Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-07-31
VOL. Al: NO. 2s.

NOhatd III AoSAAdk nSIUAilcE aALlBSb Us IauGl
as towards muscular murderesses, which to
a certain extent redresses the over
weighted balance. Our later novelists,
however, have altered the whole set
ting OF the palette Instead Of FIVE foot ten
of black and brown, they have gone in for
four foot nothing of pink and yellow; insteal
OF tnmbled masses of raven hair, they have
shining coils of purest gold; instead Of hol-
low cayerns whence fash uufathomable eyes
eloquent of every damnable passion, they
have limpid lakes of heavenly blue; and
their worst sinners are in all respects fash.
loned as much after the outward sembanca
of the ideal saint as can well be managed.
The original notion was very good one,
and the revolution did not come before it
was wanted; but it has been a little over
done Of late, and we are threatened with as
great surfeit Of small hmbed, yellow
headed criminals as we have had of the
man-likc black. One gets weary Of the
most perfect model in time, if too constantly
repeated; as now, when we have all begun
to feel that the resources Of the angels face
and demon soul have been more heavily
drawn on than is quite fair. and that given
heavy braids of golden hair, 'bewilder-
ing blue eyes, y "a small, 1.-THE frame, and
special deiicacy of feet and hands, we me
booked for the eompanionship, through three
volumes, of young person to whom Ne
salina or Lucretia Borgia was q mere nov
ice
And yet there is physiological truth in
this association Of energy with smallness;
perhaps, also, with certain tint of yellow
hair, which, with dash Of red through it,
is decidedly suggestive of nervous force,
Suggestiveness, indeed, does not go very far
in an argument; but the frequent connection
Of energy and smallness in woman is q
thing which all may verify in their own
circles. In daily life, who is the really
formidable woman to encounter ?-the
black k-browed, broad-shouldered giantcss,
with arms almost as big in the girth as
mans ? or the pert, smart, trim little female,
with no more biceps than a ladybird, and
of just about equal strength with sparrow?
Nine times out Of ten, the giantoss with the
heavy shoulders and broad black eyebrows
is timid, feeble minded, good tempered
person, incapable of anything harsher than
a mild remonstrance with her maid, or
gentle chastisement Of her children Nine
times out of ten her husband has her in
hand in the most perfect working order, so
that she would swear the moon shone at
midday if it were his pleasure that
she should make fool of herselfin that d.
rection. One of the most obedient and in
doent of earth's daughters, she gives no
trouble to any one save the trouble Of rous-
ing, exciting, and setting her going; while,
as for the conception or execution of any
naughty piece of self assertion, she is as
utterly incapable as if she were a child un-
born, and demands nothing better than to
feel the pressure Of the leading strings, and
to know exactly By their strain where she
is desired to 60 aud what to do.
Rpt the little woman Is irrepTessible. Too
/ fragile to come into the HguIug srUIUH uI
humanity, puny creature whom one blow
from a mans huge fist could annihilate,
absolutely fearless, and insolent with the
insolence which only these dare show who
know the retribution cannot follow,-what
can be done with her? She IS afraid of
nothing, and to be controlled by no one.
Sheltered behind her weakness as behind
a triple shield of brass, the angriest man dare
not touch her, while she proyokes him to
a combat in which his hands are tied. she
gets her own way in everything, and every.
where. At home and abroad she Is
equally dominant and irrepressible, equally
free from obedience and from fear, Who
breaks all the public orders in sights and
shows, and, in spite of King, Kaiser, or
Policeman X, goes where tits expressly for
bidden that she shall not go? Not the large
boned, muscular woman, whatever, her tenn
perament; unless, indeed, of the exception
ally naughty type in distinctly inferior
surroundings, and then she can queen
it royalty enough, and set everything
at most lordly defiance. But in general
the large boned woman obeys the or,
ders given, because, while near enough to
man to be somewhat on a par with him, she
is still undeniably his inferior She is too
strong to shelter herself behind her weak
ness, yet too weak to assert her strength
and defy her master on equal grounds. She
is ike a flying fish, not one thing wholly;
and while, capable Of the ineOnveniences
of two lives, is incapable of the privileges
Of either 1t is not she, for all her well-de-
yoloped frame and formidable looks, but the
little woman, who breaks tie whole bode OF
laws and defes all their defenders,-th
pert, smart, pretty little woman, wholaughs
in your face, and goes straight ahead, if you
try to turn her to the right hand or TO
| the left, receiving your remonstrances with
| the most sublime Indifference, rs if you
were talking foreign language she could
not understand. She carries everything
before her, wherever she is. You may see
her stepping ever barriers, slipping under
ropes, penetrating to the green benches
with red ticket, taking the best places on
the platform over the heads Of their right
full owners, settling herself among the re,
served seats without an inch of pasteboard
to float her. You cannot turn her out by
main force.
British chivalry objects to the public lay
| ing on of hands in the case Of a woman,
even when most recalcitrant and dis
obedient; more particularly if a small and
| fragile looking woman. So that, If it Is
only usurpation of places specially mascu-
line, she is allowed to retain what she has
got amid the grave looks Of the elders-not
! rnnllu disnleasnd. though. at the futter Of