The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-05-31

I
friendships and mutual rivalries, seem
to spring directly out of the fact OF
| their sex in way which those OF men
! do not. Women never seem to lose
sight of the fact that they are women
and not men, while men during the
greatest number of moments of their
Hives do not stop to think that they are
men and not women. 1t is something
like the way in which ScOtchman al
ways bears in mind that he is not an
Englishman, while an Englishman
never stops to think that he is not
| Scotchman.
The weaker sex, like the smaller ma
ton, is much more inclined to dwell on
the thought of its relation to the other
than the stronger sex and the greater
nation is. The sex, in short, forms
commonwealth, and it has that special
mark of a well-ordered commonwealth,
pointed out alike by Solon and by the
| Apostle, that if one member suffer, all
the memb bers suffer with it. Women
feel and avenge any wrong or supposed
| wrong done to members Of their sex as
such, in way to which mems relations
to one another afford no sort of paral-
| lei, This feeling of conscious distinct
ion from the other sex, and of union
among themselves, will amount in some
women to position of positive hostil-
| ity, of fear and dislike of men, quite
different from the dislike which some
men have for women. OF course sucn
a feeling is morbid on either side, and
the female extreme seems not unlikely
to pass, under favorable circumstances,
| into an opposite extreme; but the feel
ings on the two sides, though in both
cases morbid, are not the same. The
existence of this sort of slsterhood IS
plain enough; we can see with our eyes
that women have multitude OF
thoughts, feelings, occupations, COM
n thnn1 SinnlV women. 10
which men as men have hardly any
thing analogous. 1t is evident, too,
that their friendships with one another
are of quite a different kind from The
| friendships of men. They are plunged
into more rapidly; they are more Vehe-
ment; but we doubt whether they are
as deep or so lasting.
Looksat all those stories in history or
romance, which, whether true or false,
as matter of fact, reflect in either case
the great truths of human nature
We have multitudes of stories of wo-
men performing the most hefoi' ano
self-sacriticing actions. But these are
almost all done on behalf of men to
whom they are in some way or other
ached,-husbands, lovers, fathers,
sons, princes or pontiffs to whose cause
they have devoted themselves. There
are very few stories of women thus
sacrificing themselves for female
friends. Jeanie Deans did so for her
sister, though we fancy that even in the
case of sister it is exceptionable. But
among the same class of stories about
men, a large portion turn on the deVo-
ton of mere personal friends, without
any tie OF kindred or allegiance. still,
female friendship, though we doubt it
having the same depth, is clearly II
much more vioIent feeling than male
friendship. 1t is something much more
like love; something far more demon
strative, and far more distinctly person
al. Il actually clashes in some cases
with the love of married live, which
male friendship distinctly does not. 1t
is very hard for n husband really to like
the female friends of his wife. while the
friends of the husband may become the
friends of the wife without the slightest
difficulty.
Society, for very good reasons, allows
women to be in many ways on far more
intimate terms with one another than
men can be. 1t allows them to be
brought, so to speak, physically closer
together, and to share in all sorts CT IN
| tinacies which men do not share. But
il is not merely that the rules of society
make a difference. The rule of society
| Is not felt by men rs any sort of hard
ship. In England, at least, no man
wants to kiss his friend, to call him all
manner of atfectionate names, to sit
/ with him for hours by his bedroom fire.
But, these are just the things which
women intensely enjoy, and, we may
| add, just the things which men intense
ly dislike to see them enjoy. In fact,
woman will behave to another woman
exactly in the way in which no man
would behave except to wife or
| mistress; and therefore, when such
| demonstrations of affection are made
openly, they produce the same unpleas-
| ant feeling as similar demonstrations
on the part of married people or lovers.
| One wishes in all these cnses that the
| affectionate persons would keep their
affection within bounds until they are
alone and can do what they please. No
man likes to see two women kiss one
another; he wishes they would put OIL
the caressing till they are safe by the
bedroom fire, till their dressing gown
| is on and their back hair down. And,
| indeed, no man wishes the existence Of
| this last privilege to be in any way oS-
tentatiously pHraded in his sight and
| hearing. Except in the case of a mar
ried man whose wife goes off to chatter
| with her friend or sister, it does him no
harm, but still he does not like it. If
man dislikeS to see two women kiss
one another, it does not all imply that
| he would like to Lake the place OF one
OF them, and Kiss the other himself.
No doubt, If such be the case, the feel
ing is higntened; but it exists even
though both women are totally inditter-
| erlt % hi..I. II 10 case do people like
to see an ostentstious display of priv
| ileges from which they U-s debarred,
| even though they do not feel the being
debarred TO be any kind OF loss.
! What, then, is the general effect OF
| women's intercourse with one an
other T? We once heard a wish
expressed for an Act of Parliament TO
| hinder any woman from speaking to
| any other woman. This was doubtless
carrying the thing too far, but as with
most strong sayings, there is surely an
element of truth at the bottom OF the
| exaEgeration. We suspect that the re-
| lutions of women to one another, their
| detnonstrative attachments, their up
| stairs conversations, are all grounded
on the weaker parts of their characters,
and are likely, so to speak, to strength
en- their weaknesses, instead of COM
municatng any better and stronger
| elements. Again we see the woman
was created Tor the man and though
| of course the highest form off this relA-
ton is marriage, the position is true OF
all relations of kindred and society
between men and woman. OF course
\ we do not mean that the mother is not,
4 in many points, the best guardian OF
i her daughters but we do mean that In
most cases woman will gain more
Improvement in every way from the
society of rational men than from that
i of auy members ofLheir own sex.
Next to husband and wife, the rela-
ton of brother and sister is the highest
i case of this, but the rule applies in some
degree to the relations of kindred and
i friendship generally. Woman'S friend
! ship seems to be founded, like the friend
ship ofmen, mainly on mere partnership
1 in pleasure and amusements, much less
4 than on real mutual admiration of char
\ acter, or on cooperation in some sort OF