The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1910-07-21
ENDING 4
QUARREL

There was not a bit of doubt that
the young woma was angry. The
more, she thought 1t over the angrier
she grew. 1t was inconceivable THAT
a grown-up man could have been go
foolish as to get up a quarrel with her
over nothing at all-for that was what
had happened the evening before.
She didn't in the least know what it
was about, though she had a vivid
recollection of his saying it was all
her fault and of her insisting that 1t
was his fault. He had had some
weird idea that she had picked the
quarrel herself out of curiosity as to
what he would do. At this accusation
she had passed from surprise through
injury to anger. Now in broad day
light she felt certain that nothing on
earth would tempt her to take one
step toward reconciliation. She would
stand on her dignity, inasmuch as she
wasn't to blame.
OF curse she felt rather sad about
1t, because she was aware that the
mar never would give in first and say
he was sorry if he died for it and nei-
Their would she and naturally that
meant the end Of their friendship. Men
did nothing but make one miserable
anyway and she was tired Of them.
She was hunting out a pamphlet on
social settlement work and was re-
solving to devote her time in future
to %elevating the poor and worthy and
a~ppreciative when the postman a
the bell.
The man had written, in very black
ink with pen strokes that shrieked
emphasis, a long screed and had had
the e%ffrontery to send it to her. He
had headed it, IAN Essay on Woman,
by a Cynic." She sat down and I'M
folded the sheets Of paper with the
tips of her disdainful fingers and start
ed to read.
Being a cynic," ran the document,
II can say anything 1 want. to about a
woman, and as l already have the rep
utation of being morose and churlish
I can sink no deeper in the oblivion OF
feminine ~disapproval. Anyhow, what
care I?
"In starting a scientific and search
ing essay such as this we should first
get it firmly fixed in our minds what
a woman really is and the most de-
scriptive words of her which l can
think Of at the present moment are
'deggone peculiar
Nov, having conveyed to my read
ers a mental picture of a woman, SO
t1ot 3f }1,l, rooJo, 1,o,11 t,1,,o ~ ~
an inexperienced youth he will imme-
diately cast his eyes elsewhere when
in the presence Of one and thus avoid
a large amount of this worlds troubles,
will proceed with my discussion.
I'm speaking of a woman it does not
pay to go too much into detail about
her, for most of them are so different
that it makes a detailed description
impossible. In fact,.I have known
them to be different 400 times an hour.
You may rest assured that in the mat
ter Of being different they are all alike.
Nov, what effect has this on man?
I wi" tell you it makes cynics of us!
| hurl this fact back at the feet of
~femininity, which when it wishes to
cast aspersion on man calls him
cynical! Cynical! If women care
fully thought over this word they
would not use it SO gayly, for in real
ity it simply means wise-worldly
wise! Yes, friends, we are wise to
the women and this is what makes us
cynical! Far be it from their intent
to call us wise, though they might adj
nit that we are worldly.
II do not like to talk about woman
this way behind her back, but we all
know that we never would get a
chance to talk if we didn't do it be-
hind her back! Cynical! How that
word describes my feelings this dark,
gloomy day! My head is full Of recol-
lections of how a woman fed me com
pliments last evening until I swelled
up and strutted around like a pigeon
and 80 minutes later I was nothing
but a shifty-eyed angleworm waiting
to be stepped on!
"All for why? Because a foolish
girl got tired Of the plain sailing she
had had for weeks and wanted to stir
up a tempest! She wanted a nice lit
tie tempest, one that she could stop
when she chose by waving a finger at
it and murmuring: Stop, tempest!'
So she began to rock the boat and
whistle for rough weather. At last
accounts the tempest was still on,
though a good brand Of oil judiciously
applied sometimes has been known to
calm raging waters. But it has to be
a good quality and applied with a
soothing touch"
She folded up the sheets of paper
and then she laughed in spite of her
self. When she stopped laughing she
said something that sounded like "Per-
feet idiOt!" Then she look down the