NEW ENGLAND SPINSTERS
Wfeat BeenauM of th fiorpluce of Wa"
n ltt th Kaatora fttataa.
It has often been asked rhat become
of the surplus ol the female over the
male population of some of the States,
especially of Massachusetts and Con
neclicut and pet-hap of some of the
other "down east" commonwealths.
An estimable ladj by the name of ML
Rebecca Jones, who herself belongs to
that number and who was a school
teacher for nearly twenty year in a
small Sew England town, and who U
now vLsitinjj friends In Brooklyn, pave
some interesting: statistics bearing upon
this point to tha writer of this article.
Said she:
"I have kept a record of the g rls
who have graluated from the high
school of my nntive village, where
liave been a school teacher since 1871,
what they have done and what has bo
come of them."
She gave the figures for the classes
of the years 1871 to 1876 from eightwn
to eleven years ago and strange fig
tires for any marrying and giving in
marriage community they are. Con
tinuing, she said:
"The average" age of the female
graduates from a typical Sew England
school is between sixteen or seventeen
years. Hence it will appear that the
women of whom this lkt hits boon
made, ranging to-dny between twenty
nine and thirty-fonr years old, liavt
done the greater part of all the "set
tling in life' that they are likely to da
Out of a total of ninety-nine graduate
there were twenty-seven marriages,
eleven deaths and sixty-nine are still
single. Strange as it may seem, the
eleven deaihs were all caused by con
sumption. There have been two case
f insanity, both of the twenty-seven
married group. The largest number
of children of any is three. Three of
the girls went to college after leaving
the high school, all of whom are mar
ried. Of the unmarried sixty-one, twenty
one follow a very usual feminine call
ing that of Bchoolma'am. One is at
Hampton. Vs., teaching the Indians;
the other twenty are in country schools
in or near by their homes. Three set
type; one reads proof; one is head dress
maker in a large establishment in ?tew
York city; four are dressmakers on
their own hook; one is practicing med
icine; three are music teachers, fifteen
are stitchers and buttonhole makers in
shoe shops, and the rest are home bod
ies. Just what has brought about such a
preponderance of spinster-hood it is not
altogether easy to say. Some people
have contended that it did not exist, but
statistics prove to the contrary. Such
people have explained the great surplus
of women in New England on the sup
position that most of them are widows,
made so by the hazardous occupation of
the men along the Eastern coast Wid
ows there are in plenty, but the sixty
one of my records certainly never mar
ried. "Probably most of them never had an
opportunity to marry. There are few
marriageable young men at the present
time to be found in most of the small
New England towns. The serene quiet
of this most lethargic rural section of
the country does not suit the active
spirit of young men of the day. They
go away before they are vi enough to
marry, and the chances are that they
don't come back again.
"If tbey do return they are impressed
with the lack of money in New Eng
land, outside of the cities, by the length
of time since the houses have been
painted and the amount of calculation
required before he can find a place
where he can satisfactorily spond a
dollar. They do not stay long enough
admire the hardy thrift that can
wring a comfortable support from the
ftonysoil where a New Yorker would
starve, and the girls they left behind
them' can not compare, so they seem
to think, for beauty of dress, fascinat
ing coquetry or small talk of society
with the blandishments of the city girls,
who have insensibly become to them the
standard for admiration. .
"These things considered, it is for
tunate for the spinster that she is fast
learning to think it a natural end not
altogether unpleasant state of affairs to
be what she is. They do not look an
unhappy lot, and New England is learn
ing to be tender of and appreciate them.
She does not call them "old maids,' and
the fiction of their youth is kept up till
they die. One may hear of the 'Fisher
girls,' the 'Smith girls,' and so on for
weeks before the truth dawns that the
girls' are well pat the half century
mLlewUme of life They never married
and no one was ever cruel enough to
mark out any lino beyond which they
ceased to be young. They are self-respecting
and universally respected.
