WOMEN AND JEALOUSY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 858, 9 November 1916, Page 10

WOMEN AND JEALOUSY.

THE GREEN FLAME. It .has always been considered that envy—the grudging spirit towards other people's attractions or success in life that leads to hatred, malice, and all un-e'haritableness—is essentially a feminine quality, rare in men, whose wider lives give less room for morbid moods, writes Beatrice Heron-Maxwell in -an English paper. As young brothers at home or boys at school, they are generally as jubilant, or more so, at another boy's achievement in class or sport as at their own, looking on it as a family gain or with true esprit de corps. It lends itself in their minds to a modest boast, that would not be justified by their personal attainment of the top notch; they can exult decently without needing to be kicked for doing so. The jealousy they feel, then, is rather an emulative wish to maintain the distinction of their people or school. With girls there are many different phases, light and deep, of the controlling emotion that can be ' : as cruel as the grave"; and those who bring them up sometimes unwittingly foster the growth of this noxious weed in their characters by making injudicious comparisons about looks and talents and clothes, and showing undue favouritism. A jealous girl is fiercely selfish in her friendships; even in lesson hours she is keen to isolate her chum from other girls, and when they are together during holidays she is more exacting still, and becomes a " spoil-sport.'" Tier youthful feeling is not strong enough to lead to tragedy, but it makes for misI chief, spite, and loss of happiness. It is a warp in her homely woof. She is vexed at praise given to a sister or companion, and sulks unless continually singled out for admiration; she is disagreeable to any girl who is prettier, cleverer, better dressed, or has more amusements —all of which points of view are far removed from a boy's thoughts.

How well Dickens understood the gradual poisoning of a person's whole nature by this one deadly germ! One recalls his portrait of Miss Wade, with her sinister influence over Tattycoram, and her perversion of every kindly impulse in others towards tTiem both;. Mr Dombey, who grew to hate his daughter because his soil loved her best; Rosa Dartle, in her frenzy against Little Em'ly, and many another illustration of the '''Jealousy so strong That, judgment cannot cure." The crucial time for lads and lasses is in the spring and early summer of their lives, when love becomes a ruling star and an emotional horizon is flecked by every passing breath of cloud, while "Trifles light as air Arc to the jealous confirmations strong As proofs of Holy Writ.'' That there e,an be no true love capable of passioaate expression without some natural jealousy has been said by wise men, who have realised that if the desire to possess another person is really