The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-04-18
The Sexes Contrasted.

Love has no such sacredness, is inca
pable of such exaltation with man as
it has and is with woman. To him il
is the appanage Of egotisn; it is fiat
tered vanity; it is selfishness CLOSED
with sentiment. He loves to be loved.
She loves to love. Hence, thrown to-
gether under favorable circumstances,
without conspicuous impediments, they
are in peril OF qualification as the tinder
is in peril from contiguous sparks. Inn
pressibility and passiveness are in him;
impulse and activity are in her. he
analyses love, not difficult as it exists
in the sterner bosom, and to a certain
extent masters IL. To her il is is the
one thing above all others that defes
licious abandonment. Experience has
made him wise in the emotions. She is
but slightly experienced, if at all and,
were she thoroughly 50, where is the
wonderful woman to whom every expe-
rience is not new revealment, a start
ling divination? Romantic passion is
very serious with her at times. She is
never quite prepared for it, even though
she believes herself an artist. And
when il comes 10 her early, it is fateful
often, formative always. Much as she
may wheedle herself, she cannot play
with fire without being scorched. She
can regulate her Chances, but her blood
viii not obey her. The last net of her
comedy will turn to tragedy. The
smiles of the morning may set in bitter
est tears. All about her oasis of coquet-
try lies the blistering sand Of desolation.
Man argues woman can not be trusted
too far. Woman feels man may not be
trusted too near. All she says he
knows. All she knows he can not guess.
He is delighted with her she wonders
at him. She is the open page of ro-
nance; he the last of sibylline books.
He is TO her o. vantage ground. Be
hind her, mask as she may, is flood
of light. He sits half in the shadow,
and beyond is darkness she can not
penetrate. There may be an equality
of sex, can there ever be equality Of
She fights unhelmeted; (;
he with his visor down. Ere the battle
has begun he has won it half by b:s IN
derstanding of her tactics an the
other she loses through his impC sing 1
feints. Scarcely any woman can abso1o
q man. He is truant almost always.
She who would keep him must stay
near, watch close. Even then his
thoughts mey wander. Her kisses on
his lips may recall the kisses he has re-
may invite comparison;
may, perchance, excite regret. He is |
born inconstant. Fortunate the Oriana |
who can hold him to the end. His hum
ger abstract love is unappeasable. He |
no sooner sits at the banquet than he
dreams of the feasts that seem daintier |
because distant. A morbid epicurean,
be longs for foreign fruitage when the |
board before him is fragrant with /
Man, though tickle by in
heritance, may be firm, frequently is,
discipline. No finer models
than he has set of perfect loyalty, of
devotion. He has been all that
woman wanted, would or could have
asked. He has been, is, and viii be an
of fidelity, inspiring and mer-
ting implicit confidence. But his ten
iency, his disposition, not his conduct,
is here at issue. he is to be judged, as
TO stability, by comparison, with his
sister, made through misreport the ow-
ner of his peculiar weakness. -,JtInisIs
Henri RyOaUgle