The Topeka state journal., 1897-02-20
THE COMING WOMAN.

that she preferred to receive him in the
evening in the nat 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 ma&4ng cup Of
tea for her own use
The tea table was an inviting one. The
little kettle purred ooztly. 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:
1.-THE popularity of the teakettle and the
chadng 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
out of her kitchen by a French chef will
still cling to the privilege of using her
chatting dish, and in her case it is beauti-
full and significant that it should be 80,
but He hesitated moment.
''WellP'' asked she politely.
81 don't see what, from that point Of
view, you are doing with teakettle You
have abjured all that it stands for. You
have found something better than the do
mestic 1ife.''
He endeavored to speak with that phil
osophic calm which should iInpart the fla
vor of imPersonality to what he said, but
there was bitterness in his tone
"That is nonsense, responded the wom-
an of genius Grossly, for her work had not
gone well that day. "Tea tables are pop
chatting dishes because men like substan-
tial nOurishment. I certainly have not alb
jured food. Personally 1 adore domestic
life, and 1 like it 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 beea use it is the only form,
but because it is the sweetest of an-''
'Those are very pretty views-very pret
ty," he remarked gloomily, ''but have
not observed that 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 thernP'' she de-
manded impatiently. "You wouldn't have
me marry the wrong man just to show
that my views upon the woman question
were conservative, would youP'
"That is an easy thing to say, but you
| know you will never find the right one.''
She looked at him--a curious, measured,
| wondering gaze There was scorn in 1t,
but was it all scornP ''No,'' she said slow
| ly, "I am not emancipated enough for
| that I 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 50 that he sprang to his
feet.
"Do you mean-would you really lis
tenF u
i
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 up the
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 un-
der his observation in which the husband
| of the genius had been dissatisfied with the
cooking of the beefsteak.
'tOh, books" said she, with an infinite
scorn. 'Haven' t you ever noticed that peo-
| pie write best about things of which they
know absolutely nothingP Do you really
mean to say that you have been Influenced
in this by books?''
He nodded silently. "And SO you
thought did not care and would not mar
ry you, dearP"
you think you We're rather hRsty, not to
say unl1ind, in adopting completely the
generalization that the artist rejects-love
and with it life?''
"But if you had heard yourself talking
of your vEorkI' he cried "You seemed tc
think art the one thing in the world Ev
cry word fell like clod on coffin
''Why should not speak of art with fer
| vorp I feel it all, and you had not Offered
me any career which I preferred. -
"Ah, but do you, will you, always pre-
fer itp 1t is not as if you were merely tai
ented, you know, to give up
"Give up2 But I intend to give up moth
ingl am afraid you are a little stupid.
would you mind explaining the situa
ton to meP" he asked humbly.
'fThat is very easy she said composed
ly. II simply don't intend to be unequa
to the combination of love and art.
The luminous bri1liancy of this solution
kept him silent, while she went on:
FtThoSe women you read about, yol
know, were under the disadvantage of no
being modern when they tried to do things
They were working against a tremendOu
though perhaps invisible pressure. Tn
world wasn't adjusted so as to help then
and make the solution of their problem
easy They felt that horrible weight-th
pressure of the disapprovel of the univers
and could not stand out against it, Blu
with us it is different The world is our
and the fullness thereof-at least that
what feel about it. One has a delicicusl.
buoyant sensation-the Lord is -on-our-
feeling-that is in itself a guarantee of sue
cess. Then, you know, we have bette
health and fewer nerves than women use
to have and that makes difference"
"But suppose he persisted, Just sup
pose that you were to fail What thena'
She puckered her brows judicially-
l Zone is willing to pay certain pric
! for the best things" she admitted slowly
[ elf the goods are delivered 1t is possibl
that happiness might not be very ba
+ bargain, even though paid for it wit