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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3106.txt b/3106.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3a3f4e --- /dev/null +++ b/3106.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2883 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of As We Were Saying, by Charles Dudley Warner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: As We Were Saying + +Author: Charles Dudley Warner + +Release Date: December 5, 2004 [EBook #3106] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AS WE WERE SAYING *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +BACKLOG EDITION + +THE COMPLETE WRITINGS + +OF CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER + + +1904 + + + +AS WE WERE SAYING + + + +CONTENTS: + +AS WE WERE SAYING + ROSE AND CHRYSANTHEMUM + THE RED BONNET + THE LOSS IN CIVILIZATION + SOCIAL SCREAMING + DOES REFINEMENT KILL INDIVIDUALITY? + THE DIRECTOIRE GOWN + THE MYSTERY OF THE SEX + THE CLOTHES OF FICTION + THE BROAD A + CHEWING GUM + WOMEN IN CONGRESS + SHALL WOMEN PROPOSE? + FROCKS AND THE STAGE + ALTRUISM + SOCIAL CLEARING-HOUSE + DINNER-TABLE TALK + NATURALIZATION + ART OF GOVERNING + LOVE OF DISPLAY + VALUE OF THE COMMONPLACE + THE BURDEN OF CHRISTMAS + THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WRITERS + THE CAP AND GOWN + A TENDENCY OF THE AGE + A LOCOED NOVELIST + + + + + + +AS WE WERE SAYING + + + + +ROSE AND CHRYSANTHEMUM + +The Drawer will still bet on the rose. This is not a wager, but only a +strong expression of opinion. The rose will win. It does not look so now. +To all appearances, this is the age of the chrysanthemum. What this gaudy +flower will be, daily expanding and varying to suit the whim of fashion, +no one can tell. It may be made to bloom like the cabbage; it may spread +out like an umbrella--it can never be large enough nor showy enough to +suit us. Undeniably it is very effective, especially in masses of +gorgeous color. In its innumerable shades and enlarging proportions, it +is a triumph of the gardener. It is a rival to the analine dyes and to +the marabout feathers. It goes along with all the conceits and fantastic +unrest of the decorative art. Indeed, but for the discovery of the +capacities of the chrysanthemum, modern life would have experienced a +fatal hitch in its development. It helps out our age of plush with a +flame of color. There is nothing shamefaced or retiring about it, and it +already takes all provinces for its own. One would be only +half-married--civilly, and not fashionably--without a chrysanthemum +wedding; and it lights the way to the tomb. The maiden wears a bunch of +it in her corsage in token of her blooming expectations, and the young +man flaunts it on his coat lapel in an effort to be at once effective and +in the mode. Young love that used to express its timid desire with the +violet, or, in its ardor, with the carnation, now seeks to bring its +emotions to light by the help of the chrysanthemum. And it can express +every shade of feeling, from the rich yellow of prosperous wooing to the +brick-colored weariness of life that is hardly distinguishable from the +liver complaint. It is a little stringy for a boutonniere, but it fills +the modern-trained eye as no other flower can fill it. We used to say +that a girl was as sweet as a rose; we have forgotten that language. We +used to call those tender additions to society, on the eve of their event +into that world which is always so eager to receive fresh young life, +"rose-buds"; we say now simply "buds," but we mean chrysanthemum buds. +They are as beautiful as ever; they excite the same exquisite interest; +perhaps in their maiden hearts they are one or another variety of that +flower which bears such a sweet perfume in all literature; but can it +make no difference in character whether a young girl comes out into the +garish world as a rose or as a chrysanthemum? Is her life set to the note +of display, of color and show, with little sweetness, or to that retiring +modesty which needs a little encouragement before it fully reveals its +beauty and its perfume? If one were to pass his life in moving in a +palace car from one plush hotel to another, a bunch of chrysanthemums in +his hand would seem to be a good symbol of his life. There are aged +people who can remember that they used to choose various roses, as to +their color, odor, and degree of unfolding, to express the delicate +shades of advancing passion and of devotion. What can one do with this +new favorite? Is not a bunch of chrysanthemums a sort of +take-it-or-leave-it declaration, boldly and showily made, an offer +without discrimination, a tender without romance? A young man will catch +the whole family with this flaming message, but where is that sentiment +that once set the maiden heart in a flutter? Will she press a +chrysanthemum, and keep it till the faint perfume reminds her of the +sweetest moment of her life? + +Are we exaggerating this astonishing rise, development, and spread of the +chrysanthemum? As a fashion it is not so extraordinary as the hoop-skirt, +or as the neck ruff, which is again rising as a background to the lovely +head. But the remarkable thing about it is that heretofore in all nations +and times, and in all changes of fashion in dress, the rose has held its +own as the queen of flowers and as the finest expression of sentiment. +But here comes a flaunting thing with no desirable perfume, looking as if +it were cut with scissors out of tissue-paper, but capable of taking +infinite varieties of color, and growing as big as a curtain tassel, that +literally captures the world, and spreads all over the globe, like the +Canada thistle. The florists have no eye for anything else, and the +biggest floral prizes are awarded for the production of its +eccentricities. Is the rage for this flower typical of this fast and +flaring age? + +The Drawer is not an enemy to the chrysanthemum, nor to the sunflower, +nor to any other gorgeous production of nature. But it has an +old-fashioned love for the modest and unobtrusive virtues, and an abiding +faith that they will win over the strained and strident displays of life. +There is the violet: all efforts of cultivation fail to make it as big as +the peony, and it would be no more dear to the heart if it were +quadrupled in size. We do, indeed, know that satisfying beauty and +refinement are apt to escape us when we strive too much and force nature +into extraordinary display, and we know how difficult it is to get mere +bigness and show without vulgarity. Cultivation has its limits. After we +have produced it, we find that the biggest rose even is not the most +precious; and lovely as woman is, we instinctively in our admiration put +a limit to her size. There being, then, certain laws that ultimately +fetch us all up standing, so to speak, it does seem probable that the +chrysanthemum rage will end in a gorgeous sunset of its splendor; that +fashion will tire of it, and that the rose, with its secret heart of +love; the rose, with its exquisite form; the rose, with its capacity of +shyly and reluctantly unfolding its beauty; the rose, with that odor--of +the first garden exhaled and yet kept down through all the ages of sin +--will become again the fashion, and be more passionately admired for its +temporary banishment. Perhaps the poet will then come back again and +sing. What poet could now sing of the "awful chrysanthemum of dawn"? + + + + +THE RED BONNET + +The Drawer has no wish to make Lent easier for anybody, or rather to +diminish the benefit of the penitential season. But in this period of +human anxiety and repentance it must be said that not enough account is +made of the moral responsibility of Things. The doctrine is sound; the +only difficulty is in applying it. It can, however, be illustrated by a +little story, which is here confided to the reader in the same trust in +which it was received. There was once a lady, sober in mind and sedate in +manner, whose plain dress exactly represented her desire to be +inconspicuous, to do good, to improve every day of her life in actions +that should benefit her kind. She was a serious person, inclined to +improving conversation, to the reading of bound books that cost at least +a dollar and a half (fifteen cents of which she gladly contributed to the +author), and she had a distaste for the gay society which was mainly a +flutter of ribbons and talk and pretty faces; and when she meditated, as +she did in her spare moments, her heart was sore over the frivolity of +life and the emptiness of fashion. She longed to make the world better, +and without any priggishness she set it an example of simplicity and +sobriety, of cheerful acquiescence in plainness and inconspicuousness. + +One day--it was in the autumn--this lady had occasion to buy a new hat. +From a great number offered to her she selected a red one with a dull red +plume. It did not agree with the rest of her apparel; it did not fit her +apparent character. What impulse led to this selection she could not +explain. She was not tired of being good, but something in the jauntiness +of the hat and the color pleased her. If it were a temptation, she did +not intend to yield to it, but she thought she would take the hat home +and try it. Perhaps her nature felt the need of a little warmth. The hat +pleased her still more when she got it home and put it on and surveyed +herself in the mirror. Indeed, there was a new expression in her face +that corresponded to the hat. She put it off and looked at it. There was +something almost humanly winning and temptatious in it. In short, she +kept it, and when she wore it abroad she was not conscious of its +incongruity to herself or to her dress, but of the incongruity of the +rest of her apparel to the hat, which seemed to have a sort of +intelligence of its own, at least a power of changing and conforming +things to itself. By degrees one article after another in the lady's +wardrobe was laid aside, and another substituted for it that answered to +the demanding spirit of the hat. In a little while this plain lady was +not plain any more, but most gorgeously dressed, and possessed with the +desire to be in the height of the fashion. It came to this, that she had +a tea-gown made out of a window-curtain with a flamboyant pattern. +Solomon in all his glory would have been ashamed of himself in her +presence. + +But this was not all. Her disposition, her ideas, her whole life, was +changed. She did not any more think of going about doing good, but of +amusing herself. She read nothing but stories in paper covers. In place +of being sedate and sober-minded, she was frivolous to excess; she spent +most of her time with women who liked to "frivol." She kept Lent in the +most expensive way, so as to make the impression upon everybody that she +was better than the extremest kind of Lent. From liking the sedatest +company she passed to liking the gayest society and the most fashionable +method of getting rid of her time. Nothing whatever had happened to her, +and she is now an ornament to society. + +This story is not an invention; it is a leaf out of life. If this lady +that autumn day had bought a plain bonnet she would have continued on in +her humble, sensible way of living. Clearly it was the hat that made the +woman, and not the woman the hat. She had no preconception of it; it +simply happened to her, like any accident--as if she had fallen and +sprained her ankle. Some people may say that she had in her a concealed +propensity for frivolity; but the hat cannot escape the moral +responsibility of calling it out if it really existed. The power of +things to change and create character is well attested. Men live up to or +live down to their clothes, which have a great moral influence on manner, +and even on conduct. There was a man run down almost to vagabondage, +owing to his increasingly shabby clothing, and he was only saved from +becoming a moral and physical wreck by a remnant of good-breeding in him +that kept his worn boots well polished. In time his boots brought up the +rest of his apparel and set him on his feet again. Then there is the +well-known example of the honest clerk on a small salary who was ruined +by the gift of a repeating watch--an expensive timepiece that required at +least ten thousand a year to sustain it: he is now in Canada. + +Sometimes the influence of Things is good and sometimes it is bad. We +need a philosophy that shall tell us why it is one or the other, and fix +the responsibility where it belongs. It does no good, as people always +find out by reflex action, to kick an inanimate thing that has offended, +to smash a perverse watch with a hammer, to break a rocking-chair that +has a habit of tipping over backward. If Things are not actually +malicious, they seem to have a power of revenging themselves. We ought to +try to understand them better, and to be more aware of what they can do +to us. If the lady who bought the red hat could have known the hidden +nature of it, could have had a vision of herself as she was transformed +by it, she would as soon have taken a viper into her bosom as have placed +the red tempter on her head. Her whole previous life, her feeling of the +moment, show that it was not vanity that changed her, but the +inconsiderate association with a Thing that happened to strike her fancy, +and which seemed innocent. But no Thing is really powerless for good or +evil. + + + + +THE LOSS IN CIVILIZATION + +Have we yet hit upon the right idea of civilization? The process which +has been going on ever since the world began seems to have a defect in +it; strength, vital power, somehow escapes. When you've got a man +thoroughly civilized you cannot do anything more with him. And it is +worth reflection what we should do, what could we spend our energies on, +and what would evoke them, we who are both civilized and enlightened, if +all nations were civilized and the earth were entirely subdued. That is +to say, are not barbarism and vast regions of uncultivated land a +necessity of healthful life on this globe? We do not like to admit that +this process has its cycles, that nations and men, like trees and fruit, +grow, ripen, and then decay. The world has always had a conceit that the +globe could be made entirely habitable, and all over the home of a +society constantly growing better. In order to accomplish this we have +striven to eliminate barbarism in man and in nature: + +Is there anything more unsatisfactory than a perfect house, perfect +grounds, perfect gardens, art and nature brought into the most absolute +harmony of taste and culture? What more can a man do with it? What +satisfaction has a man in it if he really gets to the end of his power to +improve it? There have been such nearly ideal places, and how strong +nature, always working against man and in the interest of untamed +wildness, likes to riot in them and reduce them to picturesque +destruction! And what sweet sadness, pathos, romantic suggestion, the +human mind finds in such a ruin! And a society that has attained its end +in all possible culture, entire refinement in manners, in tastes, in the +art of elegant intellectual and luxurious living--is there nothing +pathetic in that? Where is the primeval, heroic force that made the joy +of living in the rough old uncivilized days? Even throw in goodness, a +certain amount of altruism, gentleness, warm interest in unfortunate +humanity--is the situation much improved? London is probably the most +civilized centre the world has ever seen; there are gathered more of the +elements of that which we reckon the best. Where in history, unless some +one puts in a claim for the Frenchman, shall we find a Man so nearly +approaching the standard we have set up of civilization as the +Englishman, refined by inheritance and tradition, educated almost beyond +the disturbance of enthusiasm, and cultivated beyond the chance of +surprise? We are speaking of the highest type in manner, information, +training, in the acquisition of what the world has to give. Could these +men have conquered the world? Is it possible that our highest +civilization has lost something of the rough and admirable element that +we admire in the heroes of Homer and of Elizabeth? What is this London, +the most civilized city ever known? Why, a considerable part of its +population is more barbarous, more hopelessly barbarous, than any wild +race we know, because they are the barbarians of civilization, the refuse +and slag of it, if we dare say that of any humanity. More hopeless, +because the virility of savagery has measurably gone out of it. We can do +something with a degraded race of savages, if it has any stamina in it. +What can be done with those who are described as "East-Londoners"? + +Every great city has enough of the same element. Is this an accident, or +is it a necessity of the refinement that we insist on calling +civilization? We are always sending out missionaries to savage or +perverted nations, we are always sending out emigrants to occupy and +reduce to order neglected territory. This is our main business. How would +it be if this business were really accomplished, and there were no more +peoples to teach our way of life to, and no more territory to bring under +productive cultivation? Without the necessity of putting forth this +energy, a survival of the original force in man, how long would our +civilization last? In a word, if the world were actually all civilized, +wouldn't it be too weak even to ripen? And now, in the great centres, +where is accumulated most of that we value as the product of man's best +efforts, is there strength enough to elevate the degraded humanity that +attends our highest cultivation? We have a gay confidence that we can do +something for Africa. Can we reform London and Paris and New York, which +our own hands have made? + +If we cannot, where is the difficulty? Is this a hopeless world? Must it +always go on by spurts and relapses, alternate civilization and +barbarism, and the barbarism being necessary to keep us employed and +growing? Or is there some mistake about our ideal of civilization? Does +our process too much eliminate the rough vigor, courage, stamina of the +race? After a time do we just live, or try to live, on literature warmed +over, on pretty coloring and drawing instead of painting that stirs the +soul to the heroic facts and tragedies of life? Where did this virile, +blood-full, throbbing Russian literature come from; this Russian painting +of Verestchagin, that smites us like a sword with the consciousness of +the tremendous meaning of existence? Is there a barbaric force left in +the world that we have been daintily trying to cover and apologize for +and refine into gentle agreeableness? + +These questions are too deep for these pages. Let us make the world +pleasant, and throw a cover over the refuse. We are doing very well, on +the whole, considering what we are and the materials we have to work on. +And we must not leave the world so perfectly civilized that the +inhabitants, two or three centuries ahead, will have nothing to do. + + + + +SOCIAL SCREAMING + +Of all the contrivances for amusement in this agreeable world the +"Reception" is the most ingenious, and would probably most excite the +wonder of an angel sent down to inspect our social life. If he should +pause at the entrance of the house where one is in progress, he would be +puzzled. The noise that would greet his ears is different from the deep +continuous roar in the streets, it is unlike the hum of millions of +seventeen-year locusts, it wants the musical quality of the spring +conventions of the blackbirds in the chestnuts, and he could not compare +it to the vociferation in a lunatic asylum, for that is really subdued +and infrequent. He might be incapable of analyzing this, but when he +caught sight of the company he would be compelled to recognize it as the +noise of our highest civilization. It may not be perfect, for there are +limits to human powers of endurance, but it is the best we can do. It is +not a chance affair. Here are selected, picked out by special invitation, +the best that society can show, the most intelligent, the most +accomplished, the most beautiful, the best dressed persons in the +community--all receptions have this character. The angel would notice +this at once, and he would be astonished at the number of such persons, +for the rooms would be so crowded that he would see the hopelessness of +attempting to edge or wedge his way through the throng without tearing +off his wings. An angel, in short, would stand no chance in one of these +brilliant assemblies on account of his wings, and he probably could not +be heard, on account of the low, heavenly pitch of his voice. His +inference would be that these people had been selected to come together +by reason of their superior power of screaming. He would be wrong. + +--They are selected on account of their intelligence, agreeableness, and +power of entertaining each other. They come together, not for exercise, +but pleasure, and the more they crowd and jam and struggle, and the +louder they scream, the greater the pleasure. It is a kind of contest, +full of good-humor and excitement. The one that has the shrillest voice +and can scream the loudest is most successful. It would seem at first +that they are under a singular hallucination, imagining that the more +noise there is in the room the better each one can be heard, and so each +one continues to raise his or her voice in order to drown the other +voices. The secret of the game is to pitch the voice one or two octaves +above the ordinary tone. Some throats cannot stand this strain long; they +become rasped and sore, and the voices break; but this adds to the +excitement and enjoyment of those who can scream with less inconvenience. +The angel would notice that if at any time silence was called, in order +that an announcement of music could be made, in the awful hush that +followed people spoke to each other in their natural voices, and +everybody could be heard without effort. But this was not the object of +the Reception, and in a moment more the screaming would begin again, the +voices growing higher and higher, until, if the roof were taken off, one +vast shriek would go up to heaven. + +This is not only a fashion, it is an art. People have to train for it, +and as it is a unique amusement, it is worth some trouble to be able to +succeed in it. Men, by reason of their stolidity and deeper voices, can +never be proficients in it; and they do not have so much practice--unless +they are stock-brokers. Ladies keep themselves in training in their +ordinary calls. If three or four meet in a drawing-room they all begin to +scream, not that they may be heard--for the higher they go the less they +understand each other--but simply to acquire the art of screaming at +receptions. If half a dozen ladies meeting by chance in a parlor should +converse quietly in their sweet, ordinary home tones, it might be in a +certain sense agreeable, but it would not be fashionable, and it would +not strike the prevailing note of our civilization. If it were true that +a group of women all like to talk at the same time when they meet (which +is a slander invented by men, who may be just as loquacious, but not so +limber-tongued and quick-witted), and raise their voices to a shriek in +order to dominate each other, it could be demonstrated that they would be +more readily heard if they all spoke in low tones. But the object is not +conversation; it is the social exhilaration that comes from the wild +exercise of the voice in working off a nervous energy; it is so seldom +that in her own house a lady gets a chance to scream. + +The dinner-party, where there are ten or twelve at table, is a favorite +chance for this exercise. At a recent dinner, where there were a dozen +uncommonly intelligent people, all capable of the most entertaining +conversation, by some chance, or owing to some nervous condition, they +all began to speak in a high voice as soon as they were seated, and the +effect was that of a dynamite explosion. It was a cheerful babel of +indistinguishable noise, so loud and shrill and continuous that it was +absolutely impossible for two people seated on the opposite sides of the +table, and both shouting at each other, to catch an intelligible +sentence. This made a lively dinner. Everybody was animated, and if there +was no conversation, even between persons seated side by side, there was +a glorious clatter and roar; and when it was over, everybody was hoarse +and exhausted, and conscious that he had done his best in a high social +function. + +This topic is not the selection of the Drawer, the province of which is +to note, but not to criticise, the higher civilization. But the inquiry +has come from many cities, from many women, "Cannot something be done to +stop social screaming?" The question is referred to the scientific branch +of the Social Science Association. If it is a mere fashion, the +association can do nothing. But it might institute some practical +experiments. It might get together in a small room fifty people all let +loose in the ordinary screaming contest, measure the total volume of +noise and divide it by fifty, and ascertain how much throat power was +needed in one person to be audible to another three feet from the +latter's ear. This would sift out the persons fit for such a contest. The +investigator might then call a dead silence in the assembly, and request +each person to talk in a natural voice, then divide the total noise as +before, and see what chance of being heard an ordinary individual had in +it. If it turned out in these circumstances that every person present +could speak with ease and hear perfectly what was said, then the order +might be given for the talk to go on in that tone, and that every person +who raised the voice and began to scream should be gagged and removed to +another room. In this room could be collected all the screamers to enjoy +their own powers. The same experiment might be tried at a dinner-party, +namely, to ascertain if the total hum of low voices in the natural key +would not be less for the individual voice to overcome than the total +scream of all the voices raised to a shriek. If scientific research +demonstrated the feasibility of speaking in an ordinary voice at +receptions, dinner-parties, and in "calls," then the Drawer is of opinion +that intelligible and enjoyable conversation would be possible on these +occasions, if it becomes fashionable not to scream. + + + + +DOES REFINEMENT KILL INDIVIDUALITY? + +Is it true that cultivation, what we call refinement, kills +individuality? Or, worse than that even, that one loses his taste by +over-cultivation? Those persons are uninteresting, certainly, who have +gone so far in culture that they accept conventional standards supposed +to be correct, to which they refer everything, and by which they measure +everybody. Taste usually implies a sort of selection; the cultivated +taste of which we speak is merely a comparison, no longer an individual +preference or appreciation, but only a reference to the conventional and +accepted standard. When a man or woman has reached this stage of +propriety we are never curious any more concerning their opinions on any +subject. We know that the opinions expressed will not be theirs, evolved +out of their own feeling, but that they will be the cut-and-dried results +of conventionality. + +It is doubtless a great comfort to a person to know exactly how to feel +and what to say in every new contingency, but whether the zest of life is +not dulled by this ability is a grave question, for it leaves no room for +surprise and little for emotion. O ye belles of Newport and of Bar +Harbor, in your correct and conventional agreement of what is proper and +agreeable, are you wasting your sweet lives by rule? Is your compact, +graceful, orderly society liable to be monotonous in its gay repetition +of the same thing week after week? Is there nothing outside of that +envied circle which you make so brilliant? Is the Atlantic shore the only +coast where beauty may lounge and spread its net of enchantment? The +Atlantic shore and Europe? Perhaps on the Pacific you might come back to +your original selves, and find again that freedom and that charm of +individuality that are so attractive. Some sparkling summer morning, if +you chanced to drive four-in-hand along the broad beach at Santa Barbara, +inhaling, the spicy breeze from the Sandwich Islands, along the curved +shore where the blue of the sea and the purple of the mountains remind +you of the Sorrentine promontory, and then dashed away into the canon of +Montecito, among the vineyards and orange orchards and live-oaks and +palms, in vales and hills all ablaze with roses and flowers of the garden +and the hothouse, which bloom the year round in the gracious sea-air, +would you not, we wonder, come to yourselves in the sense of a new life +where it is good form to be enthusiastic and not disgraceful to be +surprised? It is a far cry from Newport to Santa Barbara, and a whole +world of new sensations lies on the way, experiences for which you will +have no formula of experience. To take the journey is perhaps too heroic +treatment for the disease of conformity--the sort of malaria of our +exclusive civilization. + +The Drawer is not urging this journey, nor any break-up of the social +order, for it knows how painful a return to individuality may be. It is +easier to go on in the subordination of one's personality to the strictly +conventional life. It expects rather to record a continually perfected +machinery, a life in which not only speech but ideas are brought into +rule. We have had something to say occasionally of the art of +conversation, which is in danger of being lost in the confused babel of +the reception and the chatter of the dinner-party--the art of listening +and the art of talking both being lost. Society is taking alarm at this, +and the women as usual are leaders in a reform. Already, by reason of +clubs-literary, scientific, economic--woman is the well-informed part of +our society. In the "Conversation Lunch" this information is now brought +into use. The lunch, and perhaps the dinner, will no longer be the +occasion of satisfying the appetite or of gossip, but of improving talk. +The giver of the lunch will furnish the topic of conversation. Two +persons may not speak at once; two persons may not talk with each other; +all talk is to be general and on the topic assigned, and while one is +speaking, the others must listen. Perhaps each lady on taking her seat +may find in her napkin a written slip of paper which shall be the guide +to her remarks. Thus no time is to be wasted on frivolous topics. The +ordinary natural flow of rejoinder and repartee, the swirling of talk +around one obstacle and another, its winding and rippling here and there +as individual whim suggests, will not be allowed, but all will be +improving, and tend to that general culture of which we have been +speaking. The ladies' lunch is not to be exactly a debating society, but +an open occasion for the delivery of matured thought and the acquisition +of information. + +The object is not to talk each other down, but to improve the mind, +which, unguided, is apt to get frivolous at the convivial board. It is +notorious that men by themselves at lunch or dinner usually shun grave +topics and indulge in persiflage, and even descend to talk about wine and +the made dishes. The women's lunch of this summer takes higher ground. It +will give Mr. Browning his final estimate; it will settle Mr. Ibsen; it +will determine the suffrage question; it will adjudicate between the +total abstainers and the halfway covenant of high license; it will not +hesitate to cut down the tariff. + +The Drawer anticipates a period of repose in all our feverish social +life. We shall live more by rule and less by impulse. When we meet we +shall talk on set topics, determined beforehand. By this concentration we +shall be able as one man or one woman to reach the human limit of +cultivation, and get rid of all the aberrations of individual assertion +and feeling. By studying together in clubs, by conversing in monotone and +by rule, by thinking the same things and exchanging ideas until we have +none left, we shall come into that social placidity which is one dream of +the nationalists--one long step towards what may be called a prairie +mental condition--the slope of Kansas, where those who are five thousand +feet above the sea-level seem to be no higher than those who dwell in the +Missouri Valley. + + + + +THE DIRECTOIRE GOWN + +We are all more or less devoted to 'liberte', 'egalite', and considerable +'fraternite', and we have various ways of showing it. It is the opinion +of many that women do not care much about politics, and that if they are +interested at all in them, they are by nature aristocrats. It is said, +indeed, that they care much more about their dress than they do about the +laws or the form of government. This notion arises from a misapprehension +both of the nature of woman and of the significance of dress. + +Men have an idea that fashions are haphazard, and are dictated and guided +by no fixed principles of action, and represent no great currents in +politics or movements of the human mind. Women, who are exceedingly +subtle in all their operations, feel that it is otherwise. They have a +prescience of changes in the drift of public affairs, and a delicate +sensitiveness that causes them to adjust their raiment to express these +changes. Men have written a great deal in their bungling way about the +philosophy of clothes. Women exhibit it, and if we should study them more +and try to understand them instead of ridiculing their fashions as whims +bred of an inconstant mind and mere desire for change, we would have a +better apprehension of the great currents of modern political life and +society. + +Many observers are puzzled by the gradual and insidious return recently +to the mode of the Directoire, and can see in it no significance other +than weariness of some other mode. We need to recall the fact of the +influence of the centenary period upon the human mind. It is nearly a +century since the fashion of the Directoire. What more natural, +considering the evidence that we move in spirals, if not in circles, that +the signs of the anniversary of one of the most marked periods in history +should be shown in feminine apparel? It is woman's way of hinting what is +in the air, the spirit that is abroad in the world. It will be remembered +that women took a prominent part in the destruction of the Bastile, +helping, indeed, to tear down that odious structure with their own hands, +the fall of which, it is well known, brought in the classic Greek and +republican simplicity, the subtle meaning of the change being expressed +in French gowns. Naturally there was a reaction from all this towards +aristocratic privileges and exclusiveness, which went on for many years, +until in France monarchy and empire followed the significant leadership +of the French modistes. So strong was this that it passed to other +countries, and in England the impulse outlasted even the Reform Bill, and +skirts grew more and more bulbous, until it did not need more than three +or four women to make a good-sized assembly. This was not the result of, +a whim about clothes, but a subtle recognition of a spirit of +exclusiveness and defense abroad in the world. Each woman became her own +Bastile. Men surrounded it and thundered against it without the least +effect. It seemed as permanent as the Pyramids. At every male attack it +expanded, and became more aggressive and took up more room. Women have +such an exquisite sense of things--just as they have now in regard to big +obstructive hats in the theatres. They know that most of the plays are +inferior and some of them are immoral, and they attend the theatres with +head-dresses that will prevent as many people as possible from seeing the +stage and being corrupted by anything that takes place on it. They object +to the men seeing some of the women who are now on the stage. It +happened, as to the private Bastiles, that the women at last recognized a +change in the sociological and political atmosphere of the world, and +without consulting any men of affairs or caring for their opinion, down +went the Bastiles. When women attacked them, in obedience to their +political instincts, they collapsed like punctured balloons. Natural +woman was measurably (that is, a capacity of being measured) restored to +the world. And we all remember the great political revolutionary +movements of 1848. + +Now France is still the arbiter of the modes. Say what we may about +Berlin, copy their fashion plates as we will, or about London, or New +York, or Tokio, it is indisputable that the woman in any company who has +on a Paris gown--the expression is odious, but there is no other that in +these days would be comprehended--"takes the cake." It is not that the +women care for this as a mere matter of apparel. But they are sensitive +to the political atmosphere, to the philosophical significance that it +has to great impending changes. We are approaching the centenary of the +fall of the Bastile. The French have no Bastile to lay low, nor, indeed, +any Tuileries to burn up; but perhaps they might get a good way ahead by +demolishing Notre Dame and reducing most of Paris to ashes. Apparently +they are on the eve of doing something. The women of the world may not +know what it is, but they feel the approaching recurrence of a period. +Their movements are not yet decisive. It is as yet only tentatively that +they adopt the mode of the Directoire. It is yet uncertain--a sort of +Boulangerism in dress. But if we watch it carefully we shall be able to +predict with some assurance the drift in Paris. The Directoire dress +points to another period of republican simplicity, anarchy, and the rule +of a popular despot. + +It is a great pity, in view of this valuable instinct in women and the +prophetic significance of dress, that women in the United States do not +exercise their gifts with regard to their own country. We should then +know at any given time whether we are drifting into Blaineism, or +Clevelandism, or centralization, or free-trade, or extreme protection, or +rule by corporations. We boast greatly of our smartness. It is time we +were up and dressed to prove it. + + + + +THE MYSTERY OF THE SEX + +There appears to be a great quantity of conceit around, especially +concerning women. The statement was recently set afloat that a well-known +lady had admitted that George Meredith understands women better than any +writer who has preceded him. This may be true, and it may be a wily +statement to again throw men off the track; at any rate it contains the +old assumption of a mystery, practically insoluble, about the gentler +sex. Women generally encourage this notion, and men by their gingerly +treatment of it seemed to accept it. But is it well-founded, is there any +more mystery about women--than about men? Is the feminine nature any more +difficult to understand than the masculine nature? Have women, conscious +of inferior strength, woven this notion of mystery about themselves as a +defense, or have men simply idealized them for fictitious purposes? To +recur to the case cited, is there any evidence that Mr. Meredith +understands human nature--as exhibited in women any better than human +nature--in men, or is more consistent in the production of one than of +the other? Historically it would be interesting to trace the rise of this +notion of woman as an enigma. The savage races do not appear to have it. +A woman to the North American Indian is a simple affair, dealt with +without circumlocution. In the Bible records there is not much mystery +about her; there are many tributes to her noble qualities, and some +pretty severe and uncomplimentary things are said about her, but there is +little affectation of not understanding her. She may be a prophetess, or +a consoler, or a snare, but she is no more "deceitful and desperately +wicked" than anybody else. There is nothing mysterious about her first +recorded performance. Eve trusted the serpent, and Adam trusted Eve. The +mystery was in the serpent. There is no evidence that the ancient +Egyptian woman was more difficult to comprehend than the Egyptian man. +They were both doubtless wily as highly civilized people are apt to be; +the "serpent of old Nile" was in them both. Is it in fact till we come to +mediaeval times, and the chivalric age, that women are set up as being +more incomprehensible than men? That is, less logical, more whimsical, +more uncertain in their mental processes? The play-writers and essayists +of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries "worked" this notion +continually. They always took an investigating and speculating attitude +towards women, that fostered the conceit of their separateness and veiled +personality. Every woman was supposed to be playing a part behind a mask. +Montaigne is always investigating woman as a mystery. It is, for +instance, a mystery he does not relish that, as he says, women commonly +reserve the publication of their vehement affections for their husbands +till they have lost them; then the woful countenance "looks not so much +back as forward, and is intended rather to get a new husband than to +lament the old." And he tells this story: + +"When I was a boy, a very beautiful and virtuous lady who is yet