The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-12-24


,rnmanlinrss a word Infinitely more sub
rio in meaning. with more possibilities OF
Seinition. more light than shade, more
f,ctS more phaSes, than the corresponding
yor,i. manhness. This, indeed. must ne
cessarily be so, since the character OF W.
man is so much more varied in color III.
more delicate in its many SHADES lh'' 'N''
Of man. lady of
refinement and culture overcones .ne ha.u-
raj shrinking of sense. and VOL in.''i" CIR
tarS into the circumstances Of sickness ana
,,nvertv co that she may help the suffering
+ tbc;r hour of need. When she can
hrovelv on through some Of the most shock
;nn eyneriences of humanity for the sake
Of the higher law Of charity. And we call
II womanlineSS when she removes from
herself every suspicion of grossness, or
coarSencsS. or uglineSs, and makes her lie
as dsinty aS picture, as lovely as poem.
She is womanly when she asserts .ier
own dignity. womanly when her high
c.t pride is the sweetest humility, the
tenderest sclf-SuppreSsion "..omanly when
she submits to the stronger. To bear in ST.
lcnce and 10 act wth yigor, TO come to the
front on some occasions. TO ehace her>ell Oh
others, are alike the characteristics oil true
womanilnes, as is also the power 10 De at
once PRACTICAL and aesthetic. the careful
worker out Of minute details, and the up
holder of = sublime lteallSni, the mouse
mistress dispensing bread and the priest
ess serving in the temple. In fact, II Is
very proteuS of word, and means many
things by turns but it never means any
thing but what is sweet. tender, gracious
and beautiful.
Yet. protean as it is in form, its sub
stance has hitherto been considered simple
enough, and its limits very exactly Defined;
and we used to think we knew TO shade
what was womanly and what was I'M
won.anly where. for instance, the noble
ness of dignity ended and the hardness OF
self-aSScrtlon began while no one could
mistake the heroic sacrifice OF sell for the
indifference to pain and the groSSneSs be-
longing 10 coarse nature-whlch last Is
as essentially unwomanlv as the first Is one
of the finest manifestations Of true woman
illness. But if this eXactneSS OF interpre-
tation belonged to past times, the utmost
confusion prevails at present; and on"
of the points on which society Is row
at issue in all directions is jus 1bis
very queStion-what is essential :. nnwn-
manly, and what are the or 'rghtfu,
functions Of true womanineS : Men and
tradition say one thing, ce' r.in women say
another thing. and if W oat these women
say is to become the ule. society will have
10 Ia, 'r iecon>tfucterI altogether, and new
order oil hu.lan lie must begin. We have
no objection 20 this, provided the new
order is bette than the old, and the modern
phase Of " omanhood more beautiful, more
useful to The community IT large, more ele-
waited to general morality, than was the an
cient. But the whole matter hangs on this
proviso, and until it can he shown for GER
tain that the latter phase Is undenlably the
better we will hold by the former.
rThora ORC oiO old OotiOns-SllpprStls
lions must we call thcm-in our ideas
of women with which we should be
10th to part. For instance, the infinite
imnortance Of mothers influence
over her children. and the JOY that
she herself took in their companion
ship-the pleasure that II was to her to mold
q baby in her arms, her delight and MIL
ternal pride in the beauty, the Innocence,
the quaint ways. the old remarks, The half
embarrassing questions. the 1irst faint
drawings of reason and individuality Of the
little creatures 10 which she had given
life, and which were part oil her very
beinr-that pleasure and maternal pride
were amongst the characteristics we used
to ascribe to wOmanlineSs as also the
mothers power OF forgetting herself for
her children, Of merging herself III them
as they grew older, and finding her own
best happiness in theirs. But among the
teachings OF what was Gnce meant woman
illness, maternity is considered bore rather
than a blessing; the children are shuntcd
TO the side when they come, and ignorant
undisciplined nurses are supposed TO DO
we'll for wages what mothers will not do
for love.
Also, we held it as womanlineSs when
women resolutely refuse TO admit INTO their
presence, to discuss. or to hear discussed
before them, impure subjects, or even
doubtful ones: when they kept the stand
ard of delicacy, of purity, OF modeSty, ut a
high level, and made men respect, even Il
they could not initiate. Now, the running
between them and men whose dclicacy has
been rubbed off long ago by the coarse con.
tact of coarse life is very close !; and some
of them 20 far beyond those Of us whose
lives have been Of quleter and less eXper-
imenta! kind.
1t was also I'M old notion that rest and
quiet and peace Were natural characteristics
of womanliness, and that life had been no,
unfairly apportioned between the sexes
each having its own distinctive duties u:
well as virtues, its own burdens as Well al
its own pleasures. Man was TO 60 out ant
do battle with many enemies; he was Il
fight with many powers; to struggle To-
place; for existence; for natural rights
to give and take hard blows 10 lose, per
hans. this good impulse or that noble quaiit,
in the fray, the battlefield of life not bein!
that wherein the highest virtues take roo
and grow. But he had always a home
where was one whose sweeter nature
brought him back to his better self; plac
whence the din of the battle was shut out
where he had time for rest and spiritual re
paration where woman's love and gen
tleness, and tender thought and unselfs
care, helped and refreshed him, and mad
him feel that the prize was worth the strue
gle-that the home WAS worth the fight t
Keep it. And surely it was not asking to
much of women that they should be beat
tiful and tender to the men whose lite on
of doors was one Of work for them--of viz
orous toll that they might be kept in satet
and luxury But to the advanced woma
it seems so; consequently the home as
place of rest for the man is becoming dali
more rare.
Soon, it seems to Us, there will be M
such thing as an old-fashioned home. Wo
men are swarming out ut all doors, run
ming hither and thither among the men
clamoring for arms that they may ente
into the fray with them, anxious to Ia,
aside their tenderness, their madesty, thei
womanlinesS. that they may become hard
and fierce, and selt-asserting like them
thinking it u higher thing to leave tn
home and the family to take care of them
selves, or under the care Of some incompe
tent hireiing, while they take up the mani
professions, and make themselves the rival
In trade Of their husbands and brothers
Once it was considered an essential Q
womanliness that woman should be goo
house~mistress, judicious dispenser O
the income, a careful guide TO the ser
wants, q clever manager generally. Now
practical hOuspk epDiuu is determination