SELF-MADE WOMAN.

Waipawa Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 783, 30 May 1885, Page 4

SELF-MADE WOMAN.

We hear a great deal of self-made man. We are personally acquainted with a great many of them, and we know a great many by reputation. Those of us who are old enough can look back and trace the career of several—justly celebrated —whom we know literally began with the traditionary half crown, and struggled onward and upwards until they drew their last breath in a mansion where everything told of wealth, and lay down to a well-earnest rest surrounded by every luxury that wealth could bestow.

We read in the papers shortly afterwards, and read it without surprise, that the personality on that man, or of those men, was “ sworn under £200,000,” or perhaps a great deal more. So much for the half crown ! but it is not self-made men that this chapter treats. 1 sing the song of self-made women, and I venture to affirm that they are quite as remarkable in their way as the men, although “ they toil not, neither do they spin.” We meet them every day in society. We remember then w hen they made the small begining which showed the spirit that was in them and we have watched them in private just as we have watched the self-made man in public until we have been able to whisper to our dearest friend confidently, “ How wonderfully that woman has got on !” It takes a great many ingredients to assist in the making of the woman who rises to the highest rung of the great ladder of life. In the first place she must have ambition, must have tact, must have opportunity. Ambition is the primary quality, which being apparently inherent in the system of the woman who whshes to rise, incites her to the boldest feats, and acts as a sort of moral tonic to urge her on, the guiding star of her constitution. Tact is heaven born gift. Without tact she would not he able to single out and secure those who are most likely to be useful to her in her career. She must think no one too insignfiaant for her purpose, but bear in miud constantly the fable of the lion and the mouse. As for opportunity, she must either w r atch for it with the greatest vililgance or she must make it for herself. The self-made woman is clever by naturo, and is not likely to neglect any that presents itself. She well knows the importance of seizing it upon the spot, and of never allowing the fatal word “ lost” to bo written upon tho face of it. No remorse much greater to tho women of tho world than to feel that she has had it in her grasp, and has let it slip. Wealth va sans dire ; nothing can bo done without money, and she must be the wife of a carefully-selected man. He is to be le mart de sa femme , and, if he is not so whon she marries him, ho will become so after a few years of clever training. She must havo a certain amount of good looks, and a certain charm of presence and manner, for she must know how to make herself pleasant ; also she must, possess imperturbable good temper, for in the course of her “ climb” she will have to put many a “ nub” in her pocket. The self-made woman, however, owes something to her husbaud, for while he is plodding steadily on in either his political or professional career, she is working hard on the foundation of his “ position,” and when he has advanced to tho point of ennobling her and retiring from public life, she is all right.

Some women marry for lovo ; some from pique; some for reasons which the world will never be told, but tho far-seeing self-made woman marries for position, and that assured to her by a wise marriage, she begins real life by giving a few great balls. When, after untold exertions, sho sits at the head of a princely table and entertains royalty, she has pretty well wedded her society of every living soul who at first comprised it, and won a position for herself, leaving far behind him who is now in very truth only le tnari de sa femme , for she has distanced him completely. And some day tho good man dies, and leaves an enormous fortune, besides estates, entirely to his wife (for her life or not as the case may bo), and there is a very grand funeral, and people all exclaim, “ Good gracious, I thought he was dead long ago.” Sic iiur ad astra, says the self made woman ; and there she is, and there Bhe Rtays, far above your head and rejoicing in the consciousness that everybody wishes to know her, and cares nothing for the almost forgotten fact that she is one in the great catalogue of “ w omen who have risen.”