living, +and the widow of a prince, had, I know not what, more ornament in her +dress than our laws of widowhood will well allow, which being reproached +with as a great indecency, she made answer 'that it was because she was +not cultivating more friendships, and would never marry again.'" This +cynical view of woman, as well as the extravagantly complimentary one +sometimes taken by the poets, was based upon the notion that woman was an +unexplainable being. When she herself adopted the idea is uncertain. Of +course all this has a very practical bearing upon modern life, the +position of women in it, and the so-called reforms. If woman is so +different from man, to the extent of being an unexplainable mystery, +science ought to determine the exact state of the case, and ascertain if +there is any remedy for it. If it is only a literary creation, we ought +to know it. Science could tell, for instance, whether there is a +peculiarity in the nervous system, any complications in the nervous +centres, by which the telegraphic action of the will gets crossed, so +that, for example, in reply to a proposal of marriage, the intended "Yes" +gets delivered as "No." Is it true that the mental process in one sex is +intuitive, and in the other logical, with every link necessary and +visible? Is it true, as the romancers teach, that the mind in one sex +acts indirectly and in the other directly, or is this indirect process +only characteristic of exceptions in both sexes? Investigation ought to +find this out, so that we can adjust the fit occupations for both sexes +on a scientific basis. We are floundering about now in a sea of doubt. As +society becomes more complicated, women will become a greater and greater +mystery, or rather will be regarded so by themselves and be treated so by +men. + +Who can tell how much this notion of mystery in the sex stands in the way +of its free advancement all along the line? Suppose the proposal were +made to women to exchange being mysterious for the ballot? Would they do +it? Or have they a sense of power in the possession of this conceded +incomprehensibility that they would not lay down for any visible insignia +of that power? And if the novelists and essayists have raised a mist +about the sex, which it willingly masquerades in, is it not time that the +scientists should determine whether the mystery exists in nature or only +in the imagination? + + + + +THE CLOTHES OF FICTION + +The Drawer has never undervalued clothes. Whatever other heresies it may +have had, however it may have insisted that the more a woman learns, the +more she knows of books, the higher her education is carried in all the +knowledges, the more interesting she will be, not only for an hour, but +as a companion for life, it has never said that she is less attractive +when dressed with taste and according to the season. Love itself could +scarcely be expected to survive a winter hat worn after Easter. And the +philosophy of this is not on the surface, nor applicable to women only. +In this the highest of created things are under a law having a much wider +application. Take as an item novels, the works of fiction, which have +become an absolute necessity in the modern world, as necessary to divert +the mind loaded with care and under actual strain as to fill the vacancy +in otherwise idle brains. They have commonly a summer and a winter +apparel. The publishers understand this. As certainly as the birds +appear, comes the crop of summer novels, fluttering down upon the stalls, +in procession through the railway trains, littering the drawing-room +tables, in light paper, covers, ornamental, attractive in colors and +fanciful designs, as welcome and grateful as the girls in muslin. When +the thermometer is in the eighties, anything heavy and formidable is +distasteful. The housekeeper knows we want few solid dishes, but salads +and cooling drinks. The publisher knows that we want our literature (or +what passes for that) in light array. In the winter we prefer the boards +and the rich heavy binding, however light the tale may be; but in the +summer, though the fiction be as grave and tragic as wandering love and +bankruptcy, we would have it come to us lightly clad--out of stays, as it +were. + +It would hardly be worth while to refer to this taste in the apparel of +our fiction did it not have deep and esoteric suggestions, and could not +the novelists themselves get a hint from it. Is it realized how much +depends upon the clothes that are worn by the characters in the novels +--clothes put on not only to exhibit the inner life of the characters, +but to please the readers who are to associate with them? It is true that +there are novels that almost do away with the necessity of fashion +magazines and fashion plates in the family, so faithful are they in the +latest millinery details, and so fully do they satisfy the longing of all +of us to know what is chic for the moment. It is pretty well understood, +also, that women, and even men, are made to exhibit the deepest passions +and the tenderest emotions in the crises of their lives by the clothes +they put on. How the woman in such a crisis hesitates before her +wardrobe, and at last chooses just what will express her innermost +feeling! Does she dress for her lover as she dresses to receive her +lawyer who has come to inform her that she is living beyond her income? +Would not the lover be spared time and pain if he knew, as the novelist +knows, whether the young lady is dressing for a rejection or an +acceptance? Why does the lady intending suicide always throw on a +waterproof when she steals out of the house to drown herself? The +novelist knows the deep significance of every article of toilet, and +nature teaches him to array his characters for the summer novel in the +airy draperies suitable to the season. It is only good art that the cover +of the novel and the covers of the characters shall be in harmony. He +knows, also, that the characters in the winter novel must be adequately +protected. We speak, of course, of the season stories. Novels that are to +run through a year, or maybe many years, and are to set forth the +passions and trials of changing age and varying circumstance, require +different treatment and wider millinery knowledge. They are naturally +more expensive. The wardrobe required in an all-round novel would +bankrupt most of us. + +But to confine ourselves to the season novel, it is strange that some one +has not invented the patent adjustable story that with a slight change +would do for summer or winter, following the broad hint of the +publishers, who hasten in May to throw whatever fiction they have on hand +into summer clothes. The winter novel, by this invention, could be easily +fitted for summer wear. All the novelist need do would be to change the +clothes of his characters. And in the autumn, if the novel proved +popular, he could change again, with the advantage of being in the latest +fashion. It would only be necessary to alter a few sentences in a few of +the stereotype pages. Of course this would make necessary other slight +alterations, for no kind-hearted writer would be cruel to his own +creations, and expose them to the vicissitudes of the seasons. He could +insert "rain" for "snow," and "green leaves" for "skeleton branches," +make a few verbal changes of that sort, and regulate the thermometer. It +would cost very little to adjust the novel in this way to any season. It +is worth thinking of. + +And this leads to a remark upon the shocking indifference of some +novelists to the ordinary comfort of their characters. In practical life +we cannot, but in his realm the novelist can, control the weather. He can +make it generally pleasant. We do not object to a terrific thunder-shower +now and then, as the sign of despair and a lost soul, but perpetual +drizzle and grayness and inclemency are tedious to the reader, who has +enough bad weather in his private experience. The English are greater +sinners in this respect than we are. They seem to take a brutal delight +in making it as unpleasant as possible for their fictitious people. There +is R--b--rt 'lsm--r', for example. External trouble is piled on to the +internal. The characters are in a perpetual soak. There is not a dry rag +on any of them, from the beginning of the book to the end. They are sent +out in all weathers, and are drenched every day. Often their wet clothes +are frozen on them; they are exposed to cutting winds and sleet in their +faces, bedrabbled in damp grass, stood against slippery fences, with hail +and frost lowering their vitality, and expected under these circumstances +to make love and be good Christians. Drenched and wind-blown for years, +that is what they are. It may be that this treatment has excited the +sympathy of the world, but is it legitimate? Has a novelist the right to +subject his creations to tortures that he would not dare to inflict upon +his friends? It is no excuse to say that this is normal English weather; +it is not the office of fiction to intensify and rub in the unavoidable +evils of life. The modern spirit of consideration for fictitious +characters that prevails with regard to dress ought to extend in a +reasonable degree to their weather. This is not a strained corollary to +the demand for an appropriately costumed novel. + + + + +THE BROAD A + +It cannot for a moment be supposed that the Drawer would discourage +self-culture and refinement of manner and of speech. But it would not +hesitate to give a note of warning if it believed that the present +devotion to literature and the pursuits of the mind were likely, by the +highest authorities, to be considered bad form. In an intellectually +inclined city (not in the northeast) a club of ladies has been formed for +the cultivation of the broad 'a' in speech. Sporadic efforts have +hitherto been made for the proper treatment of this letter of the +alphabet with individual success, especially with those who have been in +England, or have known English men and women of the broad-gauge variety. +Discerning travelers have made the American pronunciation of the letter a +a reproach to the republic, that is to say, a means of distinguishing a +native of this country. The true American aspires to be cosmopolitan, and +does not want to be "spotted"--if that word may be used--in society by +any peculiarity of speech, that is, by any American peculiarity. Why, at +the bottom of the matter, a narrow 'a' should be a disgrace it is not +easy to see, but it needs no reason if fashion or authority condemns it. +This country is so spread out, without any social or literary centre +universally recognized as such, and the narrow 'a' has become so +prevalent, that even fashion finds it difficult to reform it. The best +people, who are determined to broaden all their 'a''s, will forget in +moments of excitement, and fall back into old habits. It requires +constant vigilance to keep the letter 'a' flattened out. It is in vain +that scholars have pointed out that in the use of this letter lies the +main difference between the English and the American speech; either +Americans generally do not care if this is the fact, or fashion can only +work a reform in a limited number of people. It seems, therefore, +necessary that there should be an organized effort to deal with this +pronunciation, and clubs will no doubt be formed all over the country, in +imitation of the one mentioned, until the broad a will become as common +as flies in summer. When this result is attained it will be time to +attack the sound of 'u' with clubs, and make universal the French sound. +In time the American pronunciation will become as superior to all others +as are the American sewing-machines and reapers. In the Broad A Club +every member who misbehaves--that is, mispronounces--is fined a nickel +for each offense. Of course in the beginning there is a good deal of +revenue from this source, but the revenue diminishes as the club +improves, so that we have the anomaly of its failure to be +self-supporting in proportion to its excellence. Just now if these clubs +could suddenly become universal, and the penalty be enforced, we could +have the means of paying off the national debt in a year. + +We do not wish to attach too much importance to this movement, but rather +to suggest to a continent yearning for culture in letters and in speech +whether it may not be carried too far. The reader will remember that +there came a time in Athens when culture could mock at itself, and the +rest of the country may be warned in time of a possible departure from +good form in devotion to language and literature by the present attitude +of modern Athens. Probably there is no esoteric depth in literature or +religion, no refinement in intellectual luxury, that this favored city +has not sounded. It is certainly significant, therefore, when the +priestesses and devotees of mental superiority there turn upon it and +rend it, when they are heartily tired of the whole literary business. +There is always this danger when anything is passionately pursued as a +fashion, that it will one day cease to be the fashion. Plato and Buddha +and even Emerson become in time like a last season's fashion plate. Even +a "friend of the spirit" will have to go. Culture is certain to mock +itself in time. + +The clubs for the improvement of the mind--the female mind--and of +speech, which no doubt had their origin in modern Athens, should know, +then, that it is the highest mark of female culture now in that beautiful +town to despise culture, to affect the gayest and most joyous ignorance +--ignorance of books, of all forms of so-called intellectual development, +and all literary men, women, and productions whatsoever! This genuine +movement of freedom may be a real emancipation. If it should reach the +metropolis, what a relief it might bring to thousands who are, under a +high sense of duty, struggling to advance the intellectual life. There is +this to be said, however, that it is only the very brightest people, +those who have no need of culture, who have in fact passed beyond all +culture, who can take this position in regard to it, and actually revel +in the delights of ignorance. One must pass into a calm place when he is +beyond the desire to know anything or to do anything. + +It is a chilling thought, unless one can rise to the highest philosophy +of life, that even the broad 'a', when it is attained, may not be a +permanence. Let it be common, and what distinction will there be in it? +When devotion to study, to the reading of books, to conversation on +improving topics, becomes a universal fashion, is it not evident that one +can only keep a leadership in fashion by throwing the whole thing +overboard, and going forward into the natural gayety of life, which cares +for none of these things? We suppose the Constitution of the United +States will stand if the day comes--nay, now is--when the women of +Chicago call the women of Boston frivolous, and the women of Boston know +their immense superiority and advancement in being so, but it would be a +blank surprise to the country generally to know that it was on the wrong +track. The fact is that culture in this country is full of surprises, and +so doubles and feints and comes back upon itself that the most diligent +recorder can scarcely note its changes. The Drawer can only warn; it +cannot advise. + + + + +CHEWING GUM + +No language that is unfortunately understood by the greater portion of +the people who speak English, thousands are saying on the first of +January--in 1890, a far-off date that it is wonderful any one has lived +to see--"Let us have a new deal!" It is a natural exclamation, and does +not necessarily mean any change of purpose. It always seems to a man that +if he could shuffle the cards he could increase his advantages in the +game of life, and, to continue the figure which needs so little +explanation, it usually appears to him that he could play anybody else's +hand better than his own. In all the good resolutions of the new year, +then, it happens that perhaps the most sincere is the determination to +get a better hand. Many mistake this for repentance and an intention to +reform, when generally it is only the desire for a new shuffle of the +cards. Let us have a fresh pack and a new deal, and start fair. It seems +idle, therefore, for the moralist to indulge in a homily about annual +good intentions, and habits that ought to be dropped or acquired, on the +first of January. He can do little more than comment on the passing show. + +It will be admitted that if the world at this date is not socially +reformed it is not the fault of the Drawer, and for the reason that it +has been not so much a critic as an explainer and encourager. It is in +the latter character that it undertakes to defend and justify a national +industry that has become very important within the past ten years. A +great deal of capital is invested in it, and millions of people are +actively employed in it. The varieties of chewing gum that are +manufactured would be a matter of surprise to those who have paid no +attention to the subject, and who may suppose that the millions of mouths +they see engaged in its mastication have a common and vulgar taste. From +the fact that it can be obtained at the apothecary's, an impression has +got abroad that it is medicinal. This is not true. The medical profession +do not use it, and what distinguishes it from drugs-that they also do not +use--is the fact that they do not prescribe it. It is neither a narcotic +nor a stimulant. It cannot strictly be said to soothe or to excite. The +habit of using it differs totally from that of the chewing of tobacco or +the dipping of snuff. It might, by a purely mechanical operation, keep a +person awake, but no one could go to sleep chewing gum. It is in itself +neither tonic nor sedative. It is to be noticed also that the gum habit +differs from the tobacco habit in that the aromatic and elastic substance +is masticated, while the tobacco never is, and that the mastication leads +to nothing except more mastication. The task is one that can never be +finished. The amount of energy expended in this process if capitalized or +conserved would produce great results. Of course the individual does +little, but if the power evolved by the practice in a district school +could be utilized, it would suffice to run the kindergarten department. +The writer has seen a railway car--say in the West--filled with young +women, nearly every one of whose jaws and pretty mouths was engaged in +this pleasing occupation; and so much power was generated that it would, +if applied, have kept the car in motion if the steam had been shut +off--at least it would have furnished the motive for illuminating the car +by electricity. + +This national industry is the subject of constant detraction, satire, and +ridicule by the newspaper press. This is because it is not understood, +and it may be because it is mainly a female accomplishment: the few men +who chew gum may be supposed to do so by reason of gallantry. There might +be no more sympathy with it in the press if the real reason for the +practice were understood, but it would be treated more respectfully. Some +have said that the practice arises from nervousness--the idle desire to +be busy without doing anything--and because it fills up the pauses of +vacuity in conversation. But this would not fully account for the +practice of it in solitude. Some have regarded it as in obedience to the +feminine instinct for the cultivation of patience and self-denial +--patience in a fruitless activity, and self-denial in the eternal act of +mastication without swallowing. It is no more related to these virtues +than it is to the habit of the reflective cow in chewing her cud. The cow +would never chew gum. The explanation is a more philosophical one, and +relates to a great modern social movement. It is to strengthen and +develop and make more masculine the lower jaw. The critic who says that +this is needless, that the inclination in women to talk would adequately +develop this, misses the point altogether. Even if it could be proved +that women are greater chatterers than men, the critic would gain +nothing. Women have talked freely since creation, but it remains true +that a heavy, strong lower jaw is a distinctively masculine +characteristic. It is remarked that if a woman has a strong lower jaw she +is like a man. Conversation does not create this difference, nor remove +it; for the development of a lower jaw in women constant mechanical +exercise of the muscles is needed. Now, a spirit of emancipation, of +emulation, is abroad, as it ought to be, for the regeneration of the +world. It is sometimes called the coming to the front of woman in every +act and occupation that used to belong almost exclusively to man. It is +not necessary to say a word to justify this. But it is often accompanied +by a misconception, namely, that it is necessary for woman to be like +man, not only in habits, but in certain physical characteristics. No +woman desires a beard, because a beard means care and trouble, and would +detract from feminine beauty, but to have a strong and, in appearance, a +resolute under-jaw may be considered a desirable note of masculinity, and +of masculine power and privilege, in the good time coming. Hence the +cultivation of it by the chewing of gum is a recognizable and reasonable +instinct, and the practice can be defended as neither a whim nor a vain +waste of energy and nervous force. In a generation or two it may be laid +aside as no longer necessary, or men may be compelled to resort to it to +preserve their supremacy. + + + + +WOMEN IN CONGRESS + +It does not seem to be decided yet whether women are to take the Senate +or the House at Washington in the new development of what is called the +dual government. There are disadvantages in both. The members of the +Senate are so few that the women of the country would not be adequately +represented in it; and the Chamber in which the House meets is too large +for women to make speeches in with any pleasure to themselves or their +hearers. This last objection is, however, frivolous, for the speeches +will be printed in the Record; and it is as easy to count women on a vote +as men. There is nothing in the objection, either, that the Chamber would +need to be remodeled, and the smoking-rooms be turned into Day Nurseries. +The coming woman will not smoke, to be sure; neither will she, in coming +forward to take charge of the government, plead the Baby Act. Only those +women, we are told, would be elected to Congress whose age and position +enable them to devote themselves exclusively to politics. The question, +therefore, of taking to themselves the Senate or the House will be +decided by the women themselves upon other grounds--as to whether they +wish to take the initiative in legislation and hold the power of the +purse, or whether they prefer to act as a check, to exercise the high +treaty-making power, and to have a voice in selecting the women who shall +be sent to represent us abroad. Other things being equal, women will +naturally select the Upper House, and especially as that will give them +an opportunity to reject any but the most competent women for the Supreme +Bench. The irreverent scoffers at our Supreme Court have in the past +complained (though none do now) that there were "old women" in gowns on +the bench. There would be no complaint of the kind in the future. The +judges would be as pretty as those who assisted in the judgment of Paris, +with changed functions; there would be no monotony in the dress, and the +Supreme Bench would be one of the most attractive spectacles in +Washington. When the judges as well as the advocates are Portias, the law +will be an agreeable occupation. + +This is, however, mere speculation. We do not understand that it is the +immediate purpose of women to take the whole government, though some +extravagant expectations are raised by the admission of new States that +are ruled by women. They may wish to divide--and conquer. One plan is, +instead of dual Chambers of opposite sexes, to mingle in both the Senate +and the House. And this is more likely to be the plan adopted, because +the revolution is not to be violent, and, indeed, cannot take place +without some readjustment of the home life. We have at present what +Charles Reade would have called only a right-handed civilization. To +speak metaphorically, men cannot use their left hands, or, to drop the +metaphor, before the government can be fully reorganized men must learn +to do women's work. It may be a fair inference from this movement that +women intend to abandon the sacred principle of Home Rule. This +abandonment is foreshadowed in a recent election in a small Western city, +where the female voters made a clean sweep, elected an entire city +council of women and most of the other officers, including the police +judge and the mayor. The latter lady, by one of those intrusions of +nature which reform is not yet able to control, became a mother and a +mayor the same week. Her husband had been city clerk, and held over; but +fortunately an arrangement was made with him to stay at home and take +care of the baby, unofficially, while the mayor attends to her public +duties. Thus the city clerk will gradually be initiated into the duties +of home rule, and when the mayor is elected to Congress he will be ready +to accompany her to Washington and keep house. The imagination likes to +dwell upon this, for the new order is capable of infinite extension. When +the State takes care of all the children in government nurseries, and the +mayor has taken her place in the United States Senate, her husband, if he +has become sufficiently reformed and feminized, may go to the House, and +the reunited family of two, clubbing their salaries, can live in great +comfort. + +All this can be easily arranged, whether we are to have a dual government +of sexes or a mixed House and Senate. The real difficulty is about a +single Executive. Neither sex will be willing to yield to the other this +vast power. We might elect a man and wife President and Vice-President, +but the Vice-President, of whatever sex, could not well preside over the +Senate and in the White House at the same time. It is true that the +Constitution provides that the President and Vice-President shall not be +of the same State, but residence can be acquired to get over this as +easily as to obtain a divorce; and a Constitution that insists upon +speaking of the President as "he" is too antiquated to be respected. When +the President is a woman, it can matter little whether her husband or +some other woman presides in the Senate. Even the reformers will hardly +insist upon two Presidents in order to carry out the equality idea, so +that we are probably anticipating difficulties that will not occur in +practice. + +The Drawer has only one more practical suggestion. As the right of voting +carries with it the right to hold any elective office, a great change +must take place in Washington life. Now for some years the divergence of +society and politics has been increasing at the capital. With women in +both Houses, and on the Supreme Bench, and at the heads of the +departments, social and political life will become one and the same +thing; receptions and afternoon teas will be held in the Senate and +House, and political caucuses in all the drawing-rooms. And then life +will begin to be interesting. + + + + +SHALL WOMEN PROPOSE? + +The shyness of man--meaning the "other sex" referred to in the woman's +journals--has often been noticed in novels, and sometimes in real life. +This shyness is, however, so exceptional as to be suspicious. The shy +young man may provoke curiosity, but he does not always inspire respect. +Roughly estimated, shyness is not considered a manly quality, while it is +one of the most pleasing and attractive of the feminine traits, and there +is something pathetic in the expression "He is as shy as a girl;" it may +appeal for sympathy and the exercise of the protective instinct in women. +Unfortunately it is a little discredited, so many of the old plays +turning upon its assumption by young blades who are no better than they +should be. + +What would be the effect upon the masculine character and comfort if this +shyness should become general, as it may in a contingency that is already +on the horizon? We refer, of course, to the suggestion, coming from +various quarters, that women should propose. The reasonableness of this +suggestion may not lie on the surface; it may not be deduced from the +uniform practice, beginning with the primitive men and women; it may not +be inferred from the open nature of the two sexes (for the sake of +argument two sexes must still be insisted on); but it is found in the +advanced civilization with which we are struggling. Why should not women +propose? Why should they be at a disadvantage in an affair which concerns +the happiness of the whole life? They have as much right to a choice as +men, and to an opportunity to exercise it. Why should they occupy a +negative position, and be restricted, in making the most important part +of their career, wholly to the choice implied in refusals? In fact, +marriage really concerns them more than it does men; they have to bear +the chief of its burdens. A wide and free choice for them would, then, +seem to be only fair. Undeniably a great many men are inattentive, +unobserving, immersed in some absorbing pursuit, undecided, and at times +bashful, and liable to fall into union with women who happen to be near +them, rather than with those who are conscious that they would make them +the better wives. Men, unaided by the finer feminine instincts of choice, +are so apt to be deceived. In fact, man's inability to "match" anything +is notorious. If he cannot be trusted in the matter of worsted-work, why +should he have such distinctive liberty in the most important matter of +his life? Besides, there are many men--and some of the best who get into +a habit of not marrying at all, simply because the right woman has not +presented herself at the right time. Perhaps, if women had the open +privilege of selection, many a good fellow would be rescued from +miserable isolation, and perhaps also many a noble woman whom chance, or +a stationary position, or the inertia of the other sex, has left to bloom +alone, and waste her sweetness on relations, would be the centre of a +charming home, furnishing the finest spectacle seen in this uphill world +--a woman exercising gracious hospitality, and radiating to a circle far +beyond her home the influence of her civilizing personality. For, +notwithstanding all the centrifugal forces of this age, it is probable +that the home will continue to be the fulcrum on which women will move +the world. + +It may be objected that it would be unfair to add this opportunity to the +already, overpowering attractions of woman, and that man would be put at +an immense disadvantage, since he might have too much gallantry, or not +enough presence of mind, to refuse a proposal squarely and fascinatingly +made, although his judgment scarcely consented, and his ability to +support a wife were more than doubtful. Women would need to exercise a +great deal of prudence and discretion, or there would be something like a +panic, and a cry along the male line of 'Sauve qui peut'; for it is +matter of record that the bravest men will sometimes run away from danger +on a sudden impulse. + +This prospective social revolution suggests many inquiries. What would be +the effect upon the female character and disposition of a possible, +though not probable, refusal, or of several refusals? Would she become +embittered and desperate, and act as foolishly as men often do? Would her +own sex be considerate, and give her a fair field if they saw she was +paying attention to a young man, or an old one? And what effect would +this change in relations have upon men? Would it not render that sporadic +shyness of which we have spoken epidemic? Would it frighten men, +rendering their position less stable in their own eyes, or would it +feminize them--that is, make them retiring, blushing, self-conscious +beings? And would this change be of any injury to them in their necessary +fight for existence in this pushing world? What would be the effect upon +courtship if both the men and the women approached each other as wooers? +In ordinary transactions one is a buyer and one is a seller--to put it +coarsely. If seller met seller and buyer met buyer, trade would languish. +But this figure cannot be continued, for there is no romance in a bargain +of any sort; and what we should most fear in a scientific age is the loss +of romance. + +This is, however, mere speculation. The serious aspect of the proposed +change is the effect it will have upon the character of men, who are not +enough considered in any of these discussions. The revolution will be a +radical one in one respect. We may admit that in the future woman can +take care of herself, but how will it be with man, who has had little +disciplinary experience of adversity, simply because he has been +permitted to have his own way? Heretofore his life has had a stimulus. +When he proposes to a woman, he in fact says: "I am able to support you; +I am able to protect you from the rough usage of the world; I am strong +and ambitious, and eager to take upon myself the lovely bondage of this +responsibility. I offer you this love because I feel the courage and +responsibility of my position." That is the manly part of it. What effect +will it have upon his character to be waiting round, unselected and +undecided, until some woman comes to him, and fixes her fascinating eyes +upon him, and says, in effect: "I can support you; I can defend you. Have +no fear of the future; I will be at once your shield and your backbone. I +take the responsibility of my choice." There are a great many men now, +who have sneaked into their positions by a show of courage, who are +supported one way and another by women. It might be humiliating to know +just how many men live by the labors of their wives. And what would be +the effect upon the character of man if the choice, and the +responsibility of it, and the support implied by it in marriage, were +generally transferred to woman? + + + + +FROCKS AND THE STAGE + +The condescension to literature and to the stage is one of the notable +characteristics of this agreeable time. We have to admit that literature +is rather the fashion, without the violent presumption that the author +and the writer have the same social position that is conferred by money, +or by the mysterious virtue there is in pedigree. A person does not lose +caste by using the pen, or even by taking the not-needed pay for using +it. To publish a book or to have an article accepted by a magazine may +give a sort of social distinction, either as an exhibition of a certain +unexpected capacity or a social eccentricity. It is hardly too much to +say that it has become the fashion to write, as it used to be to dance +the minuet well, or to use the broadsword, or to stand a gentlemanly mill +with a renowned bruiser. Of course one ought not to do this +professionally exactly, ought not to prepare for doing it by study and +severe discipline, by training for it as for a trade, but simply to toss +it off easily, as one makes a call, or pays a compliment, or drives +four-in-hand. One does not need to have that interior impulse which +drives a poor devil of an author to express himself, that something to +say which torments the poet into extreme irritability unless he can be +rid of it, that noble hunger for fame which comes from a consciousness of +the possession of vital thought and emotion. + +The beauty of this condescension to literature of which we speak is that +it has that quality of spontaneity that does not presuppose either a +capacity or a call. There is no mystery about the craft. One resolves to +write a book, as he might to take a journey or to practice on the piano, +and the thing is done. Everybody can write, at least everybody does +write. It is a wonderful time for literature. The Queen of England writes +for it, the Queen of Roumania writes for it, the Shah of Persia writes +for it, Lady Brassey, the yachtswoman, wrote for it, Congressmen write +for it, peers write for it. The novel is the common recreation of ladies +of rank, and where is the young woman in this country who has not tried +her hand at a romance or made a cast at a popular magazine? The effect of +all this upon literature is expansive and joyous. Superstition about any +mystery in the art has nearly disappeared. It is a common observation +that if persons fail in everything else, if they are fit for nothing +else, they can at least write. It is such an easy occupation, and the +remuneration is in such disproportion to the expenditure! Isn't it indeed +the golden era of letters? If only the letters were gold! + +If there is any such thing remaining as a guild of authors, somewhere on +the back seats, witnessing this marvelous Kingdom Come of Literature, +there must also be a little bunch of actors, born for the stage, who see +with mixed feelings their arena taken possession of by fairer if not more +competent players. These players are not to be confounded with the +play-actors whom the Puritans denounced, nor with those trained to the +profession in the French capital. + +In the United States and in England we are born to enter upon any +avocation, thank Heaven! without training for it. We have not in this +country any such obstacle to universal success as the Theatre Francais, +but Providence has given us, for wise purposes no doubt, Private +Theatricals (not always so private as they should be), which domesticate +the drama, and supply the stage with some of the most beautiful and best +dressed performers the world has ever seen. Whatever they may say of it, +it is a gallant and a susceptible age, and all men bow to loveliness, and +all women recognize a talent for clothes. We do not say that there is not +such a thing as dramatic art, and that there are not persons who need as +severe training before they attempt to personate nature in art as the +painter must undergo who attempts to transfer its features to his canvas. +But the taste of the age must be taken into account. The public does not +demand that an actor shall come in at a private door and climb a steep +staircase to get to the stage. When a Star from the Private Theatricals +descends upon the boards, with the arms of Venus and the throat of Juno, +and a wardrobe got out of Paris and through our stingy Custom-house in +forty trunks, the plodding actor, who has depended upon art, finds out, +what he has been all the time telling us, that all the world's a stage, +and men and women merely players. Art is good in its way; but what about +a perfect figure? and is not dressing an art? Can training give one an +elegant form, and study command the services of a man milliner? The stage +is broadened out and re-enforced by a new element. What went ye out for +to see? + +A person clad in fine raiment, to be sure. Some of the critics may growl +a little, and hint at the invasion of art by fashionable life, but the +editor, whose motto is that the newspaper is made for man, not man for +the newspaper, understands what is required in this inspiring histrionic +movement, and when a lovely woman condescends to step from the +drawing-room to the stage he confines his descriptions to her person, and +does not bother about her capacity; and instead of wearying us with a +list of her plays and performances, he gives us a column about her +dresses in beautiful language that shows us how closely allied poetry is +to tailoring. Can the lady act? Why, simpleminded, she has nearly a +hundred frocks, each one a dream, a conception of genius, a vaporous +idea, one might say, which will reveal more beauty than it hides, and +teach the spectator that art is simply nature adorned. Rachel in all her +glory was not adorned like one of these. We have changed all that. The +actress used to have a rehearsal. She now has an "opening." Does it +require nowadays, then, no special talent or gift to go on the stage? No +more, we can assure our readers, than it does to write a book. But homely +people and poor people can write books. As yet they cannot act. + + + + +ALTRUISM + +Christmas is supposed to be an altruistic festival. Then, if ever, we +allow ourselves to go out to others in sympathy expressed by gifts and +good wishes. Then self-forgetfulness in the happiness of others becomes a +temporary fashion. And we find--do we not?