Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-31
ABOUT WOMEN.
A Delusfon Which Most Men Cherish
About the Opposite Sex.

About the Opposite Sex.
| From the st. Louis Globe Democrat.
There Is in one of the current magazines
| a clever little sketch, which is also para
| BILE, on the subject of the new woman.
1t represents a number Of women at a
luncheon. discussing between the different
! dishes the interests of their sex, and thus
presenting, in the form Of a lively and
good-natured colloQuy, the several aspects
of what may be called the latest situation
| in the scheme Of progress. The hostess
strikes the keynote and sets the various
tongues in motion by saying, with refer
ence to her choice of flowers, that her
! daughter has pronounced 1t tame and old
fashioned because it includes only carna-
tions and violets. whereas "the flower OF
the new woman is the orchid"
To this one of the ladies replies: AN
| orchid never seems to me flower at all
sort of cross between flower and but
terfly."
Then an elderly woman observes that in
her day women used to be compared TO
roses.
But" says a younger one, I'VE modern
women are orchids. I like that Next to
a mushroom an orchid has look CT mys-
terry, of being, perhaps, deadly and poison
Gus. Yes, we are orchids"
The new woman's opinion of herself IL
mic ely expressed in this botanical com.
parison. She likes to be considered won-
der, a menace. a something to fill the
minds of men with awe and alarm, and
to startle society from its habitual and
self-satisfed proprlety.
Then to Matrimony.
OF course, the talk easily drifts from
the orchid to matrimony. as talk is apt to
drift from anything to that familiar topic
where women are congregatcd. The cu-
rious fact is suggested that a bachelor
may declare, in joke or earnest. that he has
an inextinguishabfe desire for matrimony,
but a woman must not do such thing.
An explanation is quickly furnished. II
is simply because womans whole habit
Of thought and expression has 81 long been
regulated by very complicated and fn-
sincere formula, according to what appear.
ed proper and correct.
That is to say, woman has been denied
the right to declare in plain terms what
she has always made it her business to
tell by her actions. Men cherish the pleas.
ant belief that they select their wives, but
the wives know that 1t is an illusion. Gus.
tom requires the man to do the asking,
but behind this custom is a force of fem
mime cunning and ingenuity which puts
the question where the woman desires.
Any careful student Of the matter knows
that most of the matchmaking is done by
the sex that is supposed to be merely pas
sve in the case. The new woman is not
likely TO gain a new advantage in this re-
spect but she is likely to put the old man
on his guard against matrimony. and
remaining spinsters by reason OF their for
ward and intimidating methods.
Women Make the Choice.
vast quantity Of nonsense has been
written about the alleged helplessness OF
women in this most important of all the
transactions of life. The truth is that wo-
men choose their husbands much oftener
than men choose their wives, and the fire.
quent hlunders In that relation are by no
means generally attributable to masculine
stupidity and precpitancy. Many a wo-
man has been saved from an unlucky mar
riage by the failure of intrigues and con-
spiracies In which men had no part except
that of possible victims. There is nothing
else in the world, perhaps, about which the
majority of men have SO little sense as
that of getting married.
They never study the question with any
such care and thoroughness as they do or
binary material interests. AS a rule, they
make ventures of that kind in a headlong
fashion, from sudden impulse, or under the
brains. But women always know what
they are about In such proceedings, so far
as patient and resourceful pursuit of
given object is concerned. They marry in
haste sometimes. to be sure, but much Of
tener they reach that conclusion by q
course of prolonged strategy and inde-
fatigable Establishment. 1t Is a part Of
their nature to spread nets for prey Of
this description. and the most superficial
Of them are capable of effecting captures
that cannot be accounted for without con-
cedfnH their superiority over the parties
of the first part determining factors in
the connubial problem.