"There are New England towns in
great numbers, wher the boot educat
ed and best bred Yankee girl, of the
hel colonial families, can go into the
shoe shop and work there for years af
ter she has ced to be a girl, save by
courtly, and still read the classics and
move in, perba; lead, the mml ariato
cratic society of tae I.
Mi&u ana t.iorvzz. (
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.
During the last year the sum total
of educational gifts in this country was
nearly fo.0O0.W0.
Amusements ars to religion liks
breet.es of air to the flame gentle ones
will fan it, but strong ones will put it
out. Dr. Thomas.
The Soudan has been almost totally
neglected by Protestants as a field tor
missionary effort It has a population
of about 60.000,000 people.
A grant of a year was recently
made out of the appropriation for the
Indian Bureau to aid the industrial
school carried on in Dakota, near the
Crow Creek Agency, by Miss Howard,
a daughter of Joseph Howard, Jr., the
journalist '
Young people ought to be interest
ed in our public schools. These schools
0!n the doors of knowledge to all
classes and conditions of American
youth. We can not begin to estimate
their importance in the development of
our national life.
No business pursuit or employ
ment should be ' engaged in, however
profitable it may be, or may promi-e to
be, il we can not glorify God in con
nection with it No plea of necessity,
or force of circumstances, is justifiable
for wrong doing.
Again and again, at home and
abroad, the world has seen and con
fessed the power of the old-lashioned
Bible and its truth to brighten the face
of human society. If free religion can
do it better, by all means let the world
see it done at onca Boston Congre
gutionalist It is no more possible for an idle man
to keep together a certain stock of knowl
edge, than it is possible to keep together
a stock of ice exposed to the meridian
sun. Every day destroys a fact a rela
tion, or an influence; and the only way
of preserving the bulk and value of the
pile is by constantly adding to it
Rev. Sydney Smith.
The cost of maintaining public
schools in New Tor State last year
was $14,980,841, an increase of more
than f 1.2UO.O00 over W7. This money
was for the education of 1.772.958 chil
dren of school ag. of whom 1.0,13. 2G9
attended school. The number of teach
ers employed was S1.72G, at an average
annual salary of f 419. 75.
The foundation of all education,
from the time a child first begins to
learn, is thoroughness. Whatever is
attempted must be carried out thor
oroughly. until the learner becomes
master 'of the subject Thoroughness
is the groundwork of all good habits of
mind, and a child's mind is as much a
bundle of habits as its body.
"We have so much to be thankful
for," is an exclamation often heard
from the thankful heart and it is all
true so true that if but the vail that
obscures our earthly vision were lifted,
and we could see for a moment how
much has been done for us. perhaps it
might lead to increased thankfulness
expressed in life and deed, even if less
in words. Christian at Work.
WIT AND WISDOM,
Truth can be outraged by silence
quite as cruelly as by speech.
An unkind criticism is like a pin
the better its point the more it hurts.
Merchant Traveler.
We have great respect for the pene
tration of the man who discovers good
qualities in us. Boston Courier.
The man with polished manners
rubs along easily through the world
but it is because he rubs that he is
polished.
Nothing will render, a man useless
than to live among people who think
that every thing he says is right
Milwaukee Journal,
We are all of us more or less hum
bugs in this world, but most of us won'?
allow anvbodv but ourselves to say so.
i Somerville Journal.
When you have found the master
passion of a man, remember never to
trust him where that passion is con
cerned. Lord Chesterfield.
The man who is drawn into a
scheme to invest one cent and draw out
one dollar may not be a fool, but he is
in no danger from brain fever.
Tolerance and charity come with
age and exjerieuce. I see no fault
committed that I myself could not have
committed at some time or another.
Goethe.
No Congress, nor mob, nor guillo
tine, nor fire, nor all together, can
avail to cut out burn or destroy the
offense of superiority in persons The
superiority in him is the inferiority in
me.
