Don’t Try to Understand a Woman.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXX, Issue XXIV, 13 June 1903, Page 1690

Don’t Try to Understand a Woman.

(Ry One of the Sex.) Fools in this world are many in number and many in kind, and the man who insists upon understanding a girl is by no means the least egregious of them all. When a woman arrives fully at years of discretion, provided she ever reaches that point, she may perhaps understand herself, when, being wise, she is careful to share the knowledge with no one else; a girl rarely or never does. Nor is this ignorance purely a feminine trait; the wisdom of sages long ago was condensed into the maxim, “Know thyself.”

Most of us, men and women alike,, are more or less chameleon in character, taking colour from our environment, and reflecting the views of those whom we love and honour. We change with the influences brought to bear upon us, and the change is often for good; it was a wise man who said that only a fool never changes his mind, because he has no mind to change. As for woman, she was long since pronounced to be “a very weather cock,” and one of the most inalienable of feminine prerogatives has from time immemorial been that of changing her mind. “Yes, I answered you last night. No, this morning, sir, 1 say. Colours seen by candlelight, Will not look the same by day.” A woman is a creature of moods and tenses, and the moods and tenses are those of an irregular verb. “First, then, a woman will or wont, depend on’t If she will do’t, she will; and there's an end on’t. But if she won't, since safe and sound your trust is, Fear is an affront, and jealousy injustice." Usually a girl acts upon impulse. She does a thing, or does not do it, simply because fancy or inclination so moves her; to give a woman’s reason —“because.” Women, especially young women. who are cool and calculating even in business, much less in affairs of the heart; who make plans long ahead, and consistently live up to them, are about as plenty as white crows. A girl is far more likely to set a match to a powder magazine from a sudden freak of the instant than she is to deliberately plan

the destruction of the same magazine and to lay secret mines therefor. Her evil is in most cases “wrought for want of thought.” in a spirit of mischief which she shares with monkeys and with small boys. latter, on, probably, she nearly cries her eyes out, weeping, when tears are useless, over the mischief which Satan lias found for her idle hands to do. “I’m not denying that the women are foolish; God Almighty made them to match The men!” In the original scheme of creation woman evidently was not meant to be understood, and to this day she is much the more charming as a fascinating puzzle. The average man not only loves but likes her better because of the unexpectedness which gives her piquancy and flavour; the infinite variety which custom cannot stale, and which is truly

the spice of life. Physically, undoubtedly. she is the weaker vessel. The French satirist who defined woman as “an animal naturally sick” had grounds for his caustic wit, and the old-fashion-ed doctrine that every man’s first duty is fitly to provide for the women of his household, to cherish and to care for them in sickness and in health, is the natural order of things which never fails to work well when it is carried out in the spirit and in letter, when love reigns and serves, king and slave in one person. And no man can truly cherish a woman, yet hold her strictly to account; who has no patience with her whims, however harmless they may be. and who exacts that she shall always do the same thing at the same time in the same way, and give a reason for all she does.

Heredity must assert itself, triumphant over training. For long ages the trend of public opinion made of the model woman a meek and patient Griselda, an irresponsible creature who knew no will Tmt that of her lord and master,, and who strove always to reflect his moods. When the woman ruled in past ages she did so by the mild power only; on the rare occasions one arose who had a mind of her own. and fearlessly expressed it, she was hailed as a shrew and virago, an approbrium which even the great Queen Elisabeth did not escape from the men of other lands whose designs upon herself and her realm were frustrated by her wisdom. To be feminine in those days was to be gentle, weak, and clinging. Even now, in the present era of the new woman,

when all gates stand open to her, and she is at full liberty to make the most of any talent which she may possess, bar military genius; when women not infrequently pass men in the race for honour and d. inction, she is still blessed among women who has a good man and true to lean upon in the battle of life, who can afford to be the silent partner in the firm, to use her talents as a staff and not as a crutch. More’s the pity that so many women are of necessity or choice debarred: “The sweet, safe corner of the household fire Behind the heads of children. There are women who have no men to lean on, and thus must needs stand alone, while others yet, much more to be pitied, have men who lean upon them. “And yet, believe, whether good or ill, Woman’s at best a contradiction still. Yea, truly, he is a fool who insists upon analysing a flower, yet expects to preserve that flower in all its beauty and fragrance; who must measure his crystal spring and gauge its depth and its capacity in gallons; who is so mistrustful that he is not content to accept a pin until he has traced it to the factory and seen for himself all the processes ' of wire drawing, cutting, pointing, polishing and heading. The Gradgrinds of life are rarely happy men; faith and imagination do much to gild dross, while they add to the lustre of refined gold.

The true philosopher is he who goes through life taking what conies, and, as St? Paul hade the Corinthians, eats what is set before, “asking no questions for conscience’s sake.” It is not wise to dissect one’s toys; the doll may be stuffed with sawdust, but the knowledge will come soon enough, and “where ignorance is bliss ’twere folly to be wise.” He whose name has been handed down to us as the wisest man who ever lived, said, “He who increaseth knowledge inereaseth sorrow.”

CHILDREN ON THE STAGE