Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-08-10
TRUE WOMEN.
Mothers and Wives Who Are worthy
OfOur Esteem.

OfOur Esteem.
We might go on multiplying indefinitely the
types of foolish or mistaken women but We
NAV also multiply as indefinitely the types of
the true--those loving. noble hearted, brave
and strong, but feminine women who do not
think duty degradation nor the virtues of un-
SelfShneSS and devotion sign of inferiority-
women who do not desire direct personal
power, and who have no coarse personal am
hltlon, but who are content to exercise in
huence felt rather than Seen, and TO be useful
and real rather than snowy and notorious
There are women enough of this kind still left
among us to keep society sweet and homes
pure; else, If the majority were fast or foolish,
masculine or frivolous, we should soon have
to deplOre the decline of our national honor
and the extinction of our national virtues. For
IL 10 men has been assigned the task of making
the world intellectually great and materially
prosperous, to women has been given that of
Keeping the moral standard high, of refining
society and influencing those who rule to the
better and the gentler way. There Is a sex in
virtue as in al the rest; and in spite of the
new code which would run men and women
into one ethical mould, the stronger virtues will
ways belong more to the one, while the Sweeter
and CENTER and purer are the property OF the
other. How many beautiful women there
are!-and how much they have in them to De
loved and respected! Take the most familiar,
because the most essential, type of all-the
faithful wife and devoted mother whose life
is passed IN the holy and tender charities Of
home who has been her husbands helpmate
and is her children'S best friend; who has
UNtu lOT love anu uuly. anu III OlntTS HUI lOE
herself: who has kept the family together
when, perhaps, without her they would have
split aSunder; whO If they have been poor
and struggling has made the best of things
been cheerful when the pinch was hardest,
and brave to bear when danger was close at
hand or, if they have been wealthy, has ad-
ministered wisely, striking that happy mean
between liberaity and extravaganza which it
is so difficult to hit. Take such woman, the
fulfllment as she is of the best form of femi-
nine life, and does not the whole world in
StInctiyely worship her? Almost every great
man of whose youth we know anything owed
much of his future glory to the wise cOunsels
of faithful mother; and nothing Is more
significant in the biographies OF our modern
heroes, no matter in what direction their he.
roiSm has shown itself, than the frequency OF
the mothers name and the acknowledgment
of what was due to her early influence: And
is 1t nothing for women to be the m0tnerS OF
great men and Of noble women? IS 1t small
honor to give a Savior to the world? TO nave
built up out of her own life the life by which
the destinies of humanity are shaped and in
1uenced for all time?
our respect, it is not always physical strength.
Amongst the most charming women known to
us are those who are lnyalldS more OF less
confirmed. Surrounded by flowers and all
manner of delicate cOqueteries in harmony
with her own delicacy she herself dainty, in
tereSting. appealing to ones pity and admira-
ton alike, but always bright and Sympa-
thetic reading much, thinking and observing
more: apart from the passions and frivOlitieS
of the hour, but not Indifferent to the higher
interests. the graver ques ions OF the time
the tone of her whole encourage Subdued but
not melancholy, refined but in no wise sickly,
the woman, cOnStitutiOnally delicate but NOR
ally and Intellectually strong, makes feature
in society which we should be sorry to miss.
To sit by her quiet couch is like leaving the
glare and noise of the crowded streets Tor the
sweet stiffness of the woods, the pleasant
freshness of a country lane. Everything Is SO
peaceful and so pure about her; and In her
ullipt She is actlgei
mainly confined to her couch she orders and
"nizes her household quite as effectually
as II she va ar as judicious mistress,
the servants fnq mpanion, her child
her husband as bright ae-- her friends
rem as satisfactory . mother, anu >rght
as sympathetic a listener, as il she prv.---
the normal amount of strength ard energy TO
help her on. Men, as we'll as women, SO to
her with their difficulties, and she has always
and does notpretend to be shocked even when
stories OF tragic passion are poured out in
merry hoods OF sorrow and despair before her !;
put Hlng there, calm, observant, and un-
t0uched ny all the Sturm uid DrGng of life
she sees things in their just proportion, and
can Judge more wisely than those whose rea.
son gets 96Scured by their passions and imagi-
nation. How many fatal follies has her far
seeing counsel prevented? how many errors
has her wise advice kept out of public sight?
and family quarrelS healed? and rash resolves
modified? Whoever knows her We'll owes her
many is this frail and tender invalid who
seems as if she must needs be the care of all
as II she must be helped to live on her own &C
count, instead of giving as she does strength
and wisdom to others.
More active in the world and more to the
FOREFRONT OF things, because in stronger
heaIn, the woman who makes herself the
who takes care that this society shall be choice
and an entrance into it title of honor does
also good work IN her generation, and shows
some OF the best qualities of her sex. There
are no "speckled peaches in her drawing
room. and whatever the aesthetic colOring the
mora! tone is irfeprOachable. No loud girls
who have borrowed from Anonyma all but
have bequeathed the trick of blushing to the
men whose sense Of delicacy they outrage
daily; no familiar men with lOunging, loafing,
d,isresPectf4l manners; no doubtful topics
exercise OF broad audacity-nOthing doubtful
of any kind-but a society which makes you
Ieel that here at least is neither degeneracy
nor vulgarlty, and that you are amongst what
there is of best and modest left in the country.
Well!-One need not be Pharisee to acknow-
ledge the charm of such salon as this. and
that IL IS better to have to live up to your So
cieiy than to know that you are sinking
dOwn-pleaSantly, it may be, but sinking ali
the same-belOw the level at which you once
stood. Women in society can do an immense
amount of good by giving tone to the world
about them; and those who are determined
that they will neither patrOnize vice nor suffer
Tue lhaI uSloI VI mOUcTn VulRarll16S are D6n6-
factreSses OF very noble kind-antiseptic
elements in the midst of rather startling cor
ruptlon,-fOr which we can scarcely be too
grateful.
Great in their own way, too, are the quiet,
Steadfast women who do not chatter to the
four winds of heaven of what women ought
to do, and might do, and should do. il only ty-
rant man gave them fair play and brought
down those burly thewS and Sinews OF his to
their smaller meaSure-but who nOiseleSsly |
take their own way, no one opposing, develop |
their powers as 1t suits them best and live the |
life OF work and independence OF which others |
shrek like startled magpies. There are w0- |
men Of this kind who have been Selt-Supp0rt- |
ing from almost girlhoOd, and who have |
found by experience, and after-training, that |
II it be equal in power, and that the wOr |
does not ask if this was done by John or Jane |
provided only it will be well done and such al /
The times demand. These are the women who 1
accomplish all without fuss or blare. They
neither crop their heads like men nor put on /
apicene attire, nor mount platforms and take /
he chair at public meetings, nor try to force /
closed doors, when so many standing open for |
he free ingreSs OF women to work are left /
unused. They are always real women, we'll /
bred, and delicate; who do not smoke or
wear, nor lax slang, nor discuss in public /
llthy ana uncomfortable subjects, but wo-
men who have set out in life with q definite
purpose, and who do not halt until they have ac-
it-noiseleSsly. But It is always a |
awful and purely feminine purpose, and
hey never forget their sex in its pur.
nit. Where others call God and man /
o witness their heroic endeavOrs to |
nsex themselves in the dissecting rooms |
4 Paris, these women quietly and mod |