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

| It happened some years ago in q
| school carried on according to the an
cient Gilbertile principle, admitting
scholars of both sexes, that the boys
and the girls carried on their studies on
opposite sides of a curtain. a hole was
one day found in the curtain, which
was clearly the work of accident. 1t was
ruled by common consent to be sort
of TTou-,JuddS, at least an undeveloped
and infantine form of that institution.
But then great question arose which
was not so easy to solve. The curtain
\ was clearly torn by the dwellers on one
sideof it in order TO get sight of the
dwellers on the other. But on which
side was it torn? Did the boys tear it
to look at the girls, or did the girls tear
it TO look at the boys? Opinions were
divided, both as to the evidence OF the
fact and as to the a prioTi probability.
Indeed we believe that the arguments
on the two sides were so equally bal
1 anced that no positive conclusion was
1 ever come to, and the culprits, of which
ever sex, remained unpunished.
| Now, ii the child be the father of the
man, and, we suppose, by the @ saGe
| logic, the mother of the woman, there
is surely moral in this story. 1t surely
means something more than that peo-
pIe of each sex like to look at one
another, even from early childhood.
It is surely something more than the
mere pleasure of looking at anything
which ought not to be looked at, or gen
eraily ofdoing anything which ought
not to be done. 1t seems to point, OF
course, in the most childish and unde-
| yeloped form, to something beyond
mere general curiosity, or the mere
general interest of one sex in the other:
It is childish example of special
form ofthese feelings. 1t points to the
curiosity of men 10 know what women
do when :hay are by themselves, and
to the counter feeling, which we take
for granted exists also,-the curiosity
of women to know what men do When
they are by themselves. Such curl-
osity certainly does not exist on one
side. and we think we can hardly be
wrong in taking for granted that IT eN-
lists at least as strongly on the other
side. Such curiosity, like most other
forms of curiosity, may be either trlVo-
lous or rational, according the form
which it takes and the objects Mt which
1t aims.
pect. never be fully gratitied. Some
thing may perhaps be got by each
sex out of novels written by the other.
| But we know on one side, ana we sus-
pect on the other, that this takes us
| VERY little way indeed. Really 10 learn
anything in this way we must wait ior
the ideal novel, which is to contain
nothing but what really happened, and
which will therefore be unanimously
set down as the most improbable and
unnatural of all novels. More may
doubtless be got up by dillgent cross
questioning of brothers and sisters, ana
still more of husbands and wives. But
even this does not carry us very far
There is a sort of point ofhouor on each
| side which hinlers either side from ever
getting to the bottom of the matter.
How much can man ever find out OF
his own wife's doings and feelings
when she was a girl? Very little, we
fancy, in most cases. And supposing
he does learn a little more than usual
think how limited is his field ofinquiry
Most men have the chance of eXamln'
ing only one woman, or ut most Two
on such a point. To be sure, setting
Orientals aside, Charles the Great and
Henry the Eighth had greater opportu,
mites i'll this way than most men. Bul
did they use them? OfCharles we can
saw nothing either way. Henry, we
suspect, tried and broke down. Indeed
he learned so little from enc ofhis wives
on the most important point of all, that
he had a special Act OF Parllamenl
passed to make all future Queens
pity he did not add, all future wives oi
all ranks-more communicative.
lis perhaps merely an idle curiosity
to ask what women talk about when
they are together-whether, when they
have retired to the drawing-roomin in the
evening, or again in those mysterious
mornings when men are ut work, they
talk only of worsted work and croquel
parties, or whether they talk of any.
thing better or ofanything worse. Bui
it is by no means an idle curiosity to
4 consider what is the sort of influence
which women have one upon another
what is the nature of friendship among
Them, and how far it differs from friend
ship as it is understood among men. VI
course on such a subject we can speak
only for the most part q PrioTi. II our
coniectures are right, so much the pet
ter; ifthey are wrong, 1t does notgrea
ly matter, if only some public-sPlriteG
lady will, in such case, come 1orWaFu
and correct our mistakes.
Each sex, we suppose we may as
sumo, is primarily made for the other
and we venture to think with the Apos.
tie. that the woman is, in special
sense, created for the man. TIL Bloom
lerism, or whatever the movement is to
he called, has given US female generals
Judges, bishops, and cabinet ministers
we suppose we may take this for grant
Iei.--WhiIe Byron tells us that love al
most occupies only part OF a man.
1 thoughts, while i6 is woman's whole
existence, what he says is surely the
istrongest form OF a truth which affects
the relations of the sexes in every de
lQree, In social life the main object is
Tor each sex to make itself agreeable tC
the other, and with women social life
| is nearly everything, while with meI
q is only one thing out of many. Eact
sex then, with this difference, is made
to please the other, and each is doing
its relative duty when i5 tries to please
the other. But, for this very reason
besides several others, each sex is under
a certain restraint before the other
Each is in manneron its besG behavior
before the other, and, being on its bes
behavior is in a less natural state thar
with those before whom 1t need not b'
on its best behavior. Even marriage
does not quite do away with this. /
husband and wife do not distinctly try
TO please one another, they will proba
blv end by displensing one another
Now men do not take the same kind o
trouble to please their male friends
. thew rather take one another as thel
come, without the same conscious
= thoneh certainly pleasing, effort.
Th1s. then, partly because each sex i
ON its best behavior before the other, ant
partly from other obvious reasons, eacl
sex Is under a certain amount OF re
j straint before the other. Neither cal
= possibly see the other exactly as II is
q And this seems, as far as necessarll,
one-sided experience can guide us, =
be still more the case with women thai
with men. There is in mems eyes
sort of mystery about the relations
: Ivomen to one another which we cal
. hardly think that there is in women
ewes about the relations of men TO on
another. There is u kind of partner
D shin. a kind of corporate feeling
I amons the whole female sex which Ger
: tsiHIy does not exist in the male sex
: Man have their various relations an
: intin,acies with one another, but thes
d sea,1i s,Iyyays to be founded on the fac