The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-12-23
CHAPTER Xv-Coniinued.

CHAPTER AN--ConiiHued.
Certainly. ! should ike TO hear what you
would ,ar: and so would he, if he were here /;
In, ob. Herman, Herman, you are not going to
answer respectfully There is the very sauci
q, nossible twinkle in your eyes at this mo-
oept and there is no use in your trying to
draw your lips in, to hide under your NOUS
,,-Jg," And both of them. looking in each
CHEERS faces, went back to boyhood and girl
hood and laughed heartily together for sheer
,,pIiness and affection "Your very ringing
IA laugh!' continued Constance. " How like
,,e dear old DAYS 1t sounds! How unfortunate
IT. uaromaniic | used to think it 1! How glad it
D., ,k,s me to hear it now so full of health and
b,ppinessl You must have kept it put away
CIR me all these years. If you had brought it
oat often, it would have changed and grown
older and less mirthiul with YOURSELF
Yes there must be some secret sympathy ,
between us. | could not often laugh while you
we're signing.
But YOU must not laugh now, either, at the
first friend, who was able to give me any com
fort. after | drove you away; or | shall sigh
again"
Don't: or | shall neyen even smile again !;
bat neither shall | laugh or sneer at that poor
patient female genius of his. The picture is
drawn from lie, evidently; but not, think,
Ga.te IA the Efe Some of the outlines, how
ever. are 50 true. that from them we can, hope,
correct the others. should like to know that
woman, Constance; though perhaps, as the
iaoagmi in the newspapers say, when they
mean TO be especially withering, / should not
want such woman as that for my wife, even
supposing-as they always forget to add
could have her if l did, and though l can even
conceive it TO be possible that, being welded to
Apollo. she might not care to marry me. Help
meets do not grow on every bush, nor even
upon every estimable and admirable bush. l
never in nv life saw but one woman whom
did wish to marry; Constance's blush was as
soft and bright as sunshine strained through a
crimson curtain upon polished ivory; her long
cuiled eye-lashes lay basking upon it and she
looked most demurely nun-like, most supreme
Il happy; though | have seen many whom
I,
and / fancy that this lady Of masculine genius
m,,ht be of the number 1t seems to me that
il IS somewhat arrogant in US mighty men to
claim As masculine, not feminine, everything
thai is vigorous, true, artistic, and, in short,
worth claiming. If she has Tyre, she proba-
bly got il where we got ours-those of us who
are lucky enough to have any, from the gods
sach as they chose TO give her. She has as
mach sfgha to charge ours with being effemi-
hate when they sound sweet, a. We hers with
being masculine when it sounds strong. If she
thuudeIs, we need not accuse her of having
stolen our thunder. /, for one, will deny her
possession neither of head nor heart, even
If She chooses to keep the latter to herself and
Apollo; nav, | think that she must have one,
and great one, though calm, aud
al l. isaie Il, m Itself,
r. SOO'he and symraimze;'
else how should she be let into the secret OF
those shrinking sorrows and struggles of hel
own sex. which she rises above III her ind vidu
al hie, Vet makes her own IN order to bespeak
for others the sympathy and compassion which
Tor herself she does not need-strifes and sor
rows which she describes so wildly and so elo
quently, that they seem, to those TOO selfish t.
understand her seli-iorgetfulness, to be her own,
while the real sufferers remain sheltered and
uneXposed. She shows her real retenue and
freedom from egotism by never caring to come
forward tn prOprid persona to explain herself
She minds her own business; and If other lpeo
pie will not mind theirs, would rather that she
should laugh than cry. Because though woman
She Is human, and ambition belongs to --not
manly merely, but-essential human nature, she
Is ambitious. Her sisters, not daring to be
strong-minded enough TO look higher. are
ambitious of fine houses, clothes, and equipages
She of fine poems, pictures, or statues. Their
triumphs are over the rest of her sex hers toy
the rest of her sex. A few more women like
her, in the study and the studio and the world
Will find out and acknowledge that there is a
kind of power and heavenly fire that is femi
nlne, or confined to neither sex, and that wo
men, without being in the slightest degree un
womanly, may and do have noble brains, and
put them 10 noble uses like her better fal
than her predecessor III review the writing
medium. because, in being an artist, she doe,
not forget To be a woman. If her only hop,
was sci on artistic success she could hardly
bear So cheertuly to be so often baked in hel
riiorts Ii she can lay her Intellectual pen OF
palette aside, so good-humoredly, when hel
vacant time expires, it must be, | am pretty
sure, TO 90 away and perform the good offices o.
good daughter, sister, friend, or neighbor
Thus she can say, If this hope is lost all is not
lost She must have brave and great heart
To bear such disappointments so courageously
aud never sicken with hope deferred In order
10 do So 1t would seem as if it should be good
heart, too, and lean on God, though being in
partnership with strong head, early and duly
stocked with ecclesiastical history, perhaps it is
sealed, and appears heretical, heart to the
bishop and his church. l ask your pardon
Am getting on forbidden ground ~
Oh, no, am not bigoted and | fear he
may be little so. Go on. like to hear about
her. If there is such a woman, wish could
know her
wish YOU could; for without friendship
she might be lonely in the midst of her strug
giles and her triumphs She is most probably
unmarried; for if she had husband and chill
uren. they would interfere with those regular
'Ite-a-teteS with Apollo. A woman must usually
choose between art and wedlock. Either il
enough to engross her, to the exclusion of the
o'neF' She has chosen art, and is more than
Content when 1t smiles upon her, and uncom
P'aihihg when II trowns. | find no GOODNESS
ou' rather fine ardor, in her calm, grand per
severance do not see how the teasing god
- whom she Is so faithful can have the heart &c
Seep her waiting, so patiently and amiably
LAY alter day. with the golden apples that she
nungerS and thirsts for, and sees but Just be-
iona her reach, in his stingy hand No won
:uer she brings him down with a jerk at last
trhehever and wherever she can catch hold OF
MN | wish l could help her.
i don quite believe in her absence of in
TIiu prompting; and as to that urging gad-Ay
con NJ: Know If 1t stings her, she probably will
Nh ?t MINK M 1t worth mentioning, but will say
I'm I.'n MI !oots, Oh, it's of no consequence,
I .ralh you. She is strong enough to bear it BY
I Derseli' with the help Of the wholesome food
,ieep' and recreation, which she has sense
~ouYh TO take. She wants her readers to think
~ '' ABOUT her, but the heroes and heroines whom
Inc 'ilAS to them ABOUT. She does not mean to
IL. l.