THE OLD MAID

The OLD MAID actually comes forward in justification of painting, and describes the case of a young lady in whose health and spirits it had a most beneficial look for being very pale, and always told how pale she looked, she took to the rouge so delicately but so perceptibly that she was immediately congratulated by all her friends, lady friends especially, how well she looked; and it had a soothing effect upon her own spirits, notwithstanding the reproaches of her inward monitor.

THE OLD MAID reasons vigorously on this subject; she says it is quite as legitimate as paddling the Cress, which most pious and religious ladies do not hesitate to do. “There seems no greater sin in giving a tint to the cheek than in oiling the hair.” There’s an argument! What lady can refute that? And a false tooth is quite as sinful as a false cheek. If paint-tint is to be condemned merely for its falsehood, what will become of the rest of the fashions of this world, together in dress, in speech, or behaviour? We suspect that we all paint not a little; we paint when we describe our own characters, boast our own honesty, sincerity, and other noble attributes, covering thereby the ignoble feelings which we would blush to reveal. And what greater sin is there inn covering a dead heart with the complexion of a living soul? It is a painting world, a false world; but it is merely an hotel, not a home; it is a stage, and not a terminus.