West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-05-11

and companion of man.
We must not let the present state
of morals, the public vertigo, and
unchecked whirlwind of license
which we have now before our eyes,
deceive us as to the essence of
things; we must not stop at certain
women, or classes, or times. We
must look at the eternal woman. In
all history sheis the element of sta
bility. Common sense sufficiently
explains the reason of this. 1t is
not only because she is the mother,
the embodiment of the family and
the household, but because she
brings into the co-partnership dis
proportionate share, which becomes
enormous when compared to that OF
the man. She enters into it entire
ly, and without the possibility OF
withdrawal. The simplest one
among them fully understands tha.
any change is to her disadvantage,
that in changing she rapidly lowers
herself.
When the parts are transposed,
when the woman grows tickle and
calls for change, which is her degra-
dation and her ruin, we must consider
it case of disordered mind, a hid
eous symptom of misery and de-
spair. This perversion of woman's
nature condemns her less than it
does him who causes the evil-for
the crime is really mans.
The astonishing aspect OF rest
lessness and agitation which we now
behold in their mania for dress, re-
suits less from real frivolity than
from rivalry and vanity; frequent
ly also from chagrin at their youth
and beauty slipping away, and their
consequent desire to renovate them
selves every morning.
The surprising changes of deco
ration are very frequently the ca
prices of an ailing heart, which
wants to retain love, and finds it
difficult to do so. Some of the most
faithful among them, in order to re-
tain their lovers, work incessantly
at Disgusting and varying themselv-
es. They would do precisely the
same in the midst OF the greatest
solitude, in a desert, or an Alpine
hut, if they lived there with "him."
Do they employ the right means to
attain their end / think not.
The impressions received upon the
heart are rather unsettled than
strengthened by this continual
change.
Dress is a great symbol. There
should be some novelty, but nothing
violent; above all, never so complete
a novelty as to cause love to lose its
reckoning. A slight accessory to
the costume gracefully varies it, and
suffices for all change. A flower
more or less, ribbon, bit OF lace,
a mere nothing, often enchants us,
and the whole portrait becomes
transfgured. This changeless
change goes to the heart and silent
ly says: always different, and al
ways the same" ~
The follies and passing epidem-
les of luxury and fashion do not all,
so far as we are concerned, affect
what we have, in the universality of
time and place, set down as the es-
sential law Of woman's heart, and
the depths of her nature.
What she wants is not love mere
ly, but the fixity, the passionate
perseverance, the unlimited eager
ness and curiosity, the endless inten-
sity of love.
She wants this and she has right
to it; for to such ardent researches
she could reply for ever, with the
fresh and inexhaustible (improvisa
tion) of unlocked for happiness.
To become beautiful, and through
love-what happiness. / dare not
attempt to describe to you the ex
cess of her gratitude. To be beau
tiful is heaven; and to women, it is
everything. Ifshe but knew that it
is to you she owes so great an ad-
vantage, she will readily yield on
every other point; she will be de-
lighted to feel that you are the mas
ter; she will like you to decide ev
erything. and in general, to save her
the trouble of having will of her
own.
She will cheerfully grant, what is
the truth, that you are her guardian
angel; that your experience of the
world has taught you thousand
things from which you can preserve
her, thousand dangers to which
her youth and the semi-captivity OF
her girlhood would have blinded her,
and into which, most likely, she
would have rushed headlong.
The mere fact of having an occu-
patton, speciality, is great advan-
tage to the man. He must have
passed through previous course of
moral gymnastics, must have over
come the stiffness of his joints, bro
ken, trained, and strengthened his
active faculties. 1t is in conquer
ing a trade that we conquer our
calvoa Haroip ycp ocnecialIv lea rn