The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-09-04
EVENING CHIT
In Defense OF MOId Maids.,,
By RwN CAhEERON

/
| IT have already got to the point of
considering that there is no more re-
spectacle character on this earth than
an unmarried woman who makes her
| own way through life, quietly, perSe-
veringly, without support of husband
| or brother, and who, having attained
| the age of forty or upwards retains a
well regulated mind, a disposition to
enjoy simple pleasures. and fortitude
| to support inevitable pains, sympathy
with the suffering of others, and will
ingneSs to relieve want as far as means
allow."-Charlotte Bronte.
A western minister has recently got
ten al. the notoriety he could possibly
have desired by saying that bachelors
and old maids should be eXiled to a
desert island there to reflect on their
state as a waste of humanity.
Yesterday 1 recalled that brilliant
statement and wished with all my
heart that it's author could have sat
beside me on the trolley car.
L was riding in town on one of the
morning cars. 1t was the hour at which
most of the passengers are. workers
i'll shops and offices IN their way
to the days Imprisonment, but there
was one woman with little child in
her arms. [ did not happen to see the
child because she was so placed as to
be put off my direct line of vision but
I saw her reflected in the faces of
three women opposite me. These three
women were evidently going to work
in shops or offices, they were middle
aged and apparently of that criminal
class against which the minister
preached. And yet as L say, without
being able to see that baby myself, 1
knew there must be baby somewhere
by the strange, sweet look which came
over those three faces and the absorb
ed way in which they gazed across the
aisle.
If that minister could have sat be-
side me, 1 don't think even the desire
for notoriety could have persuaded
him to talk about old maids that way
again.
If there is any more ridiculous idea
than this notion that the average old
maid dislikes children and deliberately
chooses a single existence because she
has pickle lime temperament, in
spite of eager protests en- the part of
desirable males, 1 have yet to meet it.
And vet it seems to be a favorite
theory both with men and with safely
married females.
Stuff and nonsensei To be sure
there aren't many women who never
had a chance" But there are plenty
of women who haven't has a chance
to marry man whom they could re-
spect and like and trust-to say moth
ing of love. And is a woman to be
blamed for not swapping up anything
gle? Poor bachelor maids, how un-
fairly we treat them, alternately we
make fun of them for being ready to
snatch at a straw, and preach against
tnem Tor not being ready TO.
This western minister's statement
was more widely quoted than 1t would
otherwise have been because a good
and wise bachelor girl, widely known
and as widely loved, has rebuked him.
IF had found suitable helpmate l
might have spent my money in diff
ferent way which might not have done
as much good as it does now" says
Helen Gould. please think this over
and before preaching on this subject
again make up your mind that there Is
some good in living a single life"
The sanity and dignity oe that quiet
statement is as soothing after that
foolish TRADE as silence after tumult.
To be sure there may be some silly,
cold-hearted. child-hating old maids,
but 1 don't believe they are any more
common than silly, cold-hearted, child
hating married women, nor half so
common as splendid, brave-hearted,
self-sacrificing old maids.