The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-09-12
PASSING OFOLD MAIDS
WOMEN WITH RINGLETS AND
THEORIES SELDOM SEEN
Patents hrc Beallzing More gnd
More They Owe As Much to Their
Daughters As They DO TO Their
Eampercd Sons.


ceased to exist, Old maids are dy-
| ing out.
In a fewyears' time the typical old
| maid of our youth will rarely be
seen, and a hundred years hence
she will probably be dead altogether.
Let us look at what constitutes
| the present-day old maid. An un-
married woman? Not a bit of It,
there are just as many 'fldgety old
maids" to be found among married
women us among those who have
Eot entered the holy state.
Our population is such th1t vast
number of women must always re-
main unmarried. There Is not the
slightest disgrace in that, indeed,
there Is often honor, because it
shows woman prefers 10 stand
alone rather than sell herself with
out love to the highest bli Ter.
Formerly those unmarried women
were jeered at. sneered at-polltely.
maybe, but nevertheless chaffed and
scoffed at, for being less attractive
than their sisters, less amiable than
their cousins, or less worthy than
their sisters-in-law.
The world was hard and cruel and
unjust upon the spinsters. Little
wonder then that they resented un-
pleasant remarks or cruel acts and
became querulous and soured. until
the tidgety, cantankerous old maid
stage was reached. What else could
they become?
Girls were broguht up 20 feel that
they were not wanted In the world;
that they must always be thrust
aside for their brothers, whose edu-
cation swallowed all the family cash,
while the sisters were neglected, told
to find amusement in making their
own clothes on few dollars a year
ana to LOOK out for the first eligible
man who came in their way. and
thus seek freedom for themselves
and give relief to their family by
selling themselves, body and soul,
to the first offer.
A cruel picture, but true, never
theless. Many of these girls did not
secure the husbands they were
taught to look upon as a necessity,
and the natural result to an unbal-
anced and uneducated mind was dis
appointment, which ultimately de-
veloped that sorely-too- De-pitied
class-the old maids.
Every year is altering the posi-
tion of women; they are emerging
like butterflies from the chrysalis,
and, although we folks are not like
ly to live long enough to gee them
on an equal footing with men In
all things, that day Is approaching
rapidly, and our children and their
children will reap the reward Of
the women pioneers.
The term "old maid" is now sell
dom or never heard. the expression
bachelor girl has taken It's place,
and many and happy are the bache-
lor girls in the country to-day with
their Independence, their little
homes and their own well-arranged
lives.
Parents are realizing more and
more that they owe just as much to
their daughters as they do to their
sons. and their first act showing this
newly awakened feeling OF respon-
ability Is that they are beginning to
educate the girls.
1t Is ridiculous for men to shake
their heads and say educated women
do not make the best wives and
mothers, for most undoubtedly they
shine pre-eminently In that line We
have only to look at the biographies
of great men to learn how they owe
much of their success to the bless
ing of clever mother, with we'll
balanced mind and mental capacity.
Fools of women generally have
fools Of sons. because so much de-
pends on early home training; and
even a clever father cannot often
overweight an incapable mothers
faults. 1t is a well recognized fact
that great men seldom have great
sons; but, then, great men generally
marry women totally Inferior to
them intellectually because they
have pretty face or winning ways,
and their sons suffer accordingly.
There are exceptions, of course, as
In the case of the two Pittses, and
many of the men who have made
history have had no sons, just az
Julius Caesar, Michael Angelo or
George Washington; but, as a rule,
It Is the clever, brillianr, well-edu-
c'tei women who have been the
mothers of the men who have as
serted themselves in the world
Therefore, let all women be bet
ter educated than they have been
They will make superior housewives
and more capable mothers, and the |
vast army of women who must neces-
sayiiy remain spinsters will have
learned to occupy their time profit |
ably, and in more noble walks will |
cease to tittle-tattle and gossip, will
not have time to become soured and |
1.