Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-02-06
ATTRACTIVE WOMEN.
ARE THOSE OF STRONG MINDS Dis
ENCHANTING?

Although woman, both here and
abroad, has more mind and culture than
she has ever had, and although decided
ly intellectual women are continually
met in all circles of society, the average
man still cherishes prejudice against
her as whole He ought to know bet
ter, but he is very apt to think of her
as disagreeable, as entirely lacking in
personal charm. He is wont to figure her
as rawboned, very plain, i'll dressed,
shrill voiced, bad hammered, the type Of
the English bluestocking Of the last cen
tury. She il the reverse Of that, on this
side of the water at least, and could not
be externally recognized today as differ
ent from any pleasant, well bred wom-
an. She il not generally, as has been
supposed, ambitious Of speech, pedantic,
eager to shine, egotistic, mnnopolizing
She may be especially learned, gifted, a
professional author, and yet no man
would suspect it after long converse
tion with her. She is usually simple,
quiet, not in the least personal or pro
fessional. but she Is, for the most part,
Il
favorable impression even on a dull ma
ture.
Every intellectual woman is not at
tractive, of course (classes of women are
never attractive, any more than classes
Of mem, but she does not fail to be at
tractive by reason of her intellect. The
common notion has been, and continues
to be, that woman naturally agreeable
would be made disagreeable by pre-
ponderance of mind. though she would
be doubly agreeable by that addition.
Many men who regard an intellectu-
al woman as interesting, as an enter
tanning companion, as a delightful per
son to talk with or to meet occasional
ly, imagine her to be masculine, a sort
of good fellow, but in no sense lovable
Who, they ask, would think Of marrying
such woman? What a dreadful mis-
take itwould bel She would be 80 occu-
pied in reading an important work or
IN rejecting ON some momentous subject
recently suggested that she would for
get to look after breakfast or to give
orders for dinner. Her husband would
be constantly worried. He would be dis
appointed in what he had right to ex-
pect. Her children would ever be neg
lected and her entire household disor-
dered. A man who would take her for a
wife might look for perpetual discord
and would have only himself to blame,
for he might have known his doom be-
forehand. Even if she were lovable, fas-
cinating, no man should allow himself
to become enamored Of her. He should
avoid her az a sorceress who would
weave spell about him that he could
not break and that would eventually
undo him. But, happily, nature has
preserved him from such calamity by
not making the woman Of marked men
tality dangerous to the heart. She il too
intent on the abstract relations Of
things, on the problems cf the universe,
to concern herself with wooings and
weddings.
Such are the current opinions of the
mass of men concerning any woman who
does her own thinking, whose under
standing is literary storehouse and
depository of valuable facts She is as
much misrepresented in her ability to
please, to enkindle passion, to awaken
sympathy, as she is in personal appear
ance. She is no more devoid of charm
fulness than she is rawboned and shrill
voiced, as all acquainted with her ma
ture and influence are we'll aware. She
is not necessarily interesting because
she is intellectual, any more than she is
intellectual because interesting. To be
interesting she needs something besides
intellectually, and that is a certain de-
gree of genuine womanliness, for the alb.
sence Of which nothing can compensate.
Given that, with fine mind added,
she will draw almost any man capable
Of appreciating her under propitious cir
cumstances and frequently man who
would seem, from a #ntiful lack Of
culture, incapable Of appreciation.
Men are so continually falling in love
with women opulent of body and poor
Of brain that it is wholly just to infer
that brain has no effect in such falls
But these are mere passions mostly, an
ensnaring of the senses, a tumult in the
blood, which is soon allayed by marriage
and very little left to take its place.
Losing the heart is phrase in common
use, but the heart is not so much involv-
ed that it is not ready to lose itself again
and again as ardors cool and transports
abate without enduring any serious
harm. Men are not prone to such sud
den amatory -mbles where the woman
has mental distinction that outbalances
her physique They move more slowly,
but more surely Their spark does not
fash into blaze, but the flame that it
causes il steady and lasts. Mind and
culture hold men, keep them loyal and
true, feed the source of affection, pre-
serve its usually tranquil but not tran
sient joys.
These are not always tranquil, how
ever. Mind not infrequently inspires in
tense, instantaneous passion, but it
burns long, brightly, warmly, seldom
Pickering and finally going out. like the
passion born wholly of the senses. The
senses are conspicuous and inseparable
from any love not purely platonic, but
permanent love requires something
more-a liberal infusion of intellect to
prevent safety and weariness from
what at first was purely impure passion.
The kind Of men biased against a
woma of mental power and attainments
believe, strangely enough, that she is,
as a rule, single; that very few of their
sex, as they say Of themselves, have the
courage to wed her and would bitterly
repent Of it If they should. They are
persuaded that she il an antimatri-
monialist on principle, and that she EN-
ploys whatever influence she may have
to hinder persons from falling into the
connubial trap They actually think,
many Of them, that intellectual pursuits
are so entirely foreign to feminine in
stincts, aims and desires that they ex-
tinguish her affectionateness, eradicate
all sexual affinity, making her hard as
flint, as cold as ice.
They may be acquainted with num-
Der of wives who are so thoughtful and
learned as to be included in the category
they deprecate, but they never surmise
it. This shows how indisposed those
dreadfully erudite creatures are to adj
vertise their erndition or give any inti-
nation thereof to the undiscerning
many. Such women are to be found ev-