NOVELISTS’ WOMEN

New Zealand Mail, 5 February 1902, Page 20

NOVELISTS’ WOMEN

Cfcj Mr* Fesshaw. —Wr.tM y-P/ c **“7 for the "New Zealand Maw. y A V&i 0 n Or: a-.il'-d 0 7 a. U./i*-- */. gnrt m her album bis definition oi m:-. iaroorite kind of woman, and no wrote; — Ine average woman." A very good an.swer, and one v/nicb snowed tna* too masculine rnmd t.oat gave it. r.ad made iti observations on t;.«e ‘Heals by nature pitched too high, By :-. .n ering oroagnt too iow," whicn tne average man Was neitner comprehension of nor sympathy with: a.ua, tjpon too opposite in too sex, a vain, frivolous woman. v.no, novever charming she inay bo in socioty, where men iiko to bo amused by feminine v.-.t and repartee, is practically uselesi in a homo, unless tho sanctity oi wore and motnerhood should dovoiop a lover stratum in her character oi hitherto undovoiopod and unsuspected domestic worth. Bor, boforo aii thing l ., a woman should bo. or bo abio >o turn into, a homo bird t/.at sings itr- sweetest songs to a minor koy beside tho cradle or too sick-bed. Between these tv.o distant specimens oi womankind, tho militant saint and butterfly sinner, a man’s approbation falls, not unnaturally, on tho medium cnaract ensues of tho average woman. This is due m a measure, doubtless, to the fact that the ’world of mankind is composed, in the aggregate, of ordinary men who 'would rather not bo outshone by women if they could. -No blame to them, either, from their standpoint, for they have held the world'.-, supremacy, uncont.estcd by women, for so many ages downwards till women, in quite recent times, nave revolted, and convinced men that they must snow their courtesy and chivalry, not by Quixotism, but by allowing them a voice an (1 a hand in a nation’s weal or woe. Intellectual giants, heroes, men who tower as. kings above other men, Bayards, a .St. Chrysostom or a Savanorola, are exceptions; therefore, it is quite safe to infer that, the average woman is the general favourite with the lords of creation. A young journalist was heard to say once, that he never read Ouida’s brilliant “word-pictures,” as her books have been justly called, because “there was too much learning in them for a woman, writer.” Another one remarked that he could not read the elaborate classics.of George Kliot, whose mind was too masculine for a woman. These young men married bright, lighthearted girls, who were very happy playing on the floor with their babies, and after considerable marital drilling were induced carefully to attend to their husband* a writing tables, though they couldn’t understand, as one of them observed, why the smallest scrap of paper scribbled upon should be more precious than

! Ti Tights of gold! And too men did r.ot ) trouble to enlighten thorn. THE AVERAGE WOMAN ,Li a very nice —oroan. She is ;; A creature not too bright and good For human nature's daily food.” A good housekeeper, deft frith her needle, kind and neighbourly, proud of her home, her husband and children, admired by her friends, and in a general serene and comfortable manner, "she I locketh well to the ways of her Louse- : hold, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Probably, with a few essentia] ■ exceptions, King Solomon had her m i his mind when he wrote: — : ' Her children arise up. and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praiseth her." Si .t the average woman lacks inspiration and enthusiasm —as a nils—two heroic qualities, the possession of which prevents a dull fireside." They are not everyday virtues in the ordinary woman, but they form an almost invariable oart in the romantic creation of novelists' women. The average woman gets up in the ! morning, usually, without the inspiraj tion which the rosy dawn, the gold of the sunrise should evoke in God's crea- : tores, u, indeed, they are souls for eteri nity as well as bodies for the mundane work of a carping and greedy world. She has a headache, or she feels dull,, and she doesn't want to be bothered, or it is a washing, baking or cleaning day. and thus being 'careful and troubled over many things” that makes the sum and substance, the importance, prosperity and easy comfort of her lire, she lets her days glide on with placid , se 1 f -co inp!a ce n cy.

Novelists’ women are the outcome of the patient investigations and intellectual observations of genius. The novelist, rnan or woman, by the resolute condensation of brain-power, by the rigid adherence in every detail of daily life to the thoughts and purposes of authorship, sees further than other people, and acquires a knowledge of human nature which, pourtrayed in faithful and vivid studies of character, appeals to the hearts and minds of average humanity. so that a good story book is a most kindly and beneficial influence in our lives. It moulds the pliant susceptibilities of youth. and is a consolation and inspiration when the first flush of youth has faded away like a dream, and the “daily round and common task” begin to wear the aspect- of stern reality. The novelists whose names are household words, tenderly and reverently spoken by'us in the twilight glow’ of winter evenings when the story is precious companionship, describe their characters from life and nature. They are not inane fancy sketches. The gifted novelist is in touch with the great, throbbing, aching, yet sometimes joyous heart of the universe, for which, and to which, out of his own heart, he writes. Of

CCtiKft. JU (AoCHHg fit: bfiroes &r;d OeT'Ji/i&5, he selects ideal characters, or those into srfcith it is pf/isbls to breatoe Lis oxTi lofty sod spiritual ideals. B’lt this idealisiG sbonid oot he r*gard«r by too reader as mera ROMANTIC* EXAGGERATION.

