The Spinster in Society

1896

It is difficult to see who would take her place socially, should the spinster vanish from the land. A gracious lady, tactful beyond the dreaming of the young girl, to whom the world is still a place of enchantment, in which, half unconsciously to herself, she poses as the principal figure, the spinster smoothes away embarrassments, does the right thing, speaks the right word in the right place, and keeps the wheels of life running without friction. To her, serene, well bred, tranquil, aware of good and evil, tolerant of that which is mere crudity and inexperience, severe only where falseness and cruelty challenge, soft spoken, sweet mannered, or possibly brusque and spicy, yet none the less charming.

If a woman of wealth, the spinster holds in her capable hands the threads of many charities, advising here, bestowing there, withholding or endowing, as she deems judicious. Perhaps she develops in her own person rare gifts — music, painting, embroidery — attaining in each a degree of excellence which only leisure and taste in combination can arrive at. Very likely she prefers to seek out gifted younger people, boys and girls, who need that some one should believe in and help them on, and to these she is a patron saint. Many lines of work are open to her which marriage would have closed, since the wife and mother must exclusively devote to her home and sphere of action talents and sympathies which the spinster may use in the service of her age. Though the one be more blessedly happy, the other is not without rewards and compensations.

Poor in this world's goods, the spinster fills equally a most important niche. Her modern education makes her an independent factor in many fields, a not-to-be-despised competitor in the market and the shop. And since probably she need not remain a spinster unless she choose, society owes her its thanks for her generosity in keeping herself at its service, and making so winsome a feature of its moving panorama. — San Francisco Chronicle.