The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-01-13
Men Under the Weather.

| ~ hhiSH lhe flthh auu Tue CUSTOMS OF me
and women diyerge more or less widely, bu
there is, probably, nothing in which tn
difference is more strongly marked than il
their respective methods of bearing smal
illnesses and indispositions. Small ones
be it said, advisedly; a grave malady
has ordinarily 50 prostrating an effect tha
it is undergone with an almost apatheti,
patience born Of its very severity. Bu
with smaller ailments the case is different
and it is in their manner of bearing then
that men so often raise plying smile
on the countenances of their less robust
but more long-suifering womankind. II
never seems to occur to an ordinary lord
Of creation that it is within the bounds Of
possibility that one of the minor ills to
which flesh is heir should touch him, aud
he is astonished aud as aggrieved when he
finds himself suffering from headache or
tt Of influenza as if the malady were a
perfectly abnormal occurrence. This is
the more remarkable as, almost invariably.
he SCOTS at and laughs to scorn any pre-
cautionary measures--declnes TO change
wet shooting-boOts as being 4of no conse-
quence," and presistensly sits in draught
because lie is oyer.heated. But when the
heavy cold comes he is all amazemert,
cannot conceive how he caught it, and re-
CARDS himself as a victim grievously i'll
treated by fate and deserving of all posi-
bic sympathy and compassion. AS rule,
woman is abundGntly pitiful aud sympa.
thetlc but it must require immense com.
maud over her risible muscles TO repress
smile when her lord grayely assures her
that no one was ever 50 i'll before, and that
she cannot have the faintest conception of
what he is enduring She thinks of many
colds from which she has suffered and for
which he has always condemned her for
"coddling," assuring her that cold was
"a mere triae, nothing to make a fuss
about" And yet what was her fasslng
to hisP Beside, feeling i'll, she is always
willing to try such remedies as experience
has taught her are most eficaeious, while
he can be pusuaded to try nothing, though
he complains sorely that no one does any
thing for him or appears to compassionate
his evil case.
1t is hardly happy time for those
brought much in contact with him. If
he suffers from a headache, the whole ma
chinery Of the house must be stopped, not
door must creak nor football be heard
though he is the last person in the world
to respect the headaches Of others, aud
always processes his belief that they are
only another name for caprice or conven-
ience. At the smallest arrangement Of
his usual robust health, from whatever
cause it may arise, he at once believes
himself to be extremely, if nc: danger
ously, i'll and yet, with a strange per
versity, absolutely refuses to see a doc
tor. His feminine belonging, if they are
wise, commiserate and make much of
him, but are never in the slightest degree
alarmed so long as he grumbles and be.
walls himself when he becomes silent as
to his suferings they at once conclude
that something serious is really the matter.
Perhaps the most doleful spectacle that
can be presented to the Imagination Is that
OF man afflicted with the toothache. 1t
certainly is most wearing and distressing
pain still, it has been endured at different
times by almost every one It is edifying
to note that though, when any one else has
been attacked with the same torment he
has recommended instant recourse to den.
tist, and has derided any backwardness in
following his advice as cowardicc he is.
when his own time comes, no more eager
to plant himself in the chair of doom than
were his despised friends, and is. fertile in
inventing expedients for putting off the
evil day, probably, if the pain abates, to a
remote date. A woman must be very
near, indeed, akin to an angel who, after
her husband or some other near male rel
ative has for years laughed to scorn her
complaints of agonizing Misunderstanding
her that it "is all fancy" "only nerves, y
(could it could be anything worse y that
she would never have it if she did not
think about it, or if she took more exer-
else, or if she did something or other
totally out of her power to do--does not,
sorry as she may be that he should suffer,
feel certain satisfaction when the enemy
seizes upon him and he is made to fee
what she has endured.
The absurdity of mems utteranees never
seems to strike them, even when they
gravely affirm that no one can pbssibly
gauge their sufferings from an ordinary
cold in the head There is no offence So
great as to try and persuade a man that
disagreeable as It may be, it is but tenn,
porary inconvenience, which, in a very
short space Of time, win pass away, leaving
not a trace behind he regards this sim,
pie explosion of fact as most unfeelinc
and bemoans himself plaintively that nc
one cares whether he is i'll or not He
believes firmly that he is a model of pa,
thence under suffering. The women about
him will be wise if they abstain from irri.
tating him by any refutation of this pre.
posterous fallacy. It may be admitted
that it is difficult for them to hold their
peace when they see him deliberately
making himself i'll by eating or drinking
what he knows from experience will disa.
gree with him. 1t is not easy to be com.
passionate to the ft of gout wilfully
brought on by drinking sweet champagne,
or to manifest deep sympathy with head.
ache produced by over-indulgence in pick
led salmon or lobster-salad. But the vic
Jim will never allow that imprudence has
anything to do with the matter, and per.
sists in regarding himself as the martyr Of
cruel fate.-Thc Home Journal, Ne,c
York.
A Difficult Drill.