FOR THE LADIES.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1538, 16 January 1875, Page 5 (Supplement)

FOR THE LADIES.

_ o THE SOCIAL BANK OF OLD. MAIDS

A whiter in the Pall Mall Gazette says"*of old maids:—"There was a time when 'old maids' were looked upon with an eye of pity, if not contempt, and it vas thought that marriage alone gave women any claim to consideration. Of late years, however, there has been a change of opinion in this respect, and unmarried women not only rank as high in general estimation as their married sisters, but bid fair soon to surpass them. Nor is thia to be wondered at. A very few years ago it was a rare sight to see a married woman dancing at any ball given in the London season, whereas now wives dance with greater pertinacity than their sisters or daughters, and balls are even given expressly for married women. The character of the British matron has, in fact, completely changed ; instead of being grave and decorous, she has become a hopping, skipping creature, delighting every one by her grace and activity, but at the same time losing in weight, moral as well as physical, what she gains in enjoyment. In the meantime, the spinister is rapidly rising—scorning flirtation, she leave vain pursuits to the wife and mother. The Emperor of China has set a good example in I the encouragement of spiDisters. According to a Shanghai journal he has just decreed that special honors be paid to two old maids, one of whom lately died after a life of devotion to the memory of her betrothed, while the other, who is still living, declined in her youthful days to make a most tempting match, on the ground that she could not leave her homa. Some few old ladies in England have an equal claim to recognition of their merits, and it would both elevate and appease them if they were in like man-

ner rewarded."