Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-03-21
woA1AN,s DISCRIMINATION.
A D1sagreeab1e Kind Of O Man Dem.
Onstrates His Theory.

D1sagreeab1e Kind of q Man DEM
Onstrates His Theory.
woman" remarked the disasreeable
kind OF a man In the midst OF group Of
ladies. lacks the discriminating quality"
Il object" interrupted a woman, whose
mind was strong. and she prided herself
on 1t.
tion," said the man, with an unmoved
manner
II object again." persisted the woman
Permit me-" continued the man. bow
ing for permission. Ito say that as COM
pared with man in respect Of that quality
she Is lacking"
''Um." shifted the woman, that's what
you men always say. I have been a close
observer, and my judgment leads me to
conclude that woman is not only more dis
eliminating than man, but that hers is a
much finer discrimination. Men in their
laundering way fail utterly in discerning
things which are as clear as day to the
inner discrimination of women. Women,
with their more delicate and nervous or
ganization. are far more impulsive than
men, and they discriminate and differen-
tate by intuition"
me man bowed again and turned appeal
ingiy to the half dozen other women In the
CROWD, but received no sympathy.
To-day" he said, slowly, Il was talking
to eight women, and told them a story O
sailor had just told me, their reception Of
which convinced me conclusively that the
point seek to maintain is correct"
Tell us the story" chorused the crowd.
1T is this said the man. 1.-THE sailor
told me he had returned only two days ago
from long voyage, and that while they
were in the Pacific they had picked up a
shipWrecked mariner on an island, many
leagues from land. whose case was the
most remarkable, not to say terrible. he
mad ever read or heard Of among all the
tragedies of the sea. The man had lived
q fc h,.f bod uf.a =,
SUFFICIENT to tell his dreadful story of suf-
fering. He had been cast on q small is
land where there was absolutely no food
supply and only one spring Of fresh water.
ana very little of that. He had saved moth
Ing from the wreck except knife in his
pocket and a pair OF speotacles He was
SO near-sighted he could not see without
glasses. There was some drift-wood along
the shore, and from this he made a fire,
using his Spectacles as sunglass. and set
ting in a blaze the shavings he cut from
the wood He kept the fire going in the
hope that it might attract the attention of
some passing vessel but mono came. and
at the end of three days he was suffering
the most exquisite torture from hunger.
Still no ship came, and the days went by
until at length he resolved to eat himself
All the women gave a concert of small
shrleks at this narration.
with this grim determination" con-
tinued the man. The sharpened his knife.
and having torn his shirt into strips, with
which to bind up his wounds, he cut on his
ieft hand half way between the elbow and
the wrist. This he cooked over his fire,
and BY careful economy he prolonged his
life: Still no snip came. but hunger did,
and ten times worse than before. Then he
cut or his right hand. This lasted him
several days longer and hunger came again,
and lived off it for five days. When he
was picked up he was on the point OF cut
ting off his right foot, but fortunately he
was saved from further self-demolition."
The story was SO horrible that the Wo
men fairly shuddered.
Dreadful: awful: sickening;" they cried
simultaneously. and all of them began
sympathizing with the terrible fate of this
poor shipwrecked sailor.
The disagreeable kind of man listened
to them with curious interest.
The other women to whom I told the
story" he said, solemnly, received it ex-
actly as you have done"
And why shouldn't they?" asked all the
women, as If any other reception would
have been reflection on their sex.
They might have Disseminated" sug-
gested the man almost timorously
1T is no time for discrimination, even If
there was anything to discriminate" as
serted the woman who had begun the dis
cussion 1T Is case calling for the SYM
pathy of all human kind
STILL, persisted the man, as he prepared
to depart "a little discrimination or dis
cernment, or something like that, might
nave prompted an inquiry to how the
poor wretch could have cut off his right
hand and his left foot, when his left hand
was the first to be cut Off. When the sailor
told me the story" continued the man. a
shade more hurriedly. Il told him ne was
liar. but have not yet heard any such
nation either from you or the other
women to whom l narrated the painful
episode"
Then the disagreeable kind of a man dis
appeared and the women took turns look
ing at each other and wondering wha, it
was all about, anyhow.