The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1897-07-29
THE COMING WOMAN.

He dropped in at her studio late in the
afternoon, although he was quite aware
that she preferred to receive him in the
evening in the fat which she shared with
her sister artist.
She was alone and tired Her sitter
she was a portrait painter-had just gone,
and she was in the act of making cup Of
tea for her own use.
The tea table was an inviting one. The
little kettle purred cozily She handled
the tea ball gracefully with pretty and ex-
pressive hands. He sat on the edge of his
chair and stared at her miserably over the
top of his teacup. When he broke his mo-
rose silence it was to remark, with rude
didacticism:
"The popularity of the teakettle and the
chatting dish in good society seems to me
a graceful recognition by women of the
charm that housewifely cares still have for
them. The kitchen is SO attractive that
even the drawing room cannot dispense
with its graces. A woman who is barred
nut of her kitchen by French chef will
still cling to the privilege of using her
chatting dish, and in her case III is beauti-
full and significant that it should be so,
butt He hesitated moment
"Well?" asked she politely.
view, you are doing with teakettle. You
have abjured all that it stands for. You
have found something better than the do
nestle life. I"
He endeavored to speak with that phil
3sophic calm which should inpart the fla
vor of impersonality to what he said but
there was bitterness in his tone.
'tThat is nonsense, - responded the wom-
An of genius Grossly, for her work had not
ular because women need stimulus and
chatting dishes because men like substan-
tial nourishment. certainly have not alb;
jured food. Personally I adore domestic
life, and ] like 1T all the more from the
fact that it is not the only career open to
me. In general it adds the element of
grace to the life and of graciousness to the
woman when she takes up that form of
existence, not because it Is the only form,
but because it is the sweetest of all. -
''Those are very pretty views-very prce-
ty," he remarked gloomily, tbut I have
not observed chat you practiced them. 1t
isn't of any particular avail for salvation
to assent with ones intellect to any ortho-
dox doctrine while ones actions are still
hereto. You have refused the things that
are the best of all. !"
"Who said had refused them?'' she de-
manded impatiently. sYou wouldn' t have
AhO OAc hTOHS JuSb W SHOW
that my views upon the woman question
were conservative, would your
"That is an easy thing to say, but you
know you will never find the right one.''
She looked at nina curious, measured
wondering gaze. There was scorn in it,
but was it all scorn? "No," she said slow
ly, 81 am not emancipated enough for
that intend to let him find me, even
though we play at hide and seek together
all our days" 1t was rather difficult for
this man to admit an important idea off
hand into his mind, but something in her
voice stirred him SO that he sprang to his
feet.
"Do you mean-would you really lis
tenn r.
1t was half an hour later before it oc-
CURED to him that all this was violating
precedent.
"Do you suppose you can be happy"
he implored, and then he brought OF t<fe
subject of the books in which the married
woman of genius had always been misera-
BILE. He refrained, however, from speaking
of those households which had fallen I'M
der his observation in which the husband
of the genius had been dissatisfied with the
cooking of the beefsteak.
"Oh, books said she, with an infinite
scorn. Haven't you ever noticed that peo-
pie write best about things of which they
know absolutely nothing? Do you really
mean to say that you have been influenced
in this by books?''
He nodded silently. ''And SO yoy
thought did not care and would not mar
ry you, dear?''
81 thought SO. Yes"
An adorable smile bent her lips. "Don t
you think you were rather hasty, not to
say unkind, in adopting completely the
generalization that the artist rejects-love
and with it 1ife?''
"But if you had heard yourself talking
of your work." he cried. "You seemed to
think art the one thing in the world. Ev-
cry word fell like a clod on a coffin.
"Why should not speak of art with fer
vora feel it all, and you had not offered
me any career which preferred.
"Ah, but do you, will you, always pre-
fer it? 1t is not as If you were merely tai
ented, you know, to give up
''Give up? But intend to give up moth
ingi am afraid you are a little sts,pid.
Would you mind explaining the sitsra-
ton to me?' he asked humbly.
''That Is very easy" she said composed
~. st simply don't intend to be unequal
to the combination of love and art 4"
The luminous brilliancy of this solution
kept him silent, while she went on:
"Those women you read about, you
know, were under the disadvantage of not
being modern when they tried to do things.
They were working against tremendous
though perhaps invisible pressure. The
world wasn't adjusted So as to help them
and make the solution of their problems
easy. They felt that horrible weight-the
pressure of the disapproHa al of the universe
and could not stand out against it. But
with US it is different. The world Is ours
and the fullness thereof-at least that Is
what feel about it. Gle has a deliciously
buoyant sensation-the Lord -on our side
feeling-that is in itself a guarantee of sue
cess. Then, you know, we have better
health and fewer nerves than women used
to have, and that makes difference.
''But suppose, he persisted, "just sup
pose that you were to fail. What then?'
She puckered her brows judicially.
zone is willing to pay certain price
for the best things she admitted slowly,
ftif the goods are delivered. 1t is possible
that happiness might not be very bad
bargain, even though paid for 1t with
art
"Ah, darlingp' he began, but she went
on. .sBut I shall not have to do it. I shall
have my cake and eat it too"
He looked at her with an expression OF
admiration which almost hid his funda-
mental skepticism.
"You are, he said, with sudden illu,
mination, something more advanced than
modern. You are she of whom We have
heard-the coming woman
She looked down at the pink palm which
he had held fast in his own through all
her self possessed eloquence, and suddenly
wave OF color rose and swept across her
face.
"Ah, nor' she said softly. But he heard
her. whether / succeed in combining
love and art or not, it seems to me have
arri
Fats and Foods.