THE FUTURE OF SINGLE WOMEN.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1157, 2 May 1884, Page 4

THE FUTURE OF SINGLE WOMEN.

The mental life of a single woman is free aiid untrammelled by any limits except Mich as are to her own advantage. ’H« v difficulties in the way of development, are only such as are common to all human beings. Her physical life is healthy and active, i she retains her buoyancy and inI creases her nervous power if she knmvs how to take care of herself, and this lesson she is >-apidly learning. The unmarried woman of to-day is a new, sturdy, and vigorous type We find her neither the exalted ascetic nor nervous, inactive creature of former days. She is inteliectual’y trained and socially successful; her physique is as sound and .vigorous as her mind. The wot Id is before her in a freer, tiuer, and better sense than it is before any individual male or female. Her tastes me various and refined her opportunities for cultivating them practically unlimited. Whether it be in tlip direction of society, or art, or travel, or philantliro. y, or public duty, or a combination of these, there is nothing to hinder her from following her own will j there are no bonds but such as bear the yoke ; no restrictions but those of her own conscience and right principle, She feels that it is in no sense her duty, since it fs not her choice, to devote herself to securing the happiness of some one individual, nor to add to our difficulties of over-population. From her stronghold of happiness and freedom she can help the weak and protect the poor. She is fitted to till a place which has always stood empty in the history of the world, that of a loving and tender woman armed with official power to redress the wrongs of women and children, to stand as their representative before the nation, the creator of their rights, and the shield of their weakness. Those whose nature and necessities are known only to her, and to her only because she is a woman, have found in her a guardian, an advocate, and a friend. While losing none of the fun and frolic and gaiety of life, she is called by a deep religious conviction to stand face to lace and baud in hand with suffering. It is her only mission to grapple with some of the most painful problems of modern civilisation. Westminster Review.