Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-17

OF my sister women, and I assure them that
it is the fruit of much observation and study
of mankind. A woman's little tempers will
in the course OF years make an impression
upon mans estimate of her that no after
time can undo; while il she once truly love
him, years of bickerlng or ill-treatment on
his part are wiped away and forgotten by
the caresses OF his returning love, or by the
faltering farewell of his dying breath. A
woman's resentment OF the little offenses Of
fered her by the man she loves is like
the. sand upon the beach, so lightly
rufaed, so easily heaped into chasms and
mountains, but so sure to be placated by the
return OF the tide, so easily restored to the
full integrity OF its original condition. But
the mans consciousness of injuries is like
the rock lying so stolidly upon that shifting
beach. The winds blow the sand across
him, but it soon blows off again. The
waves dash over and seem to leave no mark,
but the years go by, and twice every day
the sand and the waves together grind away
q little and little of the substance of the
rock, and after many years, if the sand says,
l am tired of this useless war are, let us be
as we were at first, the rock must sadly an
swer nay, that cannot be, for the years have
worn away what no years can restore. We
can only make the best of what Is left.
Of course l do not mean that it is only the
woman who is to blame in this condition of
things, nor that woman is any more bound
than man to restrain herself and do or
leave undone whatever makes for peace in
the home, only it is certain truth that
really sweet-tempered woman will reap
more love while she lives and more tears
when she dies than woman who indulges
her little tempers, no matter what virtues
she may bring forward to counterbaIanse
them.
BETTER THAN RICHES.
But, after all, what is sweet temper? So
many things are sweet that are not therefore
agreeabIe-the nauseous sweet of certain
medicines when the odious sub-taste pierces
through, and one loathes them all the more
for the sweetness, and the mawkish sweet of
whey and certain kindred preparations, and
warm eau sucree and the mild tisanes they
dose you with across the seas in rural parts.
No, to be sweet-tempered in any of those
ways is hardly better than the little tempers.
There must be q richness, a BODY to the
sweet to make it delicious; there must be a
piquancy to relieve it of moDotony. To my
mind, there is something very alluring in &,
the taste Of honey, for in spite of the intense
sweetness and the richness, there is a certain
subtle reminder of the bees sting, a certain
piquancy suggestive of the deadly fight that
fellow would have made il some brother bee
had tried to forestall him in the lily's
breast. There is a tang of animated life as
we'll as the breath of flowers about honey
that makes its sweet to me different from
all other sweets, and the nearest type of
nature to the sweet temper so much to be de-
sired in woman
A sweet temper, then, is a temper with
force and life enough to blaze up in righte-
GUS wrath when proper occasion calls; for
pity. nay, despise, the man or woman who
cannot be angry at sight of cruelty. or in
suit, or deceit, or baseness-a ''pan OF skim
milk" that cannot be "moved to honorable
is a temper that can perceive
matter OF annoyance and refuse to notice it,
a temper that even in the moment of annoy-
ance can suggest to itself excuses for the
annoyer, temper that can pass over that
moment and revert to better things in the
past, or look forward to them in the future;
a temper that never loses sight of love and
its obligations. temper serenely powerful
over speech and affectionately allied with
self-respect, temper whose owner never
has to say, II forgot myself" and never
does say, g! told YOU so;" temper quick |
to forget injuries and to accept atonenent.
and retentive OF favors and loving words;
temper that can find fault without rousinp |
angry passions on either side, that can re- |
prove a servant without loss of self-controI |
or OF gentle dignity, and can rebnke or |
punish a child without shaking either its
love or its respect
Yes, my young friend, when you marry |
by all means secure sweet-tempered woman |
or your wiIe-that Is to say, il you can find |
her and she will accept you. But having
found your rara avis-and 1 assure you the |
bird does exist, for 1 have seen it-pause,
before inviting it into your cage, to question
with yourself what inducements you have to
offer and what qualities you leel yourself
possessed oil that will make the bargain an
even one and render you worthy to possess
heavens last, best gift to man.
MRS. FRANK LESLIE.