The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-18

honest with herself and her love, she
must be honest with the man she loves.
And I tell you, sir-for 1t is the truth,
and I've got to tell you-if / could un-
love you l would do it this minute,
and stand by the consequences"
The woman with a contented mouth,
says Golfers Weekly, is rare as the
dodo to-day. A cursory glance at the
occupants OF any street car will point
that fact. Women still smile when oc-
casion demands. At the dinnertable,
at luncheons. at teas, at social func-
tions of all sorts. the modern womans
face is wreathed in smiles, her lips turn
up riotously at their corners. but when
she is alone her face betrays her.
Study the mouths of the women who
| ride alone in their luxurious carriages;
watch the faces of the women in the
| street cars: note the woman anywhere
| who believes herself to be unobserved;
| always the downward droop.
Among men things are different. A
| man may have a brutal mouth, a dis
| honest mouth, a stubborn mouth, but
| he seldom has an unhappy mouth. AS
| a rule. when not hidden by a NOUS
tache or beard, his mouth is distinctly
| non-committal. II does not declare to
| the world a state of mind. The ext
| gencies of a business life have trained
| it too we'll for that.
Are the women really as unhappy as
| they look when their features are in
| repose? And if they are, what is the
reason? Does the downward droop
mean mere surface fretfulness. or a
| divine discomfort, or a deep-rooted sor-
| row, or only sheer fatigue?
Possibly the opening up of new ave-
nues to power and achievement has
| stirred womankind to discomfort with
| established conditions. The downward
| droop may be commentary on femi-
nine progress; but even a yearning for
| immortal fame or for the ballet or for
i a. club presidency is not sufficient apol-
| ogy for the spelling of faces in whose
| semblance, we have been assured, an
| gels are painted.
| The restless striving that dominates
| American society, the national feversh
| longing to climb the social ladder and
Join the elect, who perch upon the gid
| dy heights Of democratic aristocracy
/ as represented by the Four Hundred,
may have turned the lip corners down
ward. Strongly drawn class lines may
be opposed to the theory that all men
| are born free and equal, but they are
| wonderful promoters of serene content.
| If social aspirations, a consuming de-
sire for dinner invitations and for an
expurgated visiting list are RESPONSE
| BILE for the disconnected mouths of our
ed to purge feminine minds of folly
| md restore to woman her sense of
| values.
The fatigue theory seems more plaus-
ible than any other. The average wo-
man to-day is chemically tired and dis
posed to feel sorry for herself. Hence
the droop. Small wonder that she is
tired. She is the most phenomenal ex-
ponent of the strenuous life. Modern
demands upon her time and energy
have converted her into a human pin
wheel. She whirls madly through do
nestle duties, household economics,
Froebel child training, sociological ex-
pertinent, club duties, social obligations.
She spins through music and literature
and art and physical culture and diet
etics. She must be a "well-rounded
woman" She must not only know and
do a little of everything: she must
know and do great deal of every
thing
There are society women who turn
over all domestic and family cares to
paid subordinates: yet, despite fire.
quent assertions to the contrary. the
tendency to-day is toward greater con-
scientiousness in such matters. The
ubiquitous college girl takes life very
seriously. She isn't above filing a
lofty social niche, but she has theories
about housekeeping, and she knows all
about hygenic care of children. She
| insists upon keeping her intellectual
muscles in training through study and
| club work. She feels responsibility
in regard to the submerged tenth and
goes in for charities and settlement
work. Incidentally, she believes in
| athletics for women and keeps up her
golf and tennis. She has set an ap-
palling pace for her sisters. Women
1 are engaged in a mad endeavor to ac-
| c0n7rlfSh frnDOeGfhIa and the result
is nervous prostration. 1t may be that
the downward dropping lips are an
| other of the results.
Some of the strong minded sisters
may urge that the discomfort is due to
mans shortcomings, but man is the
same old man and the shortcomings are
the same old shortcomings, while the
disconnected feminine mouth in it's cpl
demic form is a development compar-
atively recent.
It seems logical to credit the phenom-
enon to those features of womans pres
ent phase which are most distinctly
modern and aggressive. II the dear
women will but turn up their mouth
corners and look happy humanity will
more easily tolerate other weather.
cocks that veer to the wind of modern
ity.
Women, it is we'll known, are the
chief readers of fiction. Mr.. Dooley,
in the May Century" says: Women
write all tn romantic novels that
ar-re amy good. That's because iv'ry
man thinks that tn true hayroe is
himself, an iv'ry woman thinks he's
James X. Hackett." A more sober dis
cussion of novel-reading by women is
made in Harper's Weekly:
Do women find in fiction the roman
tic element they crave, and perhaps do
not find in sufficient quantity in life?
How otherwise are we to account for
their devotion to novels, without
which the story writer would fare but
Ill upon the slim diet of an untitled
purse, and the publisher share the dis
aster? If Mr. Carnegie should be able
to keep out of libraries, as he suggest
ed, all fiction under three years old, it
might safely be said that the women
would be against him-which means
that the thing could not be done. Wo-
men like new fiction; they want the
book that is Just out" If it is a
historical novel, they feel that they
are gathering Information. Heaven
| bless them! If IL is a romance, pure
and simple. they forget over its pages
the domestic trials of the morning or
the afternoon. 1t does them no more
harm than has been done for countless
| generations. For women are nourish-
ed upon fiction from the days of their
birth. Our girls are reared in an at
mosphere rarefied and cleared from all
| impurities. The world is shown them
~ a.