The Washington herald., 1914-01-14
WOMAN AND THE HOME
Are Men Still the Hunted
And Women Hu1treSSeS? ?
The Near Coming of Joseph and Potiphar's Wife
Prompt: the Question Aeon-OM
But Eper-New Query.
Edited ~ JULIA CHANDLER mANZ.

Going back to the beginning of all
things, 1t was Eve with the apple, who
hunted Adam out Of Eden. And while
the masculine human may dwell upon
the exploits of the cave men and the
Sabine raiders, the Geld prose of history
momentous love of Potiphars wife and
the empire tumbling career Of the heart
conquering Cleopatra.
In those stirring times and In the po-
lite world of the earlier Christian era.
u was woman who hunted with man as
her quarry. Later came the Middle Ages
with man in the saddle. and woman
placed by him upon a pedestal as some
strange creature from another and SUD
liner sphere, to be first worshipped. then
wooed and. perchance. finally won.
But the French revolution played duck
pins with traditions, customs. conven-
tons. and time-hallowed usages. It
Knocked higher than the late Mr.. Gil
roys famous kite every preconceived
form. notion. and ceremonial Of the
social fabric. The days
OF Launcelot and Guinevere had flown.
Darby and Joan. Jaques and Marie had
entered upon their own. But though riffs
In the clouds would occasionally hit a
Lady Hamilton, a Georges Sand. or a
Peggy o'Neill.' 1t is not wise to talk
OF our own times. Commentators yet un-
born may write OF the Prince Imperial
and what drove him to his death on a
lonely African veldt: OF the cafe chant
ant dancer. the price of whose kick was
Portugafs kingdom: and of the siren song
birds who sang and swung European
monarchies and Republican money marts
perilously near the danger zone of ma
tional disaster.
Poets of all periods have penned paeans
OF praise upon masculine prowess In the
stubborn battle fields of passion. Among
them all. Kipling alone has dared de-
clare in fiercely flowing rhythm that "the
female of the species Is more deadly than
the male" He has turgidly repeated IL
and savagely reiterated II In his inimita-
bic tales of elemental loves and silk
gloved dalliance. To his aid has come
the modern realistic dramatist, who rev.
els In plots. whose fair heroines are ruth
less hunters OF hoary old age. stolid
maturity or unsophisticated youth-imma-
terial alike IL they but belong to the
genius home! Hearts are the playthings
their waywardness will not be denied.
The wanton of society did not die with
Potipher's wife. She was the founder of
that intangible guild. guarded by its own
victims for self-protection against the
very laws they themselves framed TO
shut out the supreme temptation of the
serpent sex. The Bible. the TaImud. the
Koran all tell OF Zuleika or Phraxanor.
How alluring must have been her art.
how wonderful her enchantment. how
perfect her beauty, and how marvellous
her physical charm for the lambent flame
Of her personality to have fared so
bravely and SO brightly down the long
corridors of the century encrusted ages
Cleopatra. Aspasia, Sappho were but re-
incarnations OF her. To believe in the
religious guilt Of the ancient Egyptians
she lived again In Hfrodias OF Judea \
Elizabeth of England. Catherine OF Rus
sis, and Mary OF Scotland. She was the I
prototype of Ninon de rEncloe and Paula |
TanGuaray. |
Enigma of Humanity. |
The desire of a woman for a man can
not be gainsaid. 1t is the germ OF tn. |
for which the anti-toxin has !
not yet been found. II is the paradoxicaI |
strength of the weak. lamar is still |
enticing Judah and Delilah shearing the |
locks of Samson. II is the enigma of |
as great mystery as the
source of life itself. a problem as in !
soluble death or eternity. Potiphars |
wife hazardcd a heritage for a caress |
from the Hebrew slave. Husband, home
and hon1T were as naught TO her would |
Joseph but succumb to the intoXication
Of her embraces.
How swiftly did the shame Of her re-
jected passion turn to white-heated ha-
tired. And when rage had burnt itself |
TO little blackened ashes. the tiny flame |
Of Illicit desire that remained once again
famed itself into furious tempest at the
mere sight of the man whose soul and |
body her unrestrained and Unbridled pas
sion sought to utterly possess for her
very own. A second time disdained, and
later history repeated the saw