Morning journal and courier., 1889-11-12
THE WOMAN OF TaIRTY-FIvR.
Thoughts for ehe CONFEDERATION of
Herself and Friends.

ncTSolI dE0 FTA0uOss
From London SocietyI
Balzac has laid down the theory that
woman of thirty is at her most fascinating
and dangerous age-dangerous, that is to
say, to the hearts of men. Perhaps no wri-
ter understood his own countrywomen better
than Balzsc, and perhaps no writer has con-
tributed to social philosophy so many o5ni.
cal reflections on the sex in general. But
Balzac's axiom would apply, as rule, to a
certain type of woman, a type less common,
it is to be hoped, in England than in France.
The spinster naturally would not enter into
his calculations; and even in this country
the unmarried ''girl" who admits to having
passed seven and twenty must be except ton
ally circumstancsd if she can boast of
large train of adorers. The blushing debu-
tante may have things pretty we'll her own
way, and is quite capable Of seriously capti-
waiting the blase man of tho world, who fire.
quently finds an agreeable piquancy in bread
and butter, milk and rosebuds. She may
indeed prove q more enduring delight to
such man than the frisky married women
with whom the game of filtration has hither
| to been played with intense satisfact ction.
But the old young girl is neither spring lamb
nor Welsh mutton, and not all the garnish-
| ing possible will disguise her anomalous fla
vor or give her the charm of the daisies and
the meadow. She had lost the freshness and
the ingenious frankness, and she has not
| gained the experience and fnesse which
| would render her attractive to man; and un-
| less she be well endowed in the matter of
rank or worldly goods, and matrimony be
eolemly contemplated, however agreeable an
acquisition she may be to society, she does
not find marked favor in the sight of the
average "masher."
There is class of women, the woman
who has entered the thirties, upon whose
drama the curtain is not likely to fall for
many year yet. In all womanly honesty,
it may be, she revels in the part of heroine
and in the disturbances and agitations of
which she is the cause. She will go on inde-
fatigably playing her part and enjoying it,
| while the lights grow dim and the audience
drops off and the jeune premier becomes
wooden and Indifferent. This kind of a
woman must, as Landor puts 1t, "warm
both hands at the fire of life." Her keenly
| strung temperament, alert sensibility and
magnetic power of attraction make her the
center of perfect vortex of emotions. She
takes intense pleasure in the storm and tu.
multi of feeling that gathers round her. II
gives zest to existence which without il
she would find insupportably tame. She
does not mean to be cruel; she is not un
principled. In many cases she herself suf
fers almost as much as her victims. But
excitement, even that of suffering, is a ne
cessity Of her being, and she takes Tcomfor,
in the thought that she too can exclaim, like
Egmont, when the end comes, 81 cease te
live; bat have lived" And to this woman
thirty five is the beginning of the end.
To the ordinary woman of poetic tenden.
cies, but no definite inclination toward the
dramatic side of life, thirty-ive is~an age
which cannot fail to bring with 1t feeling
of melancholy and dissatisfaction. It is al
uncomfortable point Of transition when thu
y mind cannot dwell with any complacencl
} upon past, present or future. The illusionl
} have gone, and the solid realities have no
vet quite taken their place. In dress, de
! meanor and mental outlook q gradual ani
, subtle readjustment has to be considered
Il is felt necessary to practice certain Sc
i dateness and dignity of bearing, which mus
not, however, be overdone, SO as to appea
affeotation. Attentions which only the 9th
, er day might have been attributed to the in
> fuence of personal beauty and fascination
, are to-day open at least to the suspicion Q
! interested motives. Partners at balls al
\ less persistent and fewer in number. Th