The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1889-02-22
Ghe RemOrrat- Sta,
A WoFd On WIDOW.
N. o. Picayupe.


N. o. Picayune.
Time was when the swaa,
buntants had things her own W.
Men had eyes for nothing bnt ~
pink and white loveliness nj ~, Me
hood, and all hearts went down y
fore The hlgenae, but times bar.
changed, and to-day the widow (,
pre-eminently the queen of soc,a
ly.
One has only TO look al No,.
YORK for confirmation of this WI
receives there The attention NV
slowed on Mrs. Hicks Lord or NJ.
Frank LeslieG And wasn't if N.
Widow Hammersly who won .Jbs
Duke with all his titles away t.TS
the unmarried women who vera
willing to barter away their mi.
lions for a coronet?
II Is undeniable that widows aro
The autocrats of society, and men
flock about them wberpye,
they 60. No one has ever denied
their destinations. and Weller's adj.
vice to his son, If he wished in
avoid matrimony TO "bevare If
vidders," has been quoted thou.
sands OF times. In MANY WAYS
The widow has The advantage of her
Younger sisters. She has the bene.
fits OF a larger knowledge and ex.
perience of The world, her arts and
cOquelries are perfected, not in The
experimental and undeveloped
state OF the debntantes ; and above
all, she has the inestimable ad.
vantage of knowing men with The
accurate and intimate knowledge
gained by association with one who
was probably a fair representation
OF his sex.
She knows how 10 give delicious
little dinners that make the most
hardened bachelor think indul-
gently OF The marriage state. She
knows that man likes his ease, and
Goes not insist on his dancing per-
petual attendance on her. She
does not insist OH a mans talking
balls and theatres and new GER
man figures. She follows rather
his lead to his own ground, and
face while he descants on his favo-
rite hobby. A young girl is always
self centered, absorbed III her own
affairs, her dresses, her parties-it
is only grace and art that teaches
a woman to sink her own person
allty in The presence of the person
with whom she is talking.
Perhaps one of The chief claims
of widows is their understanding
of the fine art OF sympathy. The
sympathy OF young girl who has
known nothing but joy is a crude
and unsalisiying affair, the very
husks on which no love could feed,
but The sympathy OF q widow len.
expressed with a gentle
melancholy shows that she too has
suffered-it is like the soft shadows
in a picture, or the minor chord IN
a piece of music that sets The
pulses ihrobblng. Having mourn
ed for a man she knows how most
effectually 10 mourn with one.
She is fascinating whether she is
gay and dashing, aud like one of
T~hackeray's heroineS "Is 40 years
old aud has heard everything there
is To be told" or whether she is of
The demure, affectionaie type
whose clingine helplessness is so
much like The vine torn from It's
support that some man is irreSlsti-
bly, compelled to offer himself as a
for The missing prop.
1t may be that she is the rell-
yiOus widow who visits The pastor
or spiritual consolation, and at
whose meekly bowed head the rec
or, on a Sunday, aims all his best
rhetoric, Orthe rich ''palron OF art"
widow who sees a mute, inglnriOus
in every penny bard, and u
Raphael in every sign painter. II
makes little difference in which
lass IT has pleased heaven To place
Ter, she is always and universally
)eWitching.
II is a little strange considering
he important part widows play in
That The novelisis, who
lain TO be the photographers of
oclety, do not oftener choose her
the heroine of their stories.
Amelie Rives, who is a wise woman
n her day, makes The heroine of
Ter story a widow; The widow i'm
Indian Summer is not only one
f the best characters Howells eyer
rev, but makes the Young girl
box pale and colorless beside her,
nj Dickens pays his tribute to the
Tid0w's charms by making his men
y from The destinations they know
hey r pOwerless TO resist. This
}, after all, the crownIngtnbuie TO
he powers of the widow.