The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-10-12
CRAFTY
A DeIusion which Most Men Cherish
Ahauf the Fair Sex.

There is in one of the current maya
zines a clever little sketch. says the ST.
Louis s'Globe-Democrat," which is also
a parable on the subject of the new
woman. 1t represents a number of
women at luncheon discussing between
the different dishes the interests of their
sex. and thus presenting in the form a
lively and good natured colloquy, the
several aspects of which may be called
the latest situation in the scheme OF pro-
gress. The hostess strikes the keynote
and sets the various tongues IN motion
by saying, with reference to her choice
of flowers, that her daughter has pro-
nounced it tame and old fashioned, be-
cause it includes only carnations and
~violets, whereas, the flower of the new
woman is the orchid"
To this one of the ladies replies
can orchid never seems to me a flower
at ALA sort of cross between a flower
and a butterfly"
Then an elderly woman observes that
in her day women used to be compared
to roses.
But" said a younger one, 1--WE mod
ern women are orchids. 1 like that. Next
to a mushroom an orchid has a look of
mystery-of being. perhaps, deadly and
poisonous. Yes, we are orchids
The new woman's opinion of herself
is nicely expressed in this botanical COM
parison. She likes to be considered a
| wonder, a menace, a something to fill
the minds Of men with awe n alarm;
and to Startle society with its hab1tual
and self-satfsied propriety.
OF course the talk easily drifts from
the orchid to matrimony, as talk is apt
topic where women sare c-ongregated.
The curious fact is Suggested that a
bachelor may declare, in joke or earnest.
for matrimony, but a woman must not
do such a thing. An explanation is
quickly furnished. It is simply because
woman's whole habit of thought and
expression has SO long been regulated
by a very complicated and insecure for
mula, according to what appeared prop
ina is to say, woman has been denied
the right to declare in plain terms what
she has always made it her business
pleasant belief that they select their
wives, but the wives know that it is
an Illusion. Custom requires the man to
do the asking. but behind this custom is
a force of feminine cunning and inge-
nuity which puts the question where the
woman desires. Any careful student of
the matter knows that most of the
is supposed to be merely passive In the
case. The new woman is not likely to
gain a new advantage in this respect,
but she is likely to put the old mar on
his guard against matrinony, n great
ly multiply the chances of spinsters re-
naming spinsters by reason of their
forward and intimidating methods.
A vast quantity of nonsense has been
written about the alleged helplessness
of women in the most important of all
transactions of life. The truth is that
women choose their husbands much Of
tener than men choose their wives, and
the frequent blunders in their relation
are by no means generally attributed
to masculine stupidity and precipitancy
Many a woman has been saved from an
unlucky marriage by the failure of In
trigues and conspiracies in which men
had no part except that of possible VIC
tins. There is nothing else in the world
men have 81 little sense as that of get
ting married.
They never study the question with
any such care and th~oughtfulness as
they do ordinary material interests. AS
a rule they make ventures of this kind
in a headlong fashion, from sudden i'm
pulse or under the sort of pressure that
always know what they are about in
such proceedings, so far as patient and
resourceful pursuit of a given object is
concerned. They marry in haste, some
times, to be sure, but much oftener
they reach that conclusion by a course
of prolonged strategy and indefatigable
Establishment. 1t is a part of their ma
ture to spread nets for the prey of this
description, and the most superficial OF
them are capable of effecting captures
that cannot be accounted for without
conceding their superiority over the par
ties of the first part as determining fac
tors in the connubial problem.