Birmingham state herald., 1896-01-05

treats woman the better she
 likes him. The same thing has been said of dog (are woman and dog co-ordinateO, but it is no more true of one than of the other. Of course mo- body could believe it of woman, and only a brute would say it. What is prob- ably meant by the assertion is that she is so devoted when she loves that she will often bear almost any kind of treat ment from a man rather than surrender her attachment. But this would sound sentimental, and so thorough man of the world, as every cynio conceives him. self to be, refuses to express it save in his own hard way. That ugliness should beget kindness or hate love is contra dictory, inconceivable, shockingly false. It betrays the grossest ignorance of hu- man nature which, under all normal conditions, returns good for good.
 The churlish, snarling ascription may be due to strange fact, often observed in woman, that she hardly appreciates excessive devotion in man, and frequent ly seems to resent it by indifference, if not by coldness. It may be only cer- puih hiilu Ol WOiudu WHO dCtS bO t1U IS idle to generalize about her, since she has endless variety), but there can scarcely be question as to the fact. Woman, being human, loves to be loved and prefers even more to love, though all loving implies, in the nature of things. degree of reciprocity. But does she enjoy receiving far more than she gives? Does she esteem what is called worship2 Is she fond of being surpassed in what is thought to be her own proper fieldP Surely appearances indicate just the contrary. Who has not seen women fairly idolized by men, regarded as if they were superior beings, placed on pinnacle to be looked up to and revered? And what sort of. return do they make for all this? Do they revere and idolize fin turn? So far from it, they appear to accept the extraordinary homage not merely as right, as a matter of course, but with something closely akin to scorn. If they were goddesses, presum- ing the impossible, they would be more gracious, more sensible of the hyperbolic honor. But as simple, generally com monplace creatures their vanity would seem to be lifted into the empyrean and they made to believe themselves worthy of more divinizing than they get.
 But is such seeming veraciousf The entire likelihood is that, in their opin- ion, they deserve no divinizing, or, if they do, not from the source whence it emanates. They might relish to the ut most the loftiest adnlation generally, as is thought to be the habit of their sex, but not particularly, not individually, at least not from him they consider their lover Why should they count him an exception1 Is it not the way of wom- en? Do they not always idealize their lovers, turning them into heroes, though they be the prosiest of prosy mortals? Their lovers courage is supreme, their intellect commanding, their judgment infallible, their influence irresistible, their charm omnipotent. But when they outidealize them, when tbedemigods con- vert them into demigoddesses and burn constant incense at their shrine, the un- idealizing process begins and continues fast. They see not the flaws merely, but the grave defects, and these are exag- gerated. The vast proportions of the i'm age they have created dwindle sudden ly and rapidly until life size has been reached, and that provokes the reverse of enthusiasm. Their lovers are no lon ger loved. Their passionate romance, the emotional derangement, has spent itself. They are placed at last face to face before the mortal that has been dis illusioned by the very fire and force of his enravishment. He has fallen from the zenith, to which the woman's love had exalted him, to the nadir where her disesteem has reduced him, all through the wildness of his ecstasy.
 To put it more directly, as a mans love grows beyond the average degree of insanity, woman's love-that is, the love of many women-appears to cool and diminish If hers mounts with his, sven to the point where the unadulter- ated element of fire was thought by the Rncients to inhere, it is well or ill with both. They>are levelly mad, levelly ir- responsible, mentally and morally. One cannot rave more than the other The chances for despisal are mutually shared. But they must keep abreast that is, he must not outstrip her in the erotio race. She may outstrip him she usually does, without deplorable result, without perceptible effect. Man. always a superlative egotist, is not harmed by the preponderance of woman's devotion over his. He is used to it; he expects it, however undeserving he may be. But when his preponderates over hers. and he discloses it unreservedly, he is losing his vantage ground; he is breed ing dissatisfaction for both. She hun gers for imitless love, but his for her must be somewhat within bounds, or discord will ensue. In other words. she craves worshipers generally, but any ono man who. among ftcircle of admir- CTS, individualizes himself as Der lover, attracting her as such, and then rises into worship. is apt to cancel his attrac- ttyeness by such rising. TbA amatory