Delaware gazette and state journal., 1896-05-21


say. Through sin, but what arc YOU
going to do? Are you going TO make
all |omankind over again? How are
YOU going to keep discomfort, that
great weapon OF tho devil, from getting
inyo the hearts of the girl children,
p9rsuading them away from their
9omos to where they can meet the
Shopman, though too oftcn it is a shop
woman, ready to buy them. bodies and
4 souls, with few gold trinkets. or
few years Of lazy, luxurious life? Once
woman begina to think about those
| things, she is an evil woman already;
| the devil has got her and il will only
DO short while before on her checks,
in her eyes and through her lips will
his dominion over her be- visible. y
She had talked with great rapidity,
and now sho eagerly drank some more
| tea. | noticed that her hand trombled,
| though her eyes flashed as ii she were
| determined to speak as Ble wished,
aud speak until she said all that she
wished.
You wonder, you women who sit
at home and are dainty, and feminine,
and loving. why women such as | am,
or such us | was, attract your hus-
bands, your brothers and your sons. l
will tell you how il is. We never cease
try ing to please them. 1t looks like
unselflshness, but it is the very ex-
treme of real selfishness, for it is all
acting. Then, with us, men are not
always on their guard, and you demand
from them always what you call re-
epect. They grow tired Of wearing
the straight jacket of propriety. II
you want to keep any man you love,
you have to consider him, and think
that the woman who doesn't love a
man, can always make him love her
better than II she were fool enough to
care for him. When she cares for him
she is jealous OF him. That annoys
him. Then, she wants to control him,
and that makes him long to get away
from her. Then she contradicts him.
And that causes him to fly from her.
1t Ia true our empire is not a very long
one II is true, we cater to men, and
they give us of the money that they earn
so hardly, but they seldom fight for us
and they are never loyal to us. Now,
as am. / begin to wonder whether it
wouldn't have been better policy to
have been good woman, and yet, l
know tomorrow, il | had my beauty
and my youth back, | should return to
man say that women, like butterflies,
have no souls.
II wonder if il is true. | almost be-
lieve it is. certainly hope it is, for
seem to know the sort of punishment
that will be given to me IL | am to
endure a hereafter The hair skirt,
the lack of all but course food, having
to work and work until my body aches
and aches That would be my purga-
tory"
/, even /. who arm seldom startled,
looked at this woman with amazement
She had talked on as il she we're ad-
dressing something or somebody stand
ing beside me, and | had no answer
for her. | knew she had said great
deal that was true, but that il was
true made it none tho less dreadful to
hear. | knew that she was to-day's
representative of the woman in tho
Bible; but, unlike that one of the
olden days. she seemed hard of heart
and strong of intellect. She realized
her kind, and she did not forgive
them. Sho rose, and with grace that
seemed odd, as | looked at her rags,
she bowed good ye. refusing to listen
to any offers of help, refusing pto see
the money that was held out Cd her,
and going her own way. For she had
always chosen her own way. Where
did it lead hcrY
The morning paper told. She was
described as having been picked up by
a policeman, No. 555. from the river,
and he wasn't certain whether she fell
or threw herself in.
The newspapers had column about
it. They told of her short day of glory
they told of the men who were her
lovera, and they ended with very
poetical quotation, semi religious and |
untrue. And l? l didn't
think OF anything poetical concerning
her life-story. thought only this: If |
/ had girl-child who longed for
luxury, who longed for wonderful Jew
els, who longed 70 have nothing to do,
| would show her something of life | |
would take her far over on the East |
Side and let her sec what the women, |
she thought beautiful, came to be;
how dirty, and ragged, and miserable |
and sick they were; how the hospital |
and charity funeral wore as certainly |
the end of each story as that beauty |
and discomfort was tho beginning. / |
would take her TO the morgue and let |
story was told in her face, and then, il |
that girl-chid were still discontented,
i would push her out into tine world |
which she longed for and let her find
out exactly what it meant. To me,
there seems nothing so horrible as tho |
life Of the wicked Magdalene, Faustina,
or Jenny, call her whatever you will, |
according to her century and her coun-
try, for it is life absolutely without
love.
A LIFE FULL OF GREED, FULL OF ENVY.
Possibly, as this woman said, life
that satisfies some women, but only for
a while. 1t makes me sick at heart |
when | think that this woman's words
were true--that it is from Gods own
the army of vice are drawn. There is
no CONSUMPTION needed, they come only
too gladly. Who is going to straighten
all thisY You and may possibly feed
them when they are hungry, offer the
helping hand when they are sick, but
those are the days when, unconsciously,
they say "Too late. "
Who is going to stop all this in the
very beginningY Vice reigns in re-
public as well as in a monarchy. The
socialists may down kings, but they can
not kill wickedness. especially this
that comes from women,
and which means the death of faith
and hope in the hearts of 30 many men.
said few moments ago what
would do if had girl-child whdw was
My friend, said that.
Now, know | did not tell the truth.
| would protect her from every vice as
!ong as | could, and | would teach her
what real love meant when [ found