The art in which the secret of human
happiness in a great measure consists,
is to sot the habits in such a manner
that every change may be a change for
the better. The habits themselves are
much the same; for whatever is made
habitual becomes smooth, and easy,
and nearly indifferent The return tc
an old habit is likewise easy, whatever
the habit be. Therefore the advantage
is with those habits which a'low ol
an indulgence in the deviation from
tlif;rtt.-;Pl-y.
(iMPP, BURREIM
Faim fflaiw. Saw ills. 5ie lis,
Pitts' Engines and Threshers,
Bain Wagons, Hacks and Buggies, and All Kinds of Two and
Four Wheeled Vehicles.
McCormack and Deering Binders and Mowers, Oliver Chilled Plows, Carden City
and Moline Plows, Disc Harrows, Wood andiron Floating Harrows,
BARBED WIRE. MONITOR SEfcOERS AND DRILLS. SINCLE AND DOUBLE HARNESS. SOLE A CENT FOR THE
LICHTNINC HAY PRESS, THE BEST IN THE WORLD.
F. H. ROSCOE,
BIUCH THE NEWEST,
Nobbiest and Largest Stock of
CLOTH II G!
In the County, is now to be Seen on th . u i (i: cf
Of Albany, Oregon.
&" When you want to "drfusup," we would be glad to show you
through and make the right price.
Merchant Tailoring a specialty. Mb. E. A. Scueffler i an expert, and
has charge of this department We guarantee satisfaction.
H. J. JONES.
DEALER IN-
wa, Mm,
Mi M
-AND-
School Supplies.
ALBANY, ORECON.
SUBSCRIPTKMS RECEIVED
For All the Leading Maga
zines and Newspapers.
jV.LTSIVY, OREGON.
Wholesale and Retail Dealers in
3
'
R. L Mil
(8uceMor to C. H. IUrmox.)
BARBER & HAIRDRESSER
LKB.tSOX. OKE4.0X. '
SHAVING, HAIR n'TTING AND HHAM
Iki1iik ill the Int'-M and fx-Kt ty)e. Hjx- il
attfiitlun paWI to ilr.'.ninK Lalti' hair. Your
J. M. Keene, D. D. S.
Dental Parlors
Office: Breyman Bros. Building,
HAI.EM,ORF,0!f.
gSf Hours from 8 A. M. to 6 P. U.
COMPANY,
Manager.
G. T.COTTON,
PEA LEA IS
Groceries and Provisions.
TOOACCO & CICARS,
SMOKERS' ARTICLES,
Foreign and Domestic Fruits,
CONFECTIONERY
taeeaaware aa tlimwirf,
Uap eaa Laaa t'lstarea.
Mala HU laae. !.
iruvawirr hti ha ku th W. I- Dnpu
lit krutluim, nut him 4va M a fraud.
W. L. DOUGLAS
$3 SHOE CENTLCMEN.
Kt In th world. Fiawilna hi
S.4MM.KM I sr. HA!l-tKW moE.
4.K) MKI.T KM OK.
:. ytn.U'K AMI KA KM Kit" Ml OK.
i.MI FX I K VAITK AI.K HO.
H.Vft WOKKINUMAN'N tMO
kX.VO and mi.-.H KOVH' M U(H)L SHOES.
Ail made Iij t.uiiKr, tluMoii aitd Isau.
W. L. DOUGLAS
S3 SHOE laoYis.
timmt MatM-taJ. Hoat Styl. Boat ntflaf.
U nut flii by yniir di-altr, -
W. I VOVULA. V&OCKTON, HAM
For Sale by C. C. Hackleman.
OHEGO
Land Company
R. F. ASHBY and CEO. DICKINSON
Genera Agunta tor
Albany, Lynn Co., Oregon.
Buying and Soiling
Eeal-Effl-oi-Goiissi.
Aa Doing a ia?rat Iteal Estate
BaHiafM.
trLnm Solicited fur Sole.
ASHBY & DICKERSOK
" 15jM-r -"17. tu . m j