Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-01-26
WHEEL
THE INTEEIIGBNCER.


ABOUT LADrEs,--A critic in an English review
writes a very elaborate essay on "mediocrG po.
ery;" and he thus states his conviction that it
is the natural language of the SEX
aft is easier for ladies' to shine in mediocre
poetry than for men. The wider and more pro-
tracted education of men leads them into so
many channels of reflection, and makes them
acquainted with so many different models that
the desire of imitation and the thirst for ambi-
tious effort press on them more powerfully. A
woman is susceptible, and far more herself when
she begins to write. She gets far more out of
existence by being versifier than If she were
to rest content with the passive triumph of b.
ing "a nice person By all means let superior
young ladies, who are susceptible and not very
happy, write verses; for if they do not they will
write novels, and the verses are much the better
occupation Gf the two. 1t is not so much that
they waste less paper, as that they have great
er chance of coming to something Strange as
it may sound to many lady novelists, novel
requires plot an insight into life, and power,
of drawing and combining characters. Onithe
contrary, four or five stanzas will do for minor
poem. An evening walk may suggest TO a ten
der heart the contrast of strife and rePose, of
hopeful childhood and disappointed age, of fail.
ing earthly love and enduring heavenly love-
II the lady who is the subject of the emotion is
she connects the thought with her own persona.
history, or..with that of some acquaintance, suf.
ficientIy to give body to the expression of her
feeling, bnt not enough to introduce unreal and
artificial details. IF she is a mediocre novelist,
she takes the thought as hint for story. She
idealzes herself into heroine and friend into
a hero and on this slender basis she is prepared
to build up two or three volumes Of incident and
criticism. When we see woman,
not of genius, but essentially mediocre as a wri-
ter, expressing in language she has attained
only by cultivation, the sentiments of q genuine
susceptibility, gentle charity, and a refined
piety, we get as near as we can TO the best flow
Of ordinary life; and it is by the products ofits
ordinary life that We must really test the worth
OF period, nation or society"
And another writer, in an Essay on the Art
of Public Speaking, says that
THE LADIES ARE NATURAL ORAToRs:-
'Women naturally speak better than men,
They express themselves more easily, more yiy-
idly; with more arch simplicity, because they
feel more rapidly, more delicately. Hence the
loquacity with which they are approached, and
which is an effect of their constitution and tenn
permanent. Hence there are SO many women
who write in an admirable and remarkable man
ner, although they have studied neither rhetor-
ic nor logic, and even without knowing gram
mar or orthography. They write in they speak,
they speak pretty much as the birds sing-and
their language has the same charm. Add to this
the sweetness of their organ, the fexibllity OF
their voice. and the variety of their intonntions,
according to the feeling which animates them;
the nobility of their physioguomy, which great
v increases the effect of words, the picturesque
ness ofitheir gestures, and, in short, the grace
fuIness of their whole exterior; thus, although
not destined for orators by their sex or social
position, they have all the power of the orator,
and all his success in their sphere, and in the
circle of their activity. For none better know
how to touch, persuade and influence, which,
think, is the end and the perfection of fecqnence"
And then Thackeray says that he thinks
LADIES THE BEST COMPANY aG
at is better for you to pass an evening once
OF twice in iady's drawing-room, even though
the conversation is slow, and you know the girls
song by heart, than in a club, tavern or the pit
of theatre. All amusements ofyOuth towhich
virtuous women are not admitted, rely on 1t,
are deleterious in their nature All men who
avoid female society have dull perceptions and
are stupid, or have gross tastes, and revolt
against what is pure. Your CLUB swAGGERERS
who are sucking the butts of billiard cues all
night, call female society insipid. Poetry is in
sipid to yOke; beauty has no charms for
blind man; music docs not please a poor beast
who does not know one tune from another; aud
as true epicure is hardly ever tired of water,
saucv and brown bread and butter, protest
can sit for whole night talking to well-Tegn-
lated kindly woman, about her girl coming out,
| of her boy of EtOn, and like the evenings en-
tertainment. One Of the great benefits man
may derive from wOman's society is, that he is
bound to be respectful to them. The habit is
! Of great good 30 your moral man, depend upon
| 1t Our education makes of US the most emf
nently selfish men in the world. We fight for
ourselves, we push for ourselves, we Yawn for
ourselves, we light our pipes and say we won't
| 90 out: we prefer ourselves, and our case; and
! the greatest good that comes to a man from
womaps society is, that he has TO think of
somebody to whom he is bound TO be constant
| ly attentive and respectful"