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Article ON THE EXCESSIVE INFLUENCE OF WOMEM. ← Page 3 of 6 →
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On The Excessive Influence Of Womem.
that the evil mi ght be remedied if only the excessive influence of the ostentatious sex could be controlled . There is nothing women will not do for appearances . For appearance ' s sake they will endure excruciating martyrdom , whether of body or
soul , and they will compel every one whom they can influence to undergo like torture . How things look , not how things are , is their perpetual thought ancl anxiety . There is a noble ancl apathetic side to this characteristic , as indeed there is to all their
characteristics . Nearly all female faults are virtues carried to excess , or in a wrong direction , and , remember , I am not contending against the influence of women , which I believe to bo the best and most useful-thing in lifebut against their
ex-, cessive influence . 1 know no more lovely sight than to behold a frugal housewife , the contented consort of some poor man , putting the best face on what some people would call poverty , making the most of the situationmaking a little go a long way
, , and so comporting herself and so arranging her household affairs that none shall guess her anxieties or divine with what scanty materials she contrives to cut so
respectable a figure . That is the woman of whom the inspired writer said the price of her is m a pearl brought from afar . She is infinitely more priceless than all the pearls ever hung upon the neck of wealth and beauty . There are many such—Heaven bless them !—ancl the best of men will have
to kneel before them as in the presence of a superior divinity . But , when necessity is no longer the mother of invention , ancl their ingenuity in " creating an effect " is dictated merel y by a desire to shine and to outshine , then the virtue has toppled over
into vice . Corruptio optimi pessima est ; ancl the same woman who , had she married a poor squire , would have been leading a life of heroism by daily combating his narrow means and concealing his straits with judicious economy combined now and
then with a little pardonable pasteboard , having wed an easy-going plutocrat , becomes the vulgar instigator of opulent display , and devotes her days to a game of ill-bred brag , in which profusion and waste are the counters ancl the mortification of others the pool . " A direct and immediate consequence of the excessive influence of women , as
perceived in the aggravated ostentation and rivalry in parade which unquestionabl y mark the age , is the necessity it imposes upon men , in the character whether of husbands or of aspiring lovers , of dedicating their energies ever more and more to the acquisition of wealth . The bright
exceptions must not take offence because we state the rule ; and the rule is that , no matter whom they may love—and poverty , in spite of the Roman satirist , has not yet made men ridiculous in the eyes of women —girls marry the richest men that can be
found for them . Pretty girls are a standing premium upon the pursuit and acquisition of wealth . The richest man wins . AAliat a standard of life is thus set up for the ingenuous youth of the nation ! I have spoken freely and handsomely , I trust , of the naturally good instincts of women . But their most servile adulator
would not have the face to piretend that , among their many good and even great qualities , can be enumerated the cherishing of lofty ideals of life . The weak side of woman is want of imagination , which is necessarily accompanied with a corresponding indifference to things truly great ,
as distinguished from tilings good or things powerful . Left to her own instincts , woman is well content with a small , happy , narrow , cheerful , virtuous , hum-drum , domestic life . She demands nothing more from her partner than that
be shall be a kindly fellow , the husband of her hearth , the father of her children , a not over-worked bread-winner , a respectable citizen , in a word , a pattern paterfamilias . That is a good and unimpeachable ideal , but it is not a very wide or a
very elevated one . No longer left entirely to her own instincts , but subjected to the instincts acquired in the more complex conditions of an active and struggling society , she readily imbibes a wish that her husband shall become a person of some
consequence . " We think that our able friend , the writer , is here getting on very dangerous ground indeed , and putting forward some very questionable statements ! To deride womento complain of women because
, they seek to make home their great consideration , their ideal of happiness , is , after all , only worthy of a shallow writer or a profligate mind .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Excessive Influence Of Womem.
that the evil mi ght be remedied if only the excessive influence of the ostentatious sex could be controlled . There is nothing women will not do for appearances . For appearance ' s sake they will endure excruciating martyrdom , whether of body or
soul , and they will compel every one whom they can influence to undergo like torture . How things look , not how things are , is their perpetual thought ancl anxiety . There is a noble ancl apathetic side to this characteristic , as indeed there is to all their
characteristics . Nearly all female faults are virtues carried to excess , or in a wrong direction , and , remember , I am not contending against the influence of women , which I believe to bo the best and most useful-thing in lifebut against their
ex-, cessive influence . 1 know no more lovely sight than to behold a frugal housewife , the contented consort of some poor man , putting the best face on what some people would call poverty , making the most of the situationmaking a little go a long way
, , and so comporting herself and so arranging her household affairs that none shall guess her anxieties or divine with what scanty materials she contrives to cut so
respectable a figure . That is the woman of whom the inspired writer said the price of her is m a pearl brought from afar . She is infinitely more priceless than all the pearls ever hung upon the neck of wealth and beauty . There are many such—Heaven bless them !—ancl the best of men will have
to kneel before them as in the presence of a superior divinity . But , when necessity is no longer the mother of invention , ancl their ingenuity in " creating an effect " is dictated merel y by a desire to shine and to outshine , then the virtue has toppled over
into vice . Corruptio optimi pessima est ; ancl the same woman who , had she married a poor squire , would have been leading a life of heroism by daily combating his narrow means and concealing his straits with judicious economy combined now and
then with a little pardonable pasteboard , having wed an easy-going plutocrat , becomes the vulgar instigator of opulent display , and devotes her days to a game of ill-bred brag , in which profusion and waste are the counters ancl the mortification of others the pool . " A direct and immediate consequence of the excessive influence of women , as
perceived in the aggravated ostentation and rivalry in parade which unquestionabl y mark the age , is the necessity it imposes upon men , in the character whether of husbands or of aspiring lovers , of dedicating their energies ever more and more to the acquisition of wealth . The bright
exceptions must not take offence because we state the rule ; and the rule is that , no matter whom they may love—and poverty , in spite of the Roman satirist , has not yet made men ridiculous in the eyes of women —girls marry the richest men that can be
found for them . Pretty girls are a standing premium upon the pursuit and acquisition of wealth . The richest man wins . AAliat a standard of life is thus set up for the ingenuous youth of the nation ! I have spoken freely and handsomely , I trust , of the naturally good instincts of women . But their most servile adulator
would not have the face to piretend that , among their many good and even great qualities , can be enumerated the cherishing of lofty ideals of life . The weak side of woman is want of imagination , which is necessarily accompanied with a corresponding indifference to things truly great ,
as distinguished from tilings good or things powerful . Left to her own instincts , woman is well content with a small , happy , narrow , cheerful , virtuous , hum-drum , domestic life . She demands nothing more from her partner than that
be shall be a kindly fellow , the husband of her hearth , the father of her children , a not over-worked bread-winner , a respectable citizen , in a word , a pattern paterfamilias . That is a good and unimpeachable ideal , but it is not a very wide or a
very elevated one . No longer left entirely to her own instincts , but subjected to the instincts acquired in the more complex conditions of an active and struggling society , she readily imbibes a wish that her husband shall become a person of some
consequence . " We think that our able friend , the writer , is here getting on very dangerous ground indeed , and putting forward some very questionable statements ! To deride womento complain of women because
, they seek to make home their great consideration , their ideal of happiness , is , after all , only worthy of a shallow writer or a profligate mind .