OLD MAIDS V. WIDOWS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2053, 3 September 1885, Page 3

OLD MAIDS Y. WIDOWS.

Interesting Lktter from a\ Old Maid. Thk following letter, addressed to the editor of the Bradford Telegraph, by an ancient maiden, appeared in the issue of that paper of May 30, ISBS. " Respected Sir : I am a single woman. People who have no regard for language or politeness call me an old maid. I was not always thus. I was not always thus I was young once, and I expected to marry "J king or prince when I was eighteen. At twenty I would have married a duke, if he had pleaded very hard. At twenty five, I would not have refused an earl, if his habits had been good and he had not used tobacco or alcholic stimulants in any hm, At thitty, I would have smiled on a rich young man who might possibly in the future have been a member of Parliament. At forty, I would have solaced the sonowsof a widower uitn childten, if he had not expected me to have any of his first wife's lelations to live with us. At foitj five, I would have taken almost any tiling which came along. No reasonable offer would have been refused. But I am still unmarried. I hate just been reading a book entitled ' Woids to Women.' There aro a great many of such books. When a man gets out of business, he diinka some strong coffee, tosses back his hair, locks his door so that the washei woman lie owes c.umot get in, and writes a book of advice to women. Evey man intends to wiite such a book befoie he dies He feels positive that he could say what is necessary much better tlnn it was erer said before, and, meanwhile he practises on his wife, and tells her how to dress, and how to mix the pud ding, and bow to wash the baby, and how to think on politics and religion, or anything else which may offer. Oh, it must be a fine thing to ha\ c a nnn to tell you what to do ! But to turn to the hook. The wiitor expressed liinnelf in this wise : "It ii the bounden duty of eveiy woman, except she be "iAly 01 dtfoimcd, to mvry, It is w hat she was mated for' Now, th.it sounds nice and right, but it is a gnat deal easier said than done, as (lie wiitct of tint book would find if he lived w here I do, and was a single man. What in the name of common sense is a woman to do when there aie only tin re m n iiageable men in the tow n, and one of them is Mind of an c)o, and the otliei two are so sought after that the}' don't dare trust themselves at a church, fair, or concert, and hardly venture out on Sunday ? I am willing to fulfill my destiny, and so are forty-eight mom of v-> in this town, but how are we to do it ? We don't want to poison any man's ivife, and so throw another m,m into the inaiker. All my mirried ft tends toll me — ' Sally, you ought to q< t manied ! Sally, why in the world don t you get nuiiiud !' ' Yes why don't I ' 1 don't want to mirry a woman 1 am hopi less about waiting f>r any man's w ife to die and lea\ c a vacant chair Moat of the vacant elixirs in this town aie chairs of lh'; misuilin; persuasion And if a new coiner moves tnto the place, some designing widow picks htm up Widows are the mm of o'd maid*. They aie used to men and know just theii weak points. Widows ought to get burned as they are in Bumiah, or some other foreign countiy, whcie the people know how to do things.— Ever youis, Amelia."

Provekiis ok AtKEcnov.— Hot love is soon cold. Faults are thick where love is thin. Wheie pride begins lose cease-, Lo\e and a cough won't hide Sweet is the love that meets return. The heart's bettei read in the eyes. Love and lordship make no fellowship. Lo\e lies in cottages as well as in courts. The letnedy for love is— land between. Kind confidence begets confidence, and love begets love. Abs<nce sharpens love, piesence stiengtliens it. Lose can hope where reason would despair. In the husband wisdom ; in the wife gentleness Nothing is moie tender, nothing iik tj violent than lose. The science of love is thi 1 philosophy of the hc.ut. Love can not be bought or sold ; it's only puce is love. Solid love w ho=e root is virtue can no more die thin virtue, itself.