THE WAYS OF WOMAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13414, 16 February 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE WAYS OF WOMAN.

BY A LOVEIi. Like hazel nuts and sweeter than the kerne!. For 1 do love them! I love them all and know that there be wisdom in my love. Ways that be incomprehensible and ways that are enchanting, ways that be " rough a.nd coy and sullen," or " passing gentle"— they are ways that take mere man in his most censorious mood, his most Marchwindy days, with beauty. It is a fact as old as the world and Eve's responsibility, as sweet as woman's smile, as lasting a.s her charm. Ways that are so errant and ways that are so worthy it is passing difficult for busy man to chronicle, but in the spells of hard-wrought life there now and then come moments of bright holiday, indeed of leisure that opens the appreciative eye and fills the heart with musing.

A gala day or one of quiet reverie, according to one's mood, may bring all heaven into the eye. A group of happy girls at play ; a sweet girl graduate relaxing from the thrall of study to make tier mark in healthier contest; some gentle being bent on loving ministry, or some fair shrew exerting with inimitable art her gift of repartee; or, may be, but a tender -doseshrined memory that brings the unspoken tribute. Smile or tear, fascination or chagrin of the most overmastering, most quelling kind proclaim thy sway, O Woman.

For she has ways —little ways, "so small'' avers her sister, " so horrid" says her truthful brother, so polished and so charming " declares the principal of school or college responsible for her classical perfection, and "heavenly though so tyrannous" sighs the victim of her graces, as clad in " ruffling treasure" she challenges the admiration that is sure to be forthcoming. She knows full well that she' is not the worse to look at "for this- poor furniture and mean array," and is sometimes, alas! insensible to the cost and sacrifice at which her momentary gain is purchased. For there is a time, of course, in every woman's history when her way is the impeccable—the altogether delightful way to one mau at least within, the sphere of her acquaintance ; but days go on. Some folks perchance go sad, and some grow wise. It is a, fond, though not an altogether foolish, lover who dares to heave a sigh on behalf of some less happy. Yet not at this fair season—this summer of content— will he dwell upon the ways that are less excellentthe ways so open to "the little forces that spoil the tender vines"—but rather on the gracious sunlit ways of those who form the bright examples of their sex and time, specimens so generously scattered up and down the line of life that a fond lover cannot help regarding them, does he prefer to linger. . . . Did you see that smile? Did you catch the lilt of laughter in that tone? Was it the reflection of some gracious spirit—the echo of some tender voice heard in the long agoor a real nineteenth century girl, a brave, blithe-hearted woman, gloriously alive, and tingling to the finger-tips with sympathy; one of clear eye, and buoyant speech, whom it is good to look upon the one who carries the morning in her glance, and makes the evening jubilant with song? A brighter being than the lily-white Elaine perhaps ; a, stronger being doubtless in days to come than Enid, and yet —and yet. recalling sometimes a too vivid personality, one finds it sweet to dream a dream wherein such simple statcliness might sometimes stray, wherein a. lovable Elaine might guard for some poor wretch a sacred shield.

Too often for his sorrow must he cry:

0 purblind race of miserable men. How many among us at this very hour Do forge a. lifelong trouble for ourselves. By taking: true for false, or false for true! Enid the fair. Enid the good, whose husband rested on her fealty, is sweet to contemplate. . . . The smart, girl has her attractions, but 1 do not think that I should pass by Enid were I wise enough to recognise her. Fair queens there are so many in disguise, who when their lime arrives will surely rule by right of royalty; and there are others who willingly the sad pity of it—lay down their crowns. Alas! alas! that in this retrospect there should be need to chronicle the arrant folly of the erring few. There are women, to their glory be it said, who have boon welcomed by the best of men as equals, and there are also women, let it be owned by the sincerest lover of their sex, who have nob scrupled to depose themselves ; women who have sought, so lately as the year gone by, to force with wild unreasoning insolence their claim to govern, to wage a warfare that can never be accomplished while the world keeps sane. Let men be ready to Replace their fallen crown by seeing to it that the ideals of those who claim our love and reverence never become the idols of the cavern or the market place and that the chosen way for any wilful one do notbecome a. Via Dolorosa".

For out of her own sphere woman has been rarely born to rule, though some have had their greatness thrust upon them from very tender years. Victoria, who held the reins of Europe so early in her little hand, was natural, domestic, womanly to the core. Her ways indeed were excellent and among the race of virtuous daughters she stands pre-eminently fair. When the deeds and qualities that went to make the greatness of the great Victorian era shall be summed up, the full measure of the Empire's debt to its incomparable Queen may be assessed. And there are others who standing on a lower platform, moving in a more restricted sphere, are yet by virtue, of their broad benevolence, the outgoing of both hand and heart, entitled to rank amongst the most distinguished of their sex. One such has lately passed. A life spent in giving on a scale almost unparalleled has ceased. Modest and unassuming though the recipient of the highest, honours in the gift of Royalty this woman of the wealthy heart may be said to rest while her works "follow." Women truly charitable have lived and laboured ere her time, but few among the childless have proved so truly parent to the people. The ways of woman are sometimes very definitely traced for them. Bv fortune and inheritance they occupy the plane on which they move, but there are women born under no ascendant star, garbed in no purple, who have by reason of noble purpose and transcendent brain, marked for themselves a truly ivsyal way. Perhaps for years no greater work was undertaken, or so faithfulv wrought out by woman, than that which filled the heart and occupied the energies of the late Miss Reale, of Cheltenham College. Her great resources must have been often taxed, her nerves severely strained in her gallant-hearted efforts for the cause she loved ; education, the highest and best possible for girls, was the object of a life that struggled on for half a century, only relinquishing its charge at the age of seventy-five. Her methods were the fruit of careful study adhered to in spite of opposition, and carried through triumphantly. Wisdom, foresight, and persistent courage made her ways successful —ways full of blessing to women whose moral training and character were in her esteem of paramount importance. When the history of our times, and especially of the vaunted up-to-date, is ready to be written, it will be interesting for those who read to mark the contrast between so powerful a personality as that of Miss Beale, of Cheltenham, and those who led on by a shrieking sisterhood have aspired to lead in the counsels of a nation. As the basis of all greatness is humility, will not the line so sharply cut suggest that the first and sweetest charm of woman is her modesty, and that her readiness to accept the loving lordship, the true " worship" which finds her more than worthy, is her great distinction, her true and proper dignity?

Did I sav I loved them all? I did. and mean it still. Yet sometimes when strolling in my garden I come upon a bank of violets, I think of women who, like these fragrant flowers, bloom most sweetly in secluded ways, and wonder whether they are not the most attractive, the most exquisite of all in which man, mere uiau delights to take the air. i