--the indulgence of the feeling +so remunerative that we wish there were other days set apart to it. We +can even understand those people who get a private satisfaction in being +good on other days besides Sunday. There is a common notion that this +Christmas altruistic sentiment is particularly shown towards the +unfortunate and the dependent by those more prosperous, and in what is +called a better social position. We are exhorted on this day to remember +the poor. We need to be reminded rather to remember the rich, the lonely, +not-easy-to-be-satisfied rich, whom we do not always have with us. The +Drawer never sees a very rich person that it does not long to give him +something, some token, the value of which is not estimated by its cost, +that should be a consoling evidence to him that he has not lost +sympathetic touch with ordinary humanity. There is a great deal of +sympathy afloat in the world, but it is especially shown downward in the +social scale. We treat our servants--supposing that we are society +--better than we treat each other. If we did not, they would leave us. We +are kinder to the unfortunate or the dependent than to each other, and we +have more charity for them. + +The Drawer is not indulging in any indiscriminate railing at society. +There is society and society. There is that undefined something, more +like a machine than an aggregate of human sensibilities, which is set +going in a "season," or at a watering-place, or permanently selects +itself for certain social manifestations. It is this that needs a +missionary to infuse into it sympathy and charity. If it were indeed a +machine and not made up of sensitive personalities, it would not be to +its members so selfish and cruel. It would be less an ambitious scramble +for place and favor, less remorseless towards the unsuccessful, not so +harsh and hard and supercilious. In short, it would be much more +agreeable if it extended to its own members something of the +consideration and sympathy that it gives to those it regards as its +inferiors. It seems to think that good-breeding and good form are +separable from kindliness and sympathy and helpfulness. Tender-hearted +and charitable enough all the individuals of this "society" are to +persons below them in fortune or position, let us allow, but how are they +to each other? Nothing can be ruder or less considerate of the feelings +of others than much of that which is called good society, and this is why +the Drawer desires to turn the altruistic sentiment of the world upon it +in this season, set apart by common consent for usefulness. Unfortunate +are the fortunate if they are lifted into a sphere which is sapless of +delicacy of feeling for its own. Is this an intangible matter? Take +hospitality, for instance. Does it consist in astonishing the invited, in +overwhelming him with a sense of your own wealth, or felicity, or family, +or cleverness even; in trying to absorb him in your concerns, your +successes, your possessions, in simply what interests you? However +delightful all these may be, it is an offense to his individuality to +insist that he shall admire at the point of the social bayonet. How do +you treat the stranger? Do you adapt yourself and your surroundings to +him, or insist that he shall adapt himself to you? How often does the +stranger, the guest, sit in helpless agony in your circle (all of whom +know each other) at table or in the drawing-room, isolated and separate, +because all the talk is local and personal, about your little world, and +the affairs of your clique, and your petty interests, in which he or she +cannot possibly join? Ah! the Sioux Indian would not be so cruel as that +to a guest. There is no more refined torture to a sensitive person than +that. Is it only thoughtlessness? It is more than that. It is a want of +sympathy of the heart, or it is a lack of intelligence and broad-minded +interest in affairs of the world and in other people. It is this +trait--absorption in self--pervading society more or less, that makes it +so unsatisfactory to most people in it. Just a want of human interest; +people do not come in contact. + +Avid pursuit of wealth, or what is called pleasure, perhaps makes people +hard to each other, and infuses into the higher social life, which should +be the most unselfish and enjoyable life, a certain vulgarity, similar to +that noticed in well-bred tourists scrambling for the seats on top of a +mountain coach. A person of refinement and sensibility and intelligence, +cast into the company of the select, the country-house, the radiant, +twelve-button society, has been struck with infinite pity for it, and +asks the Drawer to do something about it. The Drawer cannot do anything +about it. It can only ask the prayers of all good people on Christmas Day +for the rich. As we said, we do not have them with us always--they are +here today, they are gone to Canada tomorrow. But this is, of course, +current facetiousness. The rich are as good as anybody else, according to +their lights, and if what is called society were as good and as kind to +itself as it is to the poor, it would be altogether enviable. We are not +of those who say that in this case, charity would cover a multitude of +sins, but a diffusion in society of the Christmas sentiment of goodwill +and kindliness to itself would tend to make universal the joy on the +return of this season. + + + + +SOCIAL CLEARING-HOUSE + +The Drawer would like to emphasize the noble, self-sacrificing spirit of +American women. There are none like them in the world. They take up all +the burdens of artificial foreign usage, where social caste prevails, and +bear them with a heroism worthy of a worse cause. They indeed represent +these usages to be a burden almost intolerable, and yet they submit to +them with a grace and endurance all their own. Probably there is no +harder-worked person than a lady in the season, let us say in Washington, +where the etiquette of visiting is carried to a perfection that it does +not reach even in New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, and where woman's +effort to keep the social fabric together requires more expenditure of +intellect and of physical force than was needed to protect the capital in +its peril a quarter of a century ago. When this cruel war is over, the +monument to the women who perished in it will need to be higher than that +to the Father of his Country. Merely in the item of keeping an account of +the visits paid and due, a woman needs a bookkeeper. Only to know the +etiquette of how and when and to whom and in what order the visits are to +be paid is to be well educated in a matter that assumes the first +importance in her life. This is, however, only a detail of bookkeeping +and of memory; to pay and receive, or evade, these visits of ceremony is +a work which men can admire without the power to imitate; even on the +supposition that a woman has nothing else to do, it calls for our humble +gratitude and a recognition of the largeness of nature that can put aside +any duties to husband or children in devotion to the public welfare. The +futile round of society life while it lasts admits of no rival. It seems +as important as the affairs of the government. The Drawer is far from +saying that it is not. Perhaps no one can tell what confusion would fall +into all the political relations if the social relations of the capital +were not kept oiled by the system of exchange of fictitious courtesies +among the women; and it may be true that society at large--men are so +apt, when left alone, to relapse--would fall into barbarism if our +pasteboard conventions were neglected. All honor to the self-sacrifice of +woman! + +What a beautiful civilization ours is, supposed to be growing in +intelligence and simplicity, and yet voluntarily taking upon itself this +artificial burden in an already overtaxed life! The angels in heaven must +admire and wonder. The cynic wants to know what is gained for any +rational being when a city-full of women undertake to make and receive +formal visits with persons whom for the most part they do not wish to +see. What is gained, he asks, by leaving cards with all these people and +receiving their cards? When a woman makes her tedious rounds, why is she +always relieved to find people not in? When she can count upon her ten +fingers the people she wants to see, why should she pretend to want to +see the others? Is any one deceived by it? Does anybody regard it as +anything but a sham and a burden? Much the cynic knows about it! Is it +not necessary to keep up what is called society? Is it not necessary to +have an authentic list of pasteboard acquaintances to invite to the +receptions? And what would become of us without Receptions? Everybody +likes to give them. Everybody flocks to them with much alacrity. When +society calls the roll, we all know the penalty of being left out. Is +there any intellectual or physical pleasure equal to that of jamming so +many people into a house that they can hardly move, and treating them to +a Babel of noises in which no one can make herself heard without +screaming? There is nothing like a reception in any uncivilized country. +It is so exhilarating! When a dozen or a hundred people are gathered +together in a room, they all begin to raise their voices and to shout +like pool-sellers in the noble rivalry of "warious langwidges," rasping +their throats into bronchitis in the bidding of the conversational ring. +If they spoke low, or even in the ordinary tone, conversation would be +possible. But then it would not be a reception, as we understand it. We +cannot neglect anywhere any of the pleasures of our social life. We train +for it in lower assemblies. Half a dozen women in a "call" are obliged to +shout, just for practice, so that they can be heard by everybody in the +neighborhood except themselves. Do not men do the same? If they do, it +only shows that men also are capable of the higher civilization. + +But does society--that is, the intercourse of congenial people--depend +upon the elaborate system of exchanging calls with hundreds of people who +are not congenial? Such thoughts will sometimes come by a winter fireside +of rational-talking friends, or at a dinner-party not too large for talk +without a telephone, or in the summer-time by the sea, or in the cottage +in the hills, when the fever of social life has got down to a normal +temperature. We fancy that sometimes people will give way to a real +enjoyment of life and that human intercourse will throw off this +artificial and wearisome parade, and that if women look back with pride, +as they may, upon their personal achievements and labors, they will also +regard them with astonishment. Women, we read every day, long for the +rights and privileges of men, and the education and serious purpose in +life of men. And yet, such is the sweet self-sacrifice of their nature, +they voluntarily take on burdens which men have never assumed, and which +they would speedily cast off if they had. What should we say of men if +they consumed half their time in paying formal calls upon each other +merely for the sake of paying calls, and were low-spirited if they did +not receive as many cards as they had dealt out to society? Have they not +the time? Have women more time? and if they have, why should they spend +it in this Sisyphus task? Would the social machine go to pieces--the +inquiry is made in good faith, and solely for information--if they made +rational business for themselves to be attended to, or even if they gave +the time now given to calls they hate to reading and study, and to making +their household civilizing centres of intercourse and enjoyment, and paid +visits from some other motive than "clearing off their list"? If all the +artificial round of calls and cards should tumble down, what valuable +thing would be lost out of anybody's life? + +The question is too vast for the Drawer, but as an experiment in +sociology it would like to see the system in abeyance for one season. If +at the end of it there had not been just as much social enjoyment as +before, and there were not fewer women than usual down with nervous +prostration, it would agree to start at its own expense a new experiment, +to wit, a kind of Social Clearing-House, in which all cards should be +delivered and exchanged, and all social debts of this kind be balanced by +experienced bookkeepers, so that the reputation of everybody for +propriety and conventionality should be just as good as it is now. + + + + +DINNER-TABLE TALK + +Many people suppose that it is the easiest thing in the world to dine if +you can get plenty to eat. This error is the foundation of much social +misery. The world that never dines, and fancies it has a grievance +justifying anarchy on that account, does not know how much misery it +escapes. A great deal has been written about the art of dining. From time +to time geniuses have appeared who knew how to compose a dinner; indeed, +the art of doing it can be learned, as well as the art of cooking and +serving it. It is often possible, also, under extraordinarily favorable +conditions, to select a company congenial and varied and harmonious +enough to dine together successfully. The tact for getting the right +people together is perhaps rarer than the art of composing the dinner. +But it exists. And an elegant table with a handsome and brilliant company +about it is a common conjunction in this country. Instructions are not +wanting as to the shape of the table and the size of the party; it is +universally admitted that the number must be small. The big +dinner-parties which are commonly made to pay off social debts are +generally of the sort that one would rather contribute to in money than +in personal attendance. When the dinner is treated as a means of +discharging obligations, it loses all character, and becomes one of the +social inflictions. While there is nothing in social intercourse so +agreeable and inspiring as a dinner of the right sort, society has +invented no infliction equal to a large dinner that does not "go," as the +phrase is. Why it does not go when the viands are good and the company is +bright is one of the acknowledged mysteries. + +There need be no mystery about it. The social instinct and the social +habit are wanting to a great many people of uncommon intelligence and +cultivation--that sort of flexibility or adaptability that makes +agreeable society. But this even does not account for the failure of so +many promising dinners. The secret of this failure always is that the +conversation is not general. The sole object of the dinner is talk--at +least in the United States, where "good eating" is pretty common, however +it may be in England, whence come rumors occasionally of accomplished men +who decline to be interrupted by the frivolity of talk upon the +appearance of favorite dishes. And private talk at a table is not the +sort that saves a dinner; however good it is, it always kills it. The +chance of arrangement is that the people who would like to talk together +are not neighbors; and if they are, they exhaust each other to weariness +in an hour, at least of topics which can be talked about with the risk of +being overheard. A duet to be agreeable must be to a certain extent +confidential, and the dinner-table duet admits of little except +generalities, and generalities between two have their limits of +entertainment. Then there is the awful possibility that the neighbors at +table may have nothing to say to each other; and in the best-selected +company one may sit beside a stupid man--that is, stupid for the purpose +of a 'tete-a-tete'. But this is not the worst of it. No one can talk well +without an audience; no one is stimulated to say bright things except by +the attention and questioning and interest of other minds. There is +little inspiration in side talk to one or two. Nobody ought to go to a +dinner who is not a good listener, and, if possible, an intelligent one. +To listen with a show of intelligence is a great accomplishment. It is +not absolutely essential that there should be a great talker or a number +of good talkers at a dinner if all are good listeners, and able to "chip +in" a little to the general talk that springs up. For the success of the +dinner does not necessarily depend upon the talk being brilliant, but it +does depend upon its being general, upon keeping the ball rolling round +the table; the old-fashioned game becomes flat when the balls all +disappear into private pockets. There are dinners where the object seems +to be to pocket all the balls as speedily as possible. We have learned +that that is not the best game; the best game is when you not only depend +on the carom, but in going to the cushion before you carom; that is to +say, including the whole table, and making things lively. The hostess +succeeds who is able to excite this general play of all the forces at the +table, even using the silent but not non-elastic material as cushions, if +one may continue the figure. Is not this, O brothers and sisters, an evil +under the sun, this dinner as it is apt to be conducted? Think of the +weary hours you have given to a rite that should be the highest social +pleasure! How often when a topic is started that promises well, and might +come to something in a general exchange of wit and fancy, and some one +begins to speak on it, and speak very well, too, have you not had a lady +at your side cut in and give you her views on it--views that might be +amusing if thrown out into the discussion, but which are simply +impertinent as an interruption! How often when you have tried to get a +"rise" out of somebody opposite have you not had your neighbor cut in +across you with some private depressing observation to your next +neighbor! Private talk at a dinner-table is like private chat at a parlor +musicale, only it is more fatal to the general enjoyment. There is a +notion that the art of conversation, the ability to talk well, has gone +out. That is a great mistake. Opportunity is all that is needed. There +must be the inspiration of the clash of minds and the encouragement of +good listening. In an evening round the fire, when couples begin, to +whisper or talk low to each other, it is time to put out the lights. +Inspiring interest is gone. The most brilliant talker in the world is +dumb. People whose idea of a dinner is private talk between +seat-neighbors should limit the company to two. They have no right to +spoil what can be the most agreeable social institution that civilization +has evolved. + + + + +NATURALIZATION + +Is it possible for a person to be entirely naturalized?--that is, to be +denationalized, to cast off the prejudice and traditions of one country +and take up those of another; to give up what may be called the +instinctive tendencies of one race and take up those of another. It is +easy enough to swear off allegiance to a sovereign or a government, and +to take on in intention new political obligations, but to separate one's +self from the sympathies into which he was born is quite another affair. +One is likely to remain in the inmost recesses of his heart an alien, and +as a final expression of his feeling to hoist the green flag, or the +dragon, or the cross of St. George. Probably no other sentiment is, so +strong in a man as that of attachment to his own soil and people, a +sub-sentiment always remaining, whatever new and unbreakable attachments +he may form. One can be very proud of his adopted country, and brag for +it, and fight for it; but lying deep in a man's nature is something, no +doubt, that no oath nor material interest can change, and that is never +naturalized. We see this experiment in America more than anywhere else, +because here meet more different races than anywhere else with the +serious intention of changing their nationality. And we have a notion +that there is something in our atmosphere, or opportunities, or our +government, that makes this change more natural and reasonable than it +has been anywhere else in history. It is always a surprise to us when a +born citizen of the United States changes his allegiance, but it seems a +thing of course that a person of any other country should, by an oath, +become a good American, and we expect that the act will work a sudden +change in him equal to that wrought in a man by what used to be called a +conviction of sin. We expect that he will not only come into our family, +but that he will at once assume all its traditions and dislikes, that +whatever may have been his institutions or his race quarrels, the moving +influence of his life hereafter will be the "Spirit of '76." + +What is this naturalization, however, but a sort of parable of human +life? Are we not always trying to adjust ourselves to new relations, to +get naturalized into a new family? Does one ever do it entirely? And how +much of the lonesomeness of life comes from the failure to do it! It is a +tremendous experiment, we all admit, to separate a person from his race, +from his country, from his climate, and the habits of his part of the +country, by marriage; it is only an experiment differing in degree to +introduce him by marriage into a new circle of kinsfolk. Is he ever +anything but a sort of tolerated, criticised, or admired alien? Does the +time ever come when the distinction ceases between his family and hers? +They say love is stronger than death. It may also be stronger than +family--while it lasts; but was there ever a woman yet whose most +ineradicable feeling was not the sentiment of family and blood, a sort of +base-line in life upon which trouble and disaster always throw her back? +Does she ever lose the instinct of it? We used to say in jest that a +patriotic man was always willing to sacrifice his wife's relations in +war; but his wife took a different view of it; and when it becomes a +question of office, is it not the wife's relations who get them? To be +sure, Ruth said, thy people shall be my people, and where thou goest I +will go, and all that, and this beautiful sentiment has touched all time, +and man has got the historic notion that he is the head of things. But is +it true that a woman is ever really naturalized? Is it in her nature to +be? Love will carry her a great way, and to far countries, and to many +endurances, and her capacity of self-sacrifice is greater than man's; but +would she ever be entirely happy torn from her kindred, transplanted from +the associations and interlacings of her family life? Does anything +really take the place of that entire ease and confidence that one has in +kin, or the inborn longing for their sympathy and society? There are two +theories about life, as about naturalization: one is that love is enough, +that intention is enough; the other is that the whole circle of human +relations and attachments is to be considered in a marriage, and that in +the long-run the question of family is a preponderating one. Does the +gate of divorce open more frequently from following the one theory than +the other? If we were to adopt the notion that marriage is really a +tremendous act of naturalization, of absolute surrender on one side or +the other of the deepest sentiments and hereditary tendencies, would +there be so many hasty marriages--slip-knots tied by one justice to be +undone by another? The Drawer did not intend to start such a deep +question as this. Hosts of people are yearly naturalized in this country, +not from any love of its institutions, but because they can more easily +get a living here, and they really surrender none of their hereditary +ideas, and it is only human nature that marriages should be made with +like purpose and like reservations. These reservations do not, however, +make the best citizens or the most happy marriages. Would it be any +better if country lines were obliterated, and the great brotherhood of +peoples were established, and there was no such thing as patriotism or +family, and marriage were as free to make and unmake as some people think +it should be? Very likely, if we could radically change human nature. But +human nature is the most obstinate thing that the International +Conventions have to deal with. + + + + +ART OF GOVERNING + +He was saying, when he awoke one morning, "I wish I were governor of a +small island, and had nothing to do but to get up and govern." It was an +observation quite worthy of him, and one of general application, for +there are many men who find it very difficult to get a living on their +own resources, to whom it would be comparatively easy to be a very fair +sort of governor. Everybody who has no official position or routine duty +on a salary knows that the most trying moment in the twenty-four hours is +that in which he emerges from the oblivion of sleep and faces life. +Everything perplexing tumbles in upon him, all the possible vexations of +the day rise up before him, and he is little less than a hero if he gets +up cheerful. + +It is not to be wondered at that people crave office, some salaried +position, in order to escape the anxieties, the personal +responsibilities, of a single-handed struggle with the world. It must be +much easier to govern an island than to carry on almost any retail +business. When the governor wakes in the morning he thinks first of his +salary; he has not the least anxiety about his daily bread or the support +of his family. His business is all laid out for him; he has not to create +it. Business comes to him; he does not have to drum for it. His day is +agreeably, even if sympathetically, occupied with the troubles of other +people, and nothing is so easy to bear as the troubles of other people. +After he has had his breakfast, and read over the "Constitution," he has +nothing to do but to "govern" for a few hours, that is, to decide about +things on general principles, and with little personal application, and +perhaps about large concerns which nobody knows anything about, and which +are much easier to dispose of than the perplexing details of private +life. He has to vote several times a day; for giving a decision is really +casting a vote; but that is much easier than to scratch around in all the +anxieties of a retail business. Many men who would make very respectable +Presidents of the United States could not successfully run a retail +grocery store. The anxieties of the grocery would wear them out. For +consider the varied ability that the grocery requires-the foresight about +the markets, to take advantage of an eighth per cent. off or on here and +there; the vigilance required to keep a "full line" and not overstock, to +dispose of goods before they spoil or the popular taste changes; the +suavity and integrity and duplicity and fairness and adaptability needed +to get customers and keep them; the power to bear the daily and hourly +worry; the courage to face the ever-present spectre of "failure," which +is said to come upon ninety merchants in a hundred; the tact needed to +meet the whims and the complaints of patrons, and the difficulty of +getting the patrons who grumble most to pay in order to satisfy the +creditors. When the retail grocer wakens in the morning he feels that his +business is not going to come to him spontaneously; he thinks of his +rivals, of his perilous stock, of his debts and delinquent customers. He +has no "Constitution" to go by, nothing but his wits and energy to set +against the world that day, and every day the struggle and the anxiety +are the same. What a number of details he has to carry in his head +(consider, for instance, how many different kinds of cheese there are, +and how different people hate and love the same kind), and how keen must +be his appreciation of the popular taste. The complexities and annoyances +of his business are excessive, and he cannot afford to make many +mistakes; if he does he will lose his business, and when a man fails in +business (honestly), he loses his nerve, and his career is ended. It is +simply amazing, when you consider it, the amount of talent shown in what +are called the ordinary businesses of life. + +It has been often remarked with how little wisdom the world is governed. +That is the reason it is so easy to govern. "Uneasy lies the head that +wears a crown" does not refer to the discomfort of wearing it, but to the +danger of losing it, and of being put back upon one's native resources, +having to run a grocery or to keep school. Nobody is in such a pitiable +plight as a monarch or politician out of business. It is very difficult +for either to get a living. A man who has once enjoyed the blessed +feeling of awaking every morning with the thought that he has a certain +salary despises the idea of having to drum up a business by his own +talents. It does not disturb the waking hour at all to think that a +deputation is waiting in the next room about a post-office in Indiana or +about the codfish in Newfoundland waters--the man can take a second nap +on any such affair; but if he knows that the living of himself and family +that day depends upon his activity and intelligence, uneasy lies his +head. There is something so restful and easy about public business! It is +so simple! Take the average Congressman. The Secretary of the Treasury +sends in an elaborate report--a budget, in fact--involving a complete and +harmonious scheme of revenue and expenditure. Must the Congressman read +it? No; it is not necessary to do that; he only cares for practical +measures. Or a financial bill is brought in. Does he study that bill? He +hears it read, at least by title. Does he take pains to inform himself by +reading and conversation with experts upon its probable effect? Or an +international copyright law is proposed, a measure that will relieve the +people of the United States from the world-wide reputation of sneaking +meanness towards foreign authors. Does he examine the subject, and try to +understand it? That is not necessary. Or it is a question of tariff. He +is to vote "yes" or "no" on these proposals. It is not necessary for him +to master these subjects, but it is necessary for him to know how to +vote. And how does he find out that? In the first place, by inquiring +what effect the measure will have upon the chance of election of the man +he thinks will be nominated for President, and in the second place, what +effect his vote will have on his own reelection. Thus the principles of +legislation become very much simplified, and thus it happens that it is +comparatively so much easier to govern than it is to run a grocery store. + + + + +LOVE OF DISPLAY + +It is fortunate that a passion for display is implanted in human nature; +and if we owe a debt of gratitude to anybody, it is to those who make the +display for us. It would be such a dull, colorless world without it! We +try in vain to imagine a city without brass bands, and military +marchings, and processions of societies in regalia and banners and +resplendent uniforms, and gayly caparisoned horses, and men clad in red +and yellow and blue and gray and gold and silver and feathers, moving in +beautiful lines, proudly wheeling with step elate upon some responsive +human being as axis, deploying, opening, and closing ranks in exquisite +precision to the strains of martial music, to the thump of the drum and +the scream of the fife, going away down the street with nodding plumes, +heads erect, the very port of heroism. There is scarcely anything in the +world so inspiring as that. And the self-sacrifice of it! What will not +men do and endure to gratify their fellows! And in the heat of summer, +too, when most we need something to cheer us! The Drawer saw, with +feelings that cannot be explained, a noble company of men, the pride of +their city, all large men, all fat men, all dressed alike, but each one +as beautiful as anything that can be seen on the stage, perspiring +through the gala streets of another distant city, the admiration of +crowds of huzzaing men and women and boys, following another company as +resplendent as itself, every man bearing himself like a hero, despising +the heat and the dust, conscious only of doing his duty. We make a great +mistake if we suppose it is a feeling of ferocity that sets these men +tramping about in gorgeous uniform, in mud or dust, in rain or under a +broiling sun. They have no desire to kill anybody. Out of these +resplendent clothes they are much like other people; only they have a +nobler spirit, that which leads them to endure hardships for the sake of +pleasing others. They differ in degree, though not in kind, from those +orders, for keeping secrets, or for encouraging a distaste for strong +drink, which also wear bright and attractive regalia, and go about in +processions, with banners and music, and a pomp that cannot be +distinguished at a distance from real war. It is very fortunate that men +do like to march about in ranks and lines, even without any +distinguishing apparel. The Drawer has seen hundreds of citizens in a +body, going about the country on an excursion, parading through town +after town, with no other distinction of dress than a uniform high white +hat, who carried joy and delight wherever they went. The good of this +display cannot be reckoned in figures. Even a funeral is comparatively +dull without the military band and the four-and-four processions, and the +cities where these resplendent corteges of woes are of daily occurrence +are cheerful cities. The brass band itself, when we consider it +philosophically, is one of the most striking things in our civilization. +We admire its commonly splendid clothes, its drums and cymbals and +braying brass, but it is the impartial spirit with which it lends itself +to our varying wants that distinguishes it. It will not do to say that it +has no principles, for nobody has so many, or is so impartial in +exercising them. It is equally ready to play at a festival or a funeral, +a picnic or an encampment, for the sons of war or the sons of temperance, +and it is equally willing to express the feeling of a Democratic meeting +or a Republican gathering, and impartially blows out "Dixie" or "Marching +through Georgia," "The Girl I Left Behind Me" or "My Country, 'tis of +Thee." It is equally piercing and exciting for St. Patrick or the Fourth +of July. + +There are cynics who think it strange that men are willing to dress up in +fantastic uniform and regalia and march about in sun and rain to make a +holiday for their countrymen, but the cynics are ungrateful, and fail to +credit human nature with its trait of self-sacrifice, and they do not at +all comprehend our civilization. It was doubted at one time whether the +freedman and the colored man generally in the republic was capable of the +higher civilization. This doubt has all been removed. No other race takes +more kindly to martial and civic display than it. No one has a greater +passion for societies and uniforms and regalias and banners, and the pomp +of marchings and processions and peaceful war. The negro naturally +inclines to the picturesque, to the flamboyant, to vivid colors and the +trappings of office that give a man distinction. He delights in the drum +and the trumpet, and so willing is he to add to what is spectacular and +pleasing in life that he would spend half his time in parading. His +capacity for a holiday is practically unlimited. He has not yet the means +to indulge his taste, and perhaps his taste is not yet equal to his +means, but there is no question of his adaptability to the sort of +display which is so pleasing to the greater part of the human race, and +which contributes so much to the brightness and cheerfulness of this +world. We cannot all have decorations, and cannot all wear uniforms, or +even regalia, and some of us have little time for going about in military +or civic processions, but we all like to have our streets put on a +holiday appearance; and we cannot express in words our gratitude to those +who so cheerfully spend their time and money in glittering apparel and in +parades for our entertainment. + + + + +VALUE OF THE COMMONPLACE + +The vitality of a fallacy is incalculable. Although the Drawer has been +going many years, there are still remaining people who believe that +"things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other." This +mathematical axiom, which is well enough in its place, has been extended +into the field of morals and social life, confused the perception of +human relations, and raised "hob," as the saying is, in political +economy. We theorize and legislate as if people were things. Most of the +schemes of social reorganization are based on this fallacy. It always +breaks down in experience. A has two friends, B and C--to state it +mathematically. A is equal to B, and A is equal to C. A has for B and +also for C the most cordial admiration and affection, and B and C have +reciprocally the same feeling for A. Such is the harmony that A cannot +tell which he is more fond of, B or C. And B and C are sure that A is the +best friend of each. This harmony, however, is not triangular. A makes +the mistake of supposing that it is--having a notion that things which +are equal to the same thing are equal to each other--and he brings B and +C together. The result is disastrous. B and C cannot get on with each +other. Regard for A restrains their animosity, and they hypocritically +pretend to like each other, but both wonder what A finds so congenial in +the other. The truth is that this personal equation, as we call it, in +each cannot be made the subject of mathematical calculation. Human +relations will not bend to it. And yet we keep blundering along as if +they would. We are always sure, in our letter of introduction, that this +friend will be congenial to the other, because we are fond of both. +Sometimes this happens, but half the time we should be more successful in +bringing people into accord if we gave a letter of introduction to a +person we do not know, to be delivered to one we have never seen. On the +face of it this is as absurd as it is for a politician to indorse the +application of a person he does not know for an office the duties of +which he is unacquainted with; but it is scarcely less absurd than the +expectation that men and women can be treated like mathematical units and +equivalents. Upon the theory that they can, rest the present grotesque +schemes of Nationalism. + +In saying all this the Drawer is well aware that it subjects itself to +the charge of being commonplace, but it is precisely the commonplace that +this essay seeks to defend. Great is the power of the commonplace. "My +friends," says the preacher, in an impressive manner, "Alexander died; +Napoleon died; you will all die!" This profound remark, so true, so +thoughtful, creates a deep sensation. It is deepened by the statement +that "man is a moral being." The profundity of such startling assertions +cows the spirit; they appeal to the universal consciousness, and we bow +to the genius that delivers them. "How true!" we exclaim, and go away +with an enlarged sense of our own capacity for the comprehension of deep +thought. Our conceit is flattered. Do we not like the books that raise us +to the great level of the commonplace, whereon we move with a sense of +power? Did not Mr. Tupper, that sweet, melodious shepherd of the +undisputed, lead about vast flocks of sheep over the satisfying plain of +mediocrity? Was there ever a greater exhibition of power, while it +lasted? How long did "The Country Parson" feed an eager world with +rhetorical statements of that which it already knew? The thinner this +sort of thing is spread out, the more surface it covers, of course. What +is so captivating and popular as a book of essays which gathers together +and arranges a lot of facts out of histories and cyclopaedias, set forth +in the form of conversations that any one could have taken part in? Is +not this book pleasing because it is commonplace? And is this because we +do not like to be insulted with originality, or because in our experience +it is only the commonly accepted which is true? The statesman or the poet +who launches out unmindful of these conditions will be likely to come to +grief in her generation. Will not the wise novelist seek to encounter the +least intellectual resistance? + +Should one take a cynical view of mankind because he perceives this great +power of the commonplace? Not at all. He should recognize and respect +this power. He may even say that it is this power that makes the world go +on as smoothly and contentedly as it does, on the whole. Woe to us, is +the thought of Carlyle, when a thinker is let loose in this world! He +becomes a cause of uneasiness, and a source of rage very often. But his +power is limited. He filters through a few minds, until gradually his +ideas become commonplace enough to be powerful. We draw our supply of +water from reservoirs, not from torrents. Probably the man who first said +that the line of rectitude corresponds with the line of enjoyment was +disliked as well as disbelieved. But how impressive now is the idea that +virtue and happiness are twins! + +Perhaps it is true that the commonplace needs no defense, since everybody +takes it in as naturally as milk, and thrives on it. Beloved and read and +followed is the writer or the preacher of commonplace. But is not the +sunshine common, and the bloom of May? Why struggle with these things in +literature and in life? Why not settle down upon the formula that to be +platitudinous is to be happy? + + + + +THE BURDEN OF CHRISTMAS + +It would be the pity of the world to destroy it, because it would be next +to impossible to make another holiday as good as Christmas. Perhaps there +is no danger, but the American people have developed an unexpected +capacity for destroying things; they can destroy anything. They have even +invented a phrase for it--running a thing into the ground. They have +perfected the art of making so much of a thing as to kill it; they can +magnify a man or a recreation or an institution to death. And they do it +with such a hearty good-will and enjoyment. Their motto is that you +cannot have too much of a good thing. They have almost made funerals +unpopular by over-elaboration and display, especially what are called +public funerals, in which an effort is made to confer great distinction +on the dead. So far has it been carried often that there has been a +reaction of popular sentiment and people have wished the man were alive. +We prosecute everything so vigorously that we speedily either wear it out +or wear ourselves out on it, whether it is a game, or a festival, or a +holiday. We can use up any sport or game ever invented quicker than any +other people. We can practice anything, like a vegetable diet, for +instance, to an absurd conclusion with more vim than any other nation. +This trait has its advantages; nowhere else will a delusion run so fast, +and so soon run up a tree--another of our happy phrases. There is a +largeness and exuberance about us which run even into our ordinary +phraseology. The sympathetic clergyman, coming from the bedside of a +parishioner dying of dropsy, says, with a heavy sigh, "The poor fellow is +just swelling away." + +Is Christmas swelling away? If it is not, it is scarcely our fault. Since +the American nation fairly got hold of the holiday--in some parts of the +country, as in New England, it has been universal only about fifty +years--we have made it hum, as we like to say. We have appropriated the +English conviviality, the German simplicity, the Roman pomp, and we have +added to it an element of expense in keeping with our own greatness. Is +anybody beginning to feel it a burden, this sweet festival of charity and +good-will, and to look forward to it with apprehension? Is the time +approaching when we shall want to get somebody to play it for us, like +base-ball? Anything that interrupts the ordinary flow of life, introduces +into it, in short, a social cyclone that upsets everything for a +fortnight, may in time be as hard to bear as that festival of housewives +called housecleaning, that riot of cleanliness which men fear as they do +a panic in business. Taking into account the present preparations for +Christmas, and the time it takes to recover from it, we are +beginning--are we not?