The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-10-23

circumstance In our ia
vor, il is Love who teaches us TO adorn
ourselves, that we may be pleasing to
the eyes of him whose glance of APP
proyal or look of cool indifference can
make one day sunny as June or bleak
as Dakota weather in January. Yet,
after ALL for the pure, unadulterated
article, vanity, allow me, kind friend,
TO inquire if il has ever been your for
tune, while travelling in a street-car,
to have your attention attracted by the
glitter of the sunlight falling upon the
glossy, well-groomed, extra-long beard
of some happy-lookipg gentleman upon
the opposite seat? III so, after watch
ing him as he gracefully strokes this
hirsute miracle upon his manly chin,
and noting the complacent quicker of
his lips, the deep self-satisfaction in
his eyes, especially should he also be
the possessor of a white and we'll
formed hand, upon which CLEANS a
fine diamond ring. After studying
his expression carefully, L say,
you will conclude that, however
vain woman may be, she has yet not
absorbed for her own peculiar use the
entire stock of that innocent and anus
ing little weakness called vanity.
For the second indictment, it had
best be dismissed in q word
OF course we are weak, for human
nature is weak, and since the early
theologians, after grave consideration
and due deliberation, have decided that
woman can truly be considered the
possessor of a soul, she can be included
in the general term human nature, al
though so eminent an authority as Vic
tor Hugo has summed her up In one
terse sentence, woman is a perfected
devil" Undoubtedly the great French
man intended this rs an exquisite com
pliment, since perfected devil" would
at least be q person whom no one could
look upon with Indifference. And in
any case this need not brighten us too
much, for, on the other hand, many
eminent writers have described us as
angels. The truth lies somewhere be-
tween these two extremes.
But against the third charge, tickle
ness, am ready TO defend to the last our
sex, and will earnestly reply to any
writer who cares to repeat this accusa-
ton, giving illustration and instance,
chapter and verse, for his proof in a
definite, logical way.
In the meantime let us contemplate
for little the inspiring spectacle of
Man as Monument of Constancy.'
Behold him. how anchored and stable
are his affections. Faithful as the sun
to the earth, he ardently wooes the OBJ
ject of his devotion, until he is quite
sure of her, unless, in the meanwhile,
some other woman, seemingly to him
more attractive, should come upon the
field If il chance that the new
conner proves to be coquette,
"tutored into coquetry through wrong, }"
TO misquote well-known line
in other words, made sadly cynical by
previous unhappy experience with
some perfidious man-and should it
chance also, that this coquette man
ages TO beat this model man of ours at
his own tactics-he will roar out as in
dignantly as though he had not him
self left some faithful, true woman
heart. broken at his sudden desertion
of her to follow this glittering and
misleading sprite. just so naive, so
ingenious in his consistent selfishness
is this loud-tallling champion of fidel-
ity, man. Quite often, indeed, he Is
lacking enough In tact to go
to the very woman he has de-
serted for sympathy in his distress,
when he finds himself in turn the de-
serted one IL men could but see how
unconsciously cruel they are in this
particular way, it would go far toward
making them understand why wom-
an will manifest SO many capricious
changes of mood in the course o. one
! brief hours interview.
The Spartan boy who let the fox
gnaw at his breast while he kept a
firm, composed countenauce had the
same fine fiber of courage that the
woman has morally who listens, fan
ming herself lazily and smiling pleas
antly, while the one man of all the
world TO her, the one TO whom she has
given all the love of her life, and who
has known her for years, and been from
childhood her friend, escort, and COM
! panion, without suspecting that she
has any deeper feeling for him than
frank, sisterly liking, while this man
comes, L say, with radiant face to in
/ form her, as a pleasant surprise, of his
recent engagement to another woman
quite the dearest girl il the world,
and YOU two are sure TO be such great
friends" he says. Does our poor little
martyr cry out the next day, in ballad
| full of bitterness, against all mankind
| No; and in nine cases out of ten her
own mother never knows of the pain
that stabs her heart like knife AT
these words of the man she loves.
A few years later, should some mas
culine of the would be Byronic type
already mentioned flutter. moth like,
too near her, dazzled by the lambert
play Of her wit which serves to hide
her heartache, fascinated by the
changeful humor, that split which she
uses as armor against the pity which
hurts a proud nature like insult-then,
when she laughs at his protestations,
what TRADES will be written against
this "cold, brilliant woman without a
heart" as they call her?
So the farce goes on. BE grateful,
oh, man; handicapped you may be IN
the race of life by many hindrances,
vet with not one that can compare rs
an ambition-leveler-w that dan
gerous, tremulous freight Of the emo
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