Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-07-31

/ h0pelessness, OF making any impression on
her. She may, indeed, ifof the very yocifer-
GUS and shril-tongucd kind, burst out into
such a noisy demonstration that you are glad
to escape from her, no matter what spoils
you leave 90 her hands; just as a mastif
viii sink away from a bantam hen all
/ hecked feathers and screeching cackle, and
tremendous assumption Of doing something
/ terrible if he does not look out. Any way
the little woman is unconquerable; and a
tiny fragment Of humanity at public show
setting all rulea and regulations at defiance,
is only carrying cut in the matterof benches
the manner oflife to which nature has dcdi-
Gated her from the beginning
As rule, the little woman is brave.
When the lymphatic giantess falls into a
faint, or goes off into Mysteries, she storms,
Or bustles about, or holds on Ike a game ter
rier, according to the work on hand. She
viii Fly at any man who annoys her, and
bears herself as equal to The biggest and
strongest fellow Of her acquaintance. La
! general she does it all By sheer pluck, and is
not notorious for subtlety or craft. Had
Deilah been little woman, she would
aeycr have taken the trouble to shear Sam
/ son locks She would have defied him
With all lis strength untouched on his
/ head, and she would have overcome him
too judith and Jacl were both probably
large women The work they went about
/ demanded a certain strength Of muscle and
toughness of sinew; but VINO can soy that
Jezebel was not a small, freckled, auburn
haired Lady Audley of her time, full Of the
consecrated fire, the electric force, the
passionate recklessness of her type? Regan
and Goneril might have been beautiful
demons Of the same pattern; We have the
example Of the Merchioness de BrinyilieTs
as to what amount Of spiritual deviltry can
/ exist with the face and manner Of an angel
direct from heaven; and perhaps Cordelia
was a tall dark haired girl, with a pair Of
/ brown eyes, and long nose sloping down
wards
Leok at modern Jewesses. with their
flashing Oriental orbs, their night black
tresses, and the dusky shadows Of their
olive-colored compilations; as catalogued
properties according to the ideal, they
would be placed in the list of the natural
criminals and law breakers, while in reali-
ty they are about as meek and docile set
of women as are to be found within the four
seas Pit fiery little Welsh woman or a
petulant Parisienne against the most regal
and Junonic amongst them, and let them
try conclusions in courage, in energy, or in
audacity; the Israelitish juno viii 60 down
before either of the small PhilistiRes. and the
fallaey ofWeight and color in the generation
Of power viii be shown without the possibility
Of denial Even in those old days OF long
ago, when human characteristics were en-
bodied and deifed, we DO not find that the
white armed large-limbed Here, though
|
5Tgp 6eT sister eoddesses by any superior energy
u lvloe uIJuTV. UHtlIo cUutraTy, she was
rather heayy-going person, and unless
moved to anger by her husband 5 numerous
infdelities, took her Olympian life placidly
enough, and once or twice got cheated in a
way that did no great credit to her sagacity.
\ little French woman would have sailed
round her easily; and as it was, shrewish
though she was in her speech when provoked,
her husband not only deceived but chastisod
her, and reduced her to penitence and
obedience as no little woman would have
suffered herself to be reduced,
There is one celebrated race of women
who were probably the powerfully built,
large-limbed creatures they are assumed TO
have been, and as brave and energetic as
they were strong and big,--the Morse We
men of the sages, who, for good or evil, seem
to have been a very influential element in
the old Northern life. Prophetesses, physi-
clans, dreamers, of dreams and the ae-
credited interpreters as well, endowed with
magic powers, admitted to share in the
councils of men, brave in war, active in
peace, these tair-haired Scandinavian women
were the fit comrades of their men, the fit
wives and mothers of the Berserkers and
the Vikings. They had no tame or easy
life Of it, if all we hear of them is true. To
defend the farm and the homestead during
their husbands absence, and to keep them
selves intact against all bold roYers to whom
the Tenth Commandment was unknown
law; to dazzle and bewilder by magic arts
when they could not conquer by open
strength; to unite craft and courage, de-
| ception and daring, loyalty and Independence
demanded no small amount of opposing
qualities. But the Steingerdas aud CIudrunas
were equal to any emergency of fate or
fortune and slashed their way through the
history of their time more after the manner
ofmen than ofwomen; supplementing their
downright blows by side thrusts of craftier
cleyerness when they had to meet power
with skill, and were fain to overthrow
brutality by fraud. The Morse women were
certainly as largely framed as they were
mentally energetic, and as crafty as either;
but we know Of no other women who unite
the same characteristics, and are at once
cunning, strong, brave and true.
! On the whole, then, the little women
have the best oft. More petted than their
| bigger sisters, and infinitely more powerful,
they have their own way in part because it
really does not seem worth while to contest
point with such little creatures. There is
nothing that wounds mans self-respect
in any victory they1aay get or claim. Whore
there IS absolute inequality Of strength,
there can be no humiliation in the self-im-
posed defeat of the stronger; and as it IS al
ways more pleasant to have peace than war,
and as big men for the most part rather ike
than not to put their necks under the tread
Of tiny feet, the little woman goes on her
way triumphant to the end, breaking all
the laws she does not ike, and throwing
T down all the barriers that impede her pro-
gress. perfectly irresistible and irrenressible