--to consider it one of the most serious events of +modern life. + +The Drawer is led into these observations out of its love for Christmas. +It is impossible to conceive of any holiday that could take its place, +nor indeed would it seem that human wit could invent another so adapted +to humanity. The obvious intention of it is to bring together, for a +season at least, all men in the exercise of a common charity and a +feeling of good-will, the poor and the rich, the successful and the +unfortunate, that all the world may feel that in the time called the +Truce of God the thing common to all men is the best thing in life. How +will it suit this intention, then, if in our way of exaggerated +ostentation of charity the distinction between rich and poor is made to +appear more marked than on ordinary days? Blessed are those that expect +nothing. But are there not an increasing multitude of persons in the +United States who have the most exaggerated expectations of personal +profit on Christmas Day? Perhaps it is not quite so bad as this, but it +is safe to say that what the children alone expect to receive, in money +value would absorb the national surplus, about which so much fuss is +made. There is really no objection to this--the terror of the surplus is +a sort of nightmare in the country--except that it destroys the +simplicity of the festival, and belittles small offerings that have their +chief value in affection. And it points inevitably to the creation of a +sort of Christmas "Trust"--the modern escape out of ruinous competition. +When the expense of our annual charity becomes so great that the poor are +discouraged from sharing in it, and the rich even feel it a burden, there +would seem to be no way but the establishment of neighborhood "Trusts" in +order to equalize both cost and distribution. Each family could buy a +share according to its means, and the division on Christmas Day would +create a universal satisfaction in profit sharing--that is, the rich +would get as much as the poor, and the rivalry of ostentation would be +quieted. Perhaps with the money question a little subdued, and the female +anxieties of the festival allayed, there would be more room for the +development of that sweet spirit of brotherly kindness, or all-embracing +charity, which we know underlies this best festival of all the ages. Is +this an old sermon? The Drawer trusts that it is, for there can be +nothing new in the preaching of simplicity. + + + + +THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WRITERS + +It is difficult enough to keep the world straight without the +interposition of fiction. But the conduct of the novelists and the +painters makes the task of the conservators of society doubly perplexing. +Neither the writers nor the artists have a due sense of the +responsibilities of their creations. The trouble appears to arise from +the imitativeness of the race. Nature herself seems readily to fall into +imitation. It was noticed by the friends of nature that when the peculiar +coal-tar colors were discovered, the same faded, aesthetic, and sometimes +sickly colors began to appear in the ornamental flower-beds and masses of +foliage plants. It was hardly fancy that the flowers took the colors of +the ribbons and stuffs of the looms, and that the same instant nature and +art were sicklied o'er with the same pale hues of fashion. If this +relation of nature and art is too subtle for comprehension, there is +nothing fanciful in the influence of the characters in fiction upon +social manners and morals. To convince ourselves of this, we do not need +to recall the effect of Werther, of Childe Harold, and of Don Juan, and +the imitation of their sentimentality, misanthropy, and adventure, down +to the copying of the rakishness of the loosely-knotted necktie and the +broad turn-over collar. In our own generation the heroes and heroines of +fiction begin to appear in real life, in dress and manner, while they are +still warm from the press. The popular heroine appears on the street in a +hundred imitations as soon as the popular mind apprehends her traits in +the story. We did not know the type of woman in the poems of the +aesthetic school and on the canvas of Rossetti--the red-haired, wide-eyed +child of passion and emotion, in lank clothes, enmeshed in spider-webs +--but so quickly was she multiplied in real life that she seemed to have +stepped from the book and the frame, ready-made, into the street and the +drawing-room. And there is nothing wonderful about this. It is a truism +to say that the genuine creations in fiction take their places in general +apprehension with historical characters, and sometimes they live more +vividly on the printed page and on canvas than the others in their pale, +contradictory, and incomplete lives. The characters of history we seldom +agree about, and are always reconstructing on new information; but the +characters of fiction are subject to no such vicissitudes. + +The importance of this matter is hardly yet perceived. Indeed, it is +unreasonable that it should be, when parents, as a rule, have so slight a +feeling of responsibility for the sort of children they bring into the +world. In the coming scientific age this may be changed, and society may +visit upon a grandmother the sins of her grandchildren, recognizing her +responsibility to the very end of the line. But it is not strange that in +the apathy on this subject the novelists should be careless and +inconsiderate as to the characters they produce, either as ideals or +examples. They know that the bad example is more likely to be copied than +to be shunned, and that the low ideal, being easy to, follow, is more +likely to be imitated than the high ideal. But the novelists have too +little sense of responsibility in this respect, probably from an +inadequate conception of their power. Perhaps the most harmful sinners +are not those who send into the world of fiction the positively wicked +and immoral, but those who make current the dull, the commonplace, and +the socially vulgar. For most readers the wicked character is repellant; +but the commonplace raises less protest, and is soon deemed harmless, +while it is most demoralizing. An underbred book--that is, a book in +which the underbred characters are the natural outcome of the author's +own, mind and apprehension of life--is worse than any possible epidemic; +for while the epidemic may kill a number of useless or vulgar people, the +book will make a great number. The keen observer must have noticed the +increasing number of commonplace, undiscriminating people of low +intellectual taste in the United States. These are to a degree the result +of the feeble, underbred literature (so called) that is most hawked +about, and most accessible, by cost and exposure, to the greater number +of people. It is easy to distinguish the young ladies--many of them +beautifully dressed, and handsome on first acquaintance--who have been +bred on this kind of book. They are betrayed by their speech, their +taste, their manners. Yet there is a marked public insensibility about +this. We all admit that the scrawny young woman, anaemic and physically +undeveloped, has not had proper nourishing food: But we seldom think that +the mentally-vulgar girl, poverty-stricken in ideas, has been starved by +a thin course of diet on anaemic books. The girls are not to blame if +they are as vapid and uninteresting as the ideal girls they have been +associating with in the books they have read. The responsibility is with +the novelist and the writer of stories, the chief characteristic of which +is vulgar commonplace. + +Probably when the Great Assize is held one of the questions asked will +be, "Did you, in America, ever write stories for children?" What a +quaking of knees there will be! For there will stand the victims of this +sort of literature, who began in their tender years to enfeeble their +minds with the wishy-washy flood of commonplace prepared for them by dull +writers and commercial publishers, and continued on in those so-called +domestic stories (as if domestic meant idiotic) until their minds were +diluted to that degree that they could not act upon anything that offered +the least resistance. Beginning with the pepsinized books, they must +continue with them, and the dull appetite by-and-by must be stimulated +with a spice of vulgarity or a little pepper of impropriety. And +fortunately for their nourishment in this kind, the dullest writers can +be indecent. + +Unfortunately the world is so ordered that the person of the feeblest +constitution can communicate a contagious disease. And these people, bred +on this pabulum, in turn make books. If one, it is now admitted, can do +nothing else in this world, he can write, and so the evil widens and +widens. No art is required, nor any selection, nor any ideality, only +capacity for increasing the vacuous commonplace in life. A princess born +may have this, or the leader of cotillons. Yet in the judgment the +responsibility will rest upon the writers who set the copy. + + + + +THE CAP AND GOWN + +One of the burning questions now in the colleges for the higher education +of women is whether the undergraduates shall wear the cap and gown. The +subject is a delicate one, and should not be confused with the broader +one, what is the purpose of the higher education? Some hold that the +purpose is to enable a woman to dispense with marriage, while others +maintain that it is to fit a woman for the higher duties of the married +life. The latter opinion will probably prevail, for it has nature on its +side, and the course of history, and the imagination. But meantime the +point of education is conceded, and whether a girl is to educate herself +into single or double blessedness need not interfere with the +consideration of the habit she is to wear during her college life. That +is to be determined by weighing a variety of reasons. + +Not the least of these is the consideration whether the cap-and-gown +habit is becoming. If it is not becoming, it will not go, not even by an +amendment to the Constitution of the United States; for woman's dress +obeys always the higher law. Masculine opinion is of no value on this +point, and the Drawer is aware of the fact that if it thinks the cap and +gown becoming, it may imperil the cap-and-gown cause to say so; but the +cold truth is that the habit gives a plain girl distinction, and a +handsome girl gives the habit distinction. So that, aside from the +mysterious working of feminine motive, which makes woman a law unto +herself, there should be practical unanimity in regard to this habit. +There is in the cap and gown a subtle suggestion of the union of learning +with womanly charm that is very captivating to the imagination. On the +other hand, all this may go for nothing with the girl herself, who is +conscious of the possession of quite other powers and attractions in a +varied and constantly changing toilet, which can reflect her moods from +hour to hour. So that if it is admitted that this habit is almost +universally becoming today, it might, in the inscrutable depths of the +feminine nature--the something that education never can and never should +change--be irksome tomorrow, and we can hardly imagine what a blight to a +young spirit there might be in three hundred and sixty-five days of +uniformity. + +The devotees of the higher education will perhaps need to approach the +subject from another point of view--namely, what they are willing to +surrender in order to come into a distinctly scholastic influence. The +cap and gown are scholastic emblems. Primarily they marked the student, +and not alliance with any creed or vows to any religious order. They +belong to the universities of learning, and today they have no more +ecclesiastic meaning than do the gorgeous robes of the Oxford chancellor +and vice-chancellor and the scarlet hood. From the scholarly side, then, +if not from the dress side, there is much to be said for the cap and +gown. They are badges of devotion, for the time being, to an intellectual +life. + +They help the mind in its effort to set itself apart to unworldly +pursuits; they are indications of separateness from the prevailing +fashions and frivolities. The girl who puts on the cap and gown devotes +herself to the society which is avowedly in pursuit of a larger +intellectual sympathy and a wider intellectual life. The enduring of this +habit will have a confirming influence on her purposes, and help to keep +her up to them. It is like the uniform to the soldier or the veil to the +nun--a sign of separation and devotion. It is difficult in this age to +keep any historic consciousness, any proper relations to the past. In the +cap and gown the girl will at least feel that she is in the line of the +traditions of pure learning. And there is also something of order and +discipline in the uniforming of a community set apart for an unworldly +purpose. Is it believed that three or four years of the kind of +separateness marked by this habit in the life of a girl will rob her of +any desirable womanly quality? + +The cap and gown are only an emphasis of the purpose to devote a certain +period to the higher life, and if they cannot be defended, then we may +begin to be skeptical about the seriousness of the intention of a higher +education. If the school is merely a method of passing the time until a +certain event in the girl's life, she had better dress as if that event +were the only one worth considering. But if she wishes to fit herself for +the best married life, she may not disdain the help of the cap and gown +in devoting herself to the highest culture. Of course education has its +dangers, and the regalia of scholarship may increase them. While our +cap-and-gown divinity is walking in the groves of Academia, apart from +the ways of men, her sisters outside may be dancing and dressing into the +affections of the marriageable men. But this is not the worst of it. The +university girl may be educating herself out of sympathy with the +ordinary possible husband. But this will carry its own cure. The educated +girl will be so much more attractive in the long-run, will have so many +more resources for making a life companionship agreeable, that she will +be more and more in demand. And the young men, even those not expecting +to take up a learned profession, will see the advantage of educating +themselves up to the cap-and-gown level. We know that it is the office of +the university to raise the standard of the college, and of the college +to raise the standard of the high school. It will be the inevitable +result that these young ladies, setting themselves apart for a period to +the intellectual life, will raise the standard of the young men, and of +married life generally. And there is nothing supercilious in the +invitation of the cap-and-gown brigade to the young men to come up +higher. + +There is one humiliating objection made to the cap and gown-made by +members of the gentle sex themselves--which cannot be passed by. It is of +such a delicate nature, and involves such a disparagement of the sex in a +vital point, that the Drawer hesitates to put it in words. It is said +that the cap and gown will be used to cover untidiness, to conceal the +makeshift of a disorderly and unsightly toilet. Undoubtedly the cap and +gown are democratic, adopted probably to equalize the appearance of rich +and poor in the same institution, where all are on an intellectual level. +Perhaps the sex is not perfect; it may be that there are slovens (it is a +brutal word) in that sex which is our poetic image of purity. But a neat +and self-respecting girl will no more be slovenly under a scholastic gown +than under any outward finery. If it is true that the sex would take +cover in this way, and is liable to run down at the heel when it has a +chance, then to the "examination" will have to be added a periodic +"inspection," such as the West-Pointers submit to in regard to their +uniforms. For the real idea of the cap and gown is to encourage +discipline, order, and neatness. We fancy that it is the mission of woman +in this generation to show the world that the tendency of woman to an +intellectual life is not, as it used to be said it was, to untidy habits. + + + + +A TENDENCY OF THE AGE + +This ingenious age, when studied, seems not less remarkable for its +division of labor than for the disposition of people to shift labor on to +others' shoulders. Perhaps it is only another aspect of the spirit of +altruism, a sort of backhanded vicariousness. In taking an inventory of +tendencies, this demands some attention. + +The notion appears to be spreading that there must be some way by which +one can get a good intellectual outfit without much personal effort. +There are many schemes of education which encourage this idea. If one +could only hit upon the right "electives," he could become a scholar with +very little study, and without grappling with any of the real +difficulties in the way of an education. It is no more a short-cut we +desire, but a road of easy grades, with a locomotive that will pull our +train along while we sit in a palace-car at ease. The discipline to be +obtained by tackling an obstacle and overcoming it we think of small +value. There must be some way of attaining the end of cultivation without +much labor. We take readily to proprietary medicines. It is easier to +dose with these than to exercise ordinary prudence about our health. And +we readily believe the doctors of learning when they assure us that we +can acquire a new language by the same method by which we can restore +bodily vigor: take one small patent-right volume in six easy lessons, +without even the necessity of "shaking," and without a regular doctor, +and we shall know the language. Some one else has done all the work for +us, and we only need to absorb. It is pleasing to see how this theory is +getting to be universally applied. All knowledge can be put into a kind +of pemican, so that we can have it condensed. Everything must be chopped +up, epitomized, put in short sentences, and italicized. And we have +primers for science, for history, so that we can acquire all the +information we need in this world in a few hasty bites. It is an +admirable saving of time-saving of time being more important in this +generation than the saving of ourselves. + +And the age is so intellectually active, so eager to know! If we wish to +know anything, instead of digging for it ourselves, it is much easier to +flock all together to some lecturer who has put all the results into an +hour, and perhaps can throw them all upon a screen, so that we can +acquire all we want by merely using the eyes, and bothering ourselves +little about what is said. Reading itself is almost too much of an +effort. We hire people to read for us--to interpret, as we call it +--Browning and Ibsen, even Wagner. Every one is familiar with the +pleasure and profit of "recitations," of "conversations" which are +monologues. There is something fascinating in the scheme of getting +others to do our intellectual labor for us, to attempt to fill up our +minds as if they were jars. The need of the mind for nutriment is like +the need of the body, but our theory is that it can be satisfied in a +different way. There was an old belief that in order that we should enjoy +food, and that it should perform its function of assimilation, we must +work for it, and that the exertion needed to earn it brought the appetite +that made it profitable to the system. We still have the idea that we +must eat for ourselves, and that we cannot delegate this performance, as +we do the filling of the mind, to some one else. We may have ceased to +relish the act of eating, as we have ceased to relish the act of +studying, but we cannot yet delegate it, even although our power of +digesting food for the body has become almost as feeble as the power of +acquiring and digesting food for the mind. + +It is beautiful to witness our reliance upon others. The house may be +full of books, the libraries may be as free and as unstrained of +impurities as city water; but if we wish to read anything or study +anything we resort to a club. We gather together a number of persons of +like capacity with ourselves. A subject which we might grapple with and +run down by a few hours of vigorous, absorbed attention in a library, +gaining strength of mind by resolute encountering of difficulties, by +personal effort, we sit around for a month or a season in a club, +expecting somehow to take the information by effortless contiguity with +it. A book which we could master and possess in an evening we can have +read to us in a month in the club, without the least intellectual effort. +Is there nothing, then, in the exchange of ideas? Oh yes, when there are +ideas to exchange. Is there nothing stimulating in the conflict of mind +with mind? Oh yes, when there is any mind for a conflict. But the mind +does not grow without personal effort and conflict and struggle with +itself. It is a living organism, and not at all like a jar or other +receptacle for fluids. The physiologists say that what we eat will not do +us much good unless we chew it. By analogy we may presume that the mind +is not greatly benefited by what it gets without considerable exercise of +the mind. + +Still, it is a beautiful theory that we can get others to do our reading +and thinking, and stuff our minds for us. It may be that psychology will +yet show us how a congregate education by clubs may be the way. But just +now the method is a little crude, and lays us open to the charge--which +every intelligent person of this scientific age will repudiate--of being +content with the superficial; for instance, of trusting wholly to others +for our immortal furnishing, as many are satisfied with the review of a +book for the book itself, or--a refinement on that--with a review of the +reviews. The method is still crude. Perhaps we may expect a further +development of the "slot" machine. By dropping a cent in the slot one can +get his weight, his age, a piece of chewing-gum, a bit of candy, or a +shock that will energize his nervous system. Why not get from a similar +machine a "good business education," or an "interpretation" of Browning, +or a new language, or a knowledge of English literature? But even this +would be crude. We have hopes of something from electricity. There ought +to be somewhere a reservoir of knowledge, connected by wires with every +house, and a professional switch-tender, who, upon the pressure of a +button in any house, could turn on the intellectual stream desired. +--[Prophecy of the Internet of the year 2000 from 110 years ago. D.W.] +--There must be discovered in time a method by which not only information +but intellectual life can be infused into the system by an electric +current. It would save a world of trouble and expense. For some clubs +even are a weariness, and it costs money to hire other people to read and +think for us. + + + + +A LOCOED NOVELIST + +Either we have been indulging in an expensive mistake, or a great foreign +novelist who preaches the gospel of despair is locoed. + +This word, which may be new to most of our readers, has long been current +in the Far West, and is likely to be adopted into the language, and +become as indispensable as the typic words taboo and tabooed, which +Herman Melville gave us some forty years ago. There grows upon the +deserts and the cattle ranges of the Rockies a plant of the leguminosae +family, with a purple blossom, which is called the 'loco'. It is sweet to +the taste; horses and cattle are fond of it, and when they have once +eaten it they prefer it to anything else, and often refuse other food. +But the plant is poisonous, or, rather, to speak exactly, it is a weed of +insanity. Its effect upon the horse seems to be mental quite as much as +physical. He behaves queerly, he is full of whims; one would say he was +"possessed." He takes freaks, he trembles, he will not go in certain +places, he will not pull straight, his mind is evidently affected, he is +mildly insane. In point of fact, he is ruined; that is to say, he is +'locoed'. Further indulgence in the plant results in death, but rarely +does an animal recover from even one eating of the insane weed. + +The shepherd on the great sheep ranges leads an absolutely isolated life. +For weeks, sometimes for months together, he does not see a human being. +His only companions are his dogs and the three or four thousand sheep he +is herding. All day long, under the burning sun, he follows the herd over +the rainless prairie, as it nibbles here and there the short grass and +slowly gathers its food. At night he drives the sheep back to the corral, +and lies down alone in his hut. He speaks to no one; he almost forgets +how to speak. Day and night he hears no sound except the melancholy, +monotonous bleat, bleat of the sheep. It becomes intolerable. The animal +stupidity of the herd enters into him. Gradually he loses his mind. They +say that he is locoed. The insane asylums of California contain many +shepherds. + +But the word locoed has come to have a wider application than to the poor +shepherds or the horses and cattle that have eaten the loco. Any one who +acts queerly, talks strangely, is visionary without being actually a +lunatic, who is what would be called elsewhere a "crank," is said to be +locoed. It is a term describing a shade of mental obliquity and queerness +something short of irresponsible madness, and something more than +temporarily "rattled" or bewildered for the moment. It is a good word, +and needed to apply to many people who have gone off into strange ways, +and behave as if they had eaten some insane plant--the insane plant being +probably a theory in the mazes of which they have wandered until they are +lost. + +Perhaps the loco does not grow in Russia, and the Prophet of +Discouragement may never have eaten of it; perhaps he is only like the +shepherd, mainly withdrawn from human intercourse and sympathy in a +morbid mental isolation, hearing only the bleat, bleat, bleat of the +'muxhiks' in the dullness of the steppes, wandering round in his own +sated mind until he has lost all clew to life. Whatever the cause may be, +clearly he is 'locoed'. All his theories have worked out to the +conclusion that the world is a gigantic mistake, love is nothing but +animality, marriage is immorality; according to astronomical calculations +this teeming globe and all its life must end some time; and why not now? +There shall be no more marriage, no more children; the present population +shall wind up its affairs with decent haste, and one by one quit the +scene of their failure, and avoid all the worry of a useless struggle. + +This gospel of the blessedness of extinction has come too late to enable +us to profit by it in our decennial enumeration. How different the census +would have been if taken in the spirit of this new light! How much +bitterness, how much hateful rivalry would have been spared! We should +then have desired a reduction of the population, not an increase of it. +There would have been a pious rivalry among all the towns and cities on +the way to the millennium of extinction to show the least number of +inhabitants; and those towns would have been happiest which could exhibit +not only a marked decline in numbers, but the greater number of old +people. Beautiful St. Paul would have held a thanksgiving service, and +invited the Minneapolis enumerators to the feast, Kansas City and St. +Louis and San Francisco, and a hundred other places, would not have +desired a recount, except, perhaps, for overestimate; they would not have +said that thousands were away at the sea or in the mountains, but, on the +contrary, that thousands who did not belong there, attracted by the +salubrity of the climate, and the desire to injure the town's reputation, +had crowded in there in census time. The newspapers, instead of calling +on people to send in the names of the unenumerated, would have rejoiced +at the small returns, as they would have done if the census had been for +the purpose of levying the federal tax upon each place according to its +population. Chicago--well, perhaps the Prophet of the Steppes would have +made an exception of Chicago, and been cynically delighted to push it on +its way of increase, aggregation, and ruin. + +But instead of this, the strain of anxiety was universal and +heart-rending. So much depended upon swelling the figures. The tension +would have been relieved if our faces were all set towards extinction, +and the speedy evacuation of this unsatisfactory globe. The writer met +recently, in the Colorado desert of Arizona, a forlorn census-taker who +had been six weeks in the saddle, roaming over the alkali plains in order +to gratify the vanity of Uncle Sam. He had lost his reckoning, and did +not know the day of the week or of the month. In all the vast territory, +away up to the Utah line, over which he had wandered, he met human beings +(excluding "Indians and others not taxed ") so rarely that he was in +danger of being locoed. He was almost in despair when, two days before, +he had a windfall, which raised his general average in the form of a +woman with twenty-six children, and he was rejoicing that he should be +able to turn in one hundred and fifty people. Alas, the revenue the +government will derive from these half-nomads will never pay the cost of +enumerating them. + +And, alas again, whatever good showing we may make, we shall wish it were +larger; the more people we have the more we shall want. In this direction +there is no end, any more than there is to life. If extinction, and not +life and growth, is the better rule, what a costly mistake we have been +making! + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's As We Were Saying, by Charles Dudley Warner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AS WE WERE SAYING *** + +***** This file should be named 3106.txt or 3106.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/0/3106/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +As We Were Saying + +by Charles Dudley Warner + + + + +CONTENTS: (25 Short Studies) + +ROSE AND CHRYSANTHEMUM +THE RED BONNET +THE LOSS IN CIVILIZATION +SOCIAL SCREAMING +DOES REFINEMENT KILL INDIVIDUALITY? +THE DIRECTOIRE GOWN +THE MYSTERY OF THE SEX +THE CLOTHES OF FICTION +THE BROAD A +CHEWING GUM +WOMEN IN CONGRESS +SHALL WOMEN PROPOSE? +FROCKS AND THE STAGE +ALTRUISM +SOCIAL CLEARING-HOUSE +DINNER-TABLE TALK +NATURALIZATION +ART OF GOVERNING +LOVE OF DISPLAY +VALUE OF THE COMMONPLACE +THE BURDEN OF CHRISTMAS +THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WRITERS +THE CAP AND GOWN +A TENDENCY OF THE AGE +A LOCOED NOVELIST + + + + +ROSE AND CHRYSANTHEMUM + +The Drawer will still bet on the rose. This is not a wager, but only a +strong expression of opinion. The rose will win. It does not look so +now. To all appearances, this is the age of the chrysanthemum. What +this gaudy flower will be, daily expanding and varying to suit the whim +of fashion, no one can tell. It may be made to bloom like the cabbage; +it may spread out like an umbrella--it can never be large enough nor +showy enough to suit us. Undeniably it is very effective, especially in +masses of gorgeous color. In its innumerable shades and enlarging +proportions, it is a triumph of the gardener. It is a rival to the +analine dyes and to the marabout feathers. It goes along with all the +conceits and fantastic unrest of the decorative art. Indeed, but for the +discovery of the capacities of the chrysanthemum, modern life would have +experienced a fatal hitch in its development. It helps out our age of +plush with a flame of color. There is nothing shamefaced or retiring +about it, and it already takes all provinces for its own. One would be +only half-married--civilly, and not fashionably--without a chrysanthemum +wedding; and it lights the way to the tomb. The maiden wears a bunch of +it in her corsage in token of her blooming expectations, and the young +man flaunts it on his coat lapel in an effort to be at once effective and +in the mode. Young love that used to express its timid desire with the +violet, or, in its ardor, with the carnation, now seeks to bring its +emotions to light by the help of the chrysanthemum. And it can express +every shade of feeling, from the rich yellow of prosperous wooing to the +brick-colored weariness of life that is hardly distinguishable from the +liver complaint. It is a little stringy for a boutonniere, but it fills +the modern-trained eye as no other flower can fill it. We used to say +that a girl was as sweet as a rose; we have forgotten that language. We +used to call those tender additions to society, on the eve of their event +into that world which is always so eager to receive fresh young life, +"rose-buds"; we say now simply " buds," but we mean chrysanthemum buds. +They are as beautiful as ever; they excite the same exquisite interest; +perhaps in their maiden hearts they are one or another variety of that +flower which bears such a sweet perfume in all literature; but can it +make no difference in character whether a young girl comes out into the +garish world as a rose or as a chrysanthemum? Is her life set to the +note of display, of color and show, with little sweetness, or to that +retiring modesty which needs a little encouragement before it fully +reveals its beauty and its perfume? If one were to pass his life in +moving in a palace car from one plush hotel to another, a bunch of +chrysanthemums in his hand would seem to be a good symbol of his life. +There are aged people who can remember that they used to choose various +roses, as to their color, odor, and degree of unfolding, to express the +delicate shades of advancing passion and of devotion. What can one do +with this new favorite? Is not a bunch of chrysanthemums a sort of +take-it-or-leave-it declaration, boldly and showily made, an offer +without discrimination, a tender without romance? A young man will catch +the whole family with this flaming message, but where is that sentiment +that once set the maiden heart in a flutter? Will she press a +chrysanthemum, and keep it till the faint perfume reminds her of the +sweetest moment of her life? + +Are we exaggerating this astonishing rise, development, and spread of the +chrysanthemum? As a fashion it is not so extraordinary as the hoop- +skirt, or as the neck ruff, which is again rising as a background to the +lovely head. But the remarkable thing about it is that heretofore in all +nations and times, and in all changes of fashion in dress, the rose has +held its own as the queen of flowers and as the finest expression of +sentiment. But here comes a flaunting thing with no desirable perfume, +looking as if it were cut with scissors out of tissue-paper, but capable +of taking infinite varieties of color, and growing as big as a curtain +tassel, that literally captures the world, and spreads all over the +globe, like the Canada thistle. The florists have no eye for anything +else, and the biggest floral prizes are awarded for the production of its +eccentricities. Is the rage for this flower typical of this fast and +flaring age? + +The Drawer is not an enemy to the chrysanthemum, nor to the sunflower, +nor to any other gorgeous production of nature. But it has an old- +fashioned love for the modest and unobtrusive virtues, and an abiding +faith that they will win over the strained and strident displays of life. +There is the violet: all efforts of cultivation fail to make it as big as +the peony, and it would be no more dear to the heart if it were +quadrupled in size. We do, indeed, know that satisfying beauty and +refinement are apt to escape us when we strive too much and force nature +into extraordinary display, and we know how difficult it is to get mere +bigness and show without vulgarity. Cultivation has its limits. After +we have produced it, we find that the biggest rose even is not the most +precious; and lovely as woman is, we instinctively in our admiration put +a limit to her size. There being, then, certain laws that ultimately +fetch us all up standing, so to speak, it does seem probable that the +chrysanthemum rage will end in a gorgeous sunset of its splendor; that +fashion will tire of it, and that the rose, with its secret heart of +love; the rose, with its exquisite form; the rose, with its capacity of +shyly and reluctantly unfolding its beauty; the rose, with that odor--of +the first garden exhaled and yet kept down through all the ages of sin +--will become again the fashion, and be more passionately admired for its +temporary banishment. Perhaps the poet will then come back again and +sing. What poet could now sing of the "awful chrysanthemum of dawn"? + + + + + + +THE RED BONNET + +The Drawer has no wish to make Lent easier for anybody, or rather to +diminish the benefit of the penitential season. But in this period of +human anxiety and repentance it must be said that not enough account is +made of the moral responsibility of Things. The doctrine is sound; the +only difficulty is in applying it. It can, however, be illustrated by a +little story, which is here confided to the reader in the same trust in +which it was received. There was once a lady, sober in mind and sedate +in manner, whose plain dress exactly represented her desire to be +inconspicuous, to do good, to improve every day of her life in actions +that should benefit her kind. She was a serious person, inclined to +improving conversation, to the reading of bound books that cost at least +a dollar and a half (fifteen cents of which she gladly contributed to the +author), and she had a distaste for the gay society which was mainly a +flutter of ribbons and talk and pretty faces; and when she meditated, as +she did in her spare moments, her heart was sore over the frivolity of +life and the emptiness of fashion. She longed to make the world better, +and without any priggishness she set it an example of simplicity and +sobriety, of cheerful acquiescence in plainness and inconspicuousness. + +One day--it was in the autumn--this lady had occasion to buy a new hat. +From a great number offered to her she selected a red one with a dull red +plume. It did not agree with the rest of her apparel; it did not fit her +apparent character. What impulse led to this selection she could not +explain. She was not tired of being good, but something in the +jauntiness of the hat and the color pleased her. If it were a +temptation, she did not intend to yield to it, but she thought she would +take the hat home and try it. Perhaps her nature felt the need of a +little warmth. The hat pleased her still more when she got it home and +put it on and surveyed herself in the mirror. Indeed, there was a new +expression in her face that corresponded to the hat. She put it off and +looked at it. There was something almost humanly winning and temptatious +in it. In short, she kept it, and when she wore it abroad she was not +conscious of its incongruity to herself or to her dress, but of the +incongruity of the rest of her apparel to the hat, which seemed to have a +sort of intelligence of its own, at least a power of changing and +conforming things to itself. By degrees one article after another in the +lady's wardrobe was laid aside, and another substituted for it that +answered to the demanding spirit of the hat. In a little while this +plain lady was not plain any more, but most gorgeously dressed, and +possessed with the desire to be in the height of the fashion. It came to +this, that she had a tea-gown made out of a window-curtain with a +flamboyant pattern. Solomon in all his glory would have been ashamed of +himself in her presence. + +But this was not all. Her disposition, her ideas, her whole life, was +changed. She did not any more think of going about doing good, but of +amusing herself. She read nothing but stories in paper covers. In place +of being sedate and sober-minded, she was frivolous to excess; she spent +most of her time with women who liked to "frivol." She kept Lent in the +most expensive way, so as to make the impression upon everybody that she +was better than the extremest kind of Lent. From liking the sedatest +company she passed to liking the gayest society and the most fashionable +method of getting rid of her time. Nothing whatever had happened to her, +and she is now an ornament to society. + +This story is not an invention; it is a leaf out of life. If this lady +that autumn day had bought a plain bonnet she would have continued on in +her humble, sensible way of living. Clearly it was the hat that made the +woman, and not the woman the hat. She had no preconception of it; it +simply happened to her, like any accident--as if she had fallen and +sprained her ankle. Some people may say that she had in her a concealed +propensity for frivolity; but the hat cannot escape the moral +responsibility of calling it out if it really existed. The power of +things to change and create character is well attested. Men live up to +or live down to their clothes, which have a great moral influence on +manner, and even on conduct. There was a man run down almost to +vagabondage, owing to his increasingly shabby clothing, and he was only +saved from becoming a moral and physical wreck by a remnant of good- +breeding in him that kept his worn boots well polished. In time his +boots brought up the rest of his apparel and set him on his feet again. +Then there is the well-known example of the honest clerk on a small +salary who was ruined by the gift of a repeating watch--an expensive +timepiece that required at least ten thousand a year to sustain it: he is +now in Canada. + +Sometimes the influence of Things is good and sometimes it is bad. We +need a philosophy that shall tell us why it is one or the other, and fix +the responsibility where it belongs. It does no good, as people always +find out by reflex action, to kick an inanimate thing that has offended, +to smash a perverse watch with a hammer, to break a rocking-chair that +has a habit of tipping over backward. If Things are not actually +malicious, they seem to have a power of revenging themselves. We ought +to try to understand them better, and to be more aware of what they can +do to us. If the lady who bought the red hat could have known the hidden +nature of it, could have had a vision of herself as she was transformed +by it, she would as soon have taken a viper into her bosom as have placed +the red tempter on her head. Her whole previous life, her feeling of the +moment, show that it was not vanity that changed her, but the +inconsiderate association with a Thing that happened to strike her fancy, +and which seemed innocent. But no Thing is really powerless for good or +evil. + + + + + + +THE LOSS IN CIVILIZATION + +Have we yet hit upon the right idea of civilization? The process which +has been going on ever since the world began seems to have a defect in +it; strength, vital power, somehow escapes. When you've got a man +thoroughly civilized you cannot do anything more with him. And it is +worth reflection what we should do, what could we spend our energies on, +and what would evoke them, we who are both civilized and enlightened, if +all nations were civilized and the earth were entirely subdued. That is +to say, are not barbarism and vast regions of uncultivated land a +necessity of healthful life on this globe? We do not like to admit that +this process has its cycles, that nations and men, like trees and fruit, +grow, ripen, and then decay. The world has always had a conceit that the +globe could be made entirely habitable, and all over the home of a +society constantly growing better. In order to accomplish this we have +striven to eliminate barbarism in man and in nature: + +Is there anything more unsatisfactory than a perfect house, perfect +grounds, perfect gardens, art and nature brought into the most absolute +harmony of taste and culture? What more can a man do with it? What +satisfaction has a man in it if he really gets to the end of his power to +improve it? There have been such nearly ideal places, and how strong +nature, always working against man and in the interest of untamed +wildness, likes to riot in them and reduce them to picturesque +destruction! And what sweet sadness, pathos, romantic suggestion, the +human mind finds in such a ruin! And a society that has attained its end +in all possible culture, entire refinement in manners, in tastes, in the +art of elegant intellectual and luxurious living--is there nothing +pathetic in that? Where is the primeval, heroic force that made the joy +of living in the rough old uncivilized days? Even throw in goodness, a +certain amount of altruism, gentleness, warm interest in unfortunate +humanity--is the situation much improved? London is probably the most +civilized centre the world has ever seen; there are gathered more of the +elements of that which we reckon the best. Where in history, unless some +one puts in a claim for the Frenchman, shall we find a Man so nearly +approaching the standard we have set up of civilization as the +Englishman, refined by inheritance and tradition, educated almost beyond +the disturbance of enthusiasm, and cultivated beyond the chance of +surprise? We are speaking of the highest type in manner, information, +training, in the acquisition of what the world has to give. Could these +men have conquered the world? Is it possible that our highest +civilization has lost something of the rough and admirable element that +we admire in the heroes of Homer and of Elizabeth? What is this London, +the most civilized city ever known? Why, a considerable part of its +population is more barbarous, more hopelessly barbarous, than any wild +race we know, because they are the barbarians of civilization, the refuse +and slag of it, if we dare say that of any humanity. More hopeless, +because the virility of savagery has measurably gone out of it. We can +do something with a degraded race of savages, if it has any stamina in +it. What can be done with those who are described as "East-Londoners"? + +Every great city has enough of the same element. Is this an accident, or +is it a necessity of the refinement that we insist on calling +civilization? We are always sending out missionaries to savage or +perverted nations, we are always sending out emigrants to occupy and +reduce to order neglected territory. This is our main business. How +would it be if this business were really accomplished, and there were no +more peoples to teach our way of life to, and no more territory to bring +under productive cultivation? Without the necessity of putting forth +this energy, a survival of the original force in man, how long would our +civilization last? In a word, if the world were actually all civilized, +wouldn't it be too weak even to ripen? And now, in the great centres, +where is accumulated most of that we value as the product of man's best +efforts, is there strength enough to elevate the degraded humanity that +attends our highest cultivation? We have a gay confidence that we can do +something for Africa. Can we reform London and Paris and New York, which +our own hands have made? + +If we cannot, where is the difficulty? Is this a hopeless world? Must +it always go on by spurts and relapses, alternate civilization and +barbarism, and the barbarism being necessary to keep us employed and +growing? Or is there some mistake about our ideal of civilization? Does +our process too much eliminate the rough vigor, courage, stamina of the +race? After a time do we just live, or try to live, on literature warmed +over, on pretty coloring and drawing instead of painting that stirs the +soul to the heroic facts and tragedies of life? Where did this virile, +blood-full, throbbing Russian literature come from; this Russian painting +of Verestchagin, that smites us like a sword with the consciousness of +the tremendous meaning of existence? Is there a barbaric force left in +the world that we have been daintily trying to cover and apologize for +and refine into gentle agreeableness ? + +These questions are too deep for these pages. Let us make the world +pleasant, and throw a cover over the refuse. We are doing very well, on +the whole, considering what we are and the materials we have to work on. +And we must not leave the world so perfectly civilized that the +inhabitants, two or three centuries ahead, will have nothing to do. + + + + + + +SOCIAL SCREAMING + +Of all the contrivances for amusement in this agreeable world the +"Reception" is the most ingenious, and would probably most excite the +wonder of an angel sent down to inspect our social life. If he should +pause at the entrance of the house where one is in progress, he would be +puzzled. The noise that would greet his ears is different from the deep +continuous roar in the streets, it is unlike the hum of millions of +seventeen-year locusts, it wants the musical quality of the spring +conventions of the blackbirds in the chestnuts, and he could not compare +it to the vociferation in a lunatic asylum, for that is really subdued +and infrequent. He might be incapable of analyzing this, but when he +caught sight of the company he would be compelled to recognize it as the +noise of our highest civilization. It may not be perfect, for there are +limits to human powers of endurance, but it is the best we can do. It is +not a chance affair. Here are selected, picked out by special +invitation, the best that society can show, the most intelligent, the +most accomplished, the most beautiful, the best dressed persons in the +community--all receptions have this character. The angel would notice +this at once, and he would be astonished at the number of such persons, +for the rooms would be so crowded that he would see the hopelessness of +attempting to edge or wedge his way through the throng without tearing +off his wings. An angel, in short, would stand no chance in one of these +brilliant assemblies on account of his wings, and he probably could not +be heard, on account of the low, heavenly pitch of his voice. His +inference would be that these people had been selected to come together +by reason of their superior power of screaming. He would be wrong. + +--They are selected on account of their intelligence, agreeableness, and +power of entertaining each other. They come together, not for exercise, +but pleasure, and the more they crowd and jam and struggle, and the +louder they scream, the greater the pleasure. It is a kind of contest, +full of good-humor and excitement. The one that has the shrillest voice +and can scream the loudest is most successful. It would seem at first +that they are under a singular hallucination, imagining that the more +noise there is in the room the better each one can be heard, and so each +one continues to raise his or her voice in order to drown the other +voices. The secret of the game is to pitch the voice one or two octaves +above the ordinary tone. Some throats cannot stand this strain long; +they become rasped and sore, and the voices break; but this adds to the +excitement and enjoyment of those who can scream with less inconvenience. +The angel would notice that if at any time silence was called, in order +that an announcement of music could be made, in the awful hush that +followed people spoke to each other in their natural voices, and +everybody could be heard without effort. But this was not the object of +the Reception, and in a moment more the screaming would begin again, the +voices growing higher and higher, until, if the roof were taken off, one +vast shriek would go up to heaven. + +This is not only a fashion, it is an art. People have to train for it, +and as it is a unique amusement, it is worth some trouble to be able to +succeed in it. Men, by reason of their stolidity and deeper voices, can +never be proficients in it; and they do not have so much practice--unless +they are stock-brokers. Ladies keep themselves in training in their +ordinary calls. If three or four meet in a drawing-room they all begin +to scream, not that they may be heard--for the higher they go the less +they understand each other--but simply to acquire the art of screaming at +receptions. If half a dozen ladies meeting by chance in a parlor should +converse quietly in their sweet, ordinary home tones, it might be in a +certain sense agreeable, but it would not be fashionable, and it would +not strike the prevailing note of our civilization. If it were true that +a group of women all like to talk at the same time when they meet (which +is a slander invented by men, who may be just as loquacious, but not so +limber-tongued and quick-witted), and raise their voices to a shriek in +order to dominate each other, it could be demonstrated that they would be +more readily heard if they all spoke in low tones. But the object is not +conversation; it is the social exhilaration that comes from the wild +exercise of the voice in working off a nervous energy; it is so seldom +that in her own house a lady gets a chance to scream. + +The dinner-party, where there are ten or twelve at table, is a favorite +chance for this exercise. At a recent dinner, where there were a dozen +uncommonly intelligent people, all capable of the most entertaining +conversation, by some chance, or owing to some nervous condition, they +all began to speak in a high voice as soon as they were seated, and the +effect was that of a dynamite explosion. It was a cheerful babel of +indistinguishable noise, so loud and shrill and continuous that it was +absolutely impossible for two people seated on the opposite sides of the +table, and both shouting at each other, to catch an intelligible +sentence. This made a lively dinner. Everybody was animated, and if +there was no conversation, even between persons seated side by side, +there was a glorious clatter and roar; and when it was over, everybody +was hoarse and exhausted, and conscious that he had done his best in a +high social function. + +This topic is not the selection of the Drawer, the province of which is +to note, but not to criticise, the higher civilization. But the inquiry +has come from many cities, from many women, "Cannot something be done to +stop social screaming?" The question is referred to the scientific +branch of the Social Science Association. If it is a mere fashion, the +association can do nothing. But it might institute some practical +experiments. It might get together in a small room fifty people all let +loose in the ordinary screaming contest, measure the total volume of +noise and divide it by fifty, and ascertain how much throat power was +needed in one person to be audible to another three feet from the +latter's ear. This would sift out the persons fit for such a contest. +The investigator might then call a dead silence in the assembly, and +request each person to talk in a natural voice, then divide the total +noise as before, and see what chance of being heard an ordinary +individual had in it. If it turned out in these circumstances that every +person present could speak with ease and hear perfectly what was said, +then the order might be given for the talk to go on in that tone, and +that every person who raised the voice and began to scream should be +gagged and removed to another room. In this room could be collected all +the screamers to enjoy their own powers. The same experiment might be +tried at a dinner-party, namely, to ascertain if the total hum of low +voices in the natural key would not be less for the individual voice to +overcome than the total scream of all the voices raised to a shriek. If +scientific research demonstrated the feasibility of speaking in an +ordinary voice at receptions, dinner-parties, and in "calls," then the +Drawer is of opinion that intelligible and enjoyable conversation would +be possible on these occasions, if it becomes fashionable not to scream. + + + + + + +DOES REFINEMENT KILL INDIVIDUALITY? + +Is it true that cultivation, what we call refinement, kills +individuality? Or, worse than that even, that one loses his taste by +over-cultivation? Those persons are uninteresting, certainly, who have +gone so far in culture that they accept conventional standards supposed +to be correct, to which they refer everything, and by which they measure +everybody. Taste usually implies a sort of selection; the cultivated +taste of which we speak is merely a comparison, no longer an individual +preference or appreciation, but only a reference to the conventional and +accepted standard. When a man or woman has reached this stage of +propriety we are never curious any more concerning their opinions on any +subject. We know that the opinions expressed will not be theirs, evolved +out of their own feeling, but that they will be the cut-and-dried results +of conventionality. + +It is doubtless a great comfort to a person to know exactly how to feel +and what to say in every new contingency, but whether the zest of life is +not dulled by this ability is a grave question, for it leaves no room for +surprise and little for emotion. O ye belles of Newport and of Bar +Harbor, in your correct and conventional agreement of what is proper and +agreeable, are you wasting your sweet lives by rule? Is your compact, +graceful, orderly society liable to be monotonous in its gay repetition +of the same thing week after week? Is there nothing outside of that +envied circle which you make so brilliant? Is the Atlantic shore the +only coast where beauty may lounge and spread its net of enchantment? +The Atlantic shore and Europe? Perhaps on the Pacific you might come +back to your original selves, and find again that freedom and that charm +of individuality that are so attractive. Some sparkling summer morning, +if you chanced to drive four-in-hand along the broad beach at Santa +Barbara, inhaling, the spicy breeze from the Sandwich Islands, along the +curved shore where the blue of the sea and the purple of the mountains +remind you of the Sorrentine promontory, and then dashed away into the +canon of Montecito, among the vineyards and orange orchards and live-oaks +and palms, in vales and hills all ablaze with roses and flowers of the +garden and the hothouse, which bloom the year round in the gracious sea- +air, would you not, we wonder, come to yourselves in the sense of a new +life where it is good form to be enthusiastic and not disgraceful to be +surprised? It is a far cry from Newport to Santa Barbara, and a whole +world of new sensations lies on the way, experiences for which you will +have no formula of experience. To take the journey is perhaps too heroic +treatment for the disease of conformity--the sort of malaria of our +exclusive civilization. + +The Drawer is not urging this journey, nor any break-up of the social +order, for it knows how painful a return to individuality may be. It is +easier to go on in the subordination of one's personality to the strictly +conventional life. It expects rather to record a continually perfected +machinery, a life in which not only speech but ideas are brought into +rule. We have had something to say occasionally of the art of +conversation, which is in danger of being lost in the confused babel of +the reception and the chatter of the dinner-party--the art of listening +and the art of talking both being lost. Society is taking alarm at this, +and the women as usual are leaders in a reform. Already, by reason of +clubs-literary, scientific, economic--woman is the well-informed part of +our society. In the "Conversation Lunch" this information is now brought +into use. The lunch, and perhaps the dinner, will no longer be the +occasion of satisfying the appetite or of gossip, but of improving talk. +The giver of the lunch will furnish the topic of conversation. Two +persons may not speak at once; two persons may not talk with each other; +all talk is to be general and on the topic assigned, and while one is +speaking, the others must listen. Perhaps each lady on taking her seat +may find in her napkin a written slip of paper which shall be the guide +to her remarks. Thus no time is to be wasted on frivolous topics. The +ordinary natural flow of rejoinder and repartee, the swirling of talk +around one obstacle and another, its winding and rippling here and there +as individual whim suggests, will not be allowed, but all will be +improving, and tend to that general culture of which we have been +speaking. The ladies' lunch is not to be exactly a debating society, but +an open occasion for the delivery of matured thought and the acquisition +of information. + +The object is not to talk each other down, but to improve the mind, +which, unguided, is apt to get frivolous at the convivial board. It is +notorious that men by themselves at lunch or dinner usually shun grave +topics and indulge in persiflage, and even descend to talk about wine and +the made dishes. The women's lunch of this summer takes higher ground. +It will give Mr. Browning his final estimate; it will settle Mr. Ibsen; +it will determine the suffrage question; it will adjudicate between the +total abstainers and the halfway covenant of high license; it will not +hesitate to cut down the tariff. + +The Drawer anticipates a period of repose in all our feverish social +life. We shall live more by rule and less by impulse. When we meet we +shall talk on set topics, determined beforehand. By this concentration +we shall be able as one man or one woman to reach the human limit of +cultivation, and get rid of all the aberrations of individual assertion +and feeling. By studying together in clubs, by conversing in monotone +and by rule, by thinking the same things and exchanging ideas until we +have none left, we shall come into that social placidity which is one +dream of the nationalists--one long step towards what may be called a +prairie mental condition--the slope of Kansas, where those who are five +thousand feet above the sea-level seem to be no higher than those who +dwell in the Missouri Valley. + + + + + + +THE DIRECTOIRE GOWN + +We are all more or less devoted to 'liberte', 'egalite', and considerable +'fraternite', and we have various ways of showing it. It is the opinion +of many that women do not care much about politics, and that if they are +interested at all in them, they are by nature aristocrats. It is said, +indeed, that they care much more about their dress than they do about the +laws or the form of government. This notion arises from a +misapprehension both of the nature of woman and of the significance of +dress. + +Men have an idea that fashions are haphazard, and are dictated and guided +by no fixed principles of action, and represent no great currents in +politics or movements of the human mind. Women, who are exceedingly +subtle in all their operations, feel that it is otherwise. They have a +prescience of changes in the drift of public affairs, and a delicate +sensitiveness that causes them to adjust their raiment to express these +changes. Men have written a great deal in their bungling way about the +philosophy of clothes. Women exhibit it, and if we should study them +more and try to understand them instead of ridiculing their fashions as +whims bred of an inconstant mind and mere desire for change, we would +have a better apprehension of the great currents of modern political life +and society. + +Many observers are puzzled by the gradual and insidious return recently +to the mode of the Directoire, and can see in it no significance other +than weariness of some other mode. We need to recall the fact of the +influence of the centenary period upon the human mind. It is nearly a +century since the fashion of the Directoire. What more natural, +considering the evidence that we move in spirals, if not in circles, that +the signs of the anniversary of one of the most marked periods in history +should be shown in feminine apparel? It is woman's way of hinting what +is in the air, the spirit that is abroad in the world. It will be +remembered that women took a prominent part in the destruction of the +Bastile, helping, indeed, to tear down that odious structure with their +own hands, the fall of which, it is well known, brought in the classic +Greek and republican simplicity, the subtle meaning of the change being +expressed in French gowns. Naturally there was a reaction from all this +towards aristocratic privileges and exclusiveness, which went on for many +years, until in France monarchy and empire followed the significant +leadership of the French modistes. So strong was this that it passed to +other countries, and in England the impulse outlasted even the Reform +Bill, and skirts grew more and more bulbous, until it did not need more +than three or four women to make a good-sized assembly. This was not the +result of, a whim about clothes, but a subtle recognition of a spirit of +exclusiveness and defense abroad in the world. Each woman became her own +Bastile. Men surrounded it and thundered against it without the least +effect. It seemed as permanent as the Pyramids. At every male attack it +expanded, and became more aggressive and took up more room. Women have +such an exquisite sense of things--just as they have now in regard to big +obstructive hats in the theatres. They know that most of the plays are +inferior and some of them are immoral, and they attend the theatres with +head-dresses that will prevent as many people as possible from seeing the +stage and being corrupted by anything that takes place on it. They +object to the men seeing some of the women who are now on the stage. It +happened, as to the private Bastiles, that the women at last recognized a +change in the sociological and political atmosphere of the world, and +without consulting any men of affairs or caring for their opinion, down +went the Bastiles. When women attacked them, in obedience to their +political instincts, they collapsed like punctured balloons. Natural +woman was measurably (that is, a capacity of being measured) restored to +the world. And we all remember the great political revolutionary +movements of 1848. + +Now France is still the arbiter of the modes. Say what we may about +Berlin, copy their fashion plates as we will, or about London, or New +York, or Tokio, it is indisputable that the woman in any company who has +on a Paris gown--the expression is odious, but there is no other that in +these days would be comprehended--"takes the cake." It is not that the +women care for this as a mere matter of apparel. But they are sensitive +to the political atmosphere, to the philosophical significance that it +has to great impending changes. We are approaching the centenary of the +fall of the Bastile. The French have no Bastile to lay low, nor, indeed, +any Tuileries to burn up; but perhaps they might get a good way ahead by +demolishing Notre Dame and reducing most of Paris to ashes. Apparently +they are on the eve of doing something. The women of the world may not +know what it is, but they feel the approaching recurrence of a period. +Their movements are not yet decisive. It is as yet only tentatively that +they adopt the mode of the Directoire. It is yet uncertain--a sort of +Boulangerism in dress. But if we watch it carefully we shall be able to +predict with some assurance the drift in Paris. The Directoire dress +points to another period of republican simplicity, anarchy, and the rule +of a popular despot. + +It is a great pity, in view of this valuable instinct in women and the +prophetic significance of dress, that women in the United States do not +exercise their gifts with regard to their own country. We should then +know at any given time whether we are drifting into Blaineism, or +Clevelandism, or centralization, or free-trade, or extreme protection, or +rule by corporations. We boast greatly of our smartness. It is time we +were up and dressed to prove it. + + + + + + +THE MYSTERY OF THE SEX + +There appears to be a great quantity of conceit around, especially +concerning women. The statement was recently set afloat that a well- +known lady had admitted that George Meredith understands women better +than any writer who has preceded him. This may be true, and it may be a +wily statement to again throw men off the track; at any rate it contains +the old assumption of a mystery, practically insoluble, about the gentler +sex. Women generally encourage this notion, and men by their gingerly +treatment of it seemed to accept it. But is it well-founded, is there +any more mystery about women--than about men? Is the feminine nature any +more difficult to understand than the masculine nature? Have women, +conscious of inferior strength, woven this notion of mystery about +themselves as a defense, or have men simply idealized them for fictitious +purposes? To recur to the case cited, is there any evidence that Mr. +Meredith understands human nature--as exhibited in women any better than +human nature--in men, or is more consistent in the production of one than +of the other? Historically it would be interesting to trace the rise of +this notion of woman as an enigma. The savage races do not appear to +have it. A woman to the North American Indian is a simple affair, dealt +with without circumlocution. In the Bible records there is not much +mystery about her; there are many tributes to her noble qualities, and +some pretty severe and uncomplimentary things are said about her, but +there is little affectation of not understanding her. She may be a +prophetess, or a consoler, or a snare, but she is no more "deceitful and +desperately wicked" than anybody else. There is nothing mysterious about +her first recorded performance. Eve trusted the serpent, and Adam +trusted Eve. The mystery was in the serpent. There is no evidence that +the ancient Egyptian woman was more difficult to comprehend than the +Egyptian man. They were both doubtless wily as highly civilized people +are apt to be; the "serpent of old Nile" was in them both. Is it in fact +till we come to mediaeval times, and the chivalric age, that women are +set up as being more incomprehensible than men? That is, less logical, +more whimsical, more uncertain in their mental processes? The play- +writers and essayists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries +"worked" this notion continually. They always took an investigating and +speculating attitude towards women, that fostered the conceit of their +separateness and veiled personality. Every woman was supposed to be +playing a part behind a mask. Montaigne is always investigating woman as +a mystery. It is, for instance, a mystery he does not relish that, as he +says, women commonly reserve the publication of their vehement affections +for their husbands till they have lost them; then the woful countenance +"looks not so much back as forward, and is intended rather to get a new +husband than to lament the old." And he tells this story: + +"When I was a boy, a very beautiful and virtuous lady who is yet living, +and the widow of a prince, had, I know not what, more ornament in her +dress than our laws of widowhood will well allow, which being reproached +with as a great indecency, she made answer 'that it was because she was +not cultivating more friendships, and would never marry again.'" This +cynical view of woman, as well as the extravagantly complimentary one +sometimes taken by the poets, was based upon the notion that woman was an +unexplainable being. When she herself adopted the idea is uncertain. +Of course all this has a very practical bearing upon modern life, the +position of women in it, and the so-called reforms. If woman is so +different from man, to the extent of being an unexplainable mystery, +science ought to determine the exact state of the case, and ascertain if +there is any remedy for it. If it is only a literary creation, we ought +to know it. Science could tell, for instance, whether there is a +peculiarity in the nervous system, any complications in the nervous +centres, by which the telegraphic action of the will gets crossed, so +that, for example, in reply to a proposal of marriage, the intended "Yes" +gets delivered as "No." Is it true that the mental process in one sex is +intuitive, and in the other logical, with every link necessary and +visible? Is it true, as the romancers teach, that the mind in one sex +acts indirectly and in the other directly, or is this indirect process +only characteristic of exceptions in both sexes? Investigation ought to +find this out, so that we can adjust the fit occupations for both sexes +on a scientific basis. We are floundering about now in a sea of doubt. +As society becomes more complicated, women will become a greater and +greater mystery, or rather will be regarded so by themselves and be +treated so by men. + +Who can tell how much this notion of mystery in the sex stands in the way +of its free advancement all along the line? Suppose the proposal were +made to women to exchange being mysterious for the ballot? Would they do +it? Or have they a sense of power in the possession of this conceded +incomprehensibility that they would not lay down for any visible insignia +of that power? And if the novelists and essayists have raised a mist +about the sex, which it willingly masquerades in, is it not time that the +scientists should determine whether the mystery exists in nature or only +in the imagination? + + + + + + +THE CLOTHES OF FICTION + +The Drawer has never undervalued clothes. Whatever other heresies it may +have had, however it may have insisted that the more a woman learns, the +more she knows of books, the higher her education is carried in all the +knowledges, the more interesting she will be, not only for an hour, but +as a companion for life, it has never said that she is less attractive +when dressed with taste and according to the season. Love itself could +scarcely be expected to survive a winter hat worn after Easter. And the +philosophy of this is not on the surface, nor applicable to women only. +In this the highest of created things are under a law having a much wider +application. Take as an item novels, the works of fiction, which have +become an absolute necessity in the modern world, as necessary to divert +the mind loaded with care and under actual strain as to fill the vacancy +in otherwise idle brains. They have commonly a summer and a winter +apparel. The publishers understand this. As certainly as the birds +appear, comes the crop of summer novels, fluttering down upon the stalls, +in procession through the railway trains, littering the drawing-room +tables, in light paper, covers, ornamental, attractive in colors and +fanciful designs, as welcome and grateful as the girls in muslin. When +the thermometer is in the eighties, anything heavy and formidable is +distasteful. The housekeeper knows we want few solid dishes, but salads +and cooling drinks. The publisher knows that we want our literature (or +what passes for that) in light array. In the winter we prefer the boards +and the rich heavy binding, however light the tale may be; but in the +summer, though the fiction be as grave and tragic as wandering love and +bankruptcy, we would have it come to us lightly clad--out of stays, as it +were. + +It would hardly be worth while to refer to this taste in the apparel of +our fiction did it not have deep and esoteric suggestions, and could not +the novelists themselves get a hint from it. Is it realized how much +depends upon the clothes that are worn by the characters in the novels-- +clothes put on not only to exhibit the inner life of the characters, but +to please the readers who are to associate with them? It is true that +there are novels that almost do away with the necessity of fashion +magazines and fashion plates in the family, so faithful are they in the +latest millinery details, and so fully do they satisfy the longing of all +of us to know what is chic for the moment. It is pretty well understood, +also, that women, and even men, are made to exhibit the deepest passions +and the tenderest emotions in the crises of their lives by the clothes +they put on. How the woman in such a crisis hesitates before her +wardrobe, and at last chooses just what will express her innermost +feeling! Does she dress for her lover as she dresses to receive her +lawyer who has come to inform her that she is living beyond her income? +Would not the lover be spared time and pain if he knew, as the novelist +knows, whether the young lady is dressing for a rejection or an +acceptance? Why does the lady intending suicide always throw on a +waterproof when she steals out of the house to drown herself ? The +novelist knows the deep significance of every article of toilet, and +nature teaches him to array his characters for the summer novel in the +airy draperies suitable to the season. It is only good art that the +cover of the novel and the covers of the characters shall be in harmony. +He knows, also, that the characters in the winter novel must be +adequately protected. We speak, of course, of the season stories. +Novels that are to run through a year, or maybe many years, and are to +set forth the passions and trials of changing age and varying +circumstance, require different treatment and wider millinery knowledge. +They are naturally more expensive. The wardrobe required in an all-round +novel would bankrupt most of us. + +But to confine ourselves to the season novel, it is strange that some one +has not invented the patent adjustable story that with a slight change +would do for summer or winter, following the broad hint of the +publishers, who hasten in May to throw whatever fiction they have on hand +into summer clothes. The winter novel, by this invention, could be +easily fitted for summer wear. All the novelist need do would be to +change the clothes of his characters. And in the autumn, if the novel +proved popular, he could change again, with the advantage of being in the +latest fashion. It would only be necessary to alter a few sentences in a +few of the stereotype pages. Of course this would make necessary other +slight alterations, for no kind-hearted writer would be cruel to his own +creations, and expose them to the vicissitudes of the seasons. He could +insert "rain" for "snow," and "green leaves" for "skeleton branches," +make a few verbal changes of that sort, and regulate the thermometer. It +would cost very little to adjust the novel in this way to any season. It +is worth thinking of. + +And this leads to a remark upon the shocking indifference of some +novelists to the ordinary comfort of their characters. In practical life +we cannot, but in his realm the novelist can, control the weather. He +can make it generally pleasant. We do not object to a terrific thunder- +shower now and then, as the sign of despair and a lost soul, but +perpetual drizzle and grayness and inclemency are tedious to the reader, +who has enough bad weather in his private experience. The English are +greater sinners in this respect than we are. They seem to take a brutal +delight in making it as unpleasant as possible for their fictitious +people. There is R--b--rt 'lsm--r', for example. External trouble is +piled on to the internal. The characters are in a perpetual soak. There +is not a dry rag on any of them, from the beginning of the book to the +end. They are sent out in all weathers, and are drenched every day. +Often their wet clothes are frozen on them; they are exposed to cutting +winds and sleet in their faces, bedrabbled in damp grass, stood against +slippery fences, with hail and frost lowering their vitality, and +expected under these circumstances to make love and be good Christians. +Drenched and wind-blown for years, that is what they are. It may be that +this treatment has excited the sympathy of the world, but is it +legitimate? Has a novelist the right to subject his creations to +tortures that he would not dare to inflict upon his friends? It is no +excuse to say that this is normal English weather; it is not the office +of fiction to intensify and rub in the unavoidable evils of life. The +modern spirit of consideration for fictitious characters that prevails +with regard to dress ought to extend in a reasonable degree to their +weather. This is not a strained corollary to the demand for an +appropriately costumed novel. + + + + + + +THE BROAD A + +It cannot for a moment be supposed that the Drawer would discourage self- +culture and refinement of manner and of speech. But it would not +hesitate to give a note of warning if it believed that the present +devotion to literature and the pursuits of the mind were likely, by the +highest authorities, to be considered bad form. In an intellectually +inclined city (not in the northeast) a club of ladies has been formed for +the cultivation of the broad 'a' in speech. Sporadic efforts have +hitherto been made for the proper treatment of this letter of the +alphabet with individual success, especially with those who have been in +England, or have known English men and women of the broad-gauge variety. +Discerning travelers have made the American pronunciation of the letter a +a reproach to the republic, that is to say, a means of distinguishing a +native of this country. The true American aspires to be cosmopolitan, +and does not want to be "spotted"--if that word may be used--in society +by any peculiarity of speech, that is, by any American peculiarity. Why, +at the bottom of the matter, a narrow 'a' should be a disgrace it is not +easy to see, but it needs no reason if fashion or authority condemns it. +This country is so spread out, without any social or literary centre +universally recognized as such, and the narrow 'a' has become so +prevalent, that even fashion finds it difficult to reform it. The best +people, who are determined to broaden all their 'a''s, will forget in +moments of excitement, and fall back into old habits. It requires +constant vigilance to keep the letter 'a' flattened out. It is in vain +that scholars have pointed out that in the use of this letter lies the +main difference between the English and the American speech; either +Americans generally do not care if this is the fact, or fashion can only +work a reform in a limited number of people. It seems, therefore, +necessary that there should be an organized effort to deal with this +pronunciation, and clubs will no doubt be formed all over the country, in +imitation of the one mentioned, until the broad a will become as common +as flies in summer. When this result is attained it will be time to +attack the sound of 'u' with clubs, and make universal the French sound. +In time the American pronunciation will become as superior to all others +as are the American sewing-machines and reapers. In the Broad A Club +every member who misbehaves--that is, mispronounces--is fined a nickel +for each offense. Of course in the beginning there is a good deal of +revenue from this source, but the revenue diminishes as the club +improves, so that we have the anomaly of its failure to be self- +supporting in proportion to its excellence. Just now if these clubs +could suddenly become universal, and the penalty be enforced, we could +have the means of paying off the national debt in a year. + +We do not wish to attach too much importance to this movement, but rather +to suggest to a continent yearning for culture in letters and in speech +whether it may not be carried too far. The reader will remember that +there came a time in Athens when culture could mock at itself, and the +rest of the country may be warned in time of a possible departure from +good form in devotion to language and literature by the present attitude +of modern Athens. Probably there is no esoteric depth in literature or +religion, no refinement in intellectual luxury, that this favored city +has not sounded. It is certainly significant, therefore, when the +priestesses and devotees of mental superiority there turn upon it and +rend it, when they are heartily tired of the whole literary business. +There is always this danger when anything is passionately pursued as a +fashion, that it will one day cease to be the fashion. Plato and Buddha +and even Emerson become in time like a last season's fashion plate. Even +a "friend of the spirit" will have to go. Culture is certain to mock +itself in time. + +The clubs for the improvement of the mind--the female mind--and of +speech, which no doubt had their origin in modern Athens, should know, +then, that it is the highest mark of female culture now in that beautiful +town to despise culture, to affect the gayest and most joyous ignorance-- +ignorance of books, of all forms of so-called intellectual development, +and all literary men, women, and productions ,whatsoever! This genuine +movement of freedom may be a real emancipation. If it should reach the +metropolis, what a relief it might bring to thousands who are, under a +high sense of duty, struggling to advance the intellectual life. There +is this to be said, however, that it is only the very brightest people, +those who have no need of culture, who have in fact passed beyond all +culture, who can take this position in regard to it, and actually revel +in the delights of ignorance. One must pass into a calm place when he is +beyond the desire to know anything or to do anything. + +It is a chilling thought, unless one can rise to the highest philosophy +of life, that even the broad 'a', when it is attained, may not be a +permanence. Let it be common, and what distinction will there be in it? +When devotion to study, to the reading of books, to conversation on +improving topics, becomes a universal fashion, is it not evident that one +can only keep a leadership in fashion by throwing the whole thing +overboard, and going forward into the natural gayety of life, which cares +for none of these things? We suppose the Constitution of the United +States will stand if the day comes--nay, now is--when the women of +Chicago call the women of Boston frivolous, and the women of Boston know +their immense superiority and advancement in being so, but it would be a +blank surprise to the country generally to know that it was on the wrong +track. The fact is that culture in this country is full of surprises, +and so doubles and feints and comes back upon itself that the most +diligent recorder can scarcely note its changes. The Drawer can only +warn; it cannot advise. + + + + + + +CHEWING GUM + +No language that is unfortunately understood by the greater portion of +the people who speak English, thousands are saying on the first of +January--in 1890, a far-off date that it is wonderful any one has lived +to see-- "Let us have a new deal!" It is a natural exclamation, and does +not necessarily mean any change of purpose. It always seems to a man +that if he could shuffle the cards he could increase his advantages in +the game of life, and, to continue the figure which needs so little +explanation, it usually appears to him that he could play anybody else's +hand better than his own. In all the good resolutions of the new year, +then, it happens that perhaps the most sincere is the determination to +get a better hand. Many mistake this for repentance and an intention to +reform, when generally it is only the desire for a new shuffle of the +cards. Let us have a fresh pack and a new deal, and start fair. It +seems idle, therefore, for the moralist to indulge in a homily about +annual good intentions, and habits that ought to be dropped or acquired, +on the first of January. He can do little more than comment on the +passing show. + +It will be admitted that if the world at this date is not socially +reformed it is not the fault of the Drawer, and for the reason that it +has been not so much a critic as an explainer and encourager. It is in +the latter character that it undertakes to defend and justify a national +industry that has become very important within the past ten years. A +great deal of capital is invested in it, and millions of people are +actively employed in it. The varieties of chewing gum that are +manufactured would be a matter of surprise to those who have paid no +attention to the subject, and who may suppose that the millions of mouths +they see engaged in its mastication have a common and vulgar taste. From +the fact that it can be obtained at the apothecary's, an impression has +got abroad that it is medicinal. This is not true. The medical +profession do not use it, and what distinguishes it from drugs-that they +also do not use--is the fact that they do not prescribe it. It is +neither a narcotic nor a stimulant. It cannot strictly be said to soothe +or to excite. The habit of using it differs totally from that of the +chewing of tobacco or the dipping of snuff. It might, by a purely +mechanical operation, keep a person awake, but no one could go to sleep +chewing gum. It is in itself neither tonic nor sedative. It is to be +noticed also that the gum habit differs from the tobacco habit in that +the aromatic and elastic substance is masticated, while the tobacco never +is, and that the mastication leads to nothing except more mastication. +The task is one that can never be finished. The amount of energy +expended in this process if capitalized or conserved would produce great +results. Of course the individual does little, but if the power evolved +by the practice in a district school could be utilized, it would suffice +to run the kindergarten department. The writer has seen a railway car-- +say in the West--filled with young women, nearly every one of whose jaws +and pretty mouths was engaged in this pleasing occupation; and so much +power was generated that it would, if applied, have kept the car in +motion if the steam had been shut off--at least it would have furnished +the motive for illuminating the car by electricity. + +This national industry is the subject of constant detraction, satire, and +ridicule by the newspaper press. This is because it is not understood, +and it may be because it is mainly a female accomplishment: the few men +who chew gum may be supposed to do so by reason of gallantry. There +might be no more sympathy with it in the press if the real reason for the +practice were understood, but it would be treated more respectfully. +Some have said that the practice arises from nervousness--the idle desire +to be busy without doing anything--and because it fills up the pauses of +vacuity in conversation. But this would not fully account for the +practice of it in solitude. Some have regarded it as in obedience to the +feminine instinct for the cultivation of patience and self-denial-- +patience in a fruitless activity, and self-denial in the eternal act of +mastication without swallowing. It is no more related to these virtues +than it is to the habit of the reflective cow in chewing her cud. The +cow would never chew gum. The explanation is a more philosophical one, +and relates to a great modern social movement. It is to strengthen and +develop and make more masculine the lower jaw. The critic who says that +this is needless, that the inclination in women to talk would adequately +develop this, misses the point altogether. Even if it could be proved +that women are greater chatterers than men, the critic would gain +nothing. Women have talked freely since creation, but it remains true +that a heavy, strong lower jaw is a distinctively masculine +characteristic. It is remarked that if a woman has a strong lower jaw +she is like a man. Conversation does not create this difference, nor +remove it; for the development of a lower jaw in women constant +mechanical exercise of the muscles is needed. Now, a spirit of +emancipation, of emulation, is abroad, as it ought to be, for the +regeneration of the world. It is sometimes called the coming to the +front of woman in every act and occupation that used to belong almost +exclusively to man. It is not necessary to say a word to justify this. +But it is often accompanied by a misconception, namely, that it is +necessary for woman to be like man, not only in habits, but in certain +physical characteristics. No woman desires a beard, because a beard +means care and trouble, and would detract from feminine beauty, but to +have a strong and, in appearance, a resolute under-jaw may be considered +a desirable note of masculinity, and of masculine power and privilege, in +the good time coming. Hence the cultivation of it by the chewing of gum +is a recognizable and reasonable instinct, and the practice can be +defended as neither a whim nor a vain waste of energy and nervous force. +In a generation or two it may be laid aside as no longer necessary, or +men may be compelled to resort to it to preserve their supremacy. + + + + + + +WOMEN IN CONGRESS + +It does not seem to be decided yet whether women are to take the Senate +or the House at Washington in the new development of what is called the +dual government. There are disadvantages in both. The members of the +Senate are so few that the women of the country would not be adequately +represented in it; and the Chamber in which the House meets is too large +for women to make speeches in with any pleasure to themselves or their +hearers. This last objection is, however, frivolous, for the speeches +will be printed in the Record; and it is as easy to count women on a vote +as men. There is nothing in the objection, either, that the Chamber +would need to be remodeled, and the smoking-rooms be turned into Day +Nurseries. The coming woman will not smoke, to be sure; neither will +she, in coming forward to take charge of the government, plead the Baby +Act. Only those women, we are told, would be elected to Congress whose +age and position enable them to devote themselves exclusively to +politics. The question, therefore, of taking to themselves the Senate or +the House will be decided by the women themselves upon other grounds--as +to whether they wish to take the initiative in legislation and hold the +power of the purse, or whether they prefer to act as a check, to exercise +the high treaty-making power, and to have a voice in selecting the women +who shall be sent to represent us abroad. Other things being equal, +women will naturally select the Upper House, and especially as that will +give them an opportunity to reject any but the most competent women for +the Supreme Bench. The irreverent scoffers at our Supreme Court have in +the past complained (though none do now) that there were "old women" in +gowns on the bench. There would be no complaint of the kind in the +future. The judges would be as pretty as those who assisted in the +judgment of Paris, with changed functions; there would be no monotony in +the dress, and the Supreme Bench would be one of the most attractive +spectacles in Washington. When the judges as well as the advocates are +Portias, the law will be an agreeable occupation. + +This is, however, mere speculation. We do not understand that it is the +immediate purpose of women to take the whole government, though some +extravagant expectations are raised by the admission of new States that +are ruled by women. They may wish to divide--and conquer. One plan is, +instead of dual Chambers of opposite sexes, to mingle in both the Senate +and the House. And this is more likely to be the plan adopted, because +the revolution is not to be violent, and, indeed, cannot take place +without some readjustment of the home life. We have at present what +Charles Reade would have called only a right-handed civilization. To +speak metaphorically, men cannot use their left hands, or, to drop the +metaphor, before the government can be fully reorganized men must learn +to do women's work. It may be a fair inference from this movement that +women intend to abandon the sacred principle of Home Rule. This +abandonment is foreshadowed in a recent election in a small Western city, +where the female voters made a clean sweep, elected an entire city +council of women and most of the other officers, including the police +judge and the mayor. The latter lady, by one of those intrusions of +nature which reform is not yet able to control, became a mother and a +mayor the same week. Her husband had been city clerk, and held over; but +fortunately an arrangement was made with him to stay at home and take +care of the baby, unofficially, while the mayor attends to her public +duties. Thus the city clerk will gradually be initiated into the duties +of home rule, and when the mayor is elected to Congress he will be ready +to accompany her to Washington and keep house. The imagination likes to +dwell upon this, for the new order is capable of infinite extension. +When the State takes care of all the children in government nurseries, +and the mayor has taken her place in the United States Senate, her +husband, if he has become sufficiently reformed and feminized, may go to +the House, and the reunited family of two, clubbing their salaries, can +live in great comfort. + +All this can be easily arranged, whether we are to have a dual government +of sexes or a mixed House and Senate. The real difficulty is about a +single Executive. Neither sex will be willing to yield to the other this +vast power. We might elect a man and wife President and Vice-President, +but the Vice-President, of whatever sex, could not well preside over the +Senate and in the White House at the same time. It is true that the +Constitution provides that the President and Vice-President shall not be +of the same State, but residence can be acquired to get over this as +easily as to obtain a divorce; and a Constitution that insists upon +speaking of the President as "he" is too antiquated to be respected. +When the President is a woman, it can matter little whether her husband +or some other woman presides in the Senate. Even the reformers will +hardly insist upon two Presidents in order to carry out the equality +idea, so that we are probably anticipating difficulties that will not +occur in practice. + +The Drawer has only one more practical suggestion. As the right of +voting carries with it the right to hold any elective office, a great +change must take place in Washington life. Now for some years the +divergence of society and politics has been increasing at the capital. +With women in both Houses, and on the Supreme Bench, and at the heads of +the departments, social and political life will become one and the same +thing; receptions and afternoon teas will be held in the Senate and +House, and political caucuses in all the drawing-rooms. And then life +will begin to be interesting. + + + + + + +SHALL WOMEN PROPOSE? + +The shyness of man--meaning the "other sex" referred to in the woman's +journals--has often been noticed in novels, and sometimes in real life. +This shyness is, however, so exceptional as to be suspicious. The shy +young man may provoke curiosity, but he does not always inspire respect. +Roughly estimated, shyness is not considered a manly quality, while it is +one of the most pleasing and attractive of the feminine traits, and there +is something pathetic in the expression "He is as shy as a girl;" it may +appeal for sympathy and the exercise of the protective instinct in women. +Unfortunately it is a little discredited, so many of the old plays +turning upon its assumption by young blades who are no better than they +should be. + +What would be the effect upon the masculine character and comfort if this +shyness should become general, as it may in a contingency that is already +on the horizon? We refer, of course, to the suggestion, coming from +various quarters, that women should propose. The reasonableness of this +suggestion may not lie on the surface; it may not be deduced from the +uniform practice, beginning with the primitive men and women; it may not +be inferred from the open nature of the two sexes (for the sake of +argument two sexes must still be insisted on); but it is found in the +advanced civilization with which we are struggling. Why should not women +propose? Why should they be at a disadvantage in an affair which +concerns the happiness of the whole life? They have as much right to a +choice as men, and to an opportunity to exercise it. Why should they +occupy a negative position, and be restricted, in making the most +important part of their career, wholly to the choice implied in refusals? +In fact, marriage really concerns them more than it does men; they have +to bear the chief of its burdens. A wide and free choice for them would, +then, seem to be only fair. Undeniably a great many men are inattentive, +unobserving, immersed in some absorbing pursuit, undecided, and at times +bashful, and liable to fall into union with women who happen to be near +them, rather than with those who are conscious that they would make them +the better wives. Men, unaided by the finer feminine instincts of +choice, are so apt to be deceived. In fact, man's inability to "match " +anything is notorious. If he cannot be trusted in the matter of worsted- +work, why should he have such distinctive liberty in the most important +matter of his life? Besides, there are many men--and some of the best +who get into a habit of not marrying at all, simply because the right +woman has not presented herself at the right time. Perhaps, if women had +the open privilege of selection, many a good fellow would be rescued from +miserable isolation, and perhaps also many a noble woman whom chance, or +a stationary position, or the inertia of the other sex, has left to bloom +alone, and waste her sweetness on relations, would be the centre of a +charming home, furnishing the finest spectacle seen in this uphill world +--a woman exercising gracious hospitality, and radiating to a circle far +beyond her home the influence of her civilizing personality. For, +notwithstanding all the centrifugal forces of this age, it is probable +that the home will continue to be the fulcrum on which women will move +the world. + +It may be objected that it would be unfair to add this opportunity to the +already, overpowering attractions of woman, and that man would be put at +an immense disadvantage, since he might have too much gallantry, or not +enough presence of mind, to refuse a proposal squarely and fascinatingly +made, although his judgment scarcely consented, and his ability to +support a wife were more than doubtful. Women would need to exercise a +great deal of prudence and discretion, or there would be something like a +panic, and a cry along the male line of 'Sauve qui peut'; for it is +matter of record that the bravest men will sometimes run away from danger +on a sudden impulse. + +This prospective social revolution suggests many inquiries. What would +be the effect upon the female character and disposition of a possible, +though not probable, refusal, or of several refusals? Would she become +embittered and desperate, and act as foolishly as men often do? Would +her own sex be considerate, and give her a fair field if they saw she was +paying attention to a young man, or an old one? And what effect would +this change in relations have upon men? Would it not render that +sporadic shyness of which we have spoken epidemic? Would it frighten +men, rendering their position less stable in their own eyes, or would it +feminize them--that is, make them retiring, blushing, self-conscious +beings? And would this change be of any injury to them in their +necessary fight for existence in this pushing world? What would be the +effect upon courtship if both the men and the women approached each other +as wooers? In ordinary transactions one is a buyer and one is a seller-- +to put it coarsely. If seller met seller and buyer met buyer, trade +would languish. But this figure cannot be continued, for there is no +romance in a bargain of any sort; and what we should most fear in a +scientific age is the loss of romance. + +This is, however, mere speculation. The serious aspect of the proposed +change is the effect it will have upon the character of men, who are not +enough considered in any of these discussions. The revolution will be a +radical one in one respect. We may admit that in the future woman can +take care of herself, but how will it be with man, who has had little +disciplinary experience of adversity, simply because he has been +permitted to have his own way? Heretofore his life has had a stimulus. +When he proposes to a woman, he in fact says: "I am able to support you; +I am able to protect you from the rough usage of the world; I am strong +and ambitious, and eager to take upon myself the lovely bondage of this +responsibility. I offer you this love because I feel the courage and +responsibility of my position." That is the manly part of it. What +effect will it have upon his character to be waiting round, unselected +and undecided, until some woman comes to him, and fixes her fascinating +eyes upon him, and says, in effect: "I can support you; I can defend you. +Have no fear of the future; I will be at once your shield and your +backbone. I take the responsibility of my choice." There are a great +many men now, who have sneaked into their positions by a show of courage, +who are supported one way and another by women. It might be humiliating +to know just how many men live by the labors of their wives. And what +would be the effect upon the character of man if the choice, and the +responsibility of it, and the support implied by it in marriage, were +generally transferred to woman? + + + + + + +FROCKS AND THE STAGE + +The condescension to literature and to the stage is one of the notable +characteristics of this agreeable time. We have to admit that literature +is rather the fashion, without the violent presumption that the author +and the writer have the same social position that is conferred by money, +or by the mysterious virtue there is in pedigree. A person does not lose +caste by using the pen, or even by taking the not-needed pay for using +it. To publish a book or to have an article accepted by a magazine may +give a sort of social distinction, either as an exhibition of a certain +unexpected capacity or a social eccentricity. It is hardly too much to +say that it has become the fashion to write, as it used to be to dance +the minuet well, or to use the broadsword, or to stand a gentlemanly mill +with a renowned bruiser. Of course one ought not to do this +professionally exactly, ought not to prepare for doing it by study and +severe discipline, by training for it as for a trade, but simply to toss +it off easily, as one makes a call, or pays a compliment, or drives four- +in-hand. One does not need to have that interior impulse which drives a +poor devil of an author to express himself, that something to say which +torments the poet into extreme irritability unless he can be rid of it, +that noble hunger for fame which comes from a consciousness of the +possession of vital thought and emotion. + +The beauty of this condescension to literature of which we speak is that +it has that quality of spontaneity that does not presuppose either a +capacity or a call. There is no mystery about the craft. One resolves +to write a book, as he might to take a journey or to practice on the +piano, and the thing is done. Everybody can write, at least everybody +does write. It is a wonderful time for literature. The Queen of England +writes for it, the Queen of Roumania writes for it, the Shah of Persia +writes for it, Lady Brassey, the yachtswoman, wrote for it, Congressmen +write for it, peers write for it. The novel is the common recreation of +ladies of rank, and where is the young woman in this country who has not +tried her hand at a romance or made a cast at a popular magazine? The +effect of all this upon literature is expansive and joyous. Superstition +about any mystery in the art has nearly disappeared. It is a common +observation that if persons fail in everything else, if they are fit for +nothing else, they can at least write. It is such an easy occupation, +and the remuneration is in such disproportion to the expenditure! Isn't +it indeed the golden era of letters? If only the letters were gold! + +If there is any such thing remaining as a guild of authors, somewhere on +the back seats, witnessing this marvelous Kingdom Come of Literature, +there must also be a little bunch of actors, born for the stage, who see +with mixed feelings their arena taken possession of by fairer if not more +competent players. These players are not to be confounded with the play- +actors whom the Puritans denounced, nor with those trained to the +profession in the French capital. + +In the United States and in England we are born to enter upon any +avocation, thank Heaven! without training for it. We have not in this +country any such obstacle to universal success as the Theatre Francais, +but Providence has given us, for wise purposes no doubt, Private +Theatricals (not always so private as they should be), which domesticate +the drama, and supply the stage with some of the most beautiful and best +dressed performers the world has ever seen. Whatever they may say of it, +it is a gallant and a susceptible age, and all men bow to loveliness, and +all women recognize a talent for clothes. We do not say that there is +not such a thing as dramatic art, and that there are not persons who need +as severe training before they attempt to personate nature in art as the +painter must undergo who attempts to transfer its features to his canvas. +But the taste of the age must be taken into account. The public does not +demand that an actor shall come in at a private door and climb a steep +staircase to get to the stage. When a Star from the Private Theatricals +descends upon the boards, with the arms of Venus and the throat of Juno, +and a wardrobe got out of Paris and through our stingy Custom-house in +forty trunks, the plodding actor, who has depended upon art, finds out, +what he has been all the time telling us, that all the world's a stage, +and men and women merely players. Art is good in its way; but what about +a perfect figure? and is not dressing an art? Can training give one an +elegant form, and study command the services of a man milliner? The +stage is broadened out and re-enforced by a new element. What went ye +out for to see? + +A person clad in fine raiment, to be sure. Some of the critics may growl +a little, and hint at the invasion of art by fashionable life, but the +editor, whose motto is that the newspaper is made for man, not man for +the newspaper, understands what is required in this inspiring histrionic +movement, and when a lovely woman condescends to step from the drawing- +room to the stage he confines his descriptions to her person, and does +not bother about her capacity; and instead of wearying us with a list of +her plays and performances, he gives us a column about her dresses in +beautiful language that shows us how closely allied poetry is to +tailoring. Can the lady act? Why, simpleminded, she has nearly a +hundred frocks, each one a dream, a conception of genius, a vaporous +idea, one might say, which will reveal more beauty than it hides, and +teach the spectator that art is simply nature adorned. Rachel in all her +glory was not adorned like one of these. We have changed all that. The +actress used to have a rehearsal. She now has an "opening." +Does it require nowadays, then, no special talent or gift to go on the +stage? No more, we can assure our readers, than it does to write a book. +But homely people and poor people can write books. As yet they cannot +act. + + + + + + +ALTRUISM + +Christmas is supposed to be an altruistic festival. Then, if ever, we +allow ourselves to go out to others in sympathy expressed by gifts and +good wishes. Then self-forgetfulness in the happiness of others becomes +a temporary fashion. And we find--do we not?--the indulgence of the +feeling so remunerative that we wish there were other days set apart to +it. We can even understand those people who get a private satisfaction +in being good on other days besides Sunday. There is a common notion +that this Christmas altruistic sentiment is particularly shown towards +the unfortunate and the dependent by those more prosperous, and in what +is called a better social position. We are exhorted on this day to +remember the poor. We need to be reminded rather to remember the rich, +the lonely, not-easy-to-be-satisfied rich, whom we do not always have +with us. The Drawer never sees a very rich person that it does not long +to give him something, some token, the value of which is not estimated by +its cost, that should be a consoling evidence to him that he has not lost +sympathetic touch with ordinary humanity. There is a great deal of +sympathy afloat in the world, but it is especially shown downward in the +social scale. We treat our servants--supposing that we are society-- +better than we treat each other. If we did not, they would leave us. We +are kinder to the unfortunate or the dependent than to each other, and we +have more charity for them. + +The Drawer is not indulging in any indiscriminate railing at society. +There is society and society. There is that undefined something, more +like a machine than an aggregate of human sensibilities, which is set +going in a "season," or at a watering-place, or permanently selects +itself for certain social manifestations. It is this that needs a +missionary to infuse into it sympathy and charity. If it were indeed a +machine and not made up of sensitive personalities, it would not be to +its members so selfish and cruel. It would be less an ambitious scramble +for place and favor, less remorseless towards the unsuccessful, not so +harsh and hard and supercilious. In short, it would be much more +agreeable if it extended to its own members something of the +consideration and sympathy that it gives to those it regards as its +inferiors. It seems to think that good-breeding and good form are +separable from kindliness and sympathy and helpfulness. Tender-hearted +and charitable enough all the individuals of this "society" are to +persons below them in fortune or position, let us allow, but how are they +to each other? Nothing can be ruder or less considerate of the feelings +of others than much of that which is called good society, and this is why +the Drawer desires to turn the altruistic sentiment of the world upon it +in this season, set apart by common consent for usefulness. Unfortunate +are the fortunate if they are lifted into a sphere which is sapless of +delicacy of feeling for its own. Is this an intangible matter? Take +hospitality, for instance. Does it consist in astonishing the invited, +in overwhelming him with a sense of your own wealth, or felicity, or +family, or cleverness even; in trying to absorb him in your concerns, +your successes, your possessions, in simply what interests you? However +delightful all these may be, it is an offense to his individuality to +insist that he shall admire at the point of the social bayonet. How do +you treat the stranger? Do you adapt yourself and your surroundings to +him, or insist that he shall adapt himself to you? How often does the +stranger, the guest, sit in helpless agony in your circle (all of whom +know each other) at table or in the drawing-room, isolated and separate, +because all the talk is local and personal, about your little world, and +the affairs of your clique, and your petty interests, in which he or she +cannot possibly join? Ah! the Sioux Indian would not be so cruel as that +to a guest. There is no more refined torture to a sensitive person than +that. Is it only thoughtlessness? It is more than that. It is a want +of sympathy of the heart, or it is a lack of intelligence and broad- +minded interest in affairs of the world and in other people. It is this +trait--absorption in self--pervading society more or less, that makes it +so unsatisfactory to most people in it. Just a want of human interest; +people do not come in contact. + +Avid pursuit of wealth, or what is called pleasure, perhaps makes people +hard to each other, and infuses into the higher social life, which should +be the most unselfish and enjoyable life, a certain vulgarity, similar to +that noticed in well-bred tourists scrambling for the seats on top of a +mountain coach. A person of refinement and sensibility and intelligence, +cast into the company of the select, the country-house, the radiant, +twelve-button society, has been struck with infinite pity for it, and +asks the Drawer to do something about it. The Drawer cannot do anything +about it. It can only ask the prayers of all good people on Christmas +Day for the rich. As we said, we do not have them with us always--they +are here today, they are gone to Canada tomorrow. But this is, of +course, current facetiousness. The rich are as good as anybody else, +according to their lights, and if what is called society were as good and +as kind to itself as it is to the poor, it would be altogether enviable. +We are not of those who say that in this case, charity would cover a +multitude of sins, but a diffusion in society of the Christmas sentiment +of goodwill and kindliness to itself would tend to make universal the joy +on the return of this season. + + + + + + +SOCIAL CLEARING-HOUSE + +The Drawer would like to emphasize the noble, self-sacrificing spirit of +American women. There are none like them in the world. They take up all +the burdens of artificial foreign usage, where social caste prevails, and +bear them with a heroism worthy of a worse cause. They indeed represent +these usages to be a burden almost intolerable, and yet they submit to +them with a grace and endurance all their own. Probably there is no +harder-worked person than a lady in the season, let us say in Washington, +where the etiquette of visiting is carried to a perfection that it does +not reach even in New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, and where woman's +effort to keep the social fabric together requires more expenditure of +intellect and of physical force than was needed to protect the capital in +its peril a quarter of a century ago. When this cruel war is over, the +monument to the women who perished in it will need to be higher than that +to the Father of his Country. Merely in the item of keeping an account +of the visits paid and due, a woman needs a bookkeeper. Only to know +the etiquette of how and when and to whom and in what order the visits +are to be paid is to be well educated in a matter that assumes the first +importance in her life. This is, however, only a detail of bookkeeping +and of memory; to pay and receive, or evade, these visits of ceremony is +a work which men can admire without the power to imitate; even on the +supposition that a woman has nothing else to do, it calls for our humble +gratitude and a recognition of the largeness of nature that can put aside +any duties to husband or children in devotion to the public welfare. The +futile round of society life while it lasts admits of no rival. It seems +as important as the affairs of the government. The Drawer is far from +saying that it is not. Perhaps no one can tell what confusion would fall +into all the political relations if the social relations of the capital +were not kept oiled by the system of exchange of fictitious courtesies +among the women; and it may be true that society at large--men are so +apt, when left alone, to relapse--would fall into barbarism if our +pasteboard conventions were neglected. All honor to the self-sacrifice +of woman! + +What a beautiful civilization ours is, supposed to be growing in +intelligence and simplicity, and yet voluntarily taking upon itself this +artificial burden in an already overtaxed life! The angels in heaven +must admire and wonder. The cynic wants to know what is gained for any +rational being when a city-full of women undertake to make and receive +formal visits with persons whom for the most part they do not wish to +see. What is gained, he asks, by leaving cards with all these people and +receiving their cards? When a woman makes her tedious rounds, why is she +always relieved to find people not in? When she can count upon her ten +fingers the people she wants to see, why should she pretend to want to +see the others? Is any one deceived by it? Does anybody regard it as +anything but a sham and a burden? Much the cynic knows about it! Is it +not necessary to keep up what is called society? Is it not necessary to +have an authentic list of pasteboard acquaintances to invite to the +receptions? And what would become of us without Receptions? Everybody +likes to give them. Everybody flocks to them with much alacrity. When +society calls the roll, we all know the penalty of being left out. Is +there any intellectual or physical pleasure equal to that of jamming so +many people into a house that they can hardly move, and treating them to +a Babel of noises in which no one can make herself heard without +screaming? There is nothing like a reception in any uncivilized country. +It is so exhilarating! When a dozen or a hundred people are gathered +together in a room, they all begin to raise their voices and to shout +like pool-sellers in the noble rivalry of "warious langwidges," rasping +their throats into bronchitis in the bidding of the conversational ring. +If they spoke low, or even in the ordinary tone, conversation would be +possible. But then it would not be a reception, as we understand it. +We cannot neglect anywhere any of the pleasures of our social life. +We train for it in lower assemblies. Half a dozen women in a "call" are +obliged to shout, just for practice, so that they can be heard by +everybody in the neighborhood except themselves. Do not men do the same? +If they do, it only shows that men also are capable of the higher +civilization. + +But does society--that is, the intercourse of congenial people--depend +upon the elaborate system of exchanging calls with hundreds of people who +are not congenial? Such thoughts will sometimes come by a winter +fireside of rational-talking friends, or at a dinner-party not too large +for talk without a telephone, or in the summer-time by the sea, or in the +cottage in the hills, when the fever of social life has got down to a +normal temperature. We fancy that sometimes people will give way to a +real enjoyment of life and that human intercourse will throw off this +artificial and wearisome parade, and that if women look back with pride, +as they may, upon their personal achievements and labors, they will also +regard them with astonishment. Women, we read every day, long for the +rights and privileges of men, and the education and serious purpose in +life of men. And yet, such is the sweet self-sacrifice of their nature, +they voluntarily take on burdens which men have never assumed, and which +they would speedily cast off if they had. What should we say of men if +they consumed half their time in paying formal calls upon each other +merely for the sake of paying calls, and were low-spirited if they did +not receive as many cards as they had dealt out to society? Have they +not the time? Have women more time? and if they have, why should they +spend it in this Sisyphus task? Would the social machine go to pieces-- +the inquiry is made in good faith, and solely for information--if they +made rational business for themselves to be attended to, or even if they +gave the time now given to calls they hate to reading and study, and to +making their household civilizing centres of intercourse and enjoyment, +and paid visits from some other motive than "clearing off their list"? If +all the artificial round of calls and cards should tumble down, what +valuable thing would be lost out of anybody's life? + +The question is too vast for the Drawer, but as an experiment in +sociology it would like to see the system in abeyance for one season. +If at the end of it there had not been just as much social enjoyment as +before, and there were not fewer women than usual down with nervous +prostration, it would agree to start at its own expense a new experiment, +to wit, a kind of Social Clearing-House, in which all cards should be +delivered and exchanged, and all social debts of this kind be balanced by +experienced bookkeepers, so that the reputation of everybody for +propriety and conventionality should be just as good as it is now. + + + + + + +DINNER-TABLE TALK + +Many people suppose that it is the easiest thing in the world to dine if +you can get plenty to eat. This error is the foundation of much social +misery. The world that never dines, and fancies it has a grievance +justifying anarchy on that account, does not know how much misery it +escapes. A great deal has been written about the art of dining. From +time to time geniuses have appeared who knew how to compose a dinner; +indeed, the art of doing it can be learned, as well as the art of cooking +and serving it. It is often possible, also, under extraordinarily +favorable conditions, to select a company congenial and varied and +harmonious enough to dine together successfully. The tact for getting +the right people together is perhaps rarer than the art of composing the +dinner. But it exists. And an elegant table with a handsome and +brilliant company about it is a common conjunction in this country. +Instructions are not wanting as to the shape of the table and the size of +the party; it is universally admitted that the number must be small. +The big dinner-parties which are commonly made to pay off social debts +are generally of the sort that one would rather contribute to in money +than in personal attendance. When the dinner is treated as a means of +discharging obligations, it loses all character, and becomes one of the +social inflictions. While there is nothing in social intercourse so +agreeable and inspiring as a dinner of the right sort, society has +invented no infliction equal to a large dinner that does not "go," as the +phrase is. Why it does not go when the viands are good and the company +is bright is one of the acknowledged mysteries. + +There need be no mystery about it. The social instinct and the social +habit are wanting to a great many people of uncommon intelligence and +cultivation--that sort of flexibility or adaptability that makes +agreeable society. But this even does not account for the failure of so +many promising dinners. The secret of this failure always is that the +conversation is not general. The sole object of the dinner is talk--at +least in the United States, where "good eating" is pretty common, however +it may be in England, whence come rumors occasionally of accomplished men +who decline to be interrupted by the frivolity of talk upon the +appearance of favorite dishes. And private talk at a table is not the +sort that saves a dinner; however good it is, it always kills it. The +chance of arrangement is that the people who would like to talk together +are not neighbors; and if they are, they exhaust each other to weariness +in an hour, at least of topics which can be talked about with the risk of +being overheard. A duet to be agreeable must be to a certain extent +confidential, and the dinner-table duet admits of little except +generalities, and generalities between two have their limits of +entertainment. Then there is the awful possibility that the neighbors at +table may have nothing to say to each other; and in the best-selected +company one may sit beside a stupid man--that is, stupid for the purpose +of a 'tete-a-tete'. But this is not the worst of it. No one can talk +well without an audience; no one is stimulated to say bright things +except by the attention and questioning and interest of other minds. +There is little inspiration in side talk to one or two. Nobody ought to +go to a dinner who is not a good listener, and, if possible, an +intelligent one. To listen with a show of intelligence is a great +accomplishment. It is not absolutely essential that there should be a +great talker or a number of good talkers at a dinner if all are good +listeners, and able to "chip in" a little to the general talk that +springs up. For the success of the dinner does not necessarily depend +upon the talk being brilliant, but it does depend upon its being general, +upon keeping the ball rolling round the table; the old-fashioned game +becomes flat when the balls all disappear into private pockets. There +are dinners where the object seems to be to pocket all the balls as +speedily as possible. We have learned that that is not the best game; +the best game is when you not only depend on the carom, but in going to +the cushion before you carom; that is to say, including the whole table, +and making things lively. The hostess succeeds who is able to excite +this general play of all the forces at the table, even using the silent +but not non-elastic material as cushions, if one may continue the figure. +Is not this, O brothers and sisters, an evil under the sun, this dinner +as it is apt to be conducted? Think of the weary hours you have given to +a rite that should be the highest social pleasure! How often when a +topic is started that promises well, and might come to something in a +general exchange of wit and fancy, and some one begins to speak on it, +and speak very well, too, have you not had a lady at your side cut in and +give you her views on it--views that might be amusing if thrown out into +the discussion, but which are simply impertinent as an interruption! How +often when you have tried to get a "rise" out of somebody opposite have +you not had your neighbor cut in across you with some private depressing +observation to your next neighbor! Private talk at a dinner-table is +like private chat at a parlor musicale, only it is more fatal to the +general enjoyment. There is a notion that the art of conversation, the +ability to talk well, has gone out. That is a great mistake. +Opportunity is all that is needed. There must be the inspiration of the +clash of minds and the encouragement of good listening. In an evening +round the fire, when couples begin, to whisper or talk low to each other, +it is time to put out the lights. Inspiring interest is gone. The most +brilliant talker in the world is dumb. People whose idea of a dinner is +private talk between seat-neighbors should limit the company to two. +They have no right to spoil what can be the most agreeable social +institution that civilization has evolved. + + + + + + +NATURALIZATION + +Is it possible for a person to be entirely naturalized?--that is, to be +denationalized, to cast off the prejudice and traditions of one country +and take up those of another; to give up what may be called the +instinctive tendencies of one race and take up those of another. It is +easy enough to swear off allegiance to a sovereign or a government, and +to take on in intention new political obligations, but to separate one's +self from the sympathies into which he was born is quite another affair. +One is likely to remain in the inmost recesses of his heart an alien, and +as a final expression of his feeling to hoist the green flag, or the +dragon, or the cross of St. George. Probably no other sentiment is, so +strong in a man as that of attachment to his own soil and people, a sub- +sentiment always remaining, whatever new and unbreakable attachments he +may form. One can be very proud of his adopted country, and brag for it, +and fight for it; but lying deep in a man's nature is something, no +doubt, that no oath nor material interest can change, and that is never +naturalized. We see this experiment in America more than anywhere else, +because here meet more different races than anywhere else with the +serious intention of changing their nationality. And we have a notion +that there is something in our atmosphere, or opportunities, or our +government, that makes this change more natural and reasonable than it +has been anywhere else in history. It is always a surprise to us when a +born citizen of the United States changes his allegiance, but it seems a +thing of course that a person of any other country should, by an oath, +become a good American, and we expect that the act will work a sudden +change in him equal to that wrought in a man by what used to be called a +conviction of sin. We expect that he will not only come into our family, +but that he will at once assume all its traditions and dislikes, that +whatever may have been his institutions or his race quarrels, the moving +influence of his life hereafter will be the "Spirit of '76." + +What is this naturalization, however, but a sort of parable of human +life? Are we not always trying to adjust ourselves to new relations, to +get naturalized into a new family? Does one ever do it entirely? And +how much of the lonesomeness of life comes from the failure to do it! It +is a tremendous experiment, we all admit, to separate a person from his +race, from his country, from his climate, and the habits of his part of +the country, by marriage; it is only an experiment differing in degree to +introduce him by marriage into a new circle of kinsfolk. Is he ever +anything but a sort of tolerated, criticised, or admired alien? Does the +time ever come when the distinction ceases between his family and hers? +They say love is stronger than death. It may also be stronger than +family--while it lasts; but was there ever a woman yet whose most +ineradicable feeling was not the sentiment of family and blood, a sort of +base-line in life upon which trouble and disaster always throw her back? +Does she ever lose the instinct of it? We used to say in jest that a +patriotic man was always willing to sacrifice his wife's relations in +war; but his wife took a different view of it; and when it becomes a +question of office, is it not the wife's relations who get them? To be +sure, Ruth said, thy people shall be my people, and where thou goest I +will go, and all that, and this beautiful sentiment has touched all time, +and man has got the historic notion that he is the head of things. But +is it true that a woman is ever really naturalized? Is it in her nature +to be? Love will carry her a great way, and to far countries, and to +many endurances, and her capacity of self-sacrifice is greater than +man's; but would she ever be entirely happy torn from her kindred, +transplanted from the associations and interlacings of her family life? +Does anything really take the place of that entire ease and confidence +that one has in kin, or the inborn longing for their sympathy and +society? There are two theories about life, as about naturalization: one +is that love is enough, that intention is enough; the other is that the +whole circle of human relations and attachments is to be considered in a +marriage, and that in the long-run the question of family is a +preponderating one. Does the gate of divorce open more frequently from +following the one theory than the other? If we were to adopt the notion +that marriage is really a tremendous act of naturalization, of absolute +surrender on one side or the other of the deepest sentiments and +hereditary tendencies, would there be so many hasty marriages--slip-knots +tied by one justice to be undone by another? The Drawer did not intend +to start such a deep question as this. Hosts of people are yearly +naturalized in this country, not from any love of its institutions, but +because they can more easily get a living here, and they really surrender +none of their hereditary ideas, and it is only human nature that +marriages should be made with like purpose and like reservations. These +reservations do not, however, make the best citizens or the most happy +marriages. Would it be any better if country lines were obliterated, and +the great brotherhood of peoples were established, and there was no such +thing as patriotism or family, and marriage were as free to make and +unmake as some people think it should be? Very likely, if we could +radically change human nature. But human nature is the most obstinate +thing that the International Conventions have to deal with. + + + + + + +ART OF GOVERNING + +He was saying, when he awoke one morning, "I wish I were governor of a +small island, and had nothing to do but to get up and govern." It was an +observation quite worthy of him, and one of general application, for +there are many men who find it very difficult to get a living on their +own resources, to whom it would be comparatively easy to be a very fair +sort of governor. Everybody who has no official position or routine duty +on a salary knows that the most trying moment in the twenty-four hours is +that in which he emerges from the oblivion of sleep and faces life. +Everything perplexing tumbles in upon him, all the possible vexations of +the day rise up before him, and he is little less than a hero if he gets +up cheerful. + +It is not to be wondered at that people crave office, some salaried +position, in order to escape the anxieties, the personal +responsibilities, of a single-handed struggle with the world. It must be +much easier to govern an island than to carry on almost any retail +business. When the governor wakes in the morning he thinks first of his +salary; he has not the least anxiety about his daily bread or the support +of his family. His business is all laid out for him; he has not to +create it. Business comes to him; he does not have to drum for it. His +day is agreeably, even if sympathetically, occupied with the troubles of +other people, and nothing is so easy to bear as the troubles of other +people. After he has had his breakfast, and read over the +"Constitution," he has nothing to do but to "govern" for a few hours, +that is, to decide about things on general principles, and with little +personal application, and perhaps about large concerns which nobody knows +anything about, and which are much easier to dispose of than the +perplexing details of private life. He has to vote several times a day; +for giving a decision is really casting a vote; but that is much easier +than to scratch around in all the anxieties of a retail business. Many +men who would make very respectable Presidents of the United States could +not successfully run a retail grocery store. The anxieties of the +grocery would wear them out. For consider the varied ability that the +grocery requires-the foresight about the markets, to take advantage of an +eighth per cent. off or on here and there; the vigilance required to keep +a "full line" and not overstock, to dispose of goods before they spoil or +the popular taste changes; the suavity and integrity and duplicity and +fairness and adaptability needed to get customers and keep them; the +power to bear the daily and hourly worry; the courage to face the ever- +present spectre of "failure," which is said to come upon ninety merchants +in a hundred; the tact needed to meet the whims and the complaints of +patrons, and the difficulty of getting the patrons who grumble most to +pay in order to satisfy the creditors. When the retail grocer wakens in +the morning he feels that his business is not going to come to him +spontaneously; he thinks of his rivals, of his perilous stock, of his +debts and delinquent customers. He has no "Constitution" to go by, +nothing but his wits and energy to set against the world that day, and +every day the struggle and the anxiety are the same. What a number of +details he has to carry in his head (consider, for instance, how many +different kinds of cheese there are, and how different people hate and +love the same kind), and how keen must be his appreciation of the popular +taste. The complexities and annoyances of his business are excessive, +and he cannot afford to make many mistakes; if he does he will lose his +business, and when a man fails in business (honestly), he loses his +nerve, and his career is ended. It is simply amazing, when you consider +it, the amount of talent shown in what are called the ordinary businesses +of life. + +It has been often remarked with how little wisdom the world is governed. +That is the reason it is so easy to govern. "Uneasy lies the head that +wears a crown" does not refer to the discomfort of wearing it, but to the +danger of losing it, and of being put back upon one's native resources, +having to run a grocery or to keep school. Nobody is in such a pitiable +plight as a monarch or politician out of business. It is very difficult +for either to get a living. A man who has once enjoyed the blessed +feeling of awaking every morning with the thought that he has a certain +salary despises the idea of having to drum up a business by his own +talents. It does not disturb the waking hour at all to think that a +deputation is waiting in the next room about a post-office in Indiana or +about the codfish in Newfoundland waters--the man can take a second nap +on any such affair; but if he knows that the living of himself and family +that day depends upon his activity and intelligence, uneasy lies his +head. There is something so restful and easy about public business! +It is so simple! Take the average Congressman. The Secretary of the +Treasury sends in an elaborate report--a budget, in fact--involving a +complete and harmonious scheme of revenue and expenditure. Must the +Congressman read it? No; it is not necessary to do that; he only cares +for practical measures. Or a financial bill is brought in. Does he +study that bill? He hears it read, at least by title. Does he take +pains to inform himself by reading and conversation with experts upon its +probable effect? Or an international copyright law is proposed, a +measure that will relieve the people of the United States from the world- +wide reputation of sneaking meanness towards foreign authors. Does he +examine the subject, and try to understand it? That is not necessary. +Or it is a question of tariff. He is to vote "yes" or "no" on these +proposals. It is not necessary for him to master these subjects, but it +is necessary for him to know how to vote. And how does he find out that? +In the first place, by inquiring what effect the measure will have upon +the chance of election of the man he thinks will be nominated for +President, and in the second place, what effect his vote will have on his +own reelection. Thus the principles of legislation become very much +simplified, and thus it happens that it is comparatively so much easier +to govern than it is to run a grocery store. + + + + + + +LOVE OF DISPLAY + +It is fortunate that a passion for display is implanted in human nature; +and if we owe a debt of gratitude to anybody, it is to those who make the +display for us. It would be such a dull, colorless world without it! +We try in vain to imagine a city without brass bands, and military +marchings, and processions of societies in regalia and banners and +resplendent uniforms, and gayly caparisoned horses, and men clad in red +and yellow and blue and gray and gold and silver and feathers, moving in +beautiful lines, proudly wheeling with step elate upon some responsive +human being as axis, deploying, opening, and closing ranks in exquisite +precision to the strains of martial music, to the thump of the drum and +the scream of the fife, going away down the street with nodding plumes, +heads erect, the very port of heroism. There is scarcely anything in the +world so inspiring as that. And the self-sacrifice of it! What will not +men do and endure to gratify their fellows! And in the heat of summer, +too, when most we need something to cheer us! The Drawer saw, with +feelings that cannot be explained, a noble company of men, the pride of +their city, all large men, all fat men, all dressed alike, but each one +as beautiful as anything that can be seen on the stage, perspiring +through the gala streets of another distant city, the admiration of +crowds of huzzaing men and women and boys, following another company as +resplendent as itself, every man bearing himself like a hero, despising +the heat and the dust, conscious only of doing his duty. We make a great +mistake if we suppose it is a feeling of ferocity that sets these men +tramping about in gorgeous uniform, in mud or dust, in rain or under a +broiling sun. They have no desire to kill anybody. Out of these +resplendent clothes they are much like other people; only they have a +nobler spirit, that which leads them to endure hardships for the sake of +pleasing others. They differ in degree, though not in kind, from those +orders, for keeping secrets, or for encouraging a distaste for strong +drink, which also wear bright and attractive regalia, and go about in +processions, with banners and music, and a pomp that cannot be +distinguished at a distance from real war. It is very fortunate that men +do like to march about in ranks and lines, even without any +distinguishing apparel. The Drawer has seen hundreds of citizens in a +body, going about the country on an excursion, parading through town +after town, with no other distinction of dress than a uniform high white +hat, who carried joy and delight wherever they went. The good of this +display cannot be reckoned in figures. Even a funeral is comparatively +dull without the military band and the four-and-four processions, and the +cities where these resplendent corteges of woes are of daily occurrence +are cheerful cities. The brass band itself, when we consider it +philosophically, is one of the most striking things in our civilization. +We admire its commonly splendid clothes, its drums and cymbals and +braying brass, but it is the impartial spirit with which it lends itself +to our varying wants that distinguishes it. It will not do to say that +it has no principles, for nobody has so many, or is so impartial in +exercising them. It is equally ready to play at a festival or a funeral, +a picnic or an encampment, for the sons of war or the sons of temperance, +and it is equally willing to express the feeling of a Democratic meeting +or a Republican gathering, and impartially blows out "Dixie" or "Marching +through Georgia," "The Girl I Left Behind Me" or "My Country, 'tis of +Thee." It is equally piercing and exciting for St. Patrick or the Fourth +of July. + +There are cynics who think it strange that men are willing to dress up in +fantastic uniform and regalia and march about in sun and rain to make a +holiday for their countrymen, but the cynics are ungrateful, and fail to +credit human nature with its trait of self-sacrifice, and they do not at +all comprehend our civilization. It was doubted at one time whether the +freedman and the colored man generally in the republic was capable of the +higher civilization. This doubt has all been removed. No other race +takes more kindly to martial and civic display than it. No one has a +greater passion for societies and uniforms and regalias and banners, and +the pomp of marchings and processions and peaceful war. The negro +naturally inclines to the picturesque, to the flamboyant, to vivid colors +and the trappings of office that give a man distinction. He delights in +the drum and the trumpet, and so willing is he to add to what is +spectacular and pleasing in life that he would spend half his time in +parading. His capacity for a holiday is practically unlimited. He has +not yet the means to indulge his taste, and perhaps his taste is not yet +equal to his means, but there is no question of his adaptability to the +sort of display which is so pleasing to the greater part of the human +race, and which contributes so much to the brightness and cheerfulness of +this world. We cannot all have decorations, and cannot all wear +uniforms, or even regalia, and some of us have little time for going +about in military or civic processions, but we all like to have our +streets put on a holiday appearance; and we cannot express in words our +gratitude to those who so cheerfully spend their time and money in +glittering apparel and in parades for our entertainment. + + + + + + +VALUE OF THE COMMONPLACE + +The vitality of a fallacy is incalculable. Although the Drawer has been +going many years, there are still remaining people who believe that +"things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other." This +mathematical axiom, which is well enough in its place, has been extended +into the field of morals and social life, confused the perception of +human relations, and raised "hob," as the saying is, in political +economy. We theorize and legislate as if people were things. Most of +the schemes of social reorganization are based on this fallacy. It +always breaks down in experience. A has two friends, B and C--to state it +mathematically. A is equal to B, and A is equal to C. A has for B and +also for C the most cordial admiration and affection, and B and C have +reciprocally the same feeling for A. Such is the harmony that A cannot +tell which he is more fond of, B or C. And B and C are sure that A is +the best friend of each. This harmony, however, is not triangular. A +makes the mistake of supposing that it is--having a notion that things +which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other--and he brings +B and C together. The result is disastrous. B and C cannot get on with +each other. Regard for A restrains their animosity, and they +hypocritically pretend to like each other, but both wonder what A finds +so congenial in the other. The truth is that this personal equation, as +we call it, in each cannot be made the subject of mathematical +calculation. Human relations will not bend to it. And yet we keep +blundering along as if they would. We are always sure, in our letter of +introduction, that this friend will be congenial to the other, because we +are fond of both. Sometimes this happens, but half the time we should be +more successful in bringing people into accord if we gave a letter of +introduction to a person we do not know, to be delivered to one we have +never seen. On the face of it this is as absurd as it is for a +politician to indorse the application of a person he does not know for an +office the duties of which he is unacquainted with; but it is scarcely +less absurd than the expectation that men and women can be treated like +mathematical units and equivalents. Upon the theory that they can, rest +the present grotesque schemes of Nationalism. + +In saying all this the Drawer is well aware that it subjects itself to +the charge of being commonplace, but it is precisely the commonplace that +this essay seeks to defend. Great is the power of the commonplace. "My +friends," says the preacher, in an impressive manner, "Alexander died; +Napoleon died; you will all die!" This profound remark, so true, so +thoughtful, creates a deep sensation. It is deepened by the statement +that "man is a moral being." The profundity of such startling assertions +cows the spirit; they appeal to the universal consciousness, and we bow +to the genius that delivers them. "How true!" we exclaim, and go away +with an enlarged sense of our own capacity for the comprehension of deep +thought. Our conceit is flattered. Do we not like the books that raise +us to the great level of the commonplace, whereon we move with a sense of +power? Did not Mr. Tupper, that sweet, melodious shepherd of the +undisputed, lead about vast flocks of sheep over the satisfying plain of +mediocrity? Was there ever a greater exhibition of power, while it +lasted? How long did "The Country Parson" feed an eager world with +rhetorical statements of that which it already knew? The thinner this +sort of thing is spread out, the more surface it covers, of course. What +is so captivating and popular as a book of essays which gathers together +and arranges a lot of facts out of histories and cyclopaedias, set forth +in the form of conversations that any one could have taken part in? Is +not this book pleasing because it is commonplace? And is this because we +do not like to be insulted with originality, or because in our experience +it is only the commonly accepted which is true? The statesman or the +poet who launches out unmindful of these conditions will be likely to +come to grief in her generation. Will not the wise novelist seek to +encounter the least intellectual resistance? + +Should one take a cynical view of mankind because he perceives this great +power of the commonplace? Not at all. He should recognize and respect +this power. He may even say that it is this power that makes the world +go on as smoothly and contentedly as it does, on the whole. Woe to us, +is the thought of Carlyle, when a thinker is let loose in this world! +He becomes a cause of uneasiness, and a source of rage very often. But +his power is limited. He filters through a few minds, until gradually +his ideas become commonplace enough to be powerful. We draw our supply +of water from reservoirs, not from torrents. Probably the man who first +said that the line of rectitude corresponds with the line of enjoyment +was disliked as well as disbelieved. But how impressive now is the idea +that virtue and happiness are twins! + +Perhaps it is true that the commonplace needs no defense, since everybody +takes it in as naturally as milk, and thrives on it. Beloved and read +and followed is the writer or the preacher of commonplace. But is not +the sunshine common, and the bloom of May? Why struggle with these +things in literature and in life? Why not settle down upon the formula +that to be platitudinous is to be happy? + + + + + + +THE BURDEN OF CHRISTMAS + +It would be the pity of the world to destroy it, because it would be next +to impossible to make another holiday as good as Christmas. Perhaps +there is no danger, but the American people have developed an unexpected +capacity for destroying things; they can destroy anything. They have +even invented a phrase for it--running a thing into the ground. They +have perfected the art of making so much of a thing as to kill it; they +can magnify a man or a recreation or an institution to death. And they +do it with such a hearty good-will and enjoyment. Their motto is that +you cannot have too much of a good thing. They have almost made funerals +unpopular by over-elaboration and display, especially what are called +public funerals, in which an effort is made to confer great distinction +on the dead. So far has it been carried often that there has been a +reaction of popular sentiment and people have wished the man were alive. +We prosecute everything so vigorously that we speedily either wear it out +or wear ourselves out on it, whether it is a game, or a festival, or a +holiday. We can use up any sport or game ever invented quicker than any +other people. We can practice anything, like a vegetable diet, for +instance, to an absurd conclusion with more vim than any other nation. +This trait has its advantages; nowhere else will a delusion run so fast, +and so soon run up a tree--another of our happy phrases. There is a +largeness and exuberance about us which run even into our ordinary +phraseology. The sympathetic clergyman, coming from the bedside of a +parishioner dying of dropsy, says, with a heavy sigh, "The poor fellow is +just swelling away." + +Is Christmas swelling away? If it is not, it is scarcely our fault. +Since the American nation fairly got hold of the holiday--in some parts +of the country, as in New England, it has been universal only about fifty +years--we have made it hum, as we like to say. We have appropriated the +English conviviality, the German simplicity, the Roman pomp, and we have +added to it an element of expense in keeping with our own greatness. +Is anybody beginning to feel it a burden, this sweet festival of charity +and good-will, and to look forward to it with apprehension? Is the time +approaching when we shall want to get somebody to play it for us, like +base-ball? Anything that interrupts the ordinary flow of life, +introduces into it, in short, a social cyclone that upsets everything for +a fortnight, may in time be as hard to bear as that festival of +housewives called housecleaning, that riot of cleanliness which men fear +as they do a panic in business. Taking into account the present +preparations for Christmas, and the time it takes to recover from it, we +are beginning--are we not?--to consider it one of the most serious events +of modern life. + +The Drawer is led into these observations out of its love for Christmas. +It is impossible to conceive of any holiday that could take its place, +nor indeed would it seem that human wit could invent another so adapted +to humanity. The obvious intention of it is to bring together, for a +season at least, all men in the exercise of a common charity and a +feeling of good-will, the poor and the rich, the successful and the +unfortunate, that all the world may feel that in the time called the +Truce of God the thing common to all men is the best thing in life. +How will it suit this intention, then, if in our way of exaggerated +ostentation of charity the distinction between rich and poor is made to +appear more marked than on ordinary days? Blessed are those that expect +nothing. But are there not an increasing multitude of persons in the +United States who have the most exaggerated expectations of personal +profit on Christmas Day? Perhaps it is not quite so bad as this, but it +is safe to say that what the children alone expect to receive, in money +value would absorb the national surplus, about which so much fuss is +made. There is really no objection to this--the terror of the surplus is +a sort of nightmare in the country--except that it destroys the +simplicity of the festival, and belittles small offerings that have their +chief value in affection. And it points inevitably to the creation of a +sort of Christmas "Trust"--the modern escape out of ruinous competition. +When the expense of our annual charity becomes so great that the poor are +discouraged from sharing in it, and the rich even feel it a burden, there +would seem to be no way but the establishment of neighborhood "Trusts" in +order to equalize both cost and distribution. Each family could buy a +share according to its means, and the division on Christmas Day would +create a universal satisfaction in profit sharing--that is, the rich +would get as much as the poor, and the rivalry of ostentation would be +quieted. Perhaps with the money question a little subdued, and the +female anxieties of the festival allayed, there would be more room for +the development of that sweet spirit of brotherly kindness, or all- +embracing charity, which we know underlies this best festival of all the +ages. Is this an old sermon? The Drawer trusts that it is, for there +can be nothing new in the preaching of simplicity. + + + + + + +THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WRITERS + +It is difficult enough to keep the world straight without the +interposition of fiction. But the conduct of the novelists and the +painters makes the task of the conservators of society doubly perplexing. +Neither the writers nor the artists have a due sense of the +responsibilities of their creations. The trouble appears to arise from +the imitativeness of the race. Nature herself seems readily to fall into +imitation. It was noticed by the friends of nature that when the +peculiar coal-tar colors were discovered, the same faded, aesthetic, and +sometimes sickly colors began to appear in the ornamental flower-beds and +masses of foliage plants. It was hardly fancy that the flowers took the +colors of the ribbons and stuffs of the looms, and that the same instant +nature and art were sicklied o'er with the same pale hues of fashion. +If this relation of nature and art is too subtle for comprehension, there +is nothing fanciful in the influence of the characters in fiction upon +social manners and morals. To convince ourselves of this, we do not need +to recall the effect of Werther, of Childe Harold, and of Don Juan, and +the imitation of their sentimentality, misanthropy, and adventure, down +to the copying of the rakishness of the loosely-knotted necktie and the +broad turn-over collar. In our own generation the heroes and heroines of +fiction begin to appear in real life, in dress and manner, while they are +still warm from the press. The popular heroine appears on the street in +a hundred imitations as soon as the popular mind apprehends her traits in +the story. We did not know the type of woman in the poems of the +aesthetic school and on the canvas of Rossetti--the red-haired, wide-eyed +child of passion and emotion, in lank clothes, enmeshed in spider-webs +--but so quickly was she multiplied in real life that she seemed to have +stepped from the book and the frame, ready-made, into the street and the +drawing-room. And there is nothing wonderful about this. It is a truism +to say that the genuine creations in fiction take their places in general +apprehension with historical characters, and sometimes they live more +vividly on the printed page and on canvas than the others in their pale, +contradictory, and incomplete lives. The characters of history we seldom +agree about, and are always reconstructing on new information; but the +characters of fiction are subject to no such vicissitudes. + +The importance of this matter is hardly yet perceived. Indeed, it is +unreasonable that it should be, when parents, as a rule, have so slight a +feeling of responsibility for the sort of children they bring into the +world. In the coming scientific age this may be changed, and society may +visit upon a grandmother the sins of her grandchildren, recognizing her +responsibility to the very end of the line. But it is not strange that +in the apathy on this subject the novelists should be careless and +inconsiderate as to the characters they produce, either as ideals or +examples. They know that the bad example is more likely to be copied +than to be shunned, and that the low ideal, being easy to, follow, is +more likely to be imitated than the high ideal. But the novelists have +too little sense of responsibility in this respect, probably from an +inadequate conception of their power. Perhaps the most harmful sinners +are not those who send into the world of fiction the positively wicked +and immoral, but those who make current the dull, the commonplace, and +the socially vulgar. For most readers the wicked character is repellant; +but the commonplace raises less protest, and is soon deemed harmless, +while it is most demoralizing. An underbred book--that is, a book in +which the underbred characters are the natural outcome of the author's +own, mind and apprehension of life--is worse than any possible epidemic; +for while the epidemic may kill a number of useless or vulgar people, the +book will make a great number. The keen observer must have noticed the +increasing number of commonplace, undiscriminating people of low +intellectual taste in the United States. These are to a degree the +result of the feeble, underbred literature (so called) that is most +hawked about, and most accessible, by cost and exposure, to the greater +number of people. It is easy to distinguish the young ladies--many of +them beautifully dressed, and handsome on first acquaintance--who have +been bred on this kind of book. They are betrayed by their speech, their +taste, their manners. Yet there is a marked public insensibility about +this. We all admit that the scrawny young woman, anaemic and physically +undeveloped, has not had proper nourishing food: But we seldom think that +the mentally-vulgar girl, poverty-stricken in ideas, has been starved by +a thin course of diet on anaemic books. The girls are not to blame if +they are as vapid and uninteresting as the ideal girls they have been +associating with in the books they have read. The responsibility is with +the novelist and the writer of stories, the chief characteristic of which +is vulgar commonplace. + +Probably when the Great Assize is held one of the questions asked will +be, "Did you, in America, ever write stories for children?" What a +quaking of knees there will be! For there will stand the victims of this +sort of literature, who began in their tender years to enfeeble their +minds with the wishy-washy flood of commonplace prepared for them by dull +writers and commercial publishers, and continued on in those so-called +domestic stories (as if domestic meant idiotic) until their minds were +diluted to that degree that they could not act upon anything that offered +the least resistance. Beginning with the pepsinized books, they must +continue with them, and the dull appetite by-and-by must be stimulated +with a spice of vulgarity or a little pepper of impropriety. And +fortunately for their nourishment in this kind, the dullest writers can +be indecent. + +Unfortunately the world is so ordered that the person of the feeblest +constitution can communicate a contagious disease. And these people, +bred on this pabulum, in turn make books. If one, it is now admitted, +can do nothing else in this world, he can write, and so the evil widens +and widens. No art is required, nor any selection, nor any ideality, +only capacity for increasing the vacuous commonplace in life. A princess +born may have this, or the leader of cotillons. Yet in the judgment the +responsibility will rest upon the writers who set the copy. + + + + + + +THE CAP AND GOWN + +One of the burning questions now in the colleges for the higher education +of women is whether the undergraduates shall wear the cap and gown. The +subject is a delicate one, and should not be confused with the broader +one, what is the purpose of the higher education? Some hold that the +purpose is to enable a woman to dispense with marriage, while others +maintain that it is to fit a woman for the higher duties of the married +life. The latter opinion will probably prevail, for it has nature on its +side, and the course of history, and the imagination. But meantime the +point of education is conceded, and whether a girl is to educate herself +into single or double blessedness need not interfere with the +consideration of the habit she is to wear during her college life. That +is to be determined by weighing a variety of reasons. + +Not the least of these is the consideration whether the cap-and-gown +habit is becoming. If it is not becoming, it will not go, not even by an +amendment to the Constitution of the United States; for woman's dress +obeys always the higher law. Masculine opinion is of no value on this +point, and the Drawer is aware of the fact that if it thinks the cap and +gown becoming, it may imperil the cap-and-gown cause to say so; but the +cold truth is that the habit gives a plain girl distinction, and a +handsome girl gives the habit distinction. So that, aside from the +mysterious working of feminine motive, which makes woman a law unto +herself, there should be practical unanimity in regard to this habit. +There is in the cap and gown a subtle suggestion of the union of learning +with womanly charm that is very captivating to the imagination. On the +other hand, all this may go for nothing with the girl herself, who is +conscious of the possession of quite other powers and attractions in a +varied and constantly changing toilet, which can reflect her moods from +hour to hour. So that if it is admitted that this habit is almost +universally becoming today, it might, in the inscrutable depths of the +feminine nature--the something that education never can and never should +change--be irksome tomorrow, and we can hardly imagine what a blight to a +young spirit there might be in three hundred and sixty-five days of +uniformity. + +The devotees of the higher education will perhaps need to approach the +subject from another point of view--namely, what they are willing to +surrender in order to come into a distinctly scholastic influence. The +cap and gown are scholastic emblems. Primarily they marked the student, +and not alliance with any creed or vows to any religious order. They +belong to the universities of learning, and today they have no more +ecclesiastic meaning than do the gorgeous robes of the Oxford chancellor +and vice-chancellor and the scarlet hood. From the scholarly side, then, +if not from the dress side, there is much to be said for the cap and +gown. They are badges of devotion, for the time being, to an +intellectual life. + +They help the mind in its effort to set itself apart to unworldly +pursuits; they are indications of separateness from the prevailing +fashions and frivolities. The girl who puts on the cap and gown devotes +herself to the society which is avowedly in pursuit of a larger +intellectual sympathy and a wider intellectual life. The enduring of +this habit will have a confirming influence on her purposes, and help to +keep her up to them. It is like the uniform to the soldier or the veil +to the nun--a sign of separation and devotion. It is difficult in this +age to keep any historic consciousness, any proper relations to the past. +In the cap and gown the girl will at least feel that she is in the line +of the traditions of pure learning. And there is also something of order +and discipline in the uniforming of a community set apart for an +unworldly purpose. Is it believed that three or four years of the kind +of separateness marked by this habit in the life of a girl will rob her +of any desirable womanly quality? + +The cap and gown are only an emphasis of the purpose to devote a certain +period to the higher life, and if they cannot be defended, then we may +begin to be skeptical about the seriousness of the intention of a higher +education. If the school is merely a method of passing the time until a +certain event in the girl's life, she had better dress as if that event +were the only one worth considering. But if she wishes to fit herself +for the best married life, she may not disdain the help of the cap and +gown in devoting herself to the highest culture. Of course education has +its dangers, and the regalia of scholarship may increase them. While our +cap-and-gown divinity is walking in the groves of Academia, apart from +the ways of men, her sisters outside may be dancing and dressing into the +affections of the marriageable men. But this is not the worst of it. +The university girl may be educating herself out of sympathy with the +ordinary possible husband. But this will carry its own cure. The +educated girl will be so much more attractive in the long-run, will have +so many more resources for making a life companionship agreeable, that +she will be more and more in demand. And the young men, even those not +expecting to take up a learned profession, will see the advantage of +educating themselves up to the cap-and-gown level. We know that it is +the office of the university to raise the standard of the college, and of +the college to raise the standard of the high school. It will be the +inevitable result that these young ladies, setting themselves apart for a +period to the intellectual life, will raise the standard of the young +men, and of married life generally. And there is nothing supercilious in +the invitation of the cap-and-gown brigade to the young men to come up +higher. + +There is one humiliating objection made to the cap and gown-made by +members of the gentle sex themselves--which cannot be passed by. It is +of such a delicate nature, and involves such a disparagement of the sex +in a vital point, that the Drawer hesitates to put it in words. It is +said that the cap and gown will be used to cover untidiness, to conceal +the makeshift of a disorderly and unsightly toilet. Undoubtedly the cap +and gown are democratic, adopted probably to equalize the appearance of +rich and poor in the same institution, where all are on an intellectual +level. Perhaps the sex is not perfect; it may be that there are slovens +(it is a brutal word) in that sex which is our poetic image of purity. +But a neat and self-respecting girl will no more be slovenly under a +scholastic gown than under any outward finery. If it is true that the +sex would take cover in this way, and is liable to run down at the heel +when it has a chance, then to the "examination" will have to be added a +periodic "inspection," such as the West-Pointers submit to in regard to +their uniforms. For the real idea of the cap and gown is to encourage +discipline, order, and neatness. We fancy that it is the mission of +woman in this generation to show the world that the tendency of woman to +an intellectual life is not, as it used to be said it was, to untidy +habits. + + + + + + +A TENDENCY OF THE AGE + +This ingenious age, when studied, seems not less remarkable for its +division of labor than for the disposition of people to shift labor on to +others' shoulders. Perhaps it is only another aspect of the spirit of +altruism, a sort of backhanded vicariousness. In taking an inventory of +tendencies, this demands some attention. + +The notion appears to be spreading that there must be some way by which +one can get a good intellectual outfit without much personal effort. +There are many schemes of education which encourage this idea. If one +could only hit upon the right "electives," he could become a scholar with +very little study, and without grappling with any of the real +difficulties in the way of an education. It is no more a short-cut we +desire, but a road of easy grades, with a locomotive that will pull our +train along while we sit in a palace-car at ease. The discipline to be +obtained by tackling an obstacle and overcoming it we think of small +value. There must be some way of attaining the end of cultivation +without much labor. We take readily to proprietary medicines. It is +easier to dose with these than to exercise ordinary prudence about our +health. And we readily believe the doctors of learning when they assure +us that we can acquire a new language by the same method by which we can +restore bodily vigor: take one small patent-right volume in six easy +lessons, without even the necessity of " shaking," and without a regular +doctor, and we shall know the language. Some one else has done all the +work for us, and we only need to absorb. It is pleasing to see how this +theory is getting to be universally applied. All knowledge can be put +into a kind of pemican, so that we can have it condensed. Everything +must be chopped up, epitomized, put in short sentences, and italicized. +And we have primers for science, for history, so that we can acquire all +the information we need in this world in a few hasty bites. It is an +admirable saving of time-saving of time being more important in this +generation than the saving of ourselves. + +And the age is so intellectually active, so eager to know! If we wish to +know anything, instead of digging for it ourselves, it is much easier to +flock all together to some lecturer who has put all the results into an +hour, and perhaps can throw them all upon a screen, so that we can +acquire all we want by merely using the eyes, and bothering ourselves +little about what is said. Reading itself is almost too much of an +effort. We hire people to read for us--to interpret, as we call it-- +Browning and Ibsen, even Wagner. Every one is familiar with the pleasure +and profit of "recitations," of " conversations " which are monologues. +There is something fascinating in the scheme of getting others to do our +intellectual labor for us, to attempt to fill up our minds as if they +were jars. The need of the mind for nutriment is like the need of the +body, but our theory is that it can be satisfied in a different way. +There was an old belief that in order that we should enjoy food, and that +it should perform its function of assimilation, we must work for it, and +that the exertion needed to earn it brought the appetite that made it +profitable to the system. We still have the idea that we must eat for +ourselves, and that we cannot delegate this performance, as we do the +filling of the mind, to some one else. We may have ceased to relish the +act of eating, as we have ceased to relish the act of studying, but we +cannot yet delegate it, even although our power of digesting food for the +body has become almost as feeble as the power of acquiring and digesting +food for the mind. + +It is beautiful to witness our reliance upon others. The house may be +full of books, the libraries may be as free and as unstrained of +impurities as city water; but if we wish to read anything or study +anything we resort to a club. We gather together a number of persons of +like capacity with ourselves. A subject which we might grapple with and +run down by a few hours of vigorous, absorbed attention in a library, +gaining strength of mind by resolute encountering of difficulties, by +personal effort, we sit around for a month or a season in a club, +expecting somehow to take the information by effortless contiguity with +it. A book which we could master and possess in an evening we can have +read to us in a month in the club, without the least intellectual effort. +Is there nothing, then, in the exchange of ideas? Oh yes, when there are +ideas to exchange. Is there nothing stimulating in the conflict of mind +with mind? Oh yes, when there is any mind for a conflict. But the mind +does not grow without personal effort and conflict and struggle with +itself. It is a living organism, and not at all like a jar or other +receptacle for fluids. The physiologists say that what we eat will not +do us much good unless we chew it. By analogy we may presume that the +mind is not greatly benefited by what it gets without considerable +exercise of the mind. + +Still, it is a beautiful theory that we can get others to do our reading +and thinking, and stuff our minds for us. It may be that psychology will +yet show us how a congregate education by clubs may be the way. But just +now the method is a little crude, and lays us open to the charge--which +every intelligent person of this scientific age will repudiate--of being +content with the superficial; for instance, of trusting wholly to others +for our immortal furnishing, as many are satisfied with the review of a +book for the book itself, or--a refinement on that--with a review of the +reviews. The method is still crude. Perhaps we may expect a further +development of the "slot" machine. By dropping a cent in the slot one +can get his weight, his age, a piece of chewing-gum, a bit of candy, or a +shock that will energize his nervous system. Why not get from a similar +machine a "good business education," or an "interpretation" of Browning, +or a new language, or a knowledge of English literature? But even this +would be crude. We have hopes of something from electricity. There +ought to be somewhere a reservoir of knowledge, connected by wires with +every house, and a professional switch-tender, who, upon the pressure of +a button in any house, could turn on the intellectual stream desired. +--[Prophecy of the Internet of the year 2000 from 110 years ago. D.W.]-- +There must be discovered in time a method by which not only information +but intellectual life can be infused into the system by an electric +current. It would save a world of trouble and expense. For some clubs +even are a weariness, and it costs money to hire other people to read and +think for us. + + + + + + +A LOCOED NOVELIST + +Either we have been indulging in an expensive mistake, or a great foreign +novelist who preaches the gospel of despair is locoed. + +This word, which may be new to most of our readers, has long been current +in the Far West, and is likely to be adopted into the language, and +become as indispensable as the typic words taboo and tabooed, which +Herman Melville gave us some forty years ago. There grows upon the +deserts and the cattle ranges of the Rockies a plant of the leguminosae +family, with a purple blossom, which is called the 'loco'. It is sweet +to the taste; horses and cattle are fond of it, and when they have once +eaten it they prefer it to anything else, and often refuse other food. +But the plant is poisonous, or, rather, to speak exactly, it is a weed of +insanity. Its effect upon the horse seems to be mental quite as much as +physical. He behaves queerly, he is full of whims; one would say he was +"possessed." He takes freaks, he trembles, he will not go in certain +places, he will not pull straight, his mind is evidently affected, he is +mildly insane. In point of fact, he is ruined; that is to say, he is +'locoed'. Further indulgence in the plant results in death, but rarely +does an animal recover from even one eating of the insane weed. + +The shepherd on the great sheep ranges leads an absolutely isolated life. +For weeks, sometimes for months together, he does not see a human being. +His only companions are his dogs and the three or four thousand sheep he +is herding. All day long, under the burning sun, he follows the herd +over the rainless prairie, as it nibbles here and there the short grass +and slowly gathers its food. At night he drives the sheep back to the +corral, and lies down alone in his hut. He speaks to no one; he almost +forgets how to speak. Day and night he hears no sound except the +melancholy, monotonous bleat, bleat of the sheep. It becomes +intolerable. The animal stupidity of the herd enters into him. +Gradually he loses his mind. They say that he is locoed. The insane +asylums of California contain many shepherds. + +But the word locoed has come to have a wider application than to the poor +shepherds or the horses and cattle that have eaten the loco. Any one who +acts queerly, talks strangely, is visionary without being actually a +lunatic, who is what would be called elsewhere a "crank," is said to be +locoed. It is a term describing a shade of mental obliquity and +queerness something short of irresponsible madness, and something more +than temporarily "rattled" or bewildered for the moment. It is a good +word, and needed to apply to many people who have gone off into strange +ways, and behave as if they had eaten some insane plant--the insane plant +being probably a theory in the mazes of which they have wandered until +they are lost. + +Perhaps the loco does not grow in Russia, and the Prophet of +Discouragement may never have eaten of it; perhaps he is only like the +shepherd, mainly withdrawn from human intercourse and sympathy in a +morbid mental isolation, hearing only the bleat, bleat, bleat of the +'muxhiks' in the dullness of the steppes, wandering round in his own +sated mind until he has lost all clew to life. Whatever the cause may +be, clearly he is 'locoed'. All his theories have worked out to the +conclusion that the world is a gigantic mistake, love is nothing but +animality, marriage is immorality; according to astronomical calculations +this teeming globe and all its life must end some time; and why not now? +There shall be no more marriage, no more children; the present population +shall wind up its affairs with decent haste, and one by one quit the +scene of their failure, and avoid all the worry of a useless struggle. + +This gospel of the blessedness of extinction has come too late to enable +us to profit by it in our decennial enumeration. How different the +census would have been if taken in the spirit of this new light! How +much bitterness, how much hateful rivalry would have been spared! We +should then have desired a reduction of the population, not an increase +of it. There would have been a pious rivalry among all the towns and +cities on the way to the millennium of extinction to show the least +number of inhabitants; and those towns would have been happiest which +could exhibit not only a marked decline in numbers, but the greater +number of old people. Beautiful St. Paul would have held a thanksgiving +service, and invited the Minneapolis enumerators to the feast, Kansas +City and St. Louis and San Francisco, and a hundred other places, would +not have desired a recount, except, perhaps, for overestimate; they would +not have said that thousands were away at the sea or in the mountains, +but, on the contrary, that thousands who did not belong there, attracted +by the salubrity of the climate, and the desire to injure the town's +reputation, had crowded in there in census time. The newspapers, instead +of calling on people to send in the names of the unenumerated, would have +rejoiced at the small returns, as they would have done if the census had +been for the purpose of levying the federal tax upon each place according +to its population. Chicago--well, perhaps the Prophet of the Steppes +would have made an exception of Chicago, and been cynically delighted to +push it on its way of increase, aggregation, and ruin. + +But instead of this, the strain of anxiety was universal and heart- +rending. So much depended upon swelling the figures. The tension would +have been relieved if our faces were all set towards extinction, and the +speedy evacuation of this unsatisfactory globe. The writer met recently, +in the Colorado desert of Arizona, a forlorn census-taker who had been +six weeks in the saddle, roaming over the alkali plains in order to +gratify the vanity of Uncle Sam. He had lost his reckoning, and did not +know the day of the week or of the month. In all the vast territory, +away up to the Utah line, over which he had wandered, he met human beings +(excluding "Indians and others not taxed ") so rarely that he was in +danger of being locoed. He was almost in despair when, two days before, +he had a windfall, which raised his general average in the form of a +woman with twenty-six children, and he was rejoicing that he should be +able to turn in one hundred and fifty people. Alas, the revenue the +government will derive from these half-nomads will never pay the cost of +enumerating them. + +And, alas again, whatever good showing we may make, we shall wish it were +larger; the more people we have the more we shall want. In this +direction there is no end, any more than there is to life. If +extinction, and not life and growth, is the better rule, what a costly +mistake we have been making! + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of As We Were Saying by C. D. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + + BACKLOG EDITION + + THE COMPLETE WRITINGS + OF + CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER + + 1904 + + + + AS WE WERE SAYING + + + +CONTENTS: (25 Short Studies) + +ROSE AND CHRYSANTHEMUM +THE RED BONNET +THE LOSS IN CIVILIZATION +SOCIAL SCREAMING +DOES REFINEMENT KILL INDIVIDUALITY? +THE DIRECTOIRE GOWN +THE MYSTERY OF THE SEX +THE CLOTHES OF FICTION +THE BROAD A +CHEWING GUM +WOMEN IN CONGRESS +SHALL WOMEN PROPOSE? +FROCKS AND THE STAGE +ALTRUISM +SOCIAL CLEARING-HOUSE +DINNER-TABLE TALK +NATURALIZATION +ART OF GOVERNING +LOVE OF DISPLAY +VALUE OF THE COMMONPLACE +THE BURDEN OF CHRISTMAS +THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WRITERS +THE CAP AND GOWN +A TENDENCY OF THE AGE +A LOCOED NOVELIST + + + + +ROSE AND CHRYSANTHEMUM + +The Drawer will still bet on the rose. This is not a wager, but only a +strong expression of opinion. The rose will win. It does not look so +now. To all appearances, this is the age of the chrysanthemum. What +this gaudy flower will be, daily expanding and varying to suit the whim +of fashion, no one can tell. It may be made to bloom like the cabbage; +it may spread out like an umbrella--it can never be large enough nor +showy enough to suit us. Undeniably it is very effective, especially in +masses of gorgeous color. In its innumerable shades and enlarging +proportions, it is a triumph of the gardener. It is a rival to the +analine dyes and to the marabout feathers. It goes along with all the +conceits and fantastic unrest of the decorative art. Indeed, but for the +discovery of the capacities of the chrysanthemum, modern life would have +experienced a fatal hitch in its development. It helps out our age of +plush with a flame of color. There is nothing shamefaced or retiring +about it, and it already takes all provinces for its own. One would be +only half-married--civilly, and not fashionably--without a chrysanthemum +wedding; and it lights the way to the tomb. The maiden wears a bunch of +it in her corsage in token of her blooming expectations, and the young +man flaunts it on his coat lapel in an effort to be at once effective and +in the mode. Young love that used to express its timid desire with the +violet, or, in its ardor, with the carnation, now seeks to bring its +emotions to light by the help of the chrysanthemum. And it can express +every shade of feeling, from the rich yellow of prosperous wooing to the +brick-colored weariness of life that is hardly distinguishable from the +liver complaint. It is a little stringy for a boutonniere, but it fills +the modern-trained eye as no other flower can fill it. We used to say +that a girl was as sweet as a rose; we have forgotten that language. We +used to call those tender additions to society, on the eve of their event +into that world which is always so eager to receive fresh young life, +"rose-buds"; we say now simply "buds," but we mean chrysanthemum buds. +They are as beautiful as ever; they excite the same exquisite interest; +perhaps in their maiden hearts they are one or another variety of that +flower which bears such a sweet perfume in all literature; but can it +make no difference in character whether a young girl comes out into the +garish world as a rose or as a chrysanthemum? Is her life set to the +note of display, of color and show, with little sweetness, or to that +retiring modesty which needs a little encouragement before it fully +reveals its beauty and its perfume? If one were to pass his life in +moving in a palace car from one plush hotel to another, a bunch of +chrysanthemums in his hand would seem to be a good symbol of his life. +There are aged people who can remember that they used to choose various +roses, as to their color, odor, and degree of unfolding, to express the +delicate shades of advancing passion and of devotion. What can one do +with this new favorite? Is not a bunch of chrysanthemums a sort of +take-it-or-leave-it declaration, boldly and showily made, an offer +without discrimination, a tender without romance? A young man will catch +the whole family with this flaming message, but where is that sentiment +that once set the maiden heart in a flutter? Will she press a +chrysanthemum, and keep it till the faint perfume reminds her of the +sweetest moment of her life? + +Are we exaggerating this astonishing rise, development, and spread of the +chrysanthemum? As a fashion it is not so extraordinary as the hoop- +skirt, or as the neck ruff, which is again rising as a background to the +lovely head. But the remarkable thing about it is that heretofore in all +nations and times, and in all changes of fashion in dress, the rose has +held its own as the queen of flowers and as the finest expression of +sentiment. But here comes a flaunting thing with no desirable perfume, +looking as if it were cut with scissors out of tissue-paper, but capable +of taking infinite varieties of color, and growing as big as a curtain +tassel, that literally captures the world, and spreads all over the +globe, like the Canada thistle. The florists have no eye for anything +else, and the biggest floral prizes are awarded for the production of its +eccentricities. Is the rage for this flower typical of this fast and +flaring age? + +The Drawer is not an enemy to the chrysanthemum, nor to the sunflower, +nor to any other gorgeous production of nature. But it has an old- +fashioned love for the modest and unobtrusive virtues, and an abiding +faith that they will win over the strained and strident displays of life. +There is the violet: all efforts of cultivation fail to make it as big as +the peony, and it would be no more dear to the heart if it were +quadrupled in size. We do, indeed, know that satisfying beauty and +refinement are apt to escape us when we strive too much and force nature +into extraordinary display, and we know how difficult it is to get mere +bigness and show without vulgarity. Cultivation has its limits. After +we have produced it, we find that the biggest rose even is not the most +precious; and lovely as woman is, we instinctively in our admiration put +a limit to her size. There being, then, certain laws that ultimately +fetch us all up standing, so to speak, it does seem probable that the +chrysanthemum rage will end in a gorgeous sunset of its splendor; that +fashion will tire of it, and that the rose, with its secret heart of +love; the rose, with its exquisite form; the rose, with its capacity of +shyly and reluctantly unfolding its beauty; the rose, with that odor--of +the first garden exhaled and yet kept down through all the ages of sin +--will become again the fashion, and be more passionately admired for its +temporary banishment. Perhaps the poet will then come back again and +sing. What poet could now sing of the "awful chrysanthemum of dawn"? + + + + + + +THE RED BONNET + +The Drawer has no wish to make Lent easier for anybody, or rather to +diminish the benefit of the penitential season. But in this period of +human anxiety and repentance it must be said that not enough account is +made of the moral responsibility of Things. The doctrine is sound; the +only difficulty is in applying it. It can, however, be illustrated by a +little story, which is here confided to the reader in the same trust in +which it was received. There was once a lady, sober in mind and sedate +in manner, whose plain dress exactly represented her desire to be +inconspicuous, to do good, to improve every day of her life in actions +that should benefit her kind. She was a serious person, inclined to +improving conversation, to the reading of bound books that cost at least +a dollar and a half (fifteen cents of which she gladly contributed to the +author), and she had a distaste for the gay society which was mainly a +flutter of ribbons and talk and pretty faces; and when she meditated, as +she did in her spare moments, her heart was sore over the frivolity of +life and the emptiness of fashion. She longed to make the world better, +and without any priggishness she set it an example of simplicity and +sobriety, of cheerful acquiescence in plainness and inconspicuousness. + +One day--it was in the autumn--this lady had occasion to buy a new hat. +From a great number offered to her she selected a red one with a dull red +plume. It did not agree with the rest of her apparel; it did not fit her +apparent character. What impulse led to this selection she could not +explain. She was not tired of being good, but something in the +jauntiness of the hat and the color pleased her. If it were a +temptation, she did not intend to yield to it, but she thought she would +take the hat home and try it. Perhaps her nature felt the need of a +little warmth. The hat pleased her still more when she got it home and +put it on and surveyed herself in the mirror. Indeed, there was a new +expression in her face that corresponded to the hat. She put it off and +looked at it. There was something almost humanly winning and temptatious +in it. In short, she kept it, and when she wore it abroad she was not +conscious of its incongruity to herself or to her dress, but of the +incongruity of the rest of her apparel to the hat, which seemed to have a +sort of intelligence of its own, at least a power of changing and +conforming things to itself. By degrees one article after another in the +lady's wardrobe was laid aside, and another substituted for it that +answered to the demanding spirit of the hat. In a little while this +plain lady was not plain any more, but most gorgeously dressed, and +possessed with the desire to be in the height of the fashion. It came to +this, that she had a tea-gown made out of a window-curtain with a +flamboyant pattern. Solomon in all his glory would have been ashamed of +himself in her presence. + +But this was not all. Her disposition, her ideas, her whole life, was +changed. She did not any more think of going about doing good, but of +amusing herself. She read nothing but stories in paper covers. In place +of being sedate and sober-minded, she was frivolous to excess; she spent +most of her time with women who liked to "frivol." She kept Lent in the +most expensive way, so as to make the impression upon everybody that she +was better than the extremest kind of Lent. From liking the sedatest +company she passed to liking the gayest society and the most fashionable +method of getting rid of her time. Nothing whatever had happened to her, +and she is now an ornament to society. + +This story is not an invention; it is a leaf out of life. If this lady +that autumn day had bought a plain bonnet she would have continued on in +her humble, sensible way of living. Clearly it was the hat that made the +woman, and not the woman the hat. She had no preconception of it; it +simply happened to her, like any accident--as if she had fallen and +sprained her ankle. Some people may say that she had in her a concealed +propensity for frivolity; but the hat cannot escape the moral +responsibility of calling it out if it really existed. The power of +things to change and create character is well attested. Men live up to +or live down to their clothes, which have a great moral influence on +manner, and even on conduct. There was a man run down almost to +vagabondage, owing to his increasingly shabby clothing, and he was only +saved from becoming a moral and physical wreck by a remnant of good- +breeding in him that kept his worn boots well polished. In time his +boots brought up the rest of his apparel and set him on his feet again. +Then there is the well-known example of the honest clerk on a small +salary who was ruined by the gift of a repeating watch--an expensive +timepiece that required at least ten thousand a year to sustain it: he is +now in Canada. + +Sometimes the influence of Things is good and sometimes it is bad. We +need a philosophy that shall tell us why it is one or the other, and fix +the responsibility where it belongs. It does no good, as people always +find out by reflex action, to kick an inanimate thing that has offended, +to smash a perverse watch with a hammer, to break a rocking-chair that +has a habit of tipping over backward. If Things are not actually +malicious, they seem to have a power of revenging themselves. We ought +to try to understand them better, and to be more aware of what they can +do to us. If the lady who bought the red hat could have known the hidden +nature of it, could have had a vision of herself as she was transformed +by it, she would as soon have taken a viper into her bosom as have placed +the red tempter on her head. Her whole previous life, her feeling of the +moment, show that it was not vanity that changed her, but the +inconsiderate association with a Thing that happened to strike her fancy, +and which seemed innocent. But no Thing is really powerless for good or +evil. + + + + + + +THE LOSS IN CIVILIZATION + +Have we yet hit upon the right idea of civilization? The process which +has been going on ever since the world began seems to have a defect in +it; strength, vital power, somehow escapes. When you've got a man +thoroughly civilized you cannot do anything more with him. And it is +worth reflection what we should do, what could we spend our energies on, +and what would evoke them, we who are both civilized and enlightened, if +all nations were civilized and the earth were entirely subdued. That is +to say, are not barbarism and vast regions of uncultivated land a +necessity of healthful life on this globe? We do not like to admit that +this process has its cycles, that nations and men, like trees and fruit, +grow, ripen, and then decay. The world has always had a conceit that the +globe could be made entirely habitable, and all over the home of a +society constantly growing better. In order to accomplish this we have +striven to eliminate barbarism in man and in nature: + +Is there anything more unsatisfactory than a perfect house, perfect +grounds, perfect gardens, art and nature brought into the most absolute +harmony of taste and culture? What more can a man do with it? What +satisfaction has a man in it if he really gets to the end of his power to +improve it? There have been such nearly ideal places, and how strong +nature, always working against man and in the interest of untamed +wildness, likes to riot in them and reduce them to picturesque +destruction! And what sweet sadness, pathos, romantic suggestion, the +human mind finds in such a ruin! And a society that has attained its end +in all possible culture, entire refinement in manners, in tastes, in the +art of elegant intellectual and luxurious living--is there nothing +pathetic in that? Where is the primeval, heroic force that made the joy +of living in the rough old uncivilized days? Even throw in goodness, a +certain amount of altruism, gentleness, warm interest in unfortunate +humanity--is the situation much improved? London is probably the most +civilized centre the world has ever seen; there are gathered more of the +elements of that which we reckon the best. Where in history, unless some +one puts in a claim for the Frenchman, shall we find a Man so nearly +approaching the standard we have set up of civilization as the +Englishman, refined by inheritance and tradition, educated almost beyond +the disturbance of enthusiasm, and cultivated beyond the chance of +surprise? We are speaking of the highest type in manner, information, +training, in the acquisition of what the world has to give. Could these +men have conquered the world? Is it possible that our highest +civilization has lost something of the rough and admirable element that +we admire in the heroes of Homer and of Elizabeth? What is this London, +the most civilized city ever known? Why, a considerable part of its +population is more barbarous, more hopelessly barbarous, than any wild +race we know, because they are the barbarians of civilization, the refuse +and slag of it, if we dare say that of any humanity. More hopeless, +because the virility of savagery has measurably gone out of it. We can +do something with a degraded race of savages, if it has any stamina in +it. What can be done with those who are described as "East-Londoners"? + +Every great city has enough of the same element. Is this an accident, or +is it a necessity of the refinement that we insist on calling +civilization? We are always sending out missionaries to savage or +perverted nations, we are always sending out emigrants to occupy and +reduce to order neglected territory. This is our main business. How +would it be if this business were really accomplished, and there were no +more peoples to teach our way of life to, and no more territory to bring +under productive cultivation? Without the necessity of putting forth +this energy, a survival of the original force in man, how long would our +civilization last? In a word, if the world were actually all civilized, +wouldn't it be too weak even to ripen? And now, in the great centres, +where is accumulated most of that we value as the product of man's best +efforts, is there strength enough to elevate the degraded humanity that +attends our highest cultivation? We have a gay confidence that we can do +something for Africa. Can we reform London and Paris and New York, which +our own hands have made? + +If we cannot, where is the difficulty? Is this a hopeless world? Must +it always go on by spurts and relapses, alternate civilization and +barbarism, and the barbarism being necessary to keep us employed and +growing? Or is there some mistake about our ideal of civilization? Does +our process too much eliminate the rough vigor, courage, stamina of the +race? After a time do we just live, or try to live, on literature warmed +over, on pretty coloring and drawing instead of painting that stirs the +soul to the heroic facts and tragedies of life? Where did this virile, +blood-full, throbbing Russian literature come from; this Russian painting +of Verestchagin, that smites us like a sword with the consciousness of +the tremendous meaning of existence? Is there a barbaric force left in +the world that we have been daintily trying to cover and apologize for +and refine into gentle agreeableness? + +These questions are too deep for these pages. Let us make the world +pleasant, and throw a cover over the refuse. We are doing very well, on +the whole, considering what we are and the materials we have to work on. +And we must not leave the world so perfectly civilized that the +inhabitants, two or three centuries ahead, will have nothing to do. + + + + + + +SOCIAL SCREAMING + +Of all the contrivances for amusement in this agreeable world the +"Reception" is the most ingenious, and would probably most excite the +wonder of an angel sent down to inspect our social life. If he should +pause at the entrance of the house where one is in progress, he would be +puzzled. The noise that would greet his ears is different from the deep +continuous roar in the streets, it is unlike the hum of millions of +seventeen-year locusts, it wants the musical quality of the spring +conventions of the blackbirds in the chestnuts, and he could not compare +it to the vociferation in a lunatic asylum, for that is really subdued +and infrequent. He might be incapable of analyzing this, but when he +caught sight of the company he would be compelled to recognize it as the +noise of our highest civilization. It may not be perfect, for there are +limits to human powers of endurance, but it is the best we can do. It is +not a chance affair. Here are selected, picked out by special +invitation, the best that society can show, the most intelligent, the +most accomplished, the most beautiful, the best dressed persons in the +community--all receptions have this character. The angel would notice +this at once, and he would be astonished at the number of such persons, +for the rooms would be so crowded that he would see the hopelessness of +attempting to edge or wedge his way through the throng without tearing +off his wings. An angel, in short, would stand no chance in one of these +brilliant assemblies on account of his wings, and he probably could not +be heard, on account of the low, heavenly pitch of his voice. His +inference would be that these people had been selected to come together +by reason of their superior power of screaming. He would be wrong. + +--They are selected on account of their intelligence, agreeableness, and +power of entertaining each other. They come together, not for exercise, +but pleasure, and the more