It is geniuliftix.g up the common clay of the earth, and transforrn ing it by the dirise mysteries evolved irorc rr.editatire loneliness. and painting upon it the fair forms and colours of the rose in its fragrance, the lily in her purity. • and the modest violet. It re this very ! idealism, this celestial downpour of inspiration and enthusiasm that the average woman needs to thrill tnrougn the quiet prose of her existence, and send the shoot of praise into each strnrise: "New every morning are Icy mercies:” and the vespers oi fervent I thanksgiving in the sunset cairn. and beneath the stars that fiash their burning light through our darkness. Move through whatever rank in society we will. from royalty down the hard arid fast lines of social demarcation which are bound by the iron bands of the Modes and Persians, to the lowliest rr.aiders in the hut. and we snail not find anv purer feminine things than novelists" women. The grand, silent heroism and sacrifice in Eider Haggard's beauI tifui Beatrice, and the bewitching sorj eery and womanliness of his Angela in ! "Dawn.” the human passion and weakness and strength in immortal Jess! Charles Reade's women are charming, loveable creatures, the average woman glorified, neither deified nor idealised. ' but "Simpleton” and ‘‘Tc-mg Courtier"' ’ naturally and tenderly described from j the standpoint of a man with a large heart and a broad mind. In Sir Walter Beasant's feminine creations there is more dormant intellect, and a very hig^*standard of moral strength of character. which causes them to move through, the pages of those beautiful books with the grace and dignity of crowned aueens.

Georae Eliots trornen. seen. Through the posrerrul metaphysical lens of her estraordinarr gift of analjsis. are living flesh and blood creations, ilaggie Sullivan. trirh her strange moods and intellectual unrest, her street disposition and suffering despair, is one of the mostinteresting and lovelv

FEMININE STUDIES that ever the inner consciousness of genius conceived, or art painted. The character of Gwendolen is subjected to an even deeper, severer, actualiy merciless analytical introspection of action and motive power, and in her dominant beauty, triumphant youth and resplendent worldly surroundings, she is a reigning queen, and superb in her innate consciousness of sovereignty. Lord Lyttorrs heroines are essentially womanly. He had a particular dislike to a blue stocking or a strong-minded woman. His soft, clinging delineations are considered out-of-date in these days when woman necessarily and by choice take such prominent positions in the world. But to the born lover of literature, Alice Darvil's innocence, rose-like sweetness and faithful steadfastness to the lover of her brutalised and earliest girlhood through seventeen years of mournful waiting and hopeless patience,, is a page of silent heroism that conies very near to the heart.

TOUCHING.PATHOS. Charles Dickens has been said to fail miserably in female characters, but thousands of woman readers hare shed tear;, over trie child-wife of Doady, and Dame Durden, Agnes, arid poor, ignorant, yet loving, Nancy, with her arms clasped about the nec-k of the man she loves—her foul murderer. About these women, certainly, there is a touching pathos. If space permitted, we could fill many more sheets in interesting thoughts about novelists’ women, but we can only remember, with a friendly glance, Edna Dyall's brave-hearted Doreen, whose every awakening to a new day seemed really a perfect inspiration of freshness and force, and whose gifted career was pursued with the warmth of a glorious enthusiasm. And the sweet serenity under heavy trial of Scott’s Jeanie Deans; the native purity of the women in George MacDonald’s books; the shy, winning, blushing girlishness and goodness of Mrs Henry Wood’s youthful feminine creations, which are average girls ennobled by the discipline of daily trials; the fortitude in suffering of Miss Yonge’s beautiful dove-like characters, little Amy Edmonstone, for example; and the intellectual originality of Charlotte Bronte’s couraegous. upright women.

These matchless and beautiful heroines of romance are all of “like passions with ourselves”; and all the better on that account; they inspire, us with their example to “live melodious days ” though the tenour of them may be'flat to an almost unbearable degree. They keep the average woman from deteriorating into mediocrity, which is what George MacDonald calls “the demon of commonplaceness;” and touched with the “Promethean fires” of their inspiration and enthusiasm they become better companions in the home, where, in the words of Mrs Ellis, in her “Women of England,” “on days of laborious duty, as well as on days of pleasure, when the family circle are met around their homely hearth, as well as when the distinguished guest is with them,” it is their umhest privilege to shine. For, in the

description* of Gluts' -r_£r it i, f Cornell, *. attain to. P^3 ° l6 f o? woaiii