The Monitor., 1891-04-24

see most surrounded, most often upon
the floor. invited to the box seat of the
drag or the stern seat in the boat? Is it
the fair white statue of a girl who sell
dom opens her mouth and only family
stirs its classic lines in a smile? She
whose clear blue eyes seem as far away
and passionless as the sky, and whose
fingers rest upon yours as coldly and
lightly as the petals of wafer lily? Or
is it the gay, laughter loving, curly, pink
checked little thing whose fresh lips are
always parted to show teeth like the
grains upon an ear of white corn, and
whose rose tipped fingers close in CO.
quettish grasp upon those of her caya-
lier. while she half whispers some
drollery into his ear? Or is it the
gushing girl who taps her foot upon
the floor and cries: ''Oh, this music
makes me wild. If you don't ask
me to dance this very minute I'll go By
myself" or who exclaims in infantile
sincerity, "Oh, please let me sit on the
box seat and drive just a little tiny bit
of the way!'' or, perhaps: Let me light
your cigarette, do. | so love to get a
Whit of nice tobacco, and-wont you
tell? Mind, never, never, neverl Well,
do sometimes steal one out of my broth
er's room. and go away by myself and
smoke it," And then she allows herself
to be persuaded to take one now, and
smokes it with much aplomb and no i'll
results.
Now which of these is the most sue
cessful girl of our period? Which is the
one the men like the best?
asked three of the men Of my ac-
quaintance. The first namely replied,
"The one who is most like you," to
which l retorted:
s'Neither one is like me or ever was.
was brought up in the old fashioned
way-yinder my parents wing-and was
simply jenae file when they married
me-
The next man said: Il like them all; l
admire pretty girls Of all sorts and con-
ditions. and the one | am with at the
moment is the best one
The third expert replied: Il can only
answer you by confessing the theory |
have slowly built up out of my own ex-
perience. A man is not SO constituted
as to be satisfied with one woman; he
needs different companion at different
epochs of his life, or even in the differ
ent moods of each epoch. That is the
reason | have never married. How can
l tell that the calm, chilly and unap-
proachable woman who just now is my
delight would please me ten years hence?
Or if | sacrifice the present taste to the
4aII 1,at
sort of woman l shall prefer in ten
years? 1t is really most harassing
question"
II don't see how you can settle it ex-
cept by going to Utah." said |, sympa-
thetically.
True. have considered the subject
most seriously, but there are certain i'm
pediments. y man may have many OBJ
jects of admiration, but don't believe
he'd be very comfortable with more than
one wife. Both taste and reason, or
rather instinct, lead me always to be off
with the old love before am on with
the new, and l shudder at the thought
Of being permanently fettered to any of
the past objects of my fancy. l am al
ready tired of them, and if | could not
get away should soon lOathe the dear
creatures. Besides, I doubt if the stately
garden lily which just now is the flower
of my fancy grows in Utah. Her pure
white petals would shrink from the at
mospheTe"
Then you prefer an undemonstratiye
woman" exclaimed ], eagerly.
Il do to-day" was the reply.
Not satisfied with these researches l
pursued them further, until became a
perfect Sphynx, propounding my conun-
drum to all corners, and never finding
the Edipus who could solve it satisfac-
torily until, after consulting many men
and some women. and making my own
observations at all sorts of times and
places, | came to the conclusion that the
question Is too complicated to be settled
by yes or no, or, indeed, by any posi-
tive and dogmatic reply.
My cynical friends confession that at
different times he liked different styles
of women, and no one style satisfied him,
might be truthfully echoed by three-quar-
ters of his sex. As a general thing a
very young man setting out in life with
some sort of ideal in his mind, not gem
orally copied from his sisters, finds it
most nearly realized in the statuesque and
garden lily style of girl He does not know
much about her, for she says so little
and looks so little and does SO little
that she remains inscrutable, but his
fancy invests her with all sorts Of lofty
perfections of mind and heart, and if he
fails to rouse her sympathy or emotions
he meeEly concludes that he is so far be-
meath her level that she cannot descend
to his feelings.
This kind of Endymion fancy for the
moon does not generally terminate in
marriage, or, if it does, sad is Endymions
waking when he discovers that his god
dess is only moonshine and his wife is
cold, hard, narrow woman who does not
show emotion of any sort, simply be-
cause she does not feel any, and does not
even know her own deficiencies.
But instead of marrying, the lover
generally drifts off by slow degrees
into a warmer atmosphere. and seek
ing sympathy, falls in love with
an lrrepressible. whose heart is broken
into a thousand pieces because hia
dear, charming dog is dead or his
yacht was beaten, and who is perfectly
delighted, ''simply charmed" at the de-
vice of his new walking stick. If ho