Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-04
Alleged Sentimental Misunder-
standing Between Sexes.
THEME OF ITALIAN PAPER
Writer Suggests There Is Something
Radically Wrong With Society.
GRECIAN PRINCESS CENsuRED
Hostile Attitude to Present Political
Situation Alleged-Craze for
Bridge in Paris,

Special Cablegram to The Star
PARIS. May 4.-The Italian paper Ia
Donna CThe Womam this week puts tbi,
question to its readers: rs there a .ent,.
mental misunderstanding between The
sexes?"
Is 1t q fact that in the higher evolved
classes there does exist a sentimental
misunderstanding between the sexes which
is an obstacle to perfect love compre.
hension? Is man or woman the chief cul.
prit in this misunderstanding? VIII q
change of attitude come about first II
woman folk or in men? That Is, will thu
men gradually accept the new condition:
of women, or will women return to tn,
ancient boundaries and fulfill their mis-.
sions of wives and mothers?
The general opinion seemed to be thai
something was radically wrong with mod.
ern society. and that true love was de.
Ginning through the fault of both parties
the one becoming ever more pleasure
seeking. the other trying to make itself
nothing else but pleasure sought.
One writer declared that two prominent
factors undermined the change of grea,
and true love in the present day-one was
money and the other time. Life entails So
much expense - luXurieS have become
necessities to such an extent that the &C
QUESTION of money is the all impOrtan,
object of daily struggle; to get the utmoS
possible money in the shortest possibl,
time constitutes the success or the failure
of the individual Man. with this on
all absorbing object in view. has no time
to make love; and If a deep sentimen,
rises in him it is starved out for want o.
nd 10 cd q
an enemy-something which comes be
tween him and his work
But One Remedy Suggested.
If this is the cancer eating out the
heart of sentiment between the sexes
there can be but one remedy-the f1nancia
independence of women. which. doing
away with the bugbear money" will
make them no longer a waste Of time
for men, but congenial companions.
One of the Italian writer's, Luciano
Zuccoli, ridicules the mere idea of pos
sible sentimental misunderstanding be-
tween the sexes. He says that men ano
women .'understand' one another al
right; that the trouble comes when t
''be faithful to the understanding is
asked of them.
Somebody wrote the following pessi.
greatest of all frauds and sadnesses, be.
cause 1t is the supreme and vain effor'
of man to escape from the solitude Of his
inward self" This attitude of looking
upon love excludes a possibility Of I'M
Outstanding between the sexes, for 1t Is
purely based upon mems lowest selfish
motives. and the qualification of these car
only mean a disillusion to both parties.
Jeronima Dieda. in dealing with the
subject, reverses the argument. She
says that what exists between the men
and women of the higher classes is not
misunderstanding but an under
standing to put love out Of the ques-
ton. They look at life in a practical
way. totally devoid of sentimentality.
What is the use. they say. of building a
castle which any circumstance car
demolish. and which will be assailed by
invincible enemies in the way Of tempta-
tons and barriers?
pleasing for the Time"
Much better for these birds of passage
to just take a fancy. fan 1t for a little
while into a spluttering flame, and when
1t dies out begin again. There is no
sacrifice; there is very little work ex-
pended in these love affairs-others take
their places: they are pleasing for the
time; they answer their superficial pleas
like film Of the cinematograph of life
throbbing with fictitious existence.
''Will things change-will women return
to their state of submissive ignorance.
This Is hardly likely. The equality of the
sexes is. no doubt. myth-men and
morally constructed on different lines to
fulfill different purposes. The greater un-
derstanding will come with the greater
give-and-take on both sides. When the
one and the other will have found that a
life without sentiment is a life lost, they
soling handclasp': when they realize how
everything changes when lit by the great
fame Of the sacred fire they will look
for it, and they will cling to it in supreme
going back to the past, nor the men going
forward enough to accept their future
emancipation that can touch those
chords which alone can dispel doubts and
fears. While men look upon women as
things to be had for the asking, to be
won over by righteous or foul means, and
then to be cast aside as worthless be-
cause they have renowned all for their
sakes,' the misunderstanding will ever
exist.
campaign which is at the root of the evil
The women Of the Independent type. as
sorting their rights, demanding their due,
striving against. fighting and denying men
whom they have no power to captiVate
the couuettish women, decked out In their
finest colors, to catch on their bait any
little unwary, freeze sentiment by denylne
its existence. and those who are hyster-
cally sentimental and forever tediousiy
falling in and out Of love-it Is amongst
all these that the misunderstanding
exists"
Crown Princess Incurs Censure.
nh r.ox,,n Dr;,caee ~ creaco who Is
now the guest Of her brother, the kaiser.
at Corfu, has been mourning the censure
of the chief ministerial paper at Athens
for what it describes as her frrecon-
cilably hostile attitude to the present po-
litical situation But therein, II 1t De
true. Princess Sophie is only following
In the footsteps Of her English mother.
who was ever opposed to the policy OF
Bismarck-to such an extent, indeed, as
once caused her husband, the Crown
Prince Of Prussia, to make public proc
lamation of his antagonism to the acts
Of his father and his new premier OF
blood and iron, with the result that the
heir to the throne was within an ace OIL
having to join the banished duke in the
forest of Arden.
Princess Sophie, the present leader OF
the opposition at Athens. was ever the
kaiser's favorite sister, whose wedding
in the Hellenic capital he journeyed to
attend. When the Duke OF Sparta went
to Berlin to sue for the hand Of the
princess he was dubbed by the wits OF
that caustic capital as the "Herzog Won
Ouarta,"- or Duke Of Fourth Form
from his juvenile. chubby and moon
faced appearance.
Dress Designers Busy.
What will be the fashion this summer
The dress designers. having got their
sDring modes on the market are now