The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-15

! OF her nature. She either hardens and
| becomes cold. defiant. bitter and mar
| row. or she withers and languishes like
/ spring flowers i'm an east wind. Perhaps
| she does not know her own need. Per-
/ haps she SCOTS at love and declares her
| self strong enough TO live without II
and says. as did famous literary
| woman:
Il am OF the oak oaky and do not
understand women who are of the vine
/ viEey and must have something to cling
/ to-"
And yet this woman chung to her
| kindred and her adopted child with
| really noble devotion. Sometimes
| loveless woman cherishes a dog, bird,
| a cat, and bestows upon the little brute
| a wealth of love enough To enrich
| monarch: sometimes she buys the love
| of a companion or of a servant; some
| times she becomes a philanthropist and
| distributes her unused affection over
] whole armies of orphans and phaIanxes
| Of widows; sometimes If she is Of GER
| tain temperament she becomes "a re-
| ligious'' and joins a sisterhood devoting
| their lives to good works and their
| hearts 10 God In that case she tells
| herself that she needs earthly outlet
/ for her affections; that her entire nature
| Is turned into the channel OF adoring
| love for the Divine Being. and she prob
ably feels that she thus secures a high
( er place in his affections than her more
mundane sisters can hope to hold.
| 1t is a heroic choice a noble life, but
| who can doubt that il must hold mo-
ments Of chill disappointment, of with
ering insufficiency, of terrible despair?
In this world human creatures live in
bodies. They are surrounded by earthly
needs and cares and sympathies, and to
/ deny or to starve all these is to defeat
| the very purpose of our being. a NOR
| tai woman needs mortal love, and she
will seek it in one form or another. If she
| is liberty. surely housing pig
| con seeks her dovecote or a perishing
deer seeks the water.
| I do not say that this all powerful
| thirst applies always entirely to the
| love Of man and woman naturally ter
| minating in marriage A woman cares
! for the love OF her own sex, for the love
| Of her employees, for the love or her
| friends, her circle, her society, be 1t
| large or a small body. Men say women
] have passion for admiration, an appe-
| tte for flattery, thirst for applause
| True. true enough But all these crav-
| ings are but forms of the great craving
| for love which lies at the root of all One
who loves does admire, does flatter, does
| applaud These are some of the almost
| invariabIe signs and signals of love. and
| the instinct Of the woman leads her 10
seek these signs and signals, although
| her reason whispers that they are false
| lights, were igni fatui poorly counter
| feiting the real sun and moon of her eX-
| istence and very likely to lead her into
| dark and dismal bog whence she issues
mired and torn and weary
| 1t is not well to accept these shams,
| even though bitterly tell ourselves
| that since we cannot have the real thing
| we will take what at least resembles IL
| If a person cannot have diamonds, she
| had better not try to persuade herSelt
or the world that rhinestones are just
| as good although she may choose 10
| wear them: but, just there are women
| who will glitter. though it be in rhine
stones, so there are women and PROP
! ably the majority of the sex, who Will
| have that ornament more precious than
| diamonds-that crown of love which
| proclaims its wearer a queen Indeed,
| and If il be but a pinchbeck and tinsel
| crown she will wear it all the same
although her own aching heart cry In
! cessantly:
at is no crown. l am no queen. My
| kingdom has gone from me, and l am
| desolate."
Well. to come back rather tardily to
| our muttOns-to the discussion of wom-
ans helplessness in her relations with
| the other sex.
She hates to do or say anything 70
| forfeit her position i'm any mans esti-
| nation OF course she does not expect
| or wish her broker. her lawyer her pas
| tor or her political antagonist, or her
| intellectual opponent to be ''in love"
/ with her i'm the ordinary meaning of the
| phrase. but she does want. probably I'M
| consciously to herself. that he should
| feel attracted 10 her: that he should
| like. admire. speak kindly, perhaps ten
| derby of her TO other persons; that he
| should be sorry 20 see her go and glad
| to have her come again. All this nat
| ural and instructive desire underlies her
| whole conversation and conduct weak
| ems the strength of her opposition TO
| what her intuitiOns warn her is false OF
| dangerous. softens her phraseology and
| not very infrequently prompts her to
| say in the end;
Very well. you know best. | will do
| what you say" when the indignant
! common sense at the back of her mind
| is clamoring:
That's nonsense. 1t isn't at all as
| you say, I shall lose my money or my
| case, or my success if l do thus and
| SOL
Every woman knows that though she
| be wise as Minerva, pure as Diana, re-
| gal as Juno, or even beautiful as We
| nus, if she wearies a man, if she claims
| the time and attention he wants to be-
| stow upon his business, his pleasure, or
| more especially upon himself, he ceases
| TO wish Cor her presence-in fact, he
| grows tired of her-and in the end feels
| her to be a bore and avoids her l
| suppose most women would rather die
| than to know they were thus regarded
| by any number perhaps any one, of
| the men Of their acquaintance, and If
| they feel themselves IN proximity 10
| any such position they will hastily sac
! rifice any theory. any scheme or any
| advantage and withdraw from the posi-
ton their reason bids them hold with
| tenacity.
And here, of course, is the point I
| have intended to make. The woman's
need of love, of liking or of approval
| from man is terrible element of weak
ness in her nature. She is her own enc
my. She is made helpless by her own
| best and sweetest characteristic The
motto of her career is, after all, no
more than this, although the motto
must he expanded to its very widest and
most general limits:
"All for love, and the world well
| lostr MRS. FRANK LESLIE.
No Panic There.
The FlatwOOds section has given to
Rome more pushing and progressive ele-
ments than any other section of north
4 rxyb no Cily