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111111
A DEFENSE OF THE "OLD MAID."
the Lot of the Single Woman la by No
Mfiana an Unenviable One,
What is all this nonsense about old
naidsr
Leap year not only gives ns an extra
day of work and worriment bat it gets
ap on its tiptoes and raises a terrible
hullalialloo became there are some
women in this world sufficiently inde
pendent and self content to get along
without baring men forever hanging to
their apron strings. No sooner does one
of these miserable years that is divisible
by four poke its quadrioolored nose
over the top of the time table than some
body blows the whistle for the funny
men to begin work on the old maids.
What a shame! What a mean, despic
ahle thing for an adult male, whose
hours might be spent to better advan
tage in Borne useful employment, to ply
his pencil in caricaturing the noblest
typi of womanhood that exists!
The old maid is the grandest monu
ment civilization has unveiled.
Look at her. She is not a weak, wishy
washy, gum chewing, letter writing,
beau hunting creature. In a world
where woman as a rule thinks it her
duty to cling to somebody or something,
where men and women are propped
against each other in an apparently
helpless, mutually dependent way, the
old maid stands alone and asks odds of
nobody. Sue gets np in the morning
and looks with clear eyes uKin a bright
and cheerful sky: she walks through
the day felicitous and unruffled, seeing
good everywhere and joy in everything,
and when she goes to bed at night pleas
ant dreams and refreshing rest are her
portion, She has a heurt. and it beats a
healthy response to every note that
multi voiced nature sings. It is not an
aerated heart, porous and pincushiony.
that is sensitive to every sigh of the op
posite sex and that bounds like a rubber
boll every time a man glances its way.
She has a good heart, a true heart, a
perfect woman's heart, and it beams
with true and honest love, not for self,
not for one person, or for any set of per
sons, but for the wbole world and all
that is beantiful and lovable in it. The
old maid is a sweetheart at large, if I
may nse the expression. Her affection
belongs to nobody in particular unless
It bapiiens to be to her dear old tabby or
her little canary but to everybody in
general. I like her tmcause she is unique.
A manproof woman is a rarity. A girl
who can carry her heart safely through
the wiles and over the pitfalls that the
other sex prepare for her is worthy of
honor and the best regard, and that is
why 1 have put on my war paint and ar
rayed myself on the side of the old moid.
And why call her old, pray?
Nobody really knows when the age of
spinsterhood begins. Home say that a
girl who posses twenty without vowing
fealty to some young man or showing a
disposition to expose her cardiac to Cu
pid's shafts is tending toward the condi
tion that is described as old maid, borne
claim that she must pass twenty-fire and
others favor thirty years as the limit.
But years, tuy dear people, hare nothing
to do with age. Oliver Wendell Holmes'
saying that he was "eighty years young'
meant a great deal. The youngest wom
en in the world are the so called old
maids.
What is there to bother them? No
anxieties to burn oat their souls. They
sit up waiting for nobody. The club
and "business down town" do not cause
wrinkles to cluster on their brows. They
know nothing of the deception and trick
ery that trouble the lives of married
women. Life is smooth and (lower spread
for their feet and their eyes are tilled
with the luster of the stars. The rose
wreath of youth is forever on their brows.
It is a good thing to be an old maid. 1
confess 1 like it as far as I've got, and if
there are any old maids who are restless
in their single blessedness and would like
to desert our band 1 want to say to them
that now is their chance. Wake up, girls!
This is lb2.-New York World.
CaJToraitx Extension and Women.
University extension, which bos be
come so general and so marked a feature
of higher education, is of peculiar value
to women, as it brings to them the ad
vantages of the college training which
they have neither time nor means to seek
outside their homes. The average father
educates bis son at the expense of his
daughter's learning, and not infrequent
ly the daughter contributes toward the
general fund for the brother's education
from her own small earninga. The aim
of the university extension movement,
which was introduced into America from
England lees than two years ago, is to
bring regular systematic college work
under specially qualified instructors
within the reach of people of small means
snd living even at great distances from
college centers.
The methods employed include estab
lishing centers in towns containing Li
braries for reference, suitable meeting
places and local organizations for attend
ance. In the establishment of such cen
ters womeu are taking the initiative in
organization and compose wore than
half the students. The two centers in
the west, one at Indianapolis and the
other in Chicago, hare been established I
by Mrs. Mary V right aewell. Miss slahr
and Miss Adams. Mrs. S. L. Oberholtze,
was instrumental in establi .liing one of
the hist centers in Anierii-.i at Morris
town, and Mrs. Hood at i.vrraantowu
Center and Miss Leonard, nl vVest Phila
delphia, have been untiring in their ef
forts for the success of the work.
