IDEALS OF WOMANHOOD.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXIX, Issue 12111, 4 July 1903, Page 3 (Supplement)

IDEALS OF WOMANHOOD.

Margaret Bateson, iir ; an:'" entertaining article contributed to the "Queen;" 'has, something to say oh the subject of ideals:- ■ ; -" ■"' : ''. ; ',. : ' : . . '..';.',' '■•■.-,. .

I Several ideals of womanhood reign to-day in intelligent English society. First favourite, as it seems to me, is the woman of charm. She is not necessarily beautiful, though plnin she certainly is not. Thought and taste have been expended upon everyt thing ah,out her.- Everything is adjusted to the attainment of the end of pleasing, of making people feel happy and at their best in her presence. In dress, in furniture, in the lighting of,her rooms, in attitude, in maDne r , she knows exactly what isuits her best and.what will smoothe the asperities and awkwardnesses of sosiaLex-, istence.. : She knows what is within thecompass cf her powers; she always leaves ;herself a margin, and she lets the unobservant suppose that ■ she charms without thought or trouble. The most charming woman is really kind. She tries to please even niore but of affection for her friends than because she is an artist. There are women who pass for being the woman of charm; but they have not her real tenderness of heart; and more flattery of manner or more effort of intelleot do not in the end conceal the fact that the ideal is not expressed in their person. Next in order to the woman of charm comes the miniature woman. She is exceedingly small in person, and her manner is gentle. It is quite •evident that someone must look after Tier. That someone will not expect her to dtf anything for him, whether to push his fortunes or look after his affairs. Her grateful smile is to be all thereward., In real life the representaliye of this ideal is generally either a very dull woman or she is a tiny creature, whose gentle and appealing glances conceal an alert, intelligent mind. But the miniature woman at her best is not less sympathetic and attractive in manner than the woman of chann; indeed, she is almost the bijou edition of that lady. Then there is the vivacious woman. She is nowadays the ideal of a good many people. She has quite superseded the ideal of the Bp's, who was hollow-eyed, looked many things, but said none-tff them, and left jokes rigorously to the plebeians. It may be that the Americans have ousted her, or she may have found a world-intoler-able in which things must be done and not merely " looked." But gone she is, utterly. And the vivacious woman reads everything, does everything. When women cycle, she •cycles, when they smoke she smokes, when they fence she fences. But she is seldom, caught learning any of these ; accomplishments, as seldom as she is caught reading up for dinner party copversation. She is a quick study, and she is always perfect in her part. She is an amusing woman, and persons whose minds move slowly are glad that she should wind them up. She is better possibly aa an ideat-that is to say, a being dreamt of or seen only at ' times—than as a permanent reality. In daily life she might be tiring, even now and then a .little hard. All the same, she remains a , good many folks' ideal.

Yet a fourth is the able woman. She does everything in 1 a masterly way. There are things, of course, that do not lend themselves to this vigorous treatment —arranging flowers, for instance,' or trimming - a hat. But vigour and force can accomplish much. The able woman can despatch business with wonderful speed andS efficiency; if she wants to write a book she' does it, if to speak she does that also. She may not write or speak with grace, but her work is done competently, and, therefore, satisfies. If she belongs to wealthy society she is useful; she.sets enterprises going and keeps them alive. As a poor man's wife she is invaluable. She is not unlike thatFrench ideal to which I referred at the outset. The • French catechumens have made no mention of ability in their reply, but economy of management, which they put first, is surely not to be ■accomplished by a woman without brains.' And there are many other ideals; but the last which occurs tome at this moment is the ideal who may be found' by the readers of Mr Anthony Hope's" The Intrusions of Peggy." Peggy is a modern girl. If she lived at all through the ago which liked to call itself decadent, she must have' breathed with difficulty. She is splendidly fresh, and she'satisfies, not only an ideal of womanhood, but an ideal of social life as well. For in her society, in the atmosphere she creates, young men and women live simply and wholesolmely together, not without thought of ultimate marriage, perhaps, but this is an idea only for by-an-by. For the present they can have . a happy, active life, helping each other when necessary, and going instantly to the rescue of comrades in difficulties. The essential quality of this ideal is un-self-consciousness. And the best of it is that this ideal is a feasible one. Out of novels there have been •Peggys. They hare worn well, because nothing destroys their perfect naturalness. Some people find them a little blunt; not always so carefully dressed as might be; but there are the other ideals for them. In this rough sketching out of types I have.said nothing of men's women and women's women. In truth, I do not much believein the distinction. The charming, the diminutive, the vivacious, the able,.and the natural woman all find women to admire them as well as men. The charming woman is admired by girls who wish they could copy her; the diminutive woman is petted by those of her pes who are big and strong ; the vivacious woman delights the duilards, notably rather stupid old ladies, who are bored with their own want of company. The able -woman is sought out by crowds of ineffective women who want a- leader, and she ; is the person to whom they, all turn when there is illness or trouble about., The natural woman, if she is not too blunt, is felt sex to be a sort of pioneer of unconventionally, and earns gratitude accordingly. Let us agree, then, that there is no great difference between, men's and women's ideals of womanhood. It maybe