The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-04-16
Widows.
London World.l


If marriage tests the character of woman,
widowhood defines it still more completely.
One has though of yenturing to demonstrate
with ones friend In his lifetime on the
rumors of Misunderstanding between him
self and his wife. The wife has appeared all
that is charming, and the rumors, therefore,
have been all that is unintelligible. But
when the husband has departed and the
widow remains, the incomprehensible be-
comes the comprehensive. The self-assert-
ing mein. the tricks of uncharitabie insinu-
alton and malignant misunderstanding, which
were fmperceptible to the friend of the
family in the wife, are only too apparent in
the widow. One understands 1t all now,
and when the forlorn relic. speaks of her de-
parted husband as a saint and martyr, one
is disposed to think that the latter at least
ne must assuredly have been. There are a
few broad and easily recognizable types of
widows. The womanly widow is an exag-
geration OF all that is sweet and tender and
helpless in womanhood; the masculine of all
that is selfsufficient and aggressive in man.
hood. The womanly widow is not unlike
the ordinary governess, who, when addressed
IN conversation, invariably appears for q
| moment as if she was about to burst into
tears. But. the gathering dewdrops vanish
before the sunshine of the pleasing, trustful
smile; the natty little cap sets to perfection
on the brown. wavy hair; and in the
course OF 20 minutes you are in possession of
| all that concerns the past or future of your
fair interlocutrix. She has obtained your
views on every variety of subject. from that
of the stock in which you would advise her
TO invest some of her small fortune to that
of an economical German country town in
which for while she may conceal herself,
or of good private school to viii, h she can
send her eldest boy. You feel that through
out this little consultation the lady is fig
uratively leaning on your shoulder; she
talks about her heart strings being wrung,
and she at once conveys to you the impress
sion that she is moral ivy plant. She does
not know what it is to be alone, or to make
exertions on he- own account. She is q
piece OF signing, smiling, plump, picturesque
helplessness in black Grape and white lawn,
with the prettiest little hands and
the neatest, most daintily shod little feet
in the world, her tiny embroidered mou-
choir scented with the odors waited from
Paradise, and suggesting altogether a study
of the luxury of woes on reduced scale.
But because she is helpless she is not neces-
sarily artless; and, grateful as she is for your
advice, it would not be surprising If she
were to read the money article carefully, or
to speak seriously to her brother, before she
makes the particular investment which you
have advised.
OF the masculine widow it may generally
be said that It is her mission to present be-
reavement IN its least attractive form,
sympathy which was In store for it, and
narrowness of worldly circumstances IN
the shape which is of all others austere
and unpoetical. Clad in the garb of woe,
despising any of the pettiness of costume
which are permitted to the deepest grief
she enter your house, veritable Ishmael in
black pettlcoats. She has now to make her
own way in the world, no one to trust to
except herself, and she intends to leave no
chance unturned. If you had expected to
see sghing grief-oppressed, supplicatlng
| creature, you are mistaken. This is no weak
widow, who insists on seeing you whenever
| she has question to ask or q suit to make;
it is rather e sort of female highwayman,
who marches into your private sanctum,
| and calls upon you to stand and DELIVER, or
who SO establishes herself in your household
that she gradually begins to acquire vested
interest in Its rights and voice which will
not be silenced in its management. There
is no insolence-and indeed there is some
times no extravagance-like that of pow
erty, and when the combination of strong
minded widowhood and impecuniosity is
met with, one has not, to say the least of
it, soil uncongenial to the growth of sem
sitive plants Manageable daughters are
also known to inspire widows with some
defencelessness of their position. The soft,
yielding, laDguid mother, whose drawing
room is in the month of June bower OF
roses, and who is herself no ineligible object
OF male fdolatry, is possessed OF q skill and a
perseverance, an amount of patience and a
capacity for work which are absolutely as
founding when there is a daughter to be got
off. Herein, it may be thought, there may
be nothing peculiar to the maternity of
womanhood, and, indeed, what is chiefly or
only noticeable is the candor displayed in
the vicarious hunt after an eligible husband.
But all is permitted to the mother who lives
solely for her daughter. The virtue of self
sacrifice Is its own reward, and perhaps
widowhood has never so many consultations
to offer when to the vague crown of martyr
dom, which generally received idea that
my poor dear husband was on the whole
rather a brute constitutes, is added well
selected band OF cavaliers, who may make
love to the daughter or fiirt with the mother
according to their own knightly will.