Such a center being established, in
struction is given by weekly lectures,
exercises and classes and examinations.
There is also a department of home
study, with regular courses extending
over three or four years, in which this
student will be in regular correspondence
with an instructor and have his work
tested by a college professor. The so
ciety has many eminent university men
on its advisory committee, and a council
of cultured women and men to direct its
active affairs. Nearly 60,000 people at
tended the lectures last year, and the
number has been largely increased dur
ing the present season. The essential
expenses of membership in the American
Society of University Teaching are five
dollars, and three dollars per year are
the dues of membership in a local center.
New York Sun.
All About Pretty Women.
One cannot help noticing in passing
through Broadway or Fifth avenue, or
when attending the opera or the thea
ters, that the metropolis has never known
so many beautiful women as at present.
1 stood in the windows of a Fifth avenae
clubhouse the other day and saw the
procession file by for an hour or more.
It was bewildering, inspiring.
But these were not all New York
women, although the dames of this city
are fair enough in good sooth. In the
shopping neighborhood and on the prom
enades now you will see women from
Boston, from Chicago, from Philadel
phia, from St. Louis, from New Orleans
and from San Francisco. More than
this, yon will see fair domes from Paris
and London. Some of the more ex
perienced critics say they can tell a
woman from Boston from one from Chi
cago, and one from St. Louis from an
other claiming San Francisco as her
home. There is a good deal of humbug
about this, and yet there is a modicum
of truth in it too. A Boston woman
has, of course, an individuality of her
own. She has somewhat lust faith in
Howells. but she still worships idols of
on intense sort and in an intense way.
But she is handsome, and if she does
wear dainty glasses on a pretty nose,
and largely for effect, yoa mast admit
that the effect is good.
The Chicago girl used to be described
as being breezy and loud. As a matter
of fact, she is now very like her New
York sister since the latter has gone in
for opeu air sports. The New York and
Chicago girls now have physiques not
inferior to those of their brothers. In
deed, this is in many cases putting it
mildly. As for beauty, they are in that
quality which the New York gamin pro
nounces out of sight The southern
beauties are not brunettes to the same
extent as formerly, and any one who
expects the San Franciscan to be very dif
ferent from her eastern cousins expects
too much. To admire all these yon mast
see them together, and then note the
picture, and if you do not admire it I
pity you. Foster Coatee in New York
Mail and Express.
She lld Not Wear a Crown.
Uorernor Brown, of Mar)' laud, has
been forced by public opinion in that
state to command Mrs. Brown to put
aside a queenly crown. The story is
that Mrs. Brown, having some hand
some diamonds, had a mind to hove
them reset for the inauguration cere
mouies and reception. She carried them
to a Baltimore jeweler, who suggested
that they should be arranged in a crown
or tiara. After some hesitation Mrs.
Brown accepted the design for a crown.
In due time the crown was completed,
and woe written up by the Baltimore
papers. Then the trouble began for the
governor. Some papers announced that
Mrs. Brown would wear a crown on all
public occasions, just like a real queen.
Others varied the announcement by say
ing that Mrs. Brown considered the
crown as the outward and risiblesymbol
of the social belief that she is the first
lady of the state.
Immediately the people of Maryland
caught tire, and asked on what meat
had their Cawar fed that his family
should put on a style not authorized by
the constitution. There must have been
a terrible struggle in the governor's
mind, for governors are but human after
all Eventually the statesman triumphed
over the husband, and Mrs, Brown did
not wear a crown. Neither was there
any special ceremonies attendant upon
the inauguration, which were anode
severely simple, even Jeffersonian in
their simplicity. Boston Transcript
Hra. Potter Palmar.
Mrs. Potter Palmer is considered by
many of ber admirers to be t' ( hand
somest woman in the Unit States.
Mrs. Palmer is certainly the ; s'ost am
bitious woman to be found h taabouts,
and just now she is devoting a J her time
and thoughts and energy, if well as
great sums of money from b$r private
purse, to making the great Columbian
exhibition a success from every point
of view. Mrs. Palmer is a sister of Mrs.
Fred Urant, and last summer, when Mrs.
