The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-09-27

Nowhere outside of an old-fashioned
romance is there spot in the world
where the incapable woman can today
maintain a foothold. In the leisurely
three-volume novel, dear TO our grand
parents, Arabella and Arminta-gentle,
pallid, tinid, submissive creatures-fal-
tered and gasped and tainted grace
fully in their chairs at the slightest ex-
cuse for such behavior To swoon with
ease was regarded as a proof of ele-
gance and as a distinctive line marking
the difference between the milkmaid and
the lady born and bred. Possibly the
tight lacing then in vogue aided the
lady in her ability to perform this part
of her role to the satisfaction of the
spectators, who were usually within the
fragile being, whose delicate nerves
were proof against neither terrors by
night nor shocks by day
Frankly, we doubt whether the old
novelists were quite fair in their por-
traiture Of the current life of their
times. We find jeanne Deans able to
undertake a long, difficult and every
way arduous journey, reaching its end
as fresh and hearty and full Of pur-
pose and courage as at the beginning,
her beauty not marred by hardship and
loss Of rest. Mary, queen of Scots, was
able to sit for hours in the saddle, no
cavalier of her period riding harder or
faster or more bravely than the bold
and beautiful queen. The famous wo-
men who made the court of France
splendid during successive changes and
revolutions We're not frail, die-away
creatures Of ghostlike hues and willowy
outlines. They were substantial flesh
and blood women. equal to all the dan
gers and perilous adventures which
were often their portion.
Recalling the much harder conditions
of housekeeping Of the times Of our
grandmothers and of their mothers be-
fore them, we are impressed with the
fact that the women who surmounted
successfully so many obstacles must
have been made Of really tough fiber.
The modern appliances which give us
everything for our tables in highly con-
densed and beautiful forms, ready for
use, with the minimum Of preparation,
were then unknown. They pounded the
pepper and pulverized the sugar and
rolled the salt. So far from having
electric lights to command at the touch
of a mysterious knob, they had not even
lucifer matches. The fire had to be kept
in by strenuous care, and sometimes one
went to his neighbors to borrow hand
full Of fire with which to light her own.
Nothing was easy. Everything required
hard, persevering and unremitting labor.
so that we may we'll believe that the
women Of that elder day were far from
being incapable.
Once upon a time, too, there was in
the air a general impression that the
women of our southern states were a
languid, indolent set of people, seldom
aroused to effort, accustomed TO much
personal service and never expecting
nor expected to fare on anything less
dainty than the roses and lilies of life.
'They lie and are famed" would have
been the phrases used to describe them
by some Of that outer world beyond
the magnolia and the crepe myrtle, the
cotton bloom and the tasseled corn of
the beautiful and mysterious southern
land.
This impression has been demonstrated
over and over to have been entirely and
completely a mistake. Southern women
seldom had the opportunity to he spec
tally idle or luxurious. Their large
households developed in them a rare
talent for administration. They had to
care for a crowd Of grown UP children
in the persons of their servants-people
improvident and irresponsible, who de-
pended on the house mistress as a
mother and when the war was over and
times had changed for them our south
ern friends displayed of what stuff they
were made. Eminently capable, wher-
ever tried, they have shown that they
can take care Of themselves admirably.
Incapable women may for the brief
season of youth, while the seashell
color tints the round cheek and the
beaute de diable beams in the bright
eyes, win passing tribute from the
thoughtless men. But the women who
wear we'll must know how to meet
emergencies. how 70 order and to see
their orders obeyed, how to hold them
selves in calm composure, whatever
tempests are abroad. The incapable
woman was never so much an anach-
ronism as today.-Harper's Bazaar.