The San Francisco call., 1910-01-02
The Intellectual Charmer

was diplomat and wire puller par ex-
cellence. ever careful to conceal her
influence. All seemed to come from the
man himself She manipulated the
conversation to bring him into the
foreground. adroitly DETECTED it to his
speciality" and then turned on the
spotlight. All her maneuvering arts,
all the powers of her mind were con-
centrated on the one purpose of Sc
curing for the man she loved the COW
eted honor of political appointment.
She was not witty in herself, but the
cause of wit in others, which comes to
the same thing. and. in the matter of
womanly charm. is far more effective.
1t was noteworthy that one could never
recall single brilliant sentence from
her lips, yet she had the reputation of
a sparkling Conversations. Her
tact sympathy and alert mentality
called out the bast in the men around
her, and they left her presence in
glow of self-esteem that reflected it's
radiance on her and endowed her with
a hundred charms.
Look at the galaxy of femmes
d'esprit in the French salons of 900
years ago-marquise de Rambouillet,
Nine. de Sevigne, Nine. de la Fayette,
Mile. de Sendery-gentle, womanly
women, who devoted themselves to
the pleasures of the intellect and
lured men with gay lightheartedness
and without pretense or pedantry to
follow their lead. No dry as dust
danes were these. pursuing knowledge
for its own sake. but women of the
world and of the home who used their
mental gifts to adorn and vivify mere
existence. The art OF being amusing
in a lovable way" was carefully cul-
tivated and the harsh outlines OF cru
dition were muffied in graces and ele.
gances as dowager duchess in her
laces and ropes of pearls.
Their delightful femininity shines all
the more lustrously against the foil OF
Nine. de Stael, that historic exam
pie Of too much damned intellect"
Her intensities, her elegant declama-
tions. her unreasonable dissensions,
made her society, from the masculine
point of view, rather oppressive. She
must scintillate-it was her ruling pas
sion; she must always be making an
effect; and on the simplest social oc-
casions would appear in full panoply
Of cleaning intellectual talents brand
ishing her ideas and opinions to i'm
press and conquer the men she met.
1t was not her aim to exploit or de-
velop them, but to aggrandize herself,
and in her avidity for copy gobbied
up Byrons, Goethes, Schillers and
Schlegels as mere hors d'oeuvres.
When such a nature encountered a
Napoleon there comes the Inevitable
clash and his hostile attitude toward
her in their famous duel symbolizes
on an enlarged scale, the natural an
tagonism of the eternal masterful male
for the fearsome, aggressive Amazon.
Had she known her meter de femme
and like Diana or Julie lie Breton"
subordinated her own powers to the
futherance of his ambitions, she might
have been the shiningest literary
light of his imperial court For he
admired culture and mentality in the
fair sex, but it must be subtflized
feminized and endowed with a due
humility toward himself.
Bright women, yes; but nay, nay,
"Corinne."
The successful intellectual charmer is
primitive woman, beneath all the su-
perstructure Of literature and learning.
and she loves a mans work, his life,
his play, his aims and aspirations be-
fore her own exalting. All that she is
or has attained she values only as 1t
may serve him. She has the gift of
adaptabiIity and submerges self in his
interests.
With the wisdom of a loving heart
and the wizardy of a Luther Burbank,
she has evolved" that rare product
a thornless intellect More marvellous
than spineless cactus, pitless plum or
white blackberry is this hybrid crea-
ton combining the grace and sweet
ness of the old ideals and the vigor
and originality of the new, with all
rough edges, acrid flavor and prickly
points of view eliminated. A palatable
morsel of femininity specially adapted
for connoisseurs and epicures who
make the imperious demand.
Bright women-yes; but no damned
intellect" :"