The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-01-03
But nothing is small in a wOmaa's ex,

Tn woman lie ne vanity which was weakness becomes almost a force Luxury adds greatly to the satisfaction of these unquiet minds, longing fer new sensations, but this luxury takes the form of a need of art. A woman wants to have brocades shining with gold, jewels in which art adds to intrinsic values, exquisite laces where a tiny square represents a fortune, fans upon which rare artists have put the wealth Of their dreams of color; but, little by little, her taste is purified and lifted into the regions of art.
 Look at their drawing rooms; they are i no Ioage. the work ot commoh up- holsterer, who piles rich stuffs upon pre- cious woods. Modern boudoirs are iu- deed a feminine revelation, the proof of culture which is growing wider, and of au instinct which is perfecting itself and becoming sentiment. A woman's jew elry has 8 language and sentiment of it's own, being no longer bought at ran dom of the nearest dealer in such wares, but searched for and carefully chosen | from a choice colec on. She haunts bric-a-brac shops and studies the periods to which their treasures belong. One l 0OCS HUI SutDA Oi AuC WC1lkh hlQ0CH OG- heath the perfect harmony which prevails in her apartments-in lace curtains, an- tique draperies, rare stufs, carved ivory, porcelain and pottery. A woman goes from one inquietude to another, from desire to desire; and from the care of her person to the furnishing of her house it is all searching for the beau tiful, it is all an aspiration towards the 1 ideal.
 Henceforth all is changed. A grand movement stirs the feminine world, which seeks in one way or another, a safety valve for the activity which devouis it i Do you not see ,is2 There is not so much dancing as formerly; the fetes of the present day are only magnificent dis plays in which the ladies pass slowly along, looking at the others and being looked at. The pleasant frivoiity of dancing disappears, little by little, and the marriageable young girls seem to be the only happy believers in it. Other more violent exercises irresis:ibly attract the women of the period. Gymnastics, hunting, swimming, riding and fencing become all the rage, and pass from aris- tocratic circles to the middle classes.
 The serenity of robust health, which is the source of peace ofmind the strength and skill from which grace is born and perfected, this quiet and rational mus cular development, which is the remedy for morbid imaginings and weak nerves this striving to keep the equilibrium between physical and moral life this lofty idee, which is the foundation of happiness-all are revealed in the odd 1 x.,k.~k al. shrug their shoulders, while incorrigibie skeptics smile scorhfully, little knowing how much labor and thought precede in woman, the manifestation of a fact which seems sudden and unpremedtated.
 And among women of leisure un- married women in middle life, childless wives and widows, women of the higher classes who fad no sympathetic friends among their equals-do you not sec this need to do something, to group them selves together for some purpose, to work toward some end :? They devote them selves to charitable work, and they carry into it all that energy and enthusiasm which they used to waste in other snd fruitless efforts nov, under the manage ment of these fervent workers, longing for action and untiring in zeal, charity has become an art, or rather a science. Put women upon a committee for the re- lief of the poor, and see how they will come and go, discuss ways and means, get up balls, fairs, concerts and private theatricals: and how, ever ready, ever earnest, with nerves of steel and untiring feet, they will give their time and strength without stint.
 Others give themselves up to passion for culture, irregular, disorderly, full of vanity perhaps, vain certainly, which hurries them away to lectures, legislative sessions and concerts of classical music, where they do not understand all, where great part of what they hear is to them dead letter, but where some thought leaves trace in their minds, where the sweetness of a melody is caught, and were some grain of ruth is found.
 The penchant of some women to know the latest fashionable book, to guess the secret of pseudonyme, to talk to cele- brated artista to meet the poet of the future, you cali frivolous and ridiculous idea l; but very different thing from mere feeting triumph cf seIf.love is hidden under this seemingly frivolous unrest.
 Au tuC (ldSSCS 6uQ l0 tuOSS lCSS privileged, women are freeing themselves from the old forms which forbade in- struction and labor. Among young wo- men of the middle classes a sense of the responsibility and reality of life early shows itself, and they perform the duties imposed upon them so we'll that we de. plore the absence of large centres of feminine activity whither all this courage ous willingness to work might be di- rected.
 And these are not the foIlies of eman- cipation which hardly covers a vicious inclination. They are living. earnest forces that seek to apply themselves to some useful end. Politics do not attract them, and that kind of independence which means license to irregularity is not their aim. They oply seek to know the mos: direct way, the most just means, for the employment of all their faculties.