Palmer went abroad, it was nominally
to visit her sister in Vienna. But when
once over on the other side Mrs, Palmer
found so much that oould be don in the
way of interesting women in our great
forthcoming exposition that sho gave
nearly all of her time to this work, fore
going all private and social pleasures.
Mrs. Potter Palmer is devoting her
life to womankind, and is leaving noth
ing undone that her countrywomen may
make a creditable showing tor them
selves and the various states they repre
sent Mrs. Paluior does this without
hope of reward. But surely, if no other
tribute is tendered her, she may rest se
cure in the knowledge that she has the
grateful thought and thanks of her fel
low women. Now York Advertiser.
Brooklyn Woman at a Food Exhibition.
One of the most interesting features
of the health food exposition is the
great number of important positions
held by women. In some instances the
entire exhibit of a firm is found to be
managed by a woman, the success of
which is due to her energy and interest
This makes conversation between ex
hibitor and visitor easy, so that much
valuable information may be gleaned.
The exposition comes at a time when
Brooklyn women are' ready to receive
new suggestions and learn in what ways
they can improve on old methods. They
realize as never before that "the kitchen
rules the world," or that the truth of
the remark "a man thinks as he eats" is
not hard to find. Cooking classes and
lectures are re-enforced by women who
have become convinced that they do not
understand the first principles of scien
tific cookery. The domestic department
at Pratt's has doubtless done much to
awaken interest on this subject as well
as several timely newspaper articles.
In whatever other directions women
are ambitious, if they are married and
at the head of a home their first duty is
in the smooth and safe management of
the household machinery. To allow
members of the family to eat unwhole
some, indigestible messes day after day
is the surest way to invite sickness and
disease. Brooklyn Eagle.
Noreltlee In Belts.
Belt manufacturers are likely to hare
a very busy season, as recent changes in
fashions are playing into their hands.
When the summer girl who plays tennis,
goes boating, sailing, etc., first became
a factor in American life, she wore
pretty much anything that was queer,
but now that suitable outing garments
hare become an essential part of femi
nine costume, blouses, waists and, in
consequence, belts bare grown to great
importance. Last year it was blouses
and sashes; this year it is waists and
belts, the great predominance of waists
both for house and neglige wear entail
ing a similar increase in the wearing of
belts.
Bodice belts for women, ring belts for
men. both of russet leather, are the lead
ers this season. A common defect of
bodice belts, their tendency to break
down and wrinkle, is orercome by the
curred shape, which permits the belt to
fit the form with no greater tension on
the edges than in the center. Mercer.
She Preferred Not to Be a Beneficiary.
All of Mrs. Windom's horses and car
riages were recently sold at auction.
The secretary left a small amount of
property and money, but it was not more
than sufficient to allow the widow to lire
in the most frugal and modest way.
Senators Washburn and McMillan start
ed the ball rolling by putting down their
names for $1,000 each, and sereral other
wealthy senators added like amounts.
Then the list was taken to the Union
League club, in New York, where D. O.
Mills, Chaunoey M. Depew and others
added (1,000 items, until the total swell
ed up to about 25,000. It was intended
that the total should not stop Bhort of
fSO.000. An effort was made to keep
the subscription secret so as not to dis
tress the friends of Mr. Windom, and it
is said that Mrs. Windom finally con
cluded not to be the beneficiary of these
generous gentlemen. Washington Cor,
Indianapolis Journal.
The recent annnal convention of the
Notional Suffrage association demon
strated the fact that there has been a
great increase in the number of young
women prominently connected with the
woman's rights movement. This influx
of youthful talent is attributed to the
higher education and broader informa
tion of American girls.
In the course of Miss Marsden's work
he has ridden 2,000 miles on horseback
and will present the cose of the lepers
to the czarina when she has finished her
travels. She intends to cross the Cau
casus mountains and also to investigate
the condition of the lepers in Tiflis and
several other provinces.
Some new notions in fancy work are
those of a square tea cozy, which, how
ever, adds to but does not replace the
old favorite miter and circular shapes;
( o'clock tea cloths, which are of linen,
mocked all over, and pokerwork ap
plied to eggs for stocking darners.
A simple, timely dessert is formed of
red bananas sliced in thin round slices,
with sugar and orange juice over them
and served with a dish of whipped cream.
A celebrated French cook says that a
turkey roasted with stuffing omitted is
juicier and of bettor flavor thou if rilled
with bread dressing.
