v w . . V - e'- . Vv. ' . 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 - J)