Year: 1872




Eve that would be carrying rather more
on our shoulders than they are competent
to bear, but it may at least be said, that,
from the first woman to the last that ever
fell. it was male devil that put tempta-
ton in her way. And, If she was the
first in disobedience, she has been the
chief in sorrow, and if her sin converted
the earth into desert, her tears Of pen.
itence have reclaimed. the accursed soil,
and caused plants Of virtue and Of beauty
to spring up from the gate of Eden to the
Cross Of Calvary. until bending over the
Passion Flower Of that sacred mountain.
the Virgin Mother beheld the final tri-
umph of the Woman's Seed, and the SER
pent's head lay crushed and bleeding be-
meath the second Adams victorious heel


Yet why the single woman should be SO
mathematical, why her lot should be so
dreaded by even her own sex, thus cut
ting her off from the sympathies OF both
man and woman, why she should be as
sociated with severity and prudery. and
with hideous tabby cats having great yell
low eyes, and with-"Come now, do tell
US all about it"-this is one of those mys-
teries of life and of human nature which
We cannot comprehend. except upon the
theory that every condition of life has its
peculiar immunities, and that escaping the
sorrows attendant upon matrimony, they
are chastised by the malicious tongue of
an evil world. Why should more odium
be attached to this condition than to sim
liar one of the other sex? Why ''old
maids" more unpopular than old bache-
lors? Is it because the latter have the
perogative Of proposing. and therefore
their position is supposed to be voluntary?
Well. if there be anything inherently CEN
surable in single blessedness, then the
voluntary feature adds to the crime, and
we ought to acquit old maids on the
strength Of the stereotyped sneer that
"they would if they could" But how do
we know that the condition of the one is
always voluntary? The circumstances
which prevent marriage are often as COM
pulsory in their character with gentlemen
as ladies. sometimes the same circum-
stance. poverty, operates as q bar to ma
trimony in both cases. Moreover, if there
are maiden ladies whom no man would of
fer himself to, there are quite as many
bachelors whom no woman would ever ac-
cept. If we will free our mind from the
traditional prejudice upon this subject. we
will find that neither in comeliness, tai
ent, grace, nor. what is better than all,
moral beauty, are they behind the rest Of
their sex, but that sometimes they owe
their position to the very fact that they
were bellies in youth, which had made
them capricious, or, in the choice illustra-
ton of Miss Griffin, too fastidious in Sc
lecting particular melon. It is not wo-
men that the men Of this day generally
covet, it is bank stock and real estate the
facel that they worship are on the coin in
the bank vaults. and hence as riches of
soul and purse are not often united, it may
happen that the neglected and solitary are
among the most worthy and most lovea-
BILE. Among the most brilliant lights of
English and American literature may be
found ladies in single life, whose pens
have welded . mighty influence in en-
Tightening and purifying the domestic and
social circle, and in making the wives and
daughters of England and America what
their husbands and fathers would have
them to be; whose words breathed from
pure lips. have been as holy as the thoughts
in their own spotless hearts, and have
gone forth not like vultures to devour
and defle. but like doves. in the Lam
guage of Christopher North, flying to
and fro in the sunshine, messengers of
peace and love and glory. whose bright
plumes time shall never touch with decay,
nor all the storms of this world rufle or
bedim." We are sure as we write, name
after name will occur to our readers, and
chief among them all that of Hannah
Moore, who has done more to adorn her
sex, and to elevate and bless society. than
all the wits of England, from Rochester
to Bulwer, have done to contaminate and
curse their race. In the social and do
mestic circle what youth in England and
America, has not learned to love and row.
erence 1.-THE maiden aunt" always SO kind
to him, so solicitous to relieve the mother
of her cares. nd.to make the home cheer
full and attractive to the father; with more
than parental indulgence and geutleness
to the little flock. whose life was an altar
upon which every day and every hour in