The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1893-10-26
WHY ARE WOMEN AFRAID OF MIcEY
A Brief Discussion of a Subject Wherein
No Solution Is Offered.

Brief Discussion of a Subject Wherein
| No Solution Is offered.
AS woman, and / trust q brave
one, lover of animals and a student
of natural history, ask the vexed
question in ali seriousness, Why ere
women afraid of mice9 Why should
the sight q had almost written the
name) of a tiny, harmless, graceful
little creature strike terror into the
stcutest hearts that beat in feminine
breastsf Echo answers, "WhyY"
The fear of mice is hereditary
curse, an inherited weakness, fatal
foe which it is useless to combat,
foolish dread of which we ought to
feel heartily ashamed, and yet it is
real and formidable terror. 1t is
never assumed. 1t may be exagger-
ated by fit of Mysteries or sue
cession of piercing screams, but the
genuine peur faire fremir is there
all the same-and whyi
l remember once reading story
about a coterie of strong minded wo-
men who gave a series of lectures
upon female virtues. in an old coun-
try town assembly room. One of
their number was chosen to deliver
the lecture on valor and selected for
her subject the history of Joan
of Arc. But when the evening ar
rived and she was discoursing upon
the valor of her sex in general a
mouse ran across the platform, and
the lecturer and her strong minded
sisters jumped on to their chairs,
clutching their petticoats in a man
ner not altogether picturesque. But
maintain that the fear of mice has
nothing whatever to do with the lack
of real bravery, and that Joan of
Arc would probably have clutched
her petticoats in precisely the same
manner
A mouse in the chamber of Marat
would, l believe, have deferred Char
lotte Corday from her dread purpose,
and the tail of one popping oppor-
timely from the carving of Tuillia's
chariot would have prevented her
from driving over her fathers
corpse, and l could cite many in
stances in which mice might have
changed the history of the world.
Who can doubt that Cleopatra and
the other swarthy Egyptian beauties
held the sacred cat in special venera-
ton on account of the part he played
in Kidding them of their pet aver
sion9 Every one knows that if cat
has weakness it is for a plump,
well matured mouse, and puss has
perhaps for this reason earned the
affections because the gratitude of
our sex.
The story of a prisoner who was
cheered i'll captivity by a mouse is
familiar to us all-but the prisoner
was man. Equally familiar is the
fable of the grateful mouse which
gnawed the net, but again-the pris-
oner is said to have been a lion, not
lioness. believe there is mutual
antipathy between them.
Most women have experienced the
sensation. You are sitting alone
reading, playing, writing, painting
or working. Suddenly you instinct
lively feel a sensation Of horror of
some evil influence that is present,
but as yet unseen.
You lift your eyes. You behold,
gliding over the carpet toward you,
without noise, apparently without
the trouble of walking, mouse. It
stops; it fascinates you. You drop
your book, your music, your brush,
your needle, whatever it may be, but
you make no other sound. You feel
your blood freeze; and your limbs
slowly paralyze; your heart stops
beating; your breath ceases; a cold
chill creeps over you. In your i'm
agination you feel the soft touch of
an army of mice running races over
your face and hands and making
nests in your back hair You start
to your feet-and then-well, women
take these things so differently.
Are women afraid of mice simply
because it is born in them2 There is
no reason why we should be afraid
Of them, but the fact remains that
we are, and have long since resign
ed myself to the fact as an evil for
which there is no remedy.-London
Woman.
Conversation of ''Great" People.