, 1891-01-24

buL l. lOE one am lOt ready 10 grant
that this is the truth. Ihave seen, 1 have
known girls trained in the lap of luxury
and the vortex of fashionable life who
have learned to love so truly, 50 purely,
and 50 naturally that the artificial char
acter that seemed to be their only one
has utterly changed its complexion and
build, and the pupil of Love has gradua-
ted as a wife with brilliant success. Let
us look a little at the course of study.
Society teaches selfshness; the object
of each individual is to surpass a little
every other individual in the dearest OBJ
ject of ambition. With the men, this OBJ
ject is wealth, or political importance,
or some form of worldly ambition lead
ing to power and prominence. With the
women, it is social leadership, authority
in matters of dress, the reputation of
entertaining with splendor and success,
beauty, style, or fascinating manner
acquaintance with the mighty person
ages of the earth and all the minor de-
tails of their lives.
Now the attainment of the first place
in all these matters involves the pushing
somebody else back into the second
place, and if this is not selfshnes5 what
can Der
But Loves first lesson is unselfishnessi
His pupil must learn to put herself in
the background and consider what will
make another person happy or be to
his advantage; she must hold her own
plans and wishes in so light a grasp that
she can instantly reiineuish-them-and
take up another set originating in an
other will. She must learn to think very
lightly of her own ideas and convictions,
and accept with delight and admiration
those she has never dreamed of or has
looked upon as quite She
must learn to look upon her-own beauty,
grace and requirements rs only valuable
because somebody else values them, and
not in the least because they are her
own and add to her own importance.
Yes, Love teaches unselishness, and If
one takes the full course, and acquires
it thoroughly, as alasl few have strength
to do, he adds sincerity, tact, docihty,
silence under provocation. patience,
sweetness. energy, and untiring deter
mination to do and to be whatever will
make the beloved n happy, and a holy
hypocrisy in Disgusting all the disap-
pointments, self sacrifices and changes
of purpose involved in giving up one's
life to become the counterpart of an
other life.
But where a nature is strong enough.
and at the same time yielding enough
to take the whole course and learn every
lesson to the end, which is also the end
of life, that woman, be she a fashionable
girl or a country girl, will make a good
wife and become the delight and the joy
of her husband, although he probably
will never half appreciate her, for it is
N of the many contradictions of the
masculine nature that the more perfect
u woman is the less they admire and try
to please her. A perfect woman, or one
as nearly perfect as we ever find in this
world Of imperfection. must either be
satisfied with the approval of her own
sex, who do as a general thing appre-
ciate and admire her, or, if she remains
in Loves school and faithful to his guild
ance, he will keep her supplied with
rose colored glasses through which not
only the man she loves, but her own life
and the sacrifices she makes for him,
and his stolid acceptance of those sacri-
fees will all show in a soft radiance, a
lovely Claude Lorraine effect which can
transform the most stupid landscape,
the most commonplace surroundings into
a scene of ideal beauty.
Civilization does not materially change
the basis of human nature, and fashion
able life is Ifot half so powerful an agent
for good or bad rs questionable people
are apt to think. l have known a good
many men aud women on both sides of
the Atlantic who would no doubt be
marked as leaders of society-the typical
fashionable people, although, by the
way, society objects just now to the
term fashionable, and, especially in Lon
don, holds itself aloof from and far
above those TO whom it sets fashions in
its own arbitrary mode. But, however
you may style them, these are the people
who hold themselves at the head of the
social system in the great centers of
civilization, and, having studied them
a good deal and rather critically, 1 am
quite ready to aver that they are Just
men and ONE like the rest of us.
The lei like to fancy themselves
wiser than other men, and are most
charmed by those who most defer to
them they are suspicious in the wrong
place. and easily blinded and led by
the ONE who know how to do it;
they are highly polished on the surface,
and rather coarse and material under the
surface; in fact, they are like all other
men. And the women love to be ad-
mired for whatever charms they pride
themselves upon most highly, love to see
men turn from other women to them,
love to be attended to and sought out,
love to be loved. This is the basis of
feminine human nature, and whether it
is covered up by the silks and laces of a
fashionable woman, or Is hidden in the
folds of muslin and woalen, and the
pretty devices of a girls N'yn fingers and
happy inventions because she has no
money to buy those of other people, it is
always the who is underneath
and who, when thu man and the hou4
arrive, breaks forth fresh and radiant
as Galatea from her marble under Pyg-
nations touch.
Do you see the kernel of the whole
natter Do you know exactly how l
reply to the question you have asked me,
as to whether q fashionable life destroys
the capacity for true love?
say no, not if the original nature of
the fashionable girl is capable of love.
In such a one the power of love will
transform the nature, and from what
has seemed dead and cold, and bound in
an impenetrable husk of conventionality,
will evolve asweet and gracious growth,
rs the flower springs from the seed that
to ignorant eyes gave no promise of o n
tanning such a treasure.
But alas! some seeds are sterile; some
natures have no capacity for love; some
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