whether the unmarried can be thoroughly human and humane, such as is
hinted in the saying, "Old-maids' and bachelors' children are well
cared for," which derides at once their ignorance and their
presumption.

Yet the business of society has become so complex, that it could now
scarcely be carried on without the presence of these despised
auxiliaries; and detachments from the army of aunts and uncles are
wanted to stop gaps in every hedge. They rove about, mental and moral
Ishmaelites, pitching their tents amid the fixed and ornamented homes
of men.

In a striking variety of forms, genius of late, both at home and
abroad, has paid its tribute to the character of the Aunt and the
Uncle, recognizing in these personages the spiritual parents, who have
supplied defects in the treatment of the busy or careless actual
parents.

They also gain a wider, if not so deep experience. Those who are not
intimately and permanently linked with others, are thrown upon
themselves; and, if they do not there find peace and incessant life,
there is none to flatter them that they are not very poor, and very
mean.

A position which so constantly admonishes, may be of inestimable
benefit. The person may gain, undistracted by other relationships, a
closer communion with the one. Such a use is made of it by saints and
sibyls. Or she may be one of the lay sisters of charity, a canoness,
bound by an inward vow,--or the useful drudge of all men, the Martha,
much sought, little prized,--or the intellectual interpreter of the