The Republican., 1894-02-15
WHAT is A MAN?

Some Women discuss the Attributes of
Hssssas the God and the Brute.
'Men" exclaimed the spinster. with
the uplifted sniff traditionally peculiar
to her ilk; what do you chits know
about men?"
Il have been engaged to one for two
years" the golden-haired art student
remarked with demure argumenta-
tive air.
CAS- if that didn't stulify any posi-
BILE knowledge you might otherwise
have gained of his character said the
spinster with another sniff. Listen,
my children, and will explain am,
as you can scarcely fail to perceive,
unengaging of countenance-no don't
nterrupt-angular of figure and plain
Of face. The typical society man must
inevitably give the women. or, rather,
the inexperienced girls of his set a
curously mistaken idea of his sex; to
their eyes man appears to be a crea-
ture absolutely incapable of thinking
of his own comfort when there is a wo-
man near him whose slightest caprice
he could by any effort or sacrifice graf
ify, creature dependent for the very,
breath of his nostrils upon the smiles
of some womaL-Bah."
80, but nobody is in tAe least i'm
posed upon by mere society manners"
spoke up the literary young woman
they are, as you say, conventional
cloak, but an entirely transparent one,
otherwise all of us, women as well as
men, would be rightly regarded as
hypocrites. Nobody, not even the
greenest bud, suppOses that man eX-
periences the surprising JOY his face
expresses on being permitted to pick
up her handkerchief. Don't you see
that if she did the belief would reflect
upon her as well as upon him? She
would realize that she must be an un
utterable ninny, both in reality and in
the opinion of the man who must as
sumo this slavish submission and
inanity of character in order to please
her. An ordinary, quick-witted woman
must perceive that all the men she
meets have not had their special char
acteristics washed out by the process
which produces society manners, as
ink spots are taken out by oXalic acid,
and that, however cautious and at
tentive man may be, his gallantry is
merely like the frescoeS on the walls
of a room, which have nothing to do
with the solidity and soundness of
their construction
"My dear girl broke in the young
matron of the group, 81 feel con-
strained to prevent you strewing mark
etable ideas which might be palmed
off on your editor broadcast in this
reckless way! Let me give you
pointer or two from mans point of
view. My husband says that men have
theories about women that would make
their hair stand on end if they knew
them, and that most men consider
their forced decorum in the presence
of ladies frightful nuisance. More
over he declares that women's hus.
bands are most unjustly compared by
their wives with the men known to
them only through their social vapidi-
ties. He usually, concludes his dia-
tribes by saying; Men are pretty much
of a muchness the world over Take
my word for it. my dear, | am not the
only brute and monster in the uni
verse;"
after all" said the golden-haired
art student gently, isn't this assump-
ton of character, which is perhaps
not quite fulfilled in reality, the high
est compliment man can pay wo-
man? You know how the lion in the
fable forgot his real nature and
crouched submissively before the
maiden whom he might have crushed
with "A tap of his paw; so men in the
presence of women leave behind them
their spirit of over reaching selfishness
and arrogance, and if they are not ex-
actly what they appear to be it is com
forting to reflect that they tacitly
acknowledge that they ought to be
better than they are, for that is the
first step toward improvement. If the
influence does nothing more than to
cause them to assume temporary
thoughtfulness for others and gentle
ness of manner it has accomplished
something not to be despised."
My dear" remarked the spinster,
with unwonted softness. Il hope that
young man is half good enough for
you
The golden-haireda art student blushed
and smiled. II don't think" she said,
softly, that he will ever suffer by
comparison with the men l may know
from a merely social standpoint. -
Philadelphia Press.