it? In this way:
widows are just as attractive as they
ever were, but spinsters, as they used to
be called, bachelor women as they are now
described, are a good deal more attractive
than in the old days.
Il was introduced to society at II, and
soon after l remember l met a young widow
Of 20 who used to go to the parties and en-
tertainments given by her girl friends with
whom she had grown up. She was not
nearly 80 pretty as some of the girls, but
she always got a lot more attention from
the young men.
an those days a youn J girl might stand a
slight chance Of holding her own with a
widow OF her age; but a spinster Of
IS or more had not the ghost of a chance
when competing with a widow of So.
Young girls were kept backfrom ming
ling with general company and older folks
till out Of school and almost segregated
from the other sex, with the result that
VIII en- first introduced to the world they
we're shy, lacking in nvers%ational topics
and no match at all for a widow of any age.
1t is not like that now. The, bachelor
woman n. instead Of assuming an apologize
air. born of a feeling that she is almost in
disgrace because she has reached 30 without
beng married, goes about with a superior,
lofty, I-prefer-my-freedom expression,
exactly the reverse of apologize, and
instead Of retiring modestly behind younger
women and widows she Is more apt to be
found in the front row when it comes TO a
question of being entertai lining and jolly.
"The widow is no less charming than she
ever was, but the unmarried oman
one time old maids much more attract
i've than formerly and better read and
better educated than most widows.
THE fact that she is a widow no longer
entities a woman to first place as a charmer
Of the other sex. She must compete now
with young girls who are neither awkwaTs
nor shy, nor tongue tied in the presence az
men; and also with single women Of her
own age, quite her equals in diplomacy
and powers of fascination"
l Perhaps you are right returned the
woman who had first spoken. Il am in
clined to think, however, the reason why
fewer widows thar formerly marry is
because they are more chary of matrimony
than were widows in the old da VIZ, and pre-
fer to enjoy their freedom. They believe
that the most enviable state for a woman
is ~widowhoed in conjunction with a good
sized bank account
When the manager Of a big business on
Germ which employs hundreds Of women,
among whom are manv widows, was asked
what proportion Of the widows married
again he gave the answer:
Almost none, so far as / know. In ten
years l can only recall one case OF a widow
giving up her place here because she meant
20 get married.