The Washington times., 1907-06-19
Impressions of a
WomaniY Man

Superficial insincerity is really an un-
pardonable affectation IN girls who have
| reached the fighting aEe-the age at
which the whole sex begins to battle
against its natural impulses
Indeed. IL requires no particular psy-
! Geological coffort to come to the con-
clusion that nearly all women could
grow old beautifully il they had the
courage Of their better impulses.
| Think Of the countless honest men
| preferably men whose knowledge OF
women still leaves them ready cham
pions of any feminine cause-who are
| daily learning 10 hide their true frank
ness Of character beneath a pose Of
semi-brilliant impertinence. because il
no longer pays to be sincere on the
surface.
This is the sort OF thing men talk
about as well as think over on those
rare occasions on which they discuss
the fashion in feminine temperament.
! They nearly always agree. too. that
something ought TO be done to save
women from her false ideas of what
men admire IN her. 1t is certainly not
this attitude Of appearing not to have a
genuine thought or sentiment about her
the outlook which is governed wholly by
desire 20 say something, that sounds
effective or worldly
The girl of twenty must not be al
lowed TO believe shat she is expected to
talk about life as though she were z
dramatic author. Most probably, in -
ality, she has almost every kind of ex-
perience in this surprising world yet TO
come And the man she is hoping to i'm
press sees this all the time.
1t has also. among a certain type of
girl, evidently become a conviction that
men are attracted by an air Of blank
dismay al the mere mention of do
nestle virtues'-not that I am quite
sound on the point OF what exactly con-
stitutes these. But If. for instance. they
include a knowledge of such facts as
that bread is not made without -four
! nave exactly expressed the kind of
lncapability which is assumed with a
touch of pride. Yet a girl who will
laughlngly declare that she has not the
taintest Idea which end of a rolling pin is
more commonly used may quite possibly
possess a rea! talent for making pastry.
VI course, it is all a question Of fash
| ION, and girls would be quite as do
meSucated' today as they were sixty
years ago If once the word We're passed.
The instinct cannot be eradicated any
more than real beauty can be a matter
OF cultivation or art. Nothing prob
ably. has come more as surprise TO a
great number of US than the recent ex-
hibition of an array of cakes baked by
peeresSes in the cause of charity.
Before this revelation of latent ca
ptclty. nine people out Of ten would
nave ridiculed the idea, and the tenth
would certainly have ridiculed the
cakes; yet these ladies proved that $50
ctety women" who are supposed to
have no ambition above treating life as
race Tor pleasure. cannot only make
and bake cakes. but cakes that might
be eaten.
Everyone appears 70 be anxious TO
teach hostesses the art of entertaining
except husbands; yet if husbands only
rose TO the occasion and insisted on an
equal division OF labor house parties
would not consist sc largely OF the
right sort of men and the wrong sort
OF girl. Even the hostess who sets about
the arrangement of her parties I'm
business spirit has developed a tendency
in the direction of regarding the women
and girls she asks to her house as rem
resenting a wholesome commodity.
All her attention is given to securing