Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-04-21
A Woman's : IDEAL Man.


Now what : it that we women really do
expect Of aukiud: | will tell you We
have an unwritten theory that man j. a pc
cuIlar and eccentric animal. | say animal
advl,edly, because it j. on the side of his
senses that We expect him To dcvelop-and
that there are certain things Injurious to
himself and very di-agrreabic to US which
We must p"t np with N him because he :
Il man, aud therefore constituted that way.
We seem to think that there is some
mysterious element in The masculine con
>titutiun and bylaws which requires that
men should always be titillating their
-rn>es with cigar smoke or eyerlastingly
pouring something down their throats, or
stirring up their physical natures some
way know dainty, refined women whose
husbands haoitually smell as # they need
ed To be hung out 10 air.
| have attended public receptions where
the gentlemen periodically disappeared in
to the smoking room and returned To their
wives aud swctthtaTt, recking of tobacco
and frequently Of something stronger, and
have been received back, a. If they were a
boon al any price, and as if il were one 81
the awful and inscrutable DEGREES of Prov
idrnce tina, men should smell like that
Now this Is not natural to man-it is
abnormal. 1t is not even acquired taste
it is an acquired lack of taste an insult to
good breeding. and one which the women
who lead society, and regulate the canons
of etiquette can put stop to if they
choose Nor is this the most hopeless
phase of the subject. Somebody has said
that every man who smokes or drinks,
gives the devil a mortgage on his children E;
and this j. true not only in regard to the
heredity Of appetltes, but also iu regard to
the force of personal example.
II a,allS but little that we introduce
temperance Textbook. in our schools, tina.
We teach our boys that tobacco and alco-
Eol ruin the constitution, that profanity
Is sin against God and man, 50 long As
their fathers who stand 90 them for the
best type Of manhood, who are sO-callrd
respectable men. who have a hundred good
and generous qualities, 80 long as these
fathers smoke and drink and swear, the
mothers teaching Will continually be an
null,d by the force of the fathers ex
ample
There are good many good men in the
woild-thank God for that, Yet, in our
day, We lind that our churcn congregations
and memberships are largely composed of
women, that great proportion of the be
nevoent, religious and reformatory work
1 of the world is being done by women.
/ Women, as a class are good and vrtu-
1 Gus and proper because men want aud tx
4 ptct them to be. The worlds standard of
| womanhood j. lofty one, there is need
4 that the worlds standard of manhood
/ should be raised As high.
/ When the women of the world, the
! young women, the women of every day
/ life, refuse to marry or associate with
4 druDksrds ana lihertiues; when we refuse
\ to wed our pure daughters with impure
4 husbands; hen we confidently expect and
J demand that men shall be just as clean and
1 pure and true as they expect US to be
! when we follow Nehemiahs plan, and re-
| quire each man to build over against his
own house, then we shall begin to build
! for 4 purified society and "a Iegenerated
| earth.
| The most pressing and important work
which the women of our century have to
do is 1t seems to me, to help and inspire
men to be manly-not by intolerance, not
/ narrow bigotry, but by that generous and
confident belief in goodness which as con
| tidently inspires goodness in return.
The grandest, the noblest, the most
wholly admirable created being on earth,
is manly man. Created in the image
of God, he is the very type and symbol of
God the being who best helps US 20 under
| stand Godlikeness.
Would that the whole race of men might
realize the glory of their possibilities, and
| the inheritance of their manhood; and
would that the whole race of women could
be endowed with grace. and grit, and com.
mon sense enough to help them to enter
into that inheritance and possess it!
| MATTE BAKER Dunn.