Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-11-12
DON'T BE DULL OR STUPID.
EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE SOME
KIND OF OCCUPATION.

KIND Or OCCOPAl ION.
All Women May BE Attractive and Noble,
but They Must Become So Through Their
Own Effarts-Beware of Absolute Idle
ness-There Are ThSee Courses Open.
Some writer, a woman presumably, advises
other women not to be ''mopesn Webster's
definition of this word is "a dull, stupid per-
son, and in view of this fact it would almost
seem that such advice is unnecessary to most
women. IL may reasonably be supposed that
no woman wants to be considered dull or
stupid. To he sure we cannot all be brilliant
genuses, but there is no occasion for being
thoroughly uninteresting We all know wo-
men who are inclined to nope, but why do
they do iti In ninety-nine cases out of hun
dred, believe, it is because they do not know
what to do with themselves.
woMAN's NATURAL CAPACITY.
The average woman is rot stupid-far
from it-but she allows herself to become so
for want of a healthy occupation for mind
and body. And this is the fault of her edu-
cation and training. She has special
taste for any particular study or employ
nent and so after her school days are over
she settles down TO nope. She is not very
strong perhaps, and she has not sufficient
money to undertake various things that she
would like to undertake; and so she folds her
hands, shuts her eyes and her mind to the
beauties of life and mopes
And when she has reached this point she
takes to novel reading the lighter the fiction
the more suitable il is to her frame of mind
And every one knows the prevailing tone of
the light novels ofStoday. Not only girls,
but many young married women lead such
almeSs lives. The mind becomes deterio-
rated and frivolous; from gossip the tongue
leads 10 scandal, and the best years of a wo-
mans life are frittered away in doing moth
ing and learning nothing.
Ii is not necessary to be priggish, nor TO
have hobby. These things are rather
proofs Of an uncultivated and narrow mind
And begin now. Do not wait for something
TO turn up. have little patience with those
who take for their motto the French line
that Everything comes to him who knows
how To watt Ii Is not true; everything
comes only to those who know how TO go and
get IL. Every woman has within her the
making of an attractive and noble person,
but she must help in the making; she can
never become noble and attractive by mop
ing The present is the only future that we
know, and we must utilize il to the utmost
before 1t becomes the past.
And do not mean that only plain women
should cultivate their mind; IA handsome wo-
man usually has much intellect as a plain
one, and it requires quite as much cultiva-
tion. Who has not met elderly women who
could talk OF nothing but this or that one
who died last week, or who is TO be married
next week. Events of importance in the
lives of those Immediately concerned; but so
many persons marry and die every day that
unless we know them personally their mar
riages and deaths have not the slightest inter
est for us. 1t would be well for such persons
had they learned TO play whist in their youth,
so that in their old age they might have an
occupation that would endear them TO some
one, and vet compel them TO be silent.
DON'T HOARD YOUR ENERGIES
II you have no taste for music, do not tor
ture the piano and the ears of your relatives
and friends let music alone II YOU have no
taste for painting, do not make hideous daubs
and call them pictures and If you have no
eye for color, let fancy work alone, unless II
he Of kind that is colorless And If you feel
the need of occupation, which you ought to
feel, find out what you can do and do it with
all your might You Iced not put your wares
in the market. You need not take position
as typewriter, clerk or saleswoman and SO
keep some other poor woman from earning
an honest living, unless you need the money
H. much a. she does There are other ways
OF occupying ones self, and a woman who
really wants an earnest occupation will find
one; it may be an occupation that gives
pleasure TO herself only, or it may he one
that will benefit others; IL VIII depend upon
the woman, but whichever it is, she will be
happier and nobler for occupation.
Our stores Of energy are given Us for some
purpose; they are not TO be boarded forever
but carefully expended on worthy objects
and the object TO he selected lies with our.
selves
Many women find their happiness in hus-
hand and children, and many others in the
home of their childhood, or in making home
for themselves. Others expend their energies
in professions, for which they have prepared
themselves since they were children, having
| shown "A decided taste for some one thing that
their parents had the good sanse to cultivate.
1t is not TO these women l speak, but 70 the
larger class OF girls who have not had this
special education. Doubtless every woman
expects her daughter to marry, and marry
well, between the ages Of Is and % Some
girls fulfill these expectations and some dc
not. The girl who does not, after the novel.
ty OF freedom from school duties and the ex.
citement of society have worn of, longs for
some steady occupation that shall employ her
mind and time. II she has no one to advise
her when she has reached this period, she Is
To be pitied 1t is a turning point in her life
where she makes a choice for good or for
evil There are three courses open to her
the excitement of society, the taking up some
serious work or the inactivity of moping.
Many women have not the energy for either
of the two first, so they sink into the moping
habit only to be reused some years later tc
regret misspent hours and wasted energies.
Which of the three alternatives will you
choose Miss Palfrey in New York Star