Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-05-28
MAN the SUPERIOR.
Shows More Artistic Taste
Than Woman in Dress
and in Food.
BY Fl. PEARL HUMPHREY.

The most enthusiastic believer In
the superiority of woman does not
pretend that she is perfect and un.
approachable at all points. While
the most famous dressmakers and
the most famous chefs are men, we
shall have, sad as it may be, to ad-
NIT that in some things men have
done better than we have. These
two subjects are especially within
the woman's domain, anc yet in their
higher aspects she is content to be
led by men. This seems strange at
first sight. Indeed, 1t has been used
as a reproach. But, after all, there
are a number of reasons that make
1t quite a natural state of affairs. 1t
is still true, as Burton said in his
Anatomy of Melancholy" that
Cookery is become an art, noble
science; cooks are gentlemen"
A woman's knowledge of cooking
is almost entirely knowledge OF
how to prepare things that will taste
nice. She thinks Of every dish as
an entity, and she seldom considers
1t in relation to the courses that pre-
cede and follow it. She has expert.
ence of tastes, but no instinct for
suggested flavors. The "Physiologie
du Govt" is in two senses an unread
book to her. The reason Is that she
considers food as the wherewithal
to remove hunger, and leaves out OF
her calculations the fact that food
is only one-half the question and
drink is the other.
The world owes to wine a great
deal of good humor, a great deal OF
fine literature and good deal of arti.
fetal optimism, which, if not so good
rs the real thing, Is, at least, better
than any sort of pessimism.
But women are no judges Of wine.
for the simple reason that they have
not been educated to it. 1t is an
art, and does not come by nature
What woman ever wrote a drinking
song or tavern ditty? The sex has
no great natural leaning to it, and
has never been taught to acquire it
That is why the best cook is man
He is like the leader of an orchestra
who knows every instrument beneath
him, its capabilities, where it should
blend, where 1t should detach itself
and its proportion to the whole;
whereas the woman cooks solos, not
concertos. Food as a necessity OF
daily life is the province of the wo
man; food as fine art is only mas
tered by the man, with centuries OF
cultivation behind him. 1t is pre-.
pared by him for his peers; the chef
who Is an artist does not value
woman's appreciation at all. The
very walters know her status. One
of the most humilating things any
woman can do is to order a luncheon
with the head walters eye upon her.
The eye is too respectful to be scorn
full. 1t says so plainly and the wo.
man reads it and quails. AS for the
wine waiter, he has the air of
dreamer trying to forget the painful
episodes of life. The only chance OF
soothing him is to leave it in his
hands. He will then, in the breadth
of his tolerance, give one sweet wine,
exactly as one spreads child's bread
and butter with sugar. Women in
these exalted regions are as house
painters in the National Gallery.
AS for dress, the reason for the
supremacy of the male ESQ far is
easily found. Men have always been
the executive artists; they inherit
the talent of the ages. Women's in
stinct has not been cultivated to the
same extent. They love pretty
things, but they do not study them
selves. The French woman knows
more about her appearance than the
English about hers, but not so much
as the Frenchman knows about the
appearance of all women. In the
external treatment of the picture
called woman the man has the ad.
vantage of detachment from his sub.
ject, whereas a woman has hundred
prejudices. AS rule, woman falls
In love with frock, or hat, purely
on its own merits, and not because
it will suit her so admirably. Just
as the man cook knows that food and
wine are parts of the whole and must
be studied together, so the man mil
liner knows that the woman and her
clothes are one entity, and just as
the woman cook has concentrated all
her energies on food, the woman
dressmaker considers clothes apart
from their wearers. The really we'll
dressed woman is she who strikes us
like full length Gainsborough at
sight-a complete picture, whose
dominant centre Is the face. When
We have feminine Gainsborough we
may look for feminine Worth. 1t
needs cultivation, like Gny other art.
Men have the dress instinct very
strongly; it is only in allegiance just
now by force of circumstance. The
Stuart and the Louis Seize periods
alone would prove this. At present
owing to the frock coat and tall hat,
women are having the benefit of this
dress instinct, which is at liberty to
concentrate itself wholly on them.
! The fallacy that men never know
| how woman is dressed Is mere air
bubble. 1t is true enough that they
may not know what she has on; but
they always know how she is dressed
well or i'll, too much, too brightly
| The woman notices what clothes the
other wears; the man knows whether
the picture was successful and har-
monious or not. 1t is this cultivated
! ey; for the whole, the cultivated
palate for the whole, which makes
the man the supreme artist in dress
and in food and will do so until
women make up some of the time
and education they have lost during