The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-15
WOMAN'S
WORLD.

Any one who has the privilege of visit
ing in many houses, at such times as Inc
families are off dress parade and have on
their everyday manners as well as their
everyday clothes, must have been Impress
ed with the fact that the most dangerous
zoe that threatens the peace OF any home
is the argument. BY the side OF that
insidious and deadly enemy, says the New
Orleans Picayune. the things that we
have been accustomed to consider as the
greatest menace 20 domestic peace and
concord become as inocuous and harin-
less as an exploded bomb Drunkenness
and inideHty and extravaganza may cast
their blight on hundreds of homes, but
the argument is daily making millions Of
homes a good imitation of Dantes IN
ferno"
Like the poor, we have the argument
always with us. In the homes where 1t
is permitted to flourish one can always
be furnished at a moments notice Like
an orchid. it feeds on air, ana requires
nothing TO support it. Let one member
of a family make an assertion, and 1t Is
equivalent to throwing down the gage
of battle. Some one is sure to take 1t up
and free-for-an war of words ensues.
There is nothing upon which they will not
argue Politics, religion, books, the drama,
are of course always fruitful themes, but
the list can be indefinitely extended 10
take in everything under the sun.
The right of free speech in the family,
like the right of free speech in the gov
ernment. is one of the things that is adj
mirable in theory. but of doubtful virtue
in practice. OF course we can always de-
fend ourselves by saying that our argu-
ment is an intelligent interchange of
views but the truth is that there isn't
one time in a hundred THAI an argument,
no matter how sanely begun or how tenn
perate it was at the start, that doesn't
end in loss of temper, and more or less
bitter personalities. None are so stupid
as those who do not think just exactly
as we do and we are apt to clinch our
arguments by some reference to the men
tai status of our opponent that we are
sorry to remember half an hour later.
The most surprising thing about our
clinging to this prolific mother of strife
is that nobody ever accomplished anything
by it, or carried point, "A man con-
WINGED against his will rs Of the same
opinion still" says the old adase. Like
wise a woman. Only more so. Let her
have to martial all her resources to com
bat you in an argument, and you change
what was before merely an impression
into conviction she is ready to defend
with her life. The effect of this on home
life Is nothing less than disastrous. 1t
makes the hearthstone the scene of per-
petual wranges. the dining table a bloody
battle ground where every question is
fought out to a finish, and the nursery
place where the children quarrel and
fight over their games like little savages.
1t is not too much to say that family
jars and disagreements would be almost
impossible if the argument could be elm
mated from the daily life. Nor does this
refusal to discuss subjects upon which one
knows one differs from the other members
of family indicate any weakness. 1t is
merely the hight of that liberahty and
tolerance that grants to every other per-
son the same rights that one arroga ties
to themselves. Neither is II necessary to
preeipitate those perfectly unnecessary do
nestle arguments about household affairs
which every woman feels thai she under
stands better than her husband does.
Ninety-nine times out of a hundred she
could save the argument and get better
results if she did the thing first and
then discussed it afterwards. If she
hasn't the courage to do that. then the
least she can do in the interest Of peace
and harmony is TO accept his decision on
the subject without provoking any words
The woman who can barricade her house
against an argument. has fortified II
against foes from within and without.
Perhaps no woman was ever better rec
onciled to positive ugliness in her own
person than the Duchess Of Orleans, the
mother of the Regent D'Orleans who gov
erned France during the minority Of
nfif- he rrif Of bar
appearance and manners:
From my earliest years | was aware
how ordinary my appearance was and
did not like that people should lock at me
attentively. l never paid any attention
10 dress. because diamonds and dress
were sure to attract attention. on great
days my husband used to make me rogue.
which / did greatly against my will %
day | made Countess SCISSORS lauL.4
heartily. She asked me why l never turn
ed my head when ] passed a mirror-ev-
erybody Else did. l answered. Because
l have too much self-love to bear the
sight of my own Loneliness ! must have
been very homely in my youth. I had
no sort Of features with little twtching
eyes, a short. stub nose and long thick
lips. The whole of my physiognomy was
far from attractive.
my face was large. with fat cheeks
and my figure was short and stumpy; in
Except for the goodness of my disposition
no one would have endured me. 1t was
impossible to discover anything like in
telligence in my eyes. except with a mi
croscope Perhaps there was not on the
face of The earth such another pair OF
ugly hands as mine. The King often told
me so and set me laughing about it. for as
] was quite sure of being very ugly made
up my mind to be always the first TO
laugh at il. This succeeded very we'll.
though I must confess it furnished me
with a good stock of materials for laugh
ter.
zone thing that always surprised me
was how anybody could fan in love with
me. l was VIGOROUSLY the most homelv
woman In the French court and yet [ was
only 10 when ! was married. ! often ask
ed my husband whether my looks did not
repel him and what he saw in me that he
should fall in love with. To my questions
l have never received a satisfactory an
swer but it seems to me that other quail
tiles in lack Of beauty, caused his attract
ion."
Ellen Terry saws the New York Tirros