Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-09-13
CAN MEN ARD WOMEN BE
FRIENDS.

wonder Wnetner platOnlC 1rlenuSnlpS-
platonic affection between men and
women--may not be now well within
the range of practical social politics.
| Of course, there be those who cry:
Human nature is the same all the
world over. No advance in religion,
in science, in fashion touches it or
! alters it. There it remains, n rock for
| ever; defying the changes that shatter,
the laws that secure its surroundings.
Human nature is the one Joy of the
pessimist as it is one of the joys of the
| Optimist. The one clutches it like a
bomb already to explode, exclaiming,
"Horrible human naturen The other
cherishes it as a JOY for ever, murmur-
ing, Beautiful human naturew And
no doubt, whether human nature be
horrible or beautiful, in certain re-
| spects it does remain the same always
| There are great emotions born in men
and women-lOve of country, love of
| love, dread of death-instinctiv emo
| tons which we may think we lack till
our trial time comes, till circumstance
lays the whip across our souls, and the
human nature we thought dead, or
never in us, suddenly responds like Il
willing horse. But circumstance,
''time and the hour, can and do change
races very considerably, and what may be
difficult for human nature to accom-
plish or endure in one age may not be
difficult for it in another. We believe
that platonic friendship between man
and woman is not only quite possible,
but exists, and never more happily and
successfully than at the present time.
For though human nature may be the
same all the world over, women have
changed very considerably of late years,
and the sort of change that has stolen
over them has fitted them to be more
receptive of friendship than they used
to be. There was a time when the
thoughts of the average woman were
entirely centred upon love, the love
that includes passion. Women used
to be far more sentimental than they
are now. They were dreamers when
they were not married, and their
dreams were of marriage. They sigh
ed for love, and now very often they do
lot sigh for love at all. There is many
4 clever, active, vigorous spinster work
ing busily and happily in our midst
who thinks much more of her Occupa-
ton than of possible husband, and
who is far more keen on getting more
work than on winning man to
work for her. No doubt many good
people will exclaim at this state
ment, and declare that we are dethrOn-
ing love, and sapping the foundation
of domesticity. Not at all. tbs beau
tiful to be a happy wife and mother,
but it is not unwomanly nor unworthy
to be intensely interested in other sides
of life than the domestic; and women
do exist-and we have met them-who
never look upon every or, indeed, any
man as a possible lover, but who would
like to look upon every nice man as a
possible friend. Love is beautiful, but
friendship is very beautiful too, and
modern working women are beginning
to find that out, and to "act accord
ing" Platonic friendship is, we do
not hesitate to say it, quite possible in
these days, whatever it may have been
t in the past, and it is the working wo-
man who has made it so possible. No
, one ought ever to be too busy for senti-
] ment We delight, frankly, in senti-
meut. But the busy working woman
: has no time for sentimeutalty, and SO
she can be a good friend to a man, and
t no can be a good friend to her, and
there need be no fear and trembling
upon either side. Sentimentality is as
ugly as sentiment is beautiful. The
one is a weed the other a flower. The
modern woman is grinding the
former under her heel, and so
, some alarmists cry out that she
is throwing away the latter to fade.
But if she can find no time for idle
dreams of young or old, and often quite
unworthy men, the woman up-to-date
, is beginning to awake to the beauty,
the charm, the comfort, the cosiness OF
! friendship. Friendship is the hob on
which you put your kettle when you
are tired and fguratively, desire a cup
of tea. All! how pleasant to hear the
water boill 1t is delightful for a
woman to have man friend. She can
consult him about her work, and two
notions of different seXes-are so much
better than one. She can mix his
frankly uttered views of life with hers,
and so increase her chance of taking a
proper standpoint, and regarding life
broadly, and without too much petty
regard for its minor and more irritating
details. She can rely, and, what is
perhaps more helpful to the mind and
the faculties, feel that she is relied
upon. To feel that she is relied upon
by a man has been the making of many
a woman. 1t gives her so much cour-
age. She can boldly discard the rather
ridiculous adjective "weak," SC
long misapplied, to the substantive
woman" in contradistinCtion to the
substantive man." for man is just
as weak in many ways. 1t is not
muscles that conquer modern life
among the classes for whom especially
we write, at all events. The mind, at
least, has its muscles as well as the
, body, and who will say that the mind
, muscles of men are more strongly
: traced than those of women. PlatOniC
-, friendship is the right of the working
, woman, and may surely be the luxury
,, of her idle neighbor. The tongue OF
scandal ought to be ashamed to wag
against it. Many women cannot
I, marry. Either they do not want to,
or they have not enough money, or q
thousand things prevent it and close
, the door against matrimony. Then
. let them have their work and theiI
, friendships. Men and women are all
beginning to toll together side by side,
why not shoulder to shoulder, mind,
heart and body? 1t is the SEN
tamentalist who, by scandalmongering,
has often striven to render
platonic friendships impossible. Well,
the sentimentalist may soon-will soon,
, we hope and believe-have had his and
. her day. Human nature may be the
= same all the world over, but who will