A Final Triumph; or, A Lady Bachelor — page 68: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

66 A LADY BACHELOR. in the sense of pride—could she deny that she had ever joved, and, confessing it, could she risk the forfeiture or Jessening of a newly attracted admiration through the confession that she had loved and been deserted? No; te natures like Eloise such an experience enfoyces restraints which compel a solitary and perpetual self-ostracism. Had George Edicott admitted and explained, the circum- stances would have been different. Resignation might, in time, have been followed by new hopes, less bright and less intense possibly at least, there would have been no obstacle to the growth of new anticipations; but lacking the explanation, the ashes of the first love would lay over the heart, and forever deaden the soil whence the new love might leap into life and bloom. Do we present an extreme view? Oh, no; for on every hand we meet pleasant-faced lady bachelors, who, recognizing what is due to their self-respect and honor, have calmly accepted their fate and its penalties; and as their life ex- periences are concealed their quiet heroism is unrecognized. You will find thousands of these lady bachelors fighting the battle of life in our schools and in other vocations, silently and proudly maintaining their independence. All have not met experiences, but all have equally good reasons for their determination. ‘They may have had their ideals, and were not prepared to lay their magnificent love-treasures at the feet of the first man in boots who came along; and as the ideal never came, their choice be- came their hidden secret, and from choice they accepted the penalty and walked into the circle where the chilly atmosphere of ostracism perpetually prevails. They be- COPMICLOOOKS (E©)