Morning journal and courier., 1881-03-31
Feminine Tact,

| lrrom Appletons JournalJ
 II we take up either domestic life or busi- 1 ness life, or the various organizations in
 which men and women gather. it is not apna- | rent that women are more adroit or more | sklllful or that they have nicer discernment | or better perceptions than men. We are
 afraid indeed, that an impartial examination
 or the evidence will show that, instead of men
 being more insensible and less adroit than wo- men, they distinctly exhibit in important thinos I asuper1or skill This is rather bold defiance l or accepted notions, but let us scan the eyi-
 dence and see. It is notorious that much tbe
 greater number of domestic quarrels oriQi. I nate among the women of the family The aitercatlons and differences that so frequent | ly exist between families united by marriage | are almost always on the side of the women l Men are dragged in and become partisans in l the warfare but gauntlets are commonly first exchanged between the ladies Assured- | iy, If tact IS quality desirable in the draw Ing room as sort of social buffer. smooth Ing sharp angles and softening collisions inc very field for 1t is the domestic hearth vbe-a ! the unapt word, the ill-considered retort. or the ioss or self-command is so productive of | mischief. Can it be asserted that m tbis do- main women, as class, have more tact than men? Is peace between husband and wife more often maintained by the wise repression.
 the soft answer, the skillful word, the adroit evasion of an issue, on the part of wives than of husbands ? If we, Asmodeus like
 could peep beneath the roofs of houses, which
 sex would we find most freely occupied in
 nagging {? Which would we discover
 most commonly taking offence at the
 casual word Which would be showing
 superior skill in meeting and turning the
 dangerous little things that arise hourly
 in every circle? In that tact which teaches
 us when to hold our tongues and when to
 speak, what to see and what not to see we
 suspect that the masculine part of the con-
 VI m 1orvo o1o
 Of course we are generalizing bere We have
 all met with sweet-lempered wives and brutal
 husbands, but among the average right in
 tentloned people 1t is deficiency of tact that
 so often causes collisions and this deficiency
 IS at least common with both sexes. Young
 women are very skillful in managing their
 lovers, but many of them too frequently lose their skill when they come to manage their
 husbands. It is the lack of tact on the part
 or women that sets clique against clioue In congregations and in church societies
 or all kinds, that causes almost all
 associations organized by women to
 break up in differences, that keeps so many people in hot water in family hotels and
 boarding houses, or wherever lovely woman predomlnates. It is to lack of tact that we owe the traditional mother in law Fathers ln-iaw have no bad regulations anywhere
 may We not say this is because they have too much tact to interfere, too much tact to take notice of trifes too much to be fussy and ir- ritatlng In matters that would be wisely left alone? It has been shrewdly doubted wheth- CT clubs would be possible with ladies-not merely because they have not the club dispo- sltlon, but because they cannot abide togeth- or without getting into hostile divisions It takes good deal of tact to meet daily on familiar and equal terms with numerous per- sons and keep all irritating things out of sight. The club is possible in the highest civilization only because nothing but the self repression that comes of the highest social tralnlng permits men of diverse interests and tastes to come together tremendously. The club affords an excellent test Of tact and if men are better adapted than women for club life, If they can live together in this way without collisions, they have established the possession of tact more efectually than any thing establishes it for women