Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1892. MAIDS-YOUNG AND OLD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4089, 14 April 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1892. MAIDS-YOUNG AND OLD.

Being the extended title of the Wairarapa Daily, with which it is identical.

. Last week we delivered ourselves of jjme reflections concerning wives. Various old wives have been good . enough to approve of fiipentiuients; and wo are encouraged to pursue our ' meditations still further, and to treat —with timid and tentative handthe yet more dangerous topio of maids. We had, indeed, thought of an article touching Widows; but second thoughts came to us. Better not to touch them at all, We have —needwe say it?-a very great id respeot for them ; and we elect to show it by keeping at a respectful distance. . . Well, then, with reference to maids. Why are they' so numer--08 ous? Why do not our young men of marry them? There is no doubi ne that one of the chief reasons for the f' decay of marriage among young people 111 in the middle class is tbo insensate "! notion cherished by many girls that r B {hey are .entitled to begin their marliy lied life in precisely the position that ng their parents occupy towards the close us of their days. ■" Are you ablo to kppp ve my. daughter in the style to which *' she lias been .accustomed ■?" would not be a typical'jjueition addressed by a .] y fatherioasmtor, jfit were not for 3tl feminine influence—especially the ia influence of the daughter herself. m But, in consequence of this miscbiev!lv ous ambition on the part of the "" daughter, the suitor is glioked off from any idea of marrying. He is making perhaps £2OO. a year—thia is ' an average" take" for an average young man—and it is probably atleast as much as" the old people" had whcntliey started'in life.. Yet the girl whom he would otherwiso be ' proud to make his wife expects to be maintained with surroundings more ly.: or less 'equivalent to those which "the ;ld; old man" is able t(? procure at tlie end] of a laborious and successful, career. • ~ It is ridiculously unreasontble; and: the affajr in '•* off." j'n l.osjbg the hope! "of ft (jopjepf Inppwn, iMje average] young man proceeds to lose a certain J amount of good which was in him,! He becomes more eelf-seekhig, more! ' fussy Rbbut. liis material comforts, ] more exacting, and mote iaiifjerem At length, ag no (Wit,' jj'e wles \ but 'lie is thirty-live yews old,. liflprries the -""«». wonPi flndlie'MPiiMobe fuWddbflche;:"?^ 11 * 11^ in faot, who requires a good deal ut managing.. At beßt, in nine cases out of ten, ihfi' hearth-hauritiug virtues of the domestic oat are all that he offers as a,substitute for love, "Love and affection" appear only in the Mercantile Gazette, when he make's over his furniture, to his b„ wife with an eye to the fluctuations m which 6cca:ion:>lly attend his busito ness transactions.

But, of course, there are other reasons ' for,.;the non-success of some young maids in winning a husband. Happily, it would not be possible in this colony to speak of the üßelessuess ot the average girl,

of Her inability to oook or superintend a household.' Most of our girls can do all this j and the fact constitutes ? a ' an enormous superiority which we ! n possess over the Old Country. But, p u a unhappily, the exhibition of those coi sterling accomplishments is not in* mi compatible with silliness of manner po and a mistaken idea as to the real th taste of marrying men.. Wearenow ™ going to make a present of some very valuable information, deriving itself mi from that aouteness of observation wbicb, of course, belongs to us in coinmon with all journalists. Young . men flirt—but tliey never marry ;the , girl they' ilirt with'. It is, therefore, a mistake to suppose that young ladies who can roll their,fine eyes, or m simper charmingly when they receive n't a compliment, are one whit farther on' the high road to success than the girls whose eyes oaiinot roll, or whose In charms elicit fewer compliments. ; TVe tr us b our fair read era will forgive this prosing, To the general public we may seem to be teaching the buotion of eggs to our—well, not to our H J grandmothers, but to persons.at least I as well informed as ourselves. Never- p tbeless, we modestly believe that the ir knowledge referred to is, not always put into practice, and that the soribe i who ventures to tell the sex how not, & to do it will deserve well at their w f hands. Bearing in mind, then, the S broad principle which we have laid j down—that flirtation rarely leads to „ matrimony, we take upon ourselves 2 to counsel our friends, the Young 8 Maids, to be chary how they allow themselves to be addressed by funny a . nick-names; to bo sparing of" Dick," a "Tom," and 11 Harry," when they 6 talk to their male acquaintance ; and to reflect that they do not know the 1 terms in whiohthey are spoken of j afterwards by those young gentlemen ■ who seo.med. to enjoy tho jocose , familiarity while it was going on, We are seriously of opinion that manners are un the decline; that, for the older , cuurtesies which we remember, we nre I e in danger of getting a questionable I m substitute in the shape'.of "chaff" 1 n and " oheek." Anyhow, there must 1 be unmarried girls. 'And, as Mr Fergus Hume, the novelist, makes ! one of his characters pertinently say, ' " It's So hard for an unmarried girl 1 to know when to leave, off being a : if girl," Precisely; and this brings us i to the consideration of Old Maids, ' There exists a most'uncommon 'difference between one old maid and '• another. Hear a celebrated living author on the subject. He paints two ' pictures:- ; j THE IGNOBLE OLD MAID, , " Sho is altogether hateful, The eyes I ;, aronotwell open—quick, sly, restless; the I mouth drawn down at the corners ; the y face pinched and a little thin and sour; a tongue glib enough. Wherever she goes S) she leaves people' by theoara.' Iwilloall . her 1 The. Stinging Nettle,' She is the 1 h family conspirator, She hates her married sisters; gets up quarrels between them and their husbands. The happiest couples are "j nofcsafe from her; she is a good raconlme, , she tells half-truths more poisonous than i whole lies. 'Oh, you haven't heard! Well, it's not for mo to say,' And then she i what she says; and a reputation is stained, a charaoteris blown to tho winds, a whole circle is corrupted, and sho goes oh her way rejoicing. ' The tongue can no man tame,' I should think not, when it is a woman's and suc/i a woman's 1" " THE NOBLE OLD MAID, IS , " I can see her quiet, bright face; her h hair is grey; how well it becomes her I Sorrow, which she has doubtless had, has . softened, not soured her face. She is selfcontained, 1 and very restful to be with ; always at other people's disposal; never Mle, never bored; usually with some kind of work, hor fingers going oftener and far S longqr than her tongue. But she has plenty . of gracious words, too, on.occasion, Alii though with no absorbing mission, she fits into all companies, cements sooial relations, and is always desired, She.talks to the dull or shy people, and draws them out, „ She is the wise confidante-of young men,' and the delight of young girls, and the ohildren adore her." < f We should like to think that the Maids of our acquaintance would read these extracts—even though, to bring about so desirable a. state of IB things, we should be obliged to print is an extra edition of this journal.