San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-06-04

| Head Up, and the Hero at the Fire.
What do women like most in menT
asked an old gentleman of me the other day.
"Sir, they like force" answered |; "they
despise mollycoddles and dudes-that is, real
women do. | know nothing about the tastes
| of featherheads! woman likes strength
| and certain amount of masterfulness in a
man, with lots of reserved power and both
physical and mental muscle. Courtesy and
| polish without manliness is like a collar with
| out starch-it won't wear. man may
smoke tobacco and drink whisky, measure
six feet in his socks and have the girth of
water tank, but all that won't make man
! of him if he has not the backbone Of force.
Women tire of dancing men, and musical
| men, and ultra refined men if they are lack
ing in the strength to face dsagreeable
| duty, or shoulder a musket, or even help tack
| down a carpet if necessary"
| Don't you like to see a man danceP'
queiied my questioner.
"Oh, yes, If that isn't his greatest accom-
plishment, but would rather see him driving
| a strong bitted horse or shoveling snow. A
dancing man always makes me think of a
trained bear"
But you like to see him well dressed, do
| you notY"
Eyes, II his clothes are paid for and if he
| earned the money to buy them; but good
| clothes don't make man popular with
women, nor do small feet and white hands
Any fool can get measured for suit of
clothes, but it takes a man of force to do
without them rather than run in debt to
buy them Men and bears were meant to be
masters, not to be led around by u chain
Iaht ic fba 1lyyc boin
fetter to man. When either men or bears
fail Of their destiny they become caricatures
for women to laugh at"
What is your definition of a dude" asked
my friend
"Wel, said L, "a man who is scrupulously
careful as to his linen, manicures his nails,
wears a silk hat, and avoids making boor Of
himself in public places by that deplorable
habit Of expectoration which has marked the
American citizen as type set apart, is not
necessarily dude. On the same principle
that steam engine can do quite as good
work if clean and polished as if neglected and
shabby, man can be manly in the best sense
of the word if he is regardful of the niceties
of the toilet Neither is a man who has poetic
impulses which crop out in enthusiasts and
finds delight in all charming sights and sounds
Gradgrind leatherheads in the world who are
ready to decry the existence of anything 70,
mantle and sentimental in mans nature as
incompatible with force. For my part |
would prefer a man of this type, on the same
principle that would choose Geneva watch
with a musical attachment rather than a
Waterbury,"
But that" said my friend, lis negative
,+nfi # Tlt,1p I eI-n1
the definition of peach | should never gain
The knowledge required by your telling me
mat peach was neither a stepladder, buck
wheat cake, an oil stove nor fire alarm"
THE TWO KINDS.
II will try and give you the dudes picture
as it is photographed freshly OF my mind,
said |, "fcr rode down town with the origi-
nal Of all the dudes this morning He has
more bangs than forehead His head is
propped up with a stiff collar as a clothes line
is kept from dragging by a pole Should
you suddenly burst upon him with the an
nouncemcnt, Sir, your legs are on fror he
could not look down to witness his own con
fagration. He wears a shoulder cape and
says little That stiff collar nterferes with
thoracic play. But even without the collar
he would be unable to materialize a thought,
on the principle that one can't make bricks
without clay
when the impulse steals over you, like a
sad, sad dream, to hatten a newspaper and
bang him as one does fly, you are prevented
by the thought that perhaps God meant him
for man. 1t is the only time the suggestion
occurs to YOU. Look at him through old Tit
bottoms magic glance and you will see his
similitude in hollow tube, with nothing but
air passing through it. ldealess, purposeless,
useless as a handle without trunk to attach
it to or al key without lock, his type is on the
increase and his specific is a secret with the
immortal gods. Strollng through the streets
not so long ago, | stopped for moment at
the still smoking ruins of fire where man
lost his life III the discharge of his duty. What
WAS it that made the fireman hero and my
Car companion dude9 Simply the presence
of force in the one and the lack of it in the
other. 1t was something more than a mere
animal disregard of creature discomforts or
stoical indifference to danger that made the
one court death in discharge Of a duty, the
thought of which would have sent the other
into Mysteries
There was a something within the brawny
breast Of the fireman that was left out in the
make up Of the dude, and made as much dis
tinction in the resultant man as spice makes
in broth or temper in steel Firemen are no
doubt quite Indifferent dancers, not ready
with French or up in Browning, but | tell
you when the wild alarm sounds, when the
horses spring to their places and the thunder
of the engine wheels crashes through the
streets, when little children and helpless
women are to be saved from death and borne
70 places Of safety, does not that something
in the heroic fremans make up thrill us to a