The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-09-08

WOMEN LACK HUMOR.
Elizabeth AkerS Thinks
That the Early Blossom
Is Nipped in the
Bud.
They IRE RESTRAINED And CONFINED.
Effect of Social Life on a Merry
School Girl-Witty Men at
Home.
They IRR RESTRAINED And CONFINED.

speaks of this sense as generally a mo-
nopoly of m~en-notably OF newspaper
men. While l admit that men laugh
and joke more than women do us a
class, l do not believe that they have
more natural wit or a quicker sense of
the ludicrous, The seriousness aad
gravity of most women are primarily
the result Of early ~snubbing; s~econdarily,
OF the lonely lives which most of them
live after marriage.
AS to the first cause:-I wonder If there
is a girl in the world with the least sense
of fun, the least love of rational laughter
and merriment, who does not continually
hear "What a rattlebrainl Is auythf nG
sacred from your tu~nmaking2" Or, How
can you find so much to laugh at? You
laugh just like a boy!" or, Il do believe
you'd see something funny in a funeralP'
or, worst of all, '.1Aose who laugh while
thew are young must ely when they are
oldl'
l never noticed any unusual gravity In
girl babies, or that they gurgle and laugh
less than boys. Indeed the two very
n4erriest, %joflfest, most rollicking babies
I ever knew were girls. But quite
possibly they grew up to be two
OF the ''slew" wives whom their huS-
bands flBd such dull company. The con-
fined aud restrained Lives which are laid
out for most girls are OF themselves sad
dening. An occasional walk, ball or
party, in all of which there is more or
less restraint. does not have the iDspirit-
ing, %enlivening effect o1 the everyday
freedom which the boy enjoys.
If q girl is borL III a poor family her
constant need of drudging indoors is
enough to kill her funmaking proclivi-
ties; If she Is born to money the artificial
tiles and formalities of her life soon
destroy all her s~pontaneity. The So
called "best society" which regards a
hearty laugh as @ vulgarity aud the
natural expression OF any emotion as q
sign of i'll breeding, cannot be supposed
a very hotbed for the propagation OF
original wit and humor; and it may
safely be said that if society women are
not famous for flashing wit and brilliant
repartee, neither are the rank and file OF
society men famous for the sparkle and
irresistibility of their original humor.
Spelling A GOOD THING.
My merriesI schoolmate q had boy
schoolmates, too) was q girl; not Simply
q laughing girl, laughing as all young
creatures rejoice until cured by time or
training, but a born humorist-witty
herself and the cause Of wit in others.
LII AC1 IIoRlAlA& RAC2ShSS SaS 1880 49,
grave awoke to vlvacity and iveliness
and the brilliant became dazzling. ]
nave known some men humoriSts, and
admired and appreciated them, but not
one of them was quicker to see u droll
possibility. mora ingenious in turning q
funny sentence, more inexhaustible WITH
wit than that girl whom nobody ever
heard of, excepting her scheolmates quot
six Of whom knew how to admire herr
and the grown up friends who were COL
tinually wet b~lanketing her.
Unfortunately hers was q rich family,
and she was early put into the crimplpg
and fiuting machlle of good breedlug"
and etiquette. trained for that sort OF
Society which looks on all originality
bad form, you knowv" Years after | met
her again. What was shef A machine
with the springs taken out. q bobolink
taught. to sing fashionable music; .
beautiful, ~lifeless creature to put ane
clothes gu, to take to the opera. TO be pos
| sibly betrayed into a well bred smile
The sni mebit and checkrein of society
had done their work,
POOH GIRLS HUMDRUM EXISTENCE.
And how is it with the poorer gifl? II
she lives at home she must manage and
contrive and help her oyeFWorked mother
the very labor OF living is depressing. II
she supports herself and others, her life /.
a fight; uer ONLY associates are girls as
| poor and dreadfully in earnest as herself;
| there is small chance for the cropping 0 II
of fun in a working girls hulndrum ex'
istenee. Ii she marries a poor man there
is the same old grind, with a ided respoa-
sibi1ities. p~reoccupying aud depressing.
For years she is either alone all uaY fol
six days out Of seven, or she has only the
compantonship of small children, who,
however merry they may b., dc
x@f nn1l III N ~, " n ~
{ of wit and rspartee. She may
have the wittiest husband in thi
world, but she gees him only IN the mora
ing, when he is huriytnR 10 get away Il
his work, or at night. when he coules
home tired d subdued by the work Of
the Gay-at neither OF which times Is
even a witty man apt to scinttllate to any
great extent. He nal be one of those
very newspaper men who are such goot
comrades III the office; If SO, he ha!
been for the most. OF the day, ever
though hard at work at his desk, in ar
| atmosphere of mental electricity, il one
may say SO; he has had the impetus ant
incentive which is so provocative o.
wit aud sprightly thought, the a~ttritior
Of klndred minds; quips, auirks, pins
bri2ht sayings and apt retorts have beer
passing under his eye and exploding IL
his ears all day, continually suggesting
others, n keeping him constantly oil
his metal, But even newspaper me arr
sometimes tired at night. ami it is doubt
fui if even the Yeriest clown Is very funny
in the bosom Of his family. Probably thu
wife OF a funny man hears less of his fur
than any other Of his acquaintances.
A very old book inquiries. ..How cal
one be warm aloneg" But it is easier tx
be warm alone than to be witty alone
Wit is eminently a social instinct; til,
funniest man mopes IL shut up alop,
where no one hears his fun. Aud it j
more than probable that his sense @
humor would suffer serious eclipse O
total extinction il for ten hours every da,
for a series of years he heard nothing fun
nier than the rattle of crpcGery. tire clat
ter of q carpet sweeper. the click 0
q sewing machine and the racket aid cry
ing OF chi1trep.-Elizabeth Akers IN tn
Trenton True american.
The KahIev Woman.
Notwithstanding many barbarous Gus
toms the Kabyle woman. not being, Xix,
the Arab woman, shut up in her home
going about with uncovered face. enjoy
ing besides a certain activity. comes Il
exercise aareai influence. 1t Is she wh,
| gives warriors 10 The stibe, Mut-f uit.
surrounds her with a halo. A jsWes oi