The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-05-02
HISTORY'S"OL MAID"
FINDS MANY FOLLOWERS IN
THESE MODERN DAYS.
The Term Has Lost Its Stigma---.n-
creasing Opportunities For Women
in the Business World In great
Measure Responsible.

The term "old maid" has lost its
stigma.
The independent, unmarried wo-
man no longer bothers to resent 1t.
Modern opportunities to engage in
business. to play part in the activi-
ties of business and art. of philan-
thropy and politics, without being
hampered by the presence and care
of mere man, has proved such an
alluring prospect to many women
of forceful personalities that pro-
posal of marriage far from being
something to be eagerly wanted, is
now regarded as a sort of nuisance.
The divorce difficulties of the
Countess de Castellane, born Anna
Gould, form an interesting compar-
ison to the peaceful and happy life
LED by her sister, Helen Gould.
1t is no lack of gallantry that
prompts the statement that this lady
has passed the age when women
usually marry. That she has had
limitless opportunities is only what
is to be expected for an heiress a
woman of fine education and most
lovable personality.
But unlike Anna Gould, who mar
ried a worthless title, Helen elected
to remain single
She had plans of philanthropy
which she wished to be unhampered
in carrying on. She has taken out in
love for the needy that impulse of
a g,l,
TO one man, and she has had her re-
ward for few women are more gen.
timely loved than she. The pre-
judice that exists against holders
of great fortunes has never operated
against Miss. Helen. Her thousand
acts of charity and help for the needy
have made her name blessed the
country over.
' If love is good thing in life, Miss
Gould made no mistake to stay an
old maid.
Perhaps even the first of the grand
old maids, Miriam, of Old Testament
history, suffered a little raillery from
her associates, because she was some
hundreds of years ahead of her times,
but the sister of Moses knew the pos
sibilities of good in a woman who
had her time free to think for tho
race, and she carved for herself a
place in Bible history that suffers
Of the greatest of the wives
The same tendency of the old maid
OF ability to stand out in strong re-
lief will be found throughout the en-
tire pages of history.
Jeanne dare, although perhaps
she cannot be said to have lived TO
the peroid of life when she could be
called an old maid, went to her mart
yrdom without ever having enter
tanned a thought of matrimony.
Queen Elizabeth could hardly have
made for herself such a magnificent
place in the annals of English achie-
vement IL she had encountered the
rivalry of a husband Throughout
all the wonderful period of her reign,
a time that produced Shakespeare
and dozen other great writer's, that
saw England gain a mighty foothold
in the new world, and come victor
ious from many conflicts by land and
sea, the potent force of an old maid
was at the helm.
Ask any British soldier what wo-
man of the last 200 years did the
most to lessen the riGors of military
service and to give the fighting man
a chance against disease. foe more
to be feared than the bullets of the
enemy, and he will reply:
Florence Nightengale"
Another old maid.
Ask any American soldier who
served in the war against Spain, or
Jap, or Russian. who fought in the
recent conflict, the same question that
was suggested above as one to put
to the British soldier. and again the
answer will be the name of an old
maid:
CLARA Barton
When this lady in 1881 organized
the American Red Cross Society, ana
became its president, she inaugur-
ated movement that has gone far to
introduce mercy into warfare.