Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-29
MANS FATAL DEFECT.
In the Eyes Of . Woman 1t II the
One Thing Lacking.
From the PHILADELPHIA Presa

In the Eyes Of q Woman 1t il the
One Thing Lacking.
From the Philadelphia Press.
The papers are poking unmerciful fun at
one woman for having the courage Of her
convictions. An unprecedented opportuni-
ty to pay back the grudge Of ages was Of
fered by a London journal which invited
its lady readers" as they seem always to
call them on that side of the water, to air
their views as to which of mans sins comes
nearest to being objectionable. Naturally
enough. this called out an elegant derange-
ment Of epitaphs" from the fastidious fair
ones. who. judging by their answers. OBJ
ject less to moral DISAGREEMENT than to I'M
couth manners or uncut hair. One Of them.
however. held up as the final and fatal
shortcoming quality which she called
"inefectualness," and the race of rising
journalists has risen in body to ask,
What does that mean?" and to make mer-
ry over the eccentricity which Stands at
the gates and swallows saw mills" as the
little girl expressed 1t, and passing over all
known vices, sticks at one whose very name
Is a mystery to the critics
The critics are all lien. of course. If
they weren't they would understand In
trice what she meant. aid would know hers
to be the only genuine stumbling block
that poverty, stupidity, bad manners. per-
sonal uncomeliness or even untidiness seem
incapable Of suggesting an impedment to
the marriage Of true minds. Their possess
sors go gaily to the altar every day, nor
does the full fiedged villain apparently find
difficulty in persuading some member Of the
persuadable sex to share his shady for
tunes. Who ever heard of a bachelor GRIM
inal? He always has a wife and family to
plead for him. But "ineffec tualness!' where
is the woman who can forgive 1t? Its def
milton is difficult without resorting to slang.
In that vernacular. the Intellectual man is
the "chump,' another word whose mean
ing must be felt rather than explained.
What is a 'chump?" disdainfully asked
a severe relative Of an irrepressible school
girl, who had used the Objectionable word,
and who as quickly replied, why, n chump
is a-well, a person who doesn't get there!
What 81 Woman Dcspiscs.
This is the Intellectual man in n nutshell.
He cannot rise to the occasion, he doesn't
get there, he is a chump. and woman de-
spises him from the bottom of her discern
ing little heart. She asks but little here
below; often, indeed. she only wants the
merest masculine peg which to hang
her affections and ideals and feminine as
pirations; she does require that peg to stay
put in the wall, and let 1t wabble ever
so slightly come tumbling down from its
place not all the kings horses nor all the
kings men can put 1t back. She won't
have 1t! The man who misses the pro-
pitiOuS moment for a KISS the man who
seiZes that moment too soon the man who
is afraid to propose and the man whose
self-security leads him to prec;pitate mat
tiers. the man who cannot put bold face
on his lack OF business success and the
man whose prosperity makes him presum-
ing-One and ALL she scorns them as in
etfectual and passes by on the other side.
AS the astute banker in 1.-THE Henrietta"
ruefully remarks: "A woman never for
gives a man for not being there when she
Is about to fall. Success, or at least a
stimulation Of success, is what woman wor-
ships and while she may overlook failure
In the man she already loves she never
falls in love with 1t in the first place.
This is why woman, by no means ''un-
certain. coy and hard to please" looks
critically on two men and one is taken and
the other left. 1t Is not mere holiness; oh,
no! nor business prosperity nor common
sense that commends the former to her
favor. but that subtle. undefinable charac-
teristic partaking Of all these qualities yet
distinctively different. which we call sand.
Fair Ellen. before the stirring events of
her wedding night, probably thought one
man was as good as another, but when
young LOchinvar pranced In and at exactly
the right moment and in exactly the right
way claimed her Tor his own. while the in
enectual man. 1.-The poor, craven bridegroom
said never q word" what woman could hes
itate? She never does. She has no other
but a woman's reason, which she puts in
softened form to the disconsolate possessor
of all the virtues but the one thing needful:
Said she, I admire and respect you,
But my hearts choice is Barney McGeev I"