Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1902-02-07
WOMAN 8 TEARS.

40 me one of the most interesting
and significant phases of the eVo-
q luton of woman Is that she -
ceaslng to weep. l don't know now SCI
ence explains 1t, but it is self-eVideh.
fact. that every observing person must
have noted, that as women have de-
yeloped backbone their tear ducts nave
dried up.
Time was, and not so long ago, when
the very name of the feminine sex was
synonymous with crying. 1t was wom-
ans hereditary destiny to weep, just as
II was mans to work, and she did what
was expected of her by sitting down
and bowling whenever she came up
,yainst any of the hard propositions OF
He.
The modern woman has changed all
that. You hardly see woman weep
now. There are-God help us-1ust as
many things to wiring a womans heart
to-day, and just as many causes Ior
tears as there ever were, but II she
weeps. she weeps in private. 1t Is al
most as unusual and startling to see
woman now give way publicly to emo
ton as it Is to see a man do SO, ana
can think of no other one thing that SO
emphatically marks the progress of my
sex. 1t measures all the distance De-
tween hysteria and reason. 1t marks
the Unreasonable difference between
the spoilt child crying impotently for
| forbidden sweets, and the strong adult,
who takes what life gives with unfal-
tering bravery and cheerfulness.
1t seems likely that women always
overvalued the effectiveness OF tears
anyway. Tears were supposed to al
ways be an unanswerable argument so
| far as men were concerned. Unfortu-
nately few women can weep effective
ly. In poetry pearly drop, that makes
blue eye look like a violet drowned
in dew, gathers slowly and rolls gently
down the alabaster cheek, and the man
goes down before It, In everyday life
the woman who weeps gets red-eyed,
and her nose swells, and she looks pur-
pie and apoplectic, and the man gets up
and slams the door behind him, and
goes downtown until the waterspout is
over. In these prosaic and common
sense days weeping has played out as
a fascination, and tears are failure.
| No man wants to be salted down In
brine, as If he were dried herring.
Tears were always towards weap-
on. 1t was playing upon the best and
tenderest in other people for your own
selfish ends | heard woman say not
long ago that she always got her way
in the family by crying. when l want
thing" she said, Il just go to bed and
have Mysteries until get it." One un
derstands, of course, how man gives
In to that kind of woman-his very
manhood makes him powerless to deal
with her as she deserves, but what o
whitening and blighting contempt he
| must have for her. How he must de
spise the little soul that trades on his
pity his chivalry, his very reverence
for womanhood.
Sometimes l amuse myself by specu
| latfng on what the state of affairs
would be IL mothers wept less over
| their hayward children, and spanked
more. Every woman speaks of her chill
dren, when they turn out badly, as @
mysterious dispensation of Providence
It's a sneaky way of trying to get out
of her responsibility. She has been toe
weak, or too selfish, or too lazy to raise
them right. Then the day comes when
she discovers that the girl is meeting
fast young men on the sly or the boy
comes home staggering drunk. 1t is
one of the tragedies of life when the
young lives are dearer than her own
and the young souls that she would
give her own to save hang trembling In
the balance, and the mother can meet
the situation with nothing but impotent
tears.
Sentimentalists have embalmed q
mothers tears in song and story, and
made them sacred, but l tell you the
tears mother sheds over an ill-raised
son or daughter are shameful. There
should be no cause Tor them, and there
would be no cause for them once in O
million times If she had done her duty
Anyway you look at it, it is hopeful
sign women have abandoned doing the
baby act. 1t was always weak and use
less. We owe 1t TO the world to give II
smiles and sunshine, not showers, and
we best do our part In II when we meet
the misfortunes of life with that brave
attitude that nothing can doubt Dor
otby Dix, in New Orleans Picayune
Never Too Old for White.
There Is considerable criticism In
French circles over the fact that at O
recent wedding not only the bride but
the mother of the bride was attired In
white gown. The gown In question
| 4,