WEATHERCOCK WOMEN.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1850, 7 December 1874, Page 2

WEATHERCOCK WOMEN.

Women are to men what the verb is in the structure of our language. Without women man cannot exist: without the terb an idea cannot he expressed. We can no more clothe our persons decently without the aid _pf women than we can clothe our thou&lits in words without the assistance of the verb. But women have more moods than verbs, smd the changes they undergo, according to the mood they are in, are more thorough and complete, than can be found in the puzzling "part of Sieech to which I have likened them, rammarians have called the yerb the soul of the sentence. By a strange coincidence, there is hardly a man arrived at years of discretion who has not used sexactly the same expression when defining to some young woman the; place that she occupies in his thoughts. In the piesent paper, however, I meaa to confine myself altogether to the niooda of women. I will resist the temptation to speak of their voices. I will not distinguish between regular and irregular women. I will leave to a paper in the remote future the explanation of how some transitive women pass over to an object of their affections, and thereafter govern that personal pronoun in the objective case, while other trsisitivc women do not pass over, but reiSSin for ever old maid*, with little or no government, but strong in powers of meddling. I leave these details the more willingly, because all■• womeii, whether regular or irregular, transitive or intransitive, in all their tenses, and no matter what their forms, are subject to precisely the same moods.

The moods of women are so various that it has given rise to the idea that they are never in the same mood. This, however, is an exaggeration, V'omen possess the power that verbs, perhaps fortunately, have not got, of themselves changing their moods ; and it is the startling rapidity of the change that gives rise to the idea of infinite inflection. The correct expression would be that they are seldom long in the same. They utterly defy our powers of calculation. There is probably not a man living who can say of any woman that he c:.n tell with certainty the mood she will be in at any given time ; while it ia a remarkable fact that nearly every woman is able to perform this exercise in social grammar with perfect accuracy on masculine beings whose lot in life appears to, be to do and to suffer, which leads me to conclude either that women are gifted with greater powers of mental analysis than men, or that men are composed of 3impler and less variable elements than women.

To drop this grammatical metaphor, and plunge at once into the matter that will elucidate the text I have selected, there is no doubt that women are extremely variable in their dispositions. It is often extremely difficult to determine whether any given woman is one's friend or not. It is still more difficult to say the same of any two women. Women havea way of fighting in and out with one ahpther--of being bosom Mends to-day, and at daggers drawn to-morrow—that excites the wonder and astonishment of the other sex. When ladies are "in with others, " methinks they do protest to much." They kiss at meeting and parting, call.each other "dear" and "love," have the profoundest secrets in common, and conduct their ordinary conversations in a low undertone or a mysterious whisper. They are seldom in with more than one bosomfriend at a time. But as soon as they are out with her they t: ansfer their affections to another object, who becdnws in turn the recipient not only of their own confidences; but of those of the "love".and "dear" deposed. In this way all the ladies in any circle of friends . become in time perfectly acquainted with each other's secrets, and to get fully into the confidence of one is to be possessed of the confidence of all.

Some women have a skill in taking up people and laying ihem down that can only be equalled, and cannot be surpassed, fov the dexterity of a professional juggler. We meet them in the evening, and aro as much charmed with them as they appear tc be with us. We attach ourselves to to them, and carry on, it may be, an innocent flirtation. We danco with them more than we intended to dance, go in with them to supper, say soft things in the most insinuating manner, and receive g«neraliy the impression that they like it. We go home, and in the guilelessness of our disposition dream about them by night, and hare pleasant little day dreams, too, that distract our minds from business. But from these innocent dreams we are rudely aroused when we meet them next. At times they cut us dead, at others a, chijling'—almost imperceptible—movement of the head, accompanied by the slightest smile, is the only notice taken of our earnest, longing, mute appeal for recognition. We enter into the feelings of the poor old woman who fell asleep by the roadside, and who, when she woke and found her petticoats cut off by the thievish pedlar, exclaimed in anguish, '-Can this

But it is not only in matters of personal likes and dislikes that women are variable. Their opinions change so, thatif they wer« given the franchise, their representatives would never have a chance of re-election; or the man who possessed their idlest; confidence today would be opposed to them on every subject in six months. How they are driven about by the breath of fashion is plain to every one with an tye in his head.' !The stability of man and the fickleness of woman is curiously exemplified in the matter of their respective head-coverings. When, three-and-twen,ty years ago totbe_very day, I first set foot on Austral shorts, I brought with me that strange structure the belltopper. With that very hat on my head, did it now exist, I could, without attracting attention, walk down Collins street to* morrow. The conservatism, of my sex has in all its essential pointis the hit of a quarter of a century ago. But what

would be thought of a woman who went abroad in a bonnet of the remote past of 1851? At that time, I think, uglies were in fashion—a comical telescopic affair, that, fastened on to a bonnet, would be extended or drawn back at pleasure. Since then there have been mushroom and leatray hats, Dolly Vardens and pork pies, spoon-shaped and poke bonnets, sailors' aad gipsy hats, till in the present day a bi| of lace, a few artificial flowers, and long ribbon, worked together in a knot, are all that women have to shield them from the sun. "When men take to an idea they stick to it. It may be good. or it may be as bad as the bell-topper of the street or the body-coat of the evening dress, but once adopted they cherish it as an institution, and loyally uphold their past opinion by wearing the costume of their youth in their prime and on into their old age. While" women—is there one woman in Victoria who would go to Flexningt»n next Thursday in , the dress she wore five years ago, no matter whether it was becoming or not ? I have degenerated in this article from the design with which I set forward.. My intention was to write of a particular -. woman, and the variabilities to which th^y subject, and not of woman as a whole. But it is, perhaps, better as it is.\. My original plan might have be considered personal. As I have altered it, the most feminine of women cannot take excep • tion to my statements. Women arechanieeable. 1 hey say "no" to-day and " yes to-morrow, and think no more of consistency than Falataff. They change their friendships and their fashions every season, and have often as many old lovers crowding their memories as old dresses to lumber their wardrobe; but, in spite of all, there is no animosity between the ■exes. Woman may be a weathercock, but to what ever quarter of the compass she points, it is certain that man will direct his gaze., Woman, uncertain as she is, leads; man, stubborn as he may be, follows.—Australasian.