Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1882-12-28
The Tale ef Two Women.

The Tale OF Two Women.
Globe Democrat.
The friendship of two women has
been defined by . witty French
philosopher to bca conspiracy against
Il third; that is to say, the sex are
unequal to friendship among themselves
except in the form of an offensive
alliance based on u mutual antipathy
to some luckless. outside sister. There
are plentiful and charming intances of
friendships between man and woman;
but the books are singularly empty of
examples Of strictly feminine inter-
course of that kind. The dear daugh-
ters of Eve donot seem to be organized,
as Emerson would say, for such state.
Their pretty, beckoning hands appear
te be against one another by large
majority; and the cynic might well
| Justify scornful view of the whole
smiling and corseted class by simply
taking their own estimate of themselves
us shown in their settled aversion to
anything like true and enduring
friendship within their own lines, so to
speak.
The case of Mrs. Langtry and Mrs.
Labouchcrc is an episode in point.
They came to our shores only u few
weeks ago, locked in a fond embrace,
TO put it POLITICALLY, and to all outward
appearances iixcdly sworn to- IN eternal
friendship. 1t was very admirable
spectacle; and there were not wanting
those who believed that here, at least,
were two women, both of them
attractive and well supplied with
clothes, who could dwell together
intimately like 4 pair of forbearing
birds, each careful of the others weak
nesses and unicalous of her conquests.
No doubt they thought so themselves;
but alas, nature was not to be trump
he'd over in any such manner. With
the best intentions in the world they
could not defeat or escape the fixed
law of their being, operative since the
sunrise of things. They were still
women, in spite of their amiablc
efforts to be something else. And so
at length, they had u tiff, and went
separate ways, as has been duly and
circumstantialy rccounted in all the
newspaper.
There was Il horrid man at the bot
tom of it all, of course; there generally
is, ifhc has half chance. If there
were only women in existence on
this fussy old planet, they might be
able to endure it, to pity and even to
embrace one another-in good faith
and agrecably; but, unhappily, men
abound, and hence the sisters have al
ways bone of contention set in theil
midst to iostle their serenity and upset
their lofty calculations. The young
man of the Observation-Disclosures i'm
broglio bears the gil,led name of Geb
hart. spells fruit with phonetic dis
missal of the a, and in a general in
tcllectual sense might be wiped W
with spengc, we should say from I'll:
descriptions furnished of him. But he
has n plcthOric bank account, drives
fast horses, and is conspicuous among
metropolitan "mashcrs." L" His atten
tions seem to have turned Mrs. Lang
try's head, and he is for the moment
n bigger man than the Prince of Wales
1t is not alleged that anything scandal
Gus has occurred; but Mrs. Labouchere
who is understood to have had consider
able experience in such matters, felt i
her duty Gas they always do) to remon
stratc with her friend, whereupon sht
was curtly advised to attend to her owl
business. So LabOuchere left, anC
Gcbhart holds the fort.
Such, in brief, is the story and thu
situation. There are some features o
it that have an unpleasant flavor of ad
vertising for instance, the statemen
that Mrs. Laugtry smiles over the bus.
gossip, and the incidental record tha
Mrs. Laboucherc has been "reccivet
by President Arthur" There can be nj
doubt that the two women have partet
company, and that their present atti
tude toward each other is vinegarish
not to say incarnadinc. But ther
is room to doubt if the cXac
and entire truth has been told abou
the cause of their sudden separation
That Young Gcbhart, with his "frut,
was the immediate occasion of the rup
turc-just as another purveyor of fri
rot the first of all women into difficult.
seems to be reasonably certain. Blu
we can not know what happened be
/, fore that, or what measure of petit,
envy and spitefulness led gradually t
the final explosion. For our part, look
inc at the affair in u broad and phil
osophic way, we must confess to sus
picion that Gebhart is sort of con
venicnt goat trotted auspiciously to tn
front "for Azacl;" and it must be al
; lowed that he personates the characle
! as accurately as need to be desired. ]
! the plain truth were told, it would i
: all probability appear that the seeds G
estrangcmcnt were sOwn in the mutuf
bosoms of these women by bedroor
comments upon each others physics
discrepancies, and by provoking an
! systematic little criticisms and con
l parigons IN the matter of dress. Th
fellow Gebhart merely furnished a prC
. text, we take it, for uncOrking walls
pique and resentment already lillet
: fermentcd and ready to overflow
l Women will still go on trying to ovcl
y come the logic of creation with pun
: efforts to prove themselves capable {
4 strictly petticoated friendship; and fat
will continue Just as regularly and ii
ovitably to step in and make mess an
n mockery Of every such. attcmp
Q And the men will laugh, of course
|, while the women weep-so runs tn
q world away.
!, A Curious Calculation.
= did you ever think, asks q Paris p'
I" ner. how many male and female al