The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-01-29
uomEN's CRITICISM.
..,,s HENRI BROWNE ON IT'S AS
'uN' ssRTlvENEss.

c-iticism From oioso
a-bt. 1893. by the Author.l
Although it is generally admitted
,m,erican women have as sex
'ha' "a mich moro than men during
~ '''I last 50 years, the last 80 particular,
tDS . n are still great many average
~ I'm as there are average men, VINO
Ton'' themselves to comment and sa-
' 'lqp by their defects and foibles. Man.
. VIZ naturally moro sensitive TO the
Oeipe and faults Of women than to
". owu may take special pleasure In
40 INC on their every variation from
ln''I 'Soal Be this as it may. it is plain
Wv mopy women have degree OF as
. s an eccentric form OF oriti-
@ ,bot is not usually shared by men.
y u;s easy to find examples.
:, % education and self discipline
0onmoply inclined in making state
hu n , 10 use qualifying phrases, such as
1T think. ""It seems to me, I'm my
i,a;On ""As see it. ""In my appre-
S Cpns;On T" and the like. Women who
n ,a,n'to be educated and to be self discip-
y ,,~ed very frequently omit those phrases,
,'DS merely dogmatic, not because
.Ssy ara rude-they are as rule far more
aoS;tic than men-but because they get
psa;tod and the slightest opposition SO
, a them as to make them often
sD. .' the rules of courtesy. Not SO su.
.or;or women, high bred women. No
pue pretends that their manners are not
nat o thew should be. They who say,
"it 10 n"It is not ""You don't know"
ayou're mistaken. "I'm repeating
hat know" 81 am not to be contra
SiCted "You re right; you agree with
ma ""I am absolutely sure, II have
nositive proof" There's no mistake
.bout il. " are the average women. They
mpst be, though they would never con-
Toss IL The average woman has NOR
t.l dread of being thought so. conscious
AZ she must be of being naught else. All
women but the exceptional woman are
the average, fully 40 out of so, includ-
inc those who assume to be the better
sort.
A style of what many women. call
criticism likewise betrays the average
woman. 1t is heard continually. 1t is
excessive personality, exclusive gossip,
only that. Yet it goes, strangely enough,
nv the exalted name of criticism, which
is pure irony, however unconscious on
the part of those who employ it. 1t is
hard to understand without specimens.
which are constantly forthcoming when
ever and wherever two or three or more
women are assembled ut the close of
any performance, any presentation OF
art, any manifestation Of intellectual
sfort-reading, drama, lecture, litera-
ture, picture show, concert, opera, seri-
Gus exhibition of any kind. The COM
ments offered are all alike, resembling
those of a merely social occasion. One
ignorant of what was criticised" could
not distinguish between Greek poem
and an opera bouffe. metaphysical es-
say and a violin solo, comic song and
Beethoven symphony.
Thus the feminine talk runs after the
first night of new comedy, say, at the
Lyceum theater, the audience having
dispersed and bevy of women partak-
Ing Of ices at Sherry's:
That second scene in the third act
was very strong. Mary Mannering
spsyer"-
Several impatient interruptions. One
voice dominates the others and gets con-
troll. ibid you see that woman without
hat in the fifth row in the orchestra?
She wore purple gown. It fitted ad-
nirably. Who could have made it? She
wore beautiful lace. 1t was singularly
becoming. She"- ~
THE man just Behind her was much
- Interested in her plainly. He, stared. at
herall the time. Her escort should have
resented it, but he never noticed 1t. He
- must have been her husband. He was
very plain, and his clothes were old
fashioned. His coat was three years old.
and"- -taa
That young woman in tho middle
the dress circle, first row. was very
pretty. She seemed O stranger. Her eyes
were very bright. She was making them
% everybody. She must be desperate
soquette. She CAM be married, but
90 the prattle about clothes, men and
women continues until the little COM
pany withdraws; no further reference to
b tne play can be induced There may be
.iew who wish to speak of it, but per.
.onailties are so much more alluring
mat they engross the hour. All "criti-
osms" are Of piece. IS
ihe spring or autumn exhibition OF
.ae Academy of Design evaporates in
1ne same way. Pictures arc swallowed
up In gabblo. Somebody, feminine of
course names gifted painter who has
oone an excellent work. 1t is thought
snat she is about to give the secret Of
us power. But she mentions the cir
substance that he and his wife dis.
,greed and separated finally. Then fol.
= lows diatribe ON the disloyalty Of art.
: 'se generally and the folly that many
women are guilty Of concerning them.
a dozen or more scandals are re.
searsed IN . rather conventional man