The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-10-09
The Sweet Woman.

q
woman. "Call me anything else but not
that, exclaimeth many girls, who fancy
| the term also implies weakness.
An English woman who has the pen of a
ready writer has recently defended the ad-
jective with spirit. We have Sweet peo-
| pie" of more kinds than one-many to
| whom their sweetness Is absolutely nat
ural, and many with whom it Is artificial
consciously and with intention elaborated
and created out of apparently unlikely ma
| terial, she says. And of these sweet people
some are lovely and some are not--some
help and sustain and some cloy and dis
| gust, For there is nothing in nature for
which we cannot find an analogy in hui
manity-humanity being, as it were the
| glorilled totally, the resung the compile
ton of every faculty alF every quality
dispersed about the lowcy .evels.
OF some people our first verdict is:
GLOW sweet What sweet person he isl
What sweet woman she isl" Certain re-
fined and gentle clergymen gain this cpl
thct, also some doctors who have musical
| voices and have cultivated the "bedside
| manner with success Also q fow-and
| here wa must confess only few-lawyers,
whose profession with all its scurvy revela-
tions has softened into a benevolent kind
of tolerance for folly and "a desire to assist.
not crush, those who have lost their way
In the jungle of wrongdoing. "Sweet" is
the first word that comes to our lips when
describing such as these-the sweetness of
that ripe fruit which serves for food, to
the full as well as meat.
Sweet, too, Is that tender magnanimity
of soul which is patient under small trials
and resigned to those of sharper sting and
larger volume Sweet is the peacemaker.
No, tu1. h. 4.
already smarting wound and widening the
already yawning gulf. Where he can bring
about a reconciliation he does, and 1t must
be indeed deluge of bitter waters wherein
he can find no olive leaf--a storm of ire
sistible violence which makes shipwreck of
his ark of peace Do we not all know him
or haply herp Serene, tender sympa-
| thetic, at rest in his own soul and only
| anxious to make others as content as him
self-to what point of goodly SAVIOR and
| wholesome sustenance are not such as
| these to be compared? Surely have they the
essential quality of all combined-guides,
helpers, friends and monitors as they arel
Sweet Is that dear woman whose head
and heart are so finely balanced-whoso
intellect is ever active and whose affections
and spirit Of self sacrifice never sleep.
| When times are hard, of all her family she
Is the one to carry the heaviest burdens.
| That weighty stick gals the shoulders Of
those who have to pass under it as their
| yoke, as all must in some degree, but it is
she who has the heaviest end 1t is she
who gives up her own will and pleasure
that Others may be free to enjoy, she who
nurses the sick that others may flourish i'm
the sunshine abroad, she who STAYS at
home that Others may go to the ball. She,
"a hn hrnn l., l.
unfriendly circumstances and She and she
alone, pays the reckoning while others 90
scot free. And all this time she gives up
her own desired pursuits-her painting
her brasswork, her wood carving, her lit
erature-and gains only in return the con-
seriousness of having done her duty and
Kept her white wings unstained. What
else can we call her but sweet? Loftier
epithets might express her nobleness. but
this alone comprises her goodness, her
moral loneliness, her spiritual grace and
beauty.
Like medlars which sweeten as they de-
cay, some old people who have been fiery
and untamed enough during their youth
tone down into sweetness as they grow
old. Their ardent strivings are stilled, and
their passions have burned themselves out
BY lifelong effort they have subdued that
old Adam by whom they were so long tor
mented, and the bitterness of their unripe-
ness has become by now the sweetness Of
their decadence. People such as these have
always certain vividness not belonging
to age in general. Behind and beneath
their sweetness Turk strains of the former
epoch and from the ashes, white and hoar
as they may be- sparks of the old fire can
yet be rekindled. For all that how sweet
kindly lips smile. The strong word leaps
forth as sword from the scabbard, but
the blade is pressed back ere it strikes, and
the scabbard is of velvet, finely wrought
and nobly adorned. There is the union of
strength and sweetness, knowledge and
generosity, high principle and tolerance,
which only such an old age rs this can
give. Youth cannot possess it. Maturity
Is coming to it, but has not yet arrived.
Only the subdued force Of what was once
untamablo fire and energy can compass it.
And where it is there have those who are
still in the seathing time of life their best
adviser and their safest refuge.
Sweet are those dear girls who under
stand the wholesome beauty of a home life
and do the duties this involves without
stint, complaint or self pity. To the ia
Their and mother they are as Gods angels,
lent them out of heaven for their solace
and delight. The delicate invalid owes the
continuance of her life to them, and they
repay in her time of failure the care she
lavished on them in theirs of helplessness
Nurses to the mother, companions to the
father, comrades and lovers with each
other, their hours filled to the brim with
work and duty and occupation, they yet
find time for friendship, for intellectual
culture, for art in many forms. What are
they but sweetY In the remote country
rectory or in the busy town they are equal
ly at home-equally content with their lot
In life, giving them, as it has done, love
and duty as the seraphs to open, not close,
the gates of the SOUL best paradise. -Phil-