The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-01-14

at the right moment that leads our way
ward tongues into disgrace.
We are supposed to do more talking
than men. Well, it is true a man does
not "iet down. his back hair, and wher
a woman does, and with another woman
to keep her company, she is readySto oper
the very windows of her soul and allow
every secret within to go Scot free.
Men understand this little failing Of
ours. 1 heard one say only the other day
that when his sweetheart went to spend
the night with another girl he resigned
himself to the fact that not one confidence
he had reposed in her would remain
sacred.
Things have come back to me that
have almost made my hair stand pompa-
dour! 1 don't uppose the dear little soul
meant to tell them, but somehow the
other girl got a grip on her-they always
do-and then it was all up with yours
truly"
But after all, human nature is human
nature. and when the dear masculine
thinks he is as silent as the grave, then ii
is that he had better not toss too many
stones our way.
He can talk, bless him, he can talk, and
like a breeze, and he does, too, if only to
tell another man how much coal his fur
mace burns or what's the size of his last
gas bill.
And if a man ever does grow confiden-
tial he let's himself go, scattering his Sc
crets about as recklessly as a woman scat
ters her hatpins. Sometimes he unbut-
tons his manly breast over a pipe-drawing
match; sometimes over a friendly bite and
a bottle of wine. He holds one immense
advantage over the foolish Eve-he is not
so apt to be betrayed.
In a way men seem bound to protect
one another There is a sort of guardian
angel business about masculine conf
dence. Occasionally a tattler in trousers
appears. With a certain class he is toler-
ated, but he is never countenamced by the
Adams at large.
News peddlers in petticoats, IN the con-
trary. are more or less in demand. We
may deny this, but the best of US, while
deprecating tale bearing, are on the qui
vive for a little well-spiced gossip. Any
thing for a variety, for a break in certain
monotonous social exchanges, exchanges
that bore US well nigh to DEATH
We have another pretty fair excuse. We
run a much wider gamut of feeling than
( any mar living. We are emotional. 1t is
thoroughly feminine to love, hate, worry,
rejoice, laugh, cry, sing. weep in almost
one and the same breath. We live in
cloudland today and tomorrow we. de-
scend into the gloomiest of earth's cor
pers.
With this excess of feeling to be worked
off we look about for an escape valve.
Sometimes we are in luck, oftener not.
There is a being of marvellous our
who silly slips into our confidential moods
and there she stays until she has heart
pictures inpressioristic enough to create
a sensation amongst the woman whom
she contracts to save from ennui.
ak. Of course we win talk, until
death seals our lips. We shall so on to
the end scattering broadcast our conf
dences, no matter how many warnings
are whispered in our ear. All. if talk we
must we need to choose wisely, to choose
well our confidant, or we shall nave now
always more troubles Of our own
than we can conveniently manage.
Our best friend may not be exempt
from suspicion" writes Josephine Hill in
the December "'Wo1nan's Home Com
panion.' discussing the injustice of Cir
curnstantiaT Evidence when, through
carelessness on the part of ourselves or
others, observation-disclosures, or a fatal CO.
incidence, some article of value or asso-
citation has become mysteriously missing.
Maybe it didn't amount to much-it is
usually the ~case-which serves greatly
to magnify the We know
exactly when, where and how we last
had it, the chain of evidence is complete,
and we are positive in our minds that our
convictions are just as well as correct.
Women are more given to hanging on
circumstantial evidence than men. It
may be owing to their intuitive powers,
which are supposed to be infinitely SUI
perior to those of the other sex: but
they form hasty conclusions, and adhere
to them with a pertinacity that neither
love nor friendship has power to change. |
And the amount of mistrust, ~uncharita- |
bleness-nay, positive venonn-which an
erroneous suspicion can generate in the
average woman is appalling. 1t requires
no special acumen to detect the foibles
and failings Of others, but to tolerate
them with a silent forbearance marks
tiAG II III 41oDlCN OlidI a1kO1- ! 10 L
ing when a friend, an equal, falls within
the pale of our unjust suspicion. But
what can be said of those unfortunate |
creatures whom the accident of birth has
placed beneath us in the social world, (
who are daily obliged to shoulder the re- |
of our belongings? Remem-
Der, a chance word against a servant, i
and the reputation of a whole life may
be ruined, for a stigma Of that kim
caves an odor which time itself can /
scarcely eradicate. Many a faithful heart !
has grieved itself to death under the
burden of a false accusation. Who steals
my purse steals trash but it is an affair
of more serious moment when the theft |
is the good name of a friend or acquaint- |
ance, or even that of a stranger"
Born with the Inherent desire Of COM
partnership with his kind, it is natural
and normal that man should both seek
and a it, says "Harper's Bazaar"
When a man begins to hun society, and
to show a desire to shut himself apart
from others, then he is departing from
the natural order of things, and shows
he is not in a healthy physical or
state. OF course the taste for So
varies greatly with many individu-
Some are shy and awkward in the
presence of others; but tina does not