The National tribune., 1883-01-04
W0MbN'S WORK.
Home, and How to Make It Beautiful
and Happy.

"Happiness is of more moment to woman
than the solution Of problem of Euclid, and a
new bonnet than the giorios of a Salamis or
Waterloo" was written lately by one in liberal
translation of Balzac's well-knOwn: "Le b0ahsHr
est Ia poeSie des feEim6s, CONNIE IL toilette en- }e
fdfd." Balzac spent the best years of his life
| in devotion to one woman--a woman in every
respect worthy of his homage, but notWith-
standing this fact, we can scarcely believe that
the great novelist uttered the above sentiment
in some moment of piQuc. In most countries
we find satire Of women common among men OF
letters, and often also among men of no literary
prestige, aud while there seems to be something
unworthy OF manhood in the cynical attitude
which men so often assume toward women, the
most thoughtful of either sex must suspect an
existing cause for so general an effect. Let
the axe be laid at the very root of the tree" is
an injunction which was urged in the last TRI-
BUNE. Now, many Of us behold the dWar.gd
and crooked tree but how many Of us know
where to look for the root? We cannot but
think that many of the complaints which are
made against women might more justly be made
against society, and by society we mean both
men and women. BIen think it worth while
to meet each other, if not always wholly, at
least with q measure Of seriousness ana unat-
fCcted respect, and usually each feels an I'M
posed obligation to fulfill the expectation of the
other. But in their intercourse with women,
most men seem spontaneously TO offer them
their most trivial qualities of character, and by
far the greater number OF women seem to lack
the strength to oppose their own ideali2ations
or reverences, or best of all their innate, but
quiet, self-respect to cOuntertets which they re-
cognZe rs such, but which they accept because
nothing better is given them. Nobility OF ma
tUre is responsive oftcncr than scll-assortiye,
and 4 human being viii readily reveal fine
points to those who seem to wait for their pres
cnCe: rarely Will one reveal such uu8sked, but
from the eye that Is watching for dr0Ss, one viii
shut up the avenues to his better nature, and
leave visible that only which is really the weak
est and most insignificant part OF him, and which
with other handling might, in time, disappear.
Ii seems to Us that every wOmanly woman nat
uraliy values the esteem Of men, and we
have often wondered if the latter ever think
of the obligation which this places upou
them, or Of the logical result Of their own de
precIatlng vCrdICl5 Of women. Probably few
homes viii reveal q master and mistress, each
OF whom believes implicitly in the loyalty OF
the other; each Of whom, possessing an un-
sWerviug faith in the other, UnConsCi0uSly,
through this very faith, nourisheS-Or even ere
ateS-that in which either believes. Wives
and mothers falling to find, and IS result fall
ing to give, that which was once eagerly eN-
pccted naturally let their lives run into such
happenings OF the passing hour are allowed TO
compensate as best they may for the unbound
requirements of hUmc-lite; girls bear the I'M
press OF their most intimate surroundings, and
inevitably their characters reflect the contra
dictOry influences at work in their homes.
Most girls spend the most important period Of
their lives in young ladies' schools, in which
little is done, or perhaps can be'done, toward
developing an inner life or establishing oneness
of thought or purpose, and thus, women 90 on
in the pitiabie rounds of undeyelOpcd and mis-
directed energy, and from want OF proper guild
ance and jUdIcious encouragement they exist
rs symptoms" rather than 2s completed be-
ings.
Society, in its turn, demands thatwomen con-
tinue year after year the same senseless rounds
of social entertainments and displays, and it
makes little difference that each new dress,
each costly luncheon or dinner may mean one
more tug at the lifc-pOWers of father or a hus-
band, or that the whole system is making SIM
ply race of invaids of American women. The
nations of the Old World looking upon Us as 3
Republic which has for It's use all preceding
civilizations, and the experiences Of preceding
republics, have right 10 expect much from Us.
1t does not seem to us that our women stand
IN need of delegated powers and better, per-
hapS, thousand times than all the ClamOr
which we hear about woman suffrage, would be
the quiet, uupretentiOus effort of noble and
cultivated women toward the shaping of a SIM
pie and natural national life. toward that spir-
itual and intellectual ennOblement Of women
which would make every mistress Of our re-
publican homes queen in the right Of herown
simple unaffected womanbood. No one is SO
strong, or so selfsuhicient, as not, at some time
tonoed help or encouragement, and society viii
have reached q high point when each of its
members unseltishIy and in all loyalty and ap-
probation offers help to his fellows in the march
toward H0bler planes of living. To woman,
with her fine sympathetic adaptation, her gen
erous impulses her splendid possibilities, we
naturally turn, as to some holy and beautiful
influence, in this matter of human enuoble-
ment. Let US hope that it may not be her doom
TO be weighed in the balance and found want
ing"