Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-29
THE VANITY OF MEN.
A Woman Says They Exceed the WO-
men In That Quality.

From the New York Sun.
TITS all very well for you men to GO
talking about womans vanity" said a
young woman OF observation, but it has
been my experience to find that men are
just as vain as women. Indeed, l don't
know If should be guilty of a very great
DETECTION from the perpendicular of verac
ity If 1 were to say that men are more
vain than women. and that they have been
raising all this hue and cry about 'woman's
besetting sin so that they may escape
from too marked attention themselves.
That's a very old thief,s trick, you know.
Women do spend a great deal Of time
fixing themselves, / admit. 1 know I do,
for 1t. But when L find that this is the age
of the dedication of the body, under the
nimsy preaching of mems sana in corpore
sano, and that men require their women
folks to be well groomed from the toenails
to the tips of the hair, why, of course L
give In But IL all of this is vanity-and
L m sure that good deal of it is VeXation
of spirit-then you fellows are right in the
same boat with the rest Of us-there now.
For what, pray, is there in the grand
art of titivating which We do that you
don't do. You fellows are manicured and
pedcured and cuticured, and | don't know
what else. You battle every day, and quite
right, too, and take a Turkish. bath when
ever you feel like 1t. You give up time
either to shave yourselves or to be shaved,
and you rush away to the barber i'm
med1ately you see stragglnB- hair on
your neck. You have your mustachcs
curled, and Jack tells me that he knows of
one fellow who sleeps with his done up in
pads; you fiddle over your hair and Guilt
vate long locks, little curls, the slick or the
poetic, according to your temperament or
profession. You keep the run of new neck
wear, and read up everything that is said
about collars and cuffs. You raise the
OF tecf flICl hirtc 1p0' cat mt
ly right, and talk like a lot of female owls
about the proper cut for vest. You spend
hours picking out clothes, and carry sam
pies of the goods around to show your
friends. You get a fit of heart-sickness Il
your trousers are not properly creased ono
a week, and the exact shape of the toe,
of your shoes is serious matter.
But, you say. all this is simply follow
ing and keeping in with the fashions and
rules of health. Exactly, and that is what
we girls do. But it's all vanity, just so
many exhibitions of vanity. And IL you
want to corle down to a narrower defini-
ton and say that you mean pride of person
and personal appearance, / shall again say
that that's exactly what l meaN, and what
1t all means. It's part and parcel of the
same small feeling that leads men to make
believe they're looking at IT, lgs In the
store windows when they're r, lily stealing
a glimpse in the mirror at !. . back to see
how they look. Pray, what do people put
mirrors in the hat stands which are in
tended to hold mems things for If il was
not that they knew the fellows would
want to see If they had rumpled their dear
hair in taking off their hats? Why, you
men are always looking at yourselves and
preening yourselves like a lot of great
birds.
Just let me give you a case in point
La, night L went to dinner with q fellow
that really had been thinking quite de-
Gently about. / was doing my best to be
pleasant, and thought / was succeeding
admirably, for he was one perpetual smile
Surely, l thought, l must be vastly enter
tanning, when, all at once, / found out the
dreadful truth. He was holding one of the
polished plated knives in his hand, so, and
was grinning at the reflection OF himself
In 1t all the time. I'd like to know the wo-
man that could beat that as an exhibition
of vanity"