Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-09-05

a
made me wonder II the Advanced |
Woman, with all her much talked of
ability, would ever have the sweet |
and gentle ways Of that woman who
never thought of herself as Tad
vanced, y but who prided herself much
on her gentlenees and her duty to her
neighbor and her God.
USsELFIsHNEss uYREwARDED.
One long summer evening my friend
and were sitting in the library, and
she asked me il / had ever wondered
about her lonely life, and then she told
me the story Of 1t. The oldest OF large
family of children, she had to look out
for the rest Of the brothers and sisters,
and in her own youth she did not have
time to let anybody make love to her.
o, yes, there was some one. Always
that same somebody when one is the
Oldest daughter Of an English clergy
man-the curate. He told her his love
and he told her of his Willingness to
wait for her; but the years went on,
and just as one sister would grow old
enough to take her place the young one
more selfish than Miss Dorothy, would
follow her own inclinations and marry
the man OF her choice. At last the
time came when all were gone, and then
her father was such an old man. The
lover came and asked for his bride.
| She looked her father and refused to
leave him. Then her sweetheart grew
angry.
HE WAS ONLY MAN.
and he was tired of waiting Men have
not the virtue Of patience. That is
feminine. few years more and the
father was dead, and Dorothy, whose
| life had been given for others, was left
alone, and it seemed to her as il no.
body wanted her. Saddest of all, the
man whom she loved had been given the
living that had been her fathers, and
was coming there and bringing with
him a wife and child. Miss Dorothy
could not wait and see that. So she
came to this strange country. and now
she thinks that everybody has been very
kind, and that life is full and happy
one.
That night / picked up birthday
1 book, and opposite the date to which
belonged to her day, wrote the text
which had been in my mind as lis
tened to her story. ''He that loseth
his life shall save it" Why have /
written out all this? Because in this
queer, quaint town, people are living
honest, sweet lives, in wonderful con
trast to the miserable, empty ones that
are seen every day in the great caravan
series. | do not know what some of
those gentlemen would think if they
could hear wives discuss their hus-
bands, young girls overfamiliar with
men, and day in and day out meet
women who make dress their god
am tempted to think that, like the owe L
abundant supper, this same woman,
such as you and / meet every day
would be considered vulgar by them.
Is it not vulgar for woman to criti-
else her husband?
Is it not vulgar for young women to
be versatile only in slang?
Is it not vulgar for children to be
distinguished only for their bad man
ners?
And is it not vulgar for women to
think that fine clothes will cover all
imperfections of speech, or morality?
My friend, it is a vulgar world.
Vulgarity is the keynote of haste, and
haste rules to-day.
COMPLETENESS OF GENTLE LIVES.
But the hand of the clock will turn
just as certainly as the hours go by,
and some day men and women will
both realize that gentle, moral lives
are best for women; then they will be.
come conscious of the fact that they
can get the most out of life when they
live the lives Of gentlewomen. 1t is a
pretty old word. Prettier, l think,
than ''ladies. And it seems to me
that you and | would rather have our
daughters be that to day than any
thing else. Wouldn't your l would.
To be gentle and to be woman means
to be everything to those about you.
And to be a woman without being
gentle-well, do you like the typeP |
do not. I like manful men and wo-
manly women. But l do not like the
advanced woman. - Her speech and
her walk are alike strident. She has
lost all that is best in woman and
gained all that is worst in man. There
is really no place for her. She does
not care for a home. She is not a
builder of homes. And what will the
world do when homes are done away
with? Answer that question to BAB.