Mrs. A. M. Holloway has secured a
three years' contract to clean the streets
of Buffalo in oonipetattoa with a num
ber of men.
slips Thai Always Litlite a Laugh.
To few of ns is it given never to make
a slip of the tongue. On the contrary,
most people have some unpleasan t mem
ory or other of some dreadful mistake
they have fallen into, and even although
years may hare passed since the fatal
moment when their liis botrayed them,
they are still unable to recall (l e cir
cumstances without again experiencing
the agony and their cheeks displaying
the blush which followed upon the first
discovery of the slip. Take a few exam
ples to illustrate what we have ad
vanced. It was but a very small and
even insignificant change of a letter
which rather spoiled the impressive elo
quence of a preacher, who, warning his
audience against idolatry, in place of
"Bow not thy knee to an idol," made a
false step and said, "Bow not thine eye
to a needle."
In the same way the young clergy man
with the correct Oxford pronunciation
in giving the hymn, "Conquering Kings,"
merely stumbled orer the first vowel,
but being unable to save himself was
hurried over the precipice and startled
his congregation with the announce
ment, "The hymn tonight will be 'Kin
quering Congs, Kinquering Congs.'"
Much the same was the pitfall into
which a reverend gentleman walked
when in place of saying "Behold the
fig tree, how it withereth away," by a
simple transposition of two letters he
asked his audience to "Behold the wig
tree, how it fithereth away." London
Tablet.
The Sad Part or It.
A good soul in Ohio absolutely wor
ships Dickens, even going so far as burn
ing a candle before his portrait. She
reads nothing but Dickens, and when he
came here to read she wrote to inquire
whether he'd visit the west Receiring
a reply in Dickens' own handwriting,
her joy knew no bounds. Her hero could
not leave the east, therefore she deter
mined to go to New York.
Jones, the husband, demurred, but
upon being wakened one night with the
threat that if he did not give her money
to travel like a Christian, she would
walk, Jones succumbed. Mrs. Jones
went to New York, had a private inter
view with Dickens, attended his read
ings, and returned home more rabid than
ever.
When the news came of Dickens'
death Mrs. Jones was inconsolable. Not
long after Mrs. Jones' sister died, but
owing to the illness of this sister's hus
band, whom she was obliged to nurse,
Mrs. Jones could not attend the funeral.
When the rest of her family returned
they found Mrs. Jones reading "Pick
wick" to the sick and bereaved man. As
a relative approached the bed, Mrs.
Jones burst into tears, exclaiming: "The
saddest part of it all is to think that
dear Sarah died before 1 had finished
reading 'Martin Chuzzlewit' to her; and
now she'll never, never know how it
ends! Oh, it's loo bad!" Kate Field's
Washington.
Electricity In Oyster Culture.
Electricity is about the last thing to
be thought of m connection with oysters,
yet a very close association between
them has been established by M. Lacase-
Dutbeier, the well known authority cn
oyster culture. He makes use of the
electric light in examining the stages of
development through which the spawn
passes. A glass cylinder is mounted in
a cylindrical skeleton cage which serves
as a support, and into this glass the
water containing the spawn is placed.
At the bottom is a silvered reflector, and
the cover forms a parabolic reflector, in
the center of which is fixed a small in
candescent lamp. The reflector and
sides of the glass cylinder act in such a
way that but few rays of light emerge
from the apparatus directly, hence the
liquid is suffused with a soft illumina
tion which is admirably suited to the
examination of the contents. A modifi
cation of this little apparatus is now be
ing employed in various researches into
the life processes of ferments and the
culture of microbes.-New York Tele-
Tam'
A Curious Fungus.
The department of agriculture at
Washington has received from Consul
Jones, located at Chin Kiang, China, a
small bottle containing specimens of a
curious fungus that actually grows from
a species of caterpillar. Unlikely as it
may seem, this fungus literally trans
forms the caterpillar into a vegetable,
making the unhappy insect serve the
' purpose of a root The caterpillar itself
. f ., , . .. ,. . . .
is tne larva or a mom peculiar to umna uouun uuauiugewuBuiu,u uuiuiug
and Japan. When the cold of winter the studs in perfect security. Ex
approaches, this moth bores a hole in change.
the ground to a depth of three to seven
inches and curls himself up to wait for
spring. i
While taking his winter sleep he is
often attacked by a remarkable disease,
which causes him to send forth shoots
like a sprouting vegetable. These shoots
appear and fructify above the ground
like any other species of mushroom.
This remarkable animal vegetable has
no other means of growth than the curi
ous one above described. St Louis Re
public. '
- Death from Tight facing.
Tight lacing was indirectly the cause
of the mysterious and sudden death of
Miss Clara S. Holloway, in Camden, at
a card party, according to the opinion of
the doctors who made a post mortem
examination. They found that death
resulted from cerebral hemorrhage, re-
suiting from congestion of the lungs
superinduced by the tightness of the
) young lady's clothing. "
V
Bleep on. denr. now.
The lust i-lwp and the best.
And on l)iy brow
Ami on thy uulot breast
VliilcU 1 throw!
Thy little life
Was mlue a little while. .
Kn fears were rife
To trouble thy brlof smllfl
Willi BLi-ese or strife.
Lie stilt and be
Forevermore a child!
Not UTUriKinifly,
Whom life has not defiled,
I render Ibeel
Slumber so deep
1 would not rashly wakei
1 hardly weep:
Fain only for thy sake
To share thy sleep.
Yea! to be dead
Dead here with thee today:
When all is said.
"Twere good by thee to lay
My weary head. --,
That ts the beet;
Ah, child so tired of play,'
1 stiid contest-
I, too, would come thy way
And somewhere rest.
Ernest Dowson,
The Mask In Italy.
The Italian nation is especially ap
pealed to by the charm of mystery
and all those indefinite possibilities
which lurk behind the secrecy of the
mask. Not but that this license of
masks was frequently abused! Ales
sandro VI, who with Madonna Lu
erezia, was so fond of watching the
maskers go past from the balcony of
Castel St Angelo, had to forbid
masks in 1499 under pain of the gal
lows, to such an extent did the fac
tions and ill disposed at Borne take
advantage of them to pay off old
scores, and so many people were
killed or seriously wounded every
day in the streets.
Connected with the old Saturnalia,
as we have seen, the masks were the
especial characteristic of the Fabulse
Atellante and the less aristocratic
Mimas, and nobody who has seen the
collection of such antiquities at
Rome, Naples and Pompeii will doubt
the important part thatmasks played
in the life of the early empire.
Thence we may trace them down in
the antique farces, which gradually
blended with the sacred representa
tions of the middle ages, until they
ultimately laicised them and re
moved them from the church. Gen
tleman's Magazine.
A Crushing Blow.
They were sitting in the reading
room after supper talking of fights
andflghting. Thefreshyoungdrum
mer had held the floor straightaway
for a full hour, and the tales he had
told of his own fistic prowess were
marvelous. Finally the grizzled old
grocery drummer got up and shook
himself.
"I ain't much on the fight my
self." he said slowly, "but still I've
struck many a blow in my time that
I wish I hadn't."
"You have?" queried the fresh
young drummer.
"Yes," drawled the veteran evon
more slowly, "and you are one of
them."
Then the fresh young drummer
sneaked up to his room, and the
others adjourned. Chicago World.
A Solecism on a E-oof Garden.
On one of the roof gardens the
other night I was surprised to notice,
after all I have said on the subject,
an individual, who at first glance
seemed a gentleman and irreproach
ably dressed in evening clothes,
guilty of the solecism of tan colored
boots with otherwise correct attire.
I simply feel Bony for such a man.
He is imnosRible and I fenr hovnnrl
i redemption. Such a man I believe
would be carjablu of wenrino- a red
cravat at a funeral. New York Cor.
Vogue.
To Save Tempera.
A new fastening for gentlemen's
studs bids fair to do away with the
unpleasant state of mind most wom
en and men find themselves in after
screwing a stud into a shirt front
This new fastening is a stem that
""P into place by a quick push and
1 A !.;..... .t. j
The man who observes and thinks
is mentally stronger and practically
of more use than the man who
merely reads books. The older tri
umphs of architecture and hydraul-
ics were won before books bernm
and by engineers and architects who
Mw distinctly and reflected logically.
i The flags to be hoisted at one time
in signaling at sea never exceed four.
It is an interesting arithmetical fact
that with 18 variously colored nags,
gad never more than fou .. a time,
nn iBW ri,.m jafe 'i
iven .'
'
The worldunn'
650,000 tons of
coffee as being "
tou which is a.
.) anmki
COO for this out'
THE DEAU CHILD.
V
I
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