Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1890 — MISS OR MRS? [ARTICLE]

MISS OR MRS?

Th* Former Should Be Confined to Girls Not Out of Their Teens. All women out of their teens are entitled to be styled “Mistress,” says the Lady. * ‘Miss" is merely a diminutive, and is properly confined to young girls just as “Master” is commonly confined to school-boys. In the days of Pope “Mrs.” was the common appellation of unmarried ladies. Sir Walter Scott, too, speaks of Joanna (unmarried) as Mrs. Joanna Baillie. There are nowadays plenty of spinsters—and young spinsters, too—who insist upon being addressed as “Mrs.,” and at one or two places in Sussex, curiously enough, the married lady is “Miss” and the unmarried lady receives the title of “Mrs.” The same custom is found in many parts of Ireland. The form “Mrs.” was at one time applied indifferently to persons of all ages. Nowadays our servant girls expect to have their letters addressed as “Miss,” though there area few who have more sense. There is a story told of a certain maid-of-all-work who transferred her savings, upon the advice of her mistress, to the postoffice savings bank, and she was asked how she did it. “The young lady gave me a book, ma’am,” she said, “to write my name in, and he wrote my name in another book; and her says to me: ‘Are you Miss or Mrs?’ ‘Neither, ma’am,’ I says; ‘I am a servant’ ” That young woman respected herself and her calling. She had not been educated at a boardingschool. Among servants generally the cook, ‘whether married or unmarried, expects to be called “Mrs.” So do housekeepers, though unmarried. In point of fact, Mrs. or Mistress is a title of respect that the plain “Miss” is devoid of. Why actresses who are married should seek to disguise that fact by allowing the misleading prefix “Miss” to be attached to their names is a mystery that admits of no intelligible explanation. Are they ashamed of their husbands? There are many well-know exceptions to this habit of disguise and masquerade, but 60 per cent of the theatrical * ‘Misses” are entitled by law and custom to the term generally recognized as distinguishing the married women. Only about 5 per cent of the entire profession admit that they are married and are not ashamed to publicly own it on the theatrical program.