The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-02-17

WORLD.

No doubt the greatest source of happi-
ness in this world. says Max o'Rell in the
New York Journal, is to be found in the
love and devotion of a man and a woman.
You may find it in every sphere Of life,
but more particularly in that little cot
tage covered with ivy, jasmin and honey
suckle which seldom attracts the atten-
ton of the passer-by. Happy the one
whose nest is hidden from the crowd.
Now. what will especially help a man
and woman to find happiness in love?
Many, many things will help, but most
especially the artistic temperament, that
temperament which can be cultivated and
developed. and which will cause the man
ana the woman to always look for the
beautiful. for the enjoyment Of the soul
and the heart at the same time as that
of the body.
Love is the poetry of the sense. It re-
veals its secrets and ecstacies only to
those who can so mingle their thoughts,
their hearts. their souls as to transform
TWO beings into one; only to people of re-
finement and of artistic disposition.
Nations are not better or worse than
others; they are different, that's all. The
French, for example. are neither more
moral nor more immoral than the English
or the Americans; they are different In
their morality, they are different in their
immortality, as they are in their tastes,
customs and habits. But what am per-
piest people on earth, simply because OF
their artistic temperament, which makes
them take all their pleasures in discreet
moderation, like epicures. and, by making
the companionship of man and woman
most pleasant and attractive, enables
them to enjoy love in all its beautiful full
ness.
But, some people will say, is not an ar
tistc temperament conducive to unfaith-
fulness? VIII not a man with an artistic
temperament, for instance, constantly
have artistic aspirations and constantly
fall in love with beauty? Not at all nee
essarily. If you will allow me to repeat
a saying that l have used In one of these
articles, a saying OF which l cannot say
1 am particularly proud, but the truth of
which l insist on, that woman is beau
tiful instrument and man a good or bad
instrumentalist. l will answer: No, not
al all necessarily. 1 am not aware that
Sarasate and Joachim require more than
one violin to give their marvellous per
formances on, and know that when Pad
erewski goes on tour he insists on always
playing on the same piano, which follows
him everywhere.
And. on this subject, another question
might be put: Should a woman prefer 10
marry man to whom woman is an enig-
ma? / know that most people who belong
to the retinue of Mrs. Grundy will at
once exclaim: Most decidedly, a woman
should expect to find the man as he ex-
poets to find her. And there goes again
the old saying: What is good for the
goose should be good for the gander
Well there is something in that; but
when consider that the whole happiness
OF married life may depend on the
start, / would fain reply: A woman
ought not TO care for such a man any
more than a Stradivarius should care to
be played upon by youngster who would
try on II his first attempt at a simple
scale in c major. Young girls at schoo,
are constantly reminded that they should
prepare 10 become good wives and good
mothers. What pity it is that boys are
never told that they might now ana then
think of preparing 10 become decent hus-
bands and tolerable fathers.
AS long as a woman is a good deal
more married to a man than he is to her,
It seems the hight of folly, says Dorothy
Dix In the New Orleans Picayune, that
custom should prevent her from having
a hand in picking him out AS it is.
she has to content herself with accepting
or declining what is offered her instead
N ont Y,fo
that suits and the thing that she really
wants. 1t is like sitting at banquet
where the waiter asks you If you will
have Goldfish or apple pie, while all the
time your appetite calls for terrapln, and
champagne, that you could have Just as
well as not If only etiquette permitted
you to get up and help yourself from the
viands on the table.
If ever the time comes when the ban
is removed and women are allowed to
pop the question on equal terms with
men, there is going to be a tremendous
boom in domestic felicity. You are go-
ing TO see more cOntented women, be-
cause there is going to be more women
with the kind of a husband they fancy,
instead of the kind that fate handed out
to them, like a druggist who says, This
isn't the genuine elixir of happiness, of
course. but it's just as good Moreover.
you are not going to see, as you do now,
the woods full of good, capable women,
just cut out for wives and mothers, but
whom men have overlooked. They will
take matters in their own hands and
qualify for the job of making a good
home for many a man who will be made
happy in spite of himself.
Naturally, the very idea of a woman
taking the initiative in lovemaking is
shocking to us. 1t is too new to us Yeti
but in reality, It Is only doing bluntly'
what every woman does more or less,
adroity, according to the subtlety with
which the good Lord has gifted her.
What is it that makes little Miss Flighty
spend hours before her mirror primping,
and curling. and powdering. and dressing
herself, but to make herself attractive in
the eyes of some man? What Is ii that
makes a clever woman listen with an ex-
preston of absorbed attention while some
masculine bore meanderS along on his
favorite topic? Is II because she cares a
rap about what he said to somebody and
what somebody else said to him about
the horse he backed, and that would have
won. IL it hadn't got beaten? Nay, verify
1t is because he is a man and eligible, and
she is doing her level best to charm him.
A man comes right out and says, II love
you" woman rolls her eyes at a man
and tells him how wise and great he Is,
but she means the same thing.
There are great many rockets, says
the New York Tribune, which shoot up
and blaze with ephemeraI brightness in
the sky OF fashion that quite eclipse for
the moment the fixed stars which shine