The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-08-20
MODERN XANTIPPES.
With Which Home and
Society Could Easily Dispense.

natured, than to live with the best
one who was cross"
This was extreme, but any one who
has ever endured the society of an
irritable companion for many days
will feel a sympathy with eve this
strong statement. Such a companion
is a species of torture.
1t sometimes seems as though al
most every duty were more forcibly
impressed upon the young than the
duty of amiability. In many quar-
ters this virtue is absolutely at a dis
advantage. The ones are likely
to get a reputation for greater ability
than the pleasant ones. sFools," we
| are told, ARE always aniable."
We plead for a reform, and SO
pleads everybody who happened to
be in a certain house in an inland
town, where a handsome and fashion
able young woman was stopping with
an aunt who had every claim upon
her tenderest consideration.
Are you going out to the cliff?"the
young would demand of her
aunt.
Il don't know yet" the aunt would
respond, YEARLY.
ooh dear, l wish you could ever
make up your mindIp the niece would
fret.
But l must wait and see how I feel
after my dinner the invalid aunt
would protest.
IF it wasn't that it would be some
thing else" the niece would exclaim,
petulantly. You're always waiting,
always undecided. | get so sick OF
it!'
The aunt bore her young charges
Tor SUPPLEMENTARY vagaries almost
too sweetly; but the hateful little
bicker and impudence of the latter
were uncomfortable to the outside lis
teners, before whom she took no pains
to control herself. Yet this young
girl was a member of the church. She
would not have lifted her hand
against her aunt. yet she gave her
daily worse insults than q physical
blow.
THE blow a glove gives is but weak.
Does the mark yet discolor my cheek?
But when the heart suffers q blow
VIII the pain pass as soon, do you known
1t is to women that the poets are
always giving praise for their ami
ability. 1t was a woman to whom
belonged those
Sweet lips whereon perpstually did reign
The summer calm Of golden charity
But it is doubtful whether women are
really so equable as men. Xantippe
and poor Rips wife are types of a
very large class.
1t is reasonable to expect that
women should be less ainiable than
men. Emerson says, "All healthy
things are sweet-tempered.n 1t is
only within a few years that women
have begun, as a class, to take pro-
per care of their health. Even now
they are not expert in the art, and
more than half our women are semi
invalids. A woman's mode of dress.
her diet, her indoor and monotonous
life, have all been against her. Women
are more conscientious than men.
They ought to have more principle
about keeping a pleasant face on; but
when the whole system is
ajar from insufficient nourishment
and close air, an angel could not al
ways keep her temper. 1t was only
she who felt SO pretty and so pleased
all day. who could not take the
trouble to be cross" When one is
baffled and thwarted all day, cross
ness becomes a luxury that most
women are too prone to indulge in.
But oh! how it spoils and degrades
family lifel
''See a word. how it severefhl
oh, power of life and death
In the tongue. as the Preacher saithi'
We may not all of us be able to Gull
tivate the highest virtues-constancy,
generosity, magnanimity-but we can
all keep a civil tongue for those
A,, -, oaJ .0,,R ~ - x1o11oa% ~
preston if we try. Availability has
been pooh-poohed at too long. 1t is
the source of more comfort and pleas
ure in any home in which it is prac-
tised than many a more Wanted
virtue.
1.-THE music that can deepest reach
And cure all ills is cordial speech."
BY all means let us have more of it
in our homes. -HG7pe7'S BGzGg.
Good Advice.
when l was a child" writes a lady
who is noted for her placidity of dis
position and her capacity of endu-
rance, II had a VIGOROUSLY hot tenn
per. As soon as my mother saw one
of the fits coming on she used to say
gently, Perhaps you had better u
away a little while, dear Then l
would take my sled or my little gar
den hoe, according to the season, dash
out of doors, and stay there until the
evil spirit had passed by.
I'VE kept up that little habit, my
mother and /. | entered the young
ladies' seminary of our town, and
there | worked very hard, but. unlike
many of the girls, l did not break
down. Whenever my mother noticed
that my forehead was beginning to
tie itself up in a knot over my books
she would say;-Run away for an
hour, daughter. The sunshine is very
bright, and | want you to 60 out and
soak yourself in it,
"Of course / didn't always want to
go, but mother could be firm as we'll
as indulgent, and the result was that
| did a great deal of running away,
either to bed or into the open air.
The other girls kept themselves awake
on coffee in order to study late at
night, and some of them did outstrip
me in book knowledge. Still, / came
to believe SO fully in my mothers pre-
scription that | made it one of my
rules of life, and / am consequently
one OF the people who have
Lived to fight another day."
Some Exquisite Fabrics.
HNs 80