The record-union., 1895-01-29
IDLE WOMEN.
How They Waste Their Time in
Improbable Gossip.
Beselenao Gets a Lecture on the
Subject Which Is Very Much
to the Point.

| Especial Correspondence of RECORD UNIoN.l
| PORTLAND (Or.), Jan. 26. -"If women
would devote less of their time to idleness
and gossip, and pay more attention to
the serious matters of life the world in
| general would be great deal better Off"
That's what man said to me the other
night, as he sat with his heels slightly
elevated and pulled away contentedly at
good cigar.
why, what do you mean?" said I in
astonishment, for this outburst was ap-
parently uncalled for.
Just what l say" responded the man
with energy. "I have been thinking the
matter over in my mind and I've about
come to the conclusion that women are
the cause of half the trouble and worries
in this world. Just place lot of women
with nothing to do in hotel or private
| boarding house, and what is the result? !?
Nothing bat an undercurrent of petty
| JeaIousles and discomfort from morning
| till night. In the first place, they are
| afraid to be very social, because each
| wants to be the leader in the small
narrowed world wherein they pass their
time; consequently there is a sort of
! strained relationship existing between
them.
They exchange calls to be sure; they
are the kind OF calls one reads
| about in the funny papers, where
| the visitor sits on the edge OF her chair
! and slowly but surely congeals under the
! freezing influence of her hostess, who
! stareS a great deal and makes her visitor
! ildgety and uneasy and sets her vaguely
wondering if her hair is all right or her
| bonnet straight, and oh, dear, did she
i hook her dress up the wrong way, and a
| thousand other little haunting demons
enter her brain. and the consequence is
| her conversation Wanders and becomes
| disconnected under the influence of that
| trigid stare, and she gladly seizes the
| first opportunity TO escape and fly to
some convenient refuge where she
| can gaze uninterrupteGly into some
! looking glass to try and discover what
I that horrd woman was staring at so, and
the hostess smiles in a Satisfied sort of
way when she Is alone and thinks what a
| stupid sort OF woman this visitor was to
/ be sure. SO nervous, so very distrait. so
entirely lacking III tone, and a woman
who lacks tone, thinks the late hostess, is
certainly not fitted TO be q social leader,
| so she has nothing to fear from her de-
parted guest.
But some excuse should be given, for
| there isn't one woman in ten thousand
who would feel perfectly at ease and COM
| Portable while she entertains thought
| that there is something wrong with her
| outward appearance. The native, inborn
vanity Of woman. which is inherent in
every daughter OF Mother Eve, rebels at
such thought, and were she to Ordi
! narIly possess that grace and tone which
| marked the cast OF We're de We're, she
would lose it all the moment the con-
| sciOusnesS of something wrong in her
! toilet took possession of her.
| Nv omen. with their OUick intUjtiVa
| perception, recognize a leader the mo-
| ment they see her. and it makes no mate
rial difference whether she associates
with them and assumes the lead which
| they all unconsciOusly to themselves
! yield her, or whether she holds aloof from
them, watching, with scornful smiles and
mocklng eyes, their petty, little maneu-
vers and feeble warfare.
This woman is hated on general prin-
! clpleS. She is hated for the tancied supe-
riOrity she holds over the rest of her sex
She is hated for her intellectual endow-
| mentS; her every action is criticised; the
very air she breathes is grudged her. 1t
reminds one of nothing so much as a pack
OF little, yelplng, snarling terriers trying
| to worry a mastitf, who could, if he SO
desired, crush them all with ono fell
| blow OF his huge paw. If Mrs. Dash ap-
| pears with SWelier gown than Mrs
! Blank, then the latter promptly allows
the insidiOus, little green-eyed monster,
| who turks III the breast Of every woman,
to gain possession OF her soul, and, once
| given over to its influence, the existence
| OF poor Mrs. Dash from that time on is
made miserable, for she cannot help but
! hear the inSinuating: inuendoes thrown
out about her.
IF she is a wise woman she will pay no
attention to the unkind remarks of her en-
vious nelghbors, but if she is one of those
| super-sensltIye women, who are found oc-
| caslonally, she will lay the gown aside
and thus call down upon her devoted
| head the scorn of her fellow boarders
It's small thing, you say, to quarrel
| about one wOman's dress. All, but it is
the small things which busy the heads
and tongues of these idle women. The
| big things of life are so far beyond the
reach OF even their thoughts that they
| know nothing at all about them. All day
| long they have nothing to do but dress
! themselves as many times a day as they
please, for in these places frequent change
| OF costume IS not an uncommon thing,
| go into the dining-room, where they
spend as much time in watching the ac-
tious and looks of their neigh bors as they
do at their meals, and when this duty is
over they have nothing on earth to do till
| the next meal time comes around; so it is
small wonder they fall into the habit of
running In and out of each others rooms
| carrying tales backward and forward un-
! til the whole house is in an uproar.
Il don't mean to say that women are
| more prone to gossip and scandal than
! men, but their activity must be given
|