The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-21
FOR FEMININE READERS
A DISSERTATION CONCERNING PEO-
PIE OF LONELY LIVES.
Is the Feminine Dress Artistic .-COl-
lege-GOing for Girls Unfashion-
able-Odds and Ends.

1t is interesting to ponder, as we must
If once aroused to a realization OF such
lives Chose of the people who live alone).
which can better bear the tremendous
strain of being thus shut in with self, while
the moving thousands around only increase
the isolation, says a writer in the New
York Post.
There can be but little doubt that IL Is
easier for the woman to endure such con-
dition than for the man. She can so much
more easily minister TO herself, and is so
much more able to do small things which
diversity her life and tend toward comfort
and the maintenance of self-respect Her
garments need not be ragged unless she is
idle and reckless; her chamber need not
await the careless attention of the maid OF
all work; she is blessed with the power to
be interested in trifies. The child who passes
her window is not merely a child; ii Is some
mothers darling. and its little gown is pref
ty, and its curls are like those she remem-
bors as falling over her own childish shout
ders Tomorrow, if the same little figure
passes again, she will begin to weave
story about it's home and surroundings.
She beauties her barren shelter with tri-
fies, and is sure to have loved face or two
among her treasures to maintain a bond be-
tween her and the past If food is tasteless
elsewhere she can make fine use of an alco-
hol lamp and tin cup, and she can oftensr
venture to turn to memory for comfort than
can a man. The hand that can WELD
needle has endless resource, and she is less
Inundated if sickness at last forces her TO
succumb and ask for help.
A solitary man has few resources outside
his books and his pen: if lack of interest
leaves his room disordered and uninviting
he knows no remedy for the ill-done labor
of unskilled hands. Bitterness is too often
ingredient of his self-concentrated
thought and the petty discomforts which
daily thorns in the routine of our
existence need feminine patience. And If
defeat comes by reason of ill-health or UNI
successful effort it costs a. man ten-fold
the sorrow and pain TO acknowledge him
self incapable and unable longer to contend
with fate.
Though wholly outside of this sort of iso-
lation, which has caused the writer TO feel
that home and a voice of welcome-"an
eye that marks our coming and grows
brighter when we come"-are. even after
many happy years, not yet wholly compre-
hended blessings, there is also a loneliness
of which do not think as often and
helpfully as we might.
That every heart knoweth its own Bit
terness and the stranger intermeddleth not
Herewith" is a truth we all understand
only too well. but that he who sits beside
us every day may be veritably alone in
spirit If thousand miles separated him
from his kindred. we rarely realize.
We may not pry apart the closed. doors
which hide a sorrow we do not comprehend
nor rudely strive to uncover what a smile
conceals but that family life is wanting in
one of its most beautiful ministrations
which Is not capable of soothing such
troubled spirits without direct application
of loves balm to the hidden wound.
We are too slow to perceive. we are too
ready to blame what We call moodiness and
lack of sympathy with the general trend of
the home life. There are both young and
old men and women who sit at their own
bear as the solitary life OF the old gray
haired man in his lodging house
Especially to the mother and wife does it
apPertan to give forth that subtle sense
of unity and readiness to share all the
hearts experiences which cannot be put
into words. That woman is not the highest
exponent of home life who cannot convey
comfort without word question-God
alone knows the harm inopportune ques-
lions donor has she become true high
priestess at the family altar who cannot
aid TO burn the debris of unspoken griefs
by the fire Of her love and devotion.
The worlds wide field for tender ministry
seems already broad enough to occupy
every power of which we are possessed; We
almost regret to hear that in yet another
place called to lend a helping hand.
Such sad lives as those of which we spoke
at first we can but rarely reach. but it is
not we'll to forget the loneliness of those
about us.
Ii is easier to clothe the shivering and TO
teach the ignorant for what we can see
and grasp appeals most quickly. because of
the hope we have really TO relieve; yet II
puts us in a way to respond, IL sharpens
and invigorates our perceptions to keep in
mind those other needy ones whose bodies
are clothed and who are neither hungry
nor cold, and who yet are poorer than pow
erty's self and who are the strongest
claimants upon the sympathy of her who
is encircled by her children and her friends