The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-02-14

LIS hts Z LII
some charming things about the women
men marry and why hey marry them.
She makes it in the form of a CONVEX
sation between a matron who knows and
a young woman who inelines toward
emancipation. 1t is cleverlv done. and
one wishes it ma nave much weight.
MY dear she says. sit is women like
Cora who rule the word, and always
have, n always will rule it, because
they are the women who rule the men
1t makes me laugh when i see how
seriously the superiority mascuiine-mind-
fd woman takes herself. What is she?
A sort of hybrid. She is a failure as a
woman and can never hope for any real
success as a man. The very best she
can do will fall below the level of
Shakespeare or Washington, or any of
the really great men. while the feminine
woman has something that in its way
is just as powerful as the brains of the
biggest man-and that's her femininity.
And she has the sense to use her gift.
You studied philosophy to try and in
spire FOUR brother. But he could get
that from other men. What he wanted
was something men couldn't give him
sympathy. and gayety, and nice soft
lines and colors, and soothing voices,
ain oil unCIitlcdl dQIAlTdLttA, anu al tie
thousand and one little eheerfulnesses
that a man means when he talks of
home and love.
Core gives them to him, you see. and
he's so5rested and happy by the time the
next days work is reay for him. and
she has made him feel that he's such an
Important and delightful person, he is
ready to do battle with the entire uni
verse. just to prove that she was quite
right in her estimate
Oh said the younger woman, ST
never thought OF it in that way
NO. And lots of clever women don't,
more's the pity. Just you go to tea with
me this afternoon and I'll point out to
you the women who are married to the
best and most successful men of my ac-
&uaintance. and just you notice hat
(they are s~lim-ingered, bright-eyed,
] graceful creatures, whose movements
are soft and supple. whose clothes are
perfectly chosen and exquisitely worn.
f.They are not, as a rule. women with
much learning. though many of them
arc talented. but they are full of rich
lie and high spirits: they are cheerful:
warm-hearted and full of sympathy.
Above all, they are utterly feminine.
A4t0SC ZIG III LII llCu uldlIY"Llt
women who are mothers and make the
character of the new generation. They
are the women who form n control
society. n for whose benefit men con-
Gaer the world"
How did you know it?" said the
younger woman kindly.
Because I've worked myself. Worked
hard and faced the world, just like a
man. I know how a man feels. because
I've felt that way myself. When I used
to come home dead beat the one thing L
wanted was just cheerful nonsense, and
petting and physical comfort. l wanted
something quite different from what I'd
had all day. In those days / hated the
very sound Of a superior woman's voice,
ard if anyone Just mentioned philoso-
ply to me threw my bonnet at her
head"
And. besides" went on the other,
.eaga~isast helpless. You admit she does
her share of the work. She makes
john home beautiful and happy. She
inspires him to give out the best that is
in him in his effort to surround her with
beauty and luxury. If the truth was
known 1 suspect there are half a dozen
young men who adore her, too-in a per-
fectly respectful way; think she's the
very ideal of what a woman should be,
and let her influence them very strongly
in the direction of all that is good and
high-minded."
There is a perpiexing problem in the
minds of many good people nowadays.
1t is how shall we shake hands?'' AT
d mixed gathering of, say two dozen
people. it is quite Impossible that the
n O ooa mo N G ~ ~, -
stranger, and who, therefore, must go
through with a dozen ~introductions, win
seek a sequestered nook in the course of
an hour and there ponder sadly on the
ways of humankind. If it is a man who
starts to run the gauntlet in a straight
forward. honest style, he is baffled in
less time than he can count his tingling
fingers. He puts out a frank, warm
palm for the reception of a pink and
white feminine bit of flesh, but in an in
slant he finds his knuck1es clutched in a
frantic squeeze. his closed fist is waving
rnadly between him and his fair I'M
known's face. and-it is over.
Two minutes later, as he makes his
bow, he ~instinctively advances, but re-
treats again, only to find a limp, 4~listless
glcved thing lying helplessly across his
wrist and sliding gradually toward his
palm; he makes a valiant effort to seize
it, determines to bring it to life some
how, and spasmodically closes his fin
gers-upon his empty grasp. The third
time he faces a placid mother Of a gush-
ing daughter. and at this encounter he
succeeds in getting a hand-to-hand
meeting; but-he beginsSto shake up and
down, the surprised mamma paddles to
right and left; confusion mounts Grim
aonly to his brow, and the last state is
worse than the first.
And so it goes. until his miserable round
is finished. and he wishes in his sore,
sad heart that Misunderstanding had never
been invented. or at least tina one es-
pscial kind had been patented.
It is true enough that variety is the
spice OF life, but in a plain, common
sense clasping of two human hands
there is room for endless variations. For
instance. how easy it is to draw a friend
towards one in sign of hearty welcome;
how subtle a thing it is to push gently
outward as our bette noir threatens to
become ELUSIVE.
The heartiest hand-shake is not to
shake hands at all-paradoxical as it
may seem.
Men (who have had a monopoly in
such forms of saiutation during all the