The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-26
WOMAN 5 WORLD

Not long ago. says Dorothy Dix, in the
New orleans Picayune. I heard little
1s,anese fairy story that ran something
like this: once upon a time there was
roman. old and ugly, with face scanned
uf,b wrinkles, and a body bent and aged
nv the passing of the years, but notwith-
sanding all this she had set her foolish
heart in love, as many another woman
has done, upon a beautiful young prince.
4 Needless to say he passed her by, as she
H stood on the roadside, without so much as
second look, but by and by good fairy
came that way and seeing the woman's
grief. asked her why she wept. BE
4 cause" answered the woman, Il am old
! and ugly, and find no favor in the princes
4 eyes" The good fairy, touched al the
a vomans tears, told her Of magic foun-
4 tain wherein, if one bathed, the years
slpped from them like a discarded gar
q ment. and left them young and fair. The
woman hurried at once to the fountain
H and dipped in its water, and as the fairy
had said, she became young and beautiful.
h Not satisfied however, with what she had
At last she became a baby, and when the
prince passed by there was nothing but a
mewing infant, waing on the brink of
the fountain. Woman-like, she had over
done it.
II is said this is a very old story, but 1t
a strikes me as being very applicable to the
d woman of to-day. We seem, as a sex, to
j have always overdone things. and we are
4 sill overriding them now. We have many
q virtues but not the virtue of moderation.
g We know many things, but not how to
Il stop when we have gotten enough of a
4 thing. If We are Industrious we work our
d selves into such state of nervous pros
81 rauon it's a question IL it isn't cheaper
a in the long run, to be lazy and save the
# Doctors bill If we are neat we are such
monomaniacs on the subject of dirt, we
FL make people long for disorder and COM
81 fort If we care for clothes we get SC
our very brains are cut on the bias and
Ri rufied in the middle. 1t we go in for
II philanthropy, we encourage pauperism and
"a mendcants camp on our hall settles from
"a years end to years end. When we are
Ri good We are so overpoweringly and I'M
comfortably and self-rjghteously good we
Il make every one who knows us yearn for
n the society of cheerful and easy-going
E sinners. Somehow we seem 10 always be
III at one extreme or the other, without the
III ability to steer the safe middle course
b This tendency towards OVERRIDING every
"a thing explains in a homely way many
II things to which we assign much higher
E sounding reasons. For one thing we are
IA always talking about the faithlessness of
q men, the treachery Of friendship, the in
81 gratitude of children, and we never stop
III 10 think how often these misfortunes are
simply the result of too much love. We
have worn out affection by our too great
demands upon it, we have surfeited the
beloved one by a devotion that has simply
bored and made him tired of the strain
OF trying to live up to our ideal. If
should ever write a novel-which God for
bid shall not describe my melancholy
and fearful heroine as the victim of a per-
tidious friend who stole her husbands
love by means of insldious wles and per-
oxide hair dyes. Neither shall 1 describe
her as forlorn creature whose children
has repaid her devotion with blacklist
gratitude I shah devote all three volumes
TO giving a realistic study of how per-
tectly devoted wife and mother can smoth-
er the most robust affection by never end
ing attention, and Kill love with kindness
Perhaps this sounds a little brutal We
all have a theory that we can't have too
much of a good thing, and especially that
IN matters of the affection the thing can't
he over done. Perhaps there can't be too
great reserve supply to draw from, but
nothing else in the wide world needs to be
tempered with so much forbearance and
commensurate as love. And nothing else
is so unwise and so foolish. We laugh
at child who pgants a flower and pulls
It up every day to see if it is alive. we
nave proverb that the watched pot new
NGf afsas H.
never satisfied to trust any affection to
ITSELF. They watch it, and fuss over it,
and agonize with dread over it, until by
the very excess of their devotion they kill
Take the matter of friendship, for in
stance. Women's friendships are proven
blally short-lived. Why? Because they
are always oyerdone-too violent to last
and they demand too much There are
many of us who cherish as our unattain-
dole IDEAL friendship that would give us
eohgenial companionship but not be for
ever popping into our houses at all sea-
son of the day and night; that would
give us understanding and sympathy yet
ieSpect the reserve that kept us from
pouring into any other ear the secrets of
our family but we don't expect to realize
1t III TINS life. On the contrary, we know
very we'll if we have what is called "a
woman friend" she is going to expect US
70 As'en 10 details about her husband and
tlalrs we have no business to know, and
sne viii feel aggrieved if we fail to re-
'aHate in kind If she falls out with any
one we are bouhd TO take up her quar-
res or else she sulks. If she takes tick
Gus Tor series of concerts we have got
70 subscribe whether we can tell Wagner
ron the noise in a boiler factory or not.
sne buys foulard and sailor hat, we
nave got to get them, too, no matter how
unoecoming and unsuitable they may be-
IN the end, this kind of too intense
ltendship is bound to burn out Just as
surrey as flame in draft and yet we
Wonder why.
Paris letter in the Cincinnati En-
eliFer has the following about Easter
quits.
Gray cashmere is to be exceedingly
opular for handsome Easter suits and
oI very swell toilettes for spring Va
'Ious shades of gray, with gray capotes
suite, will be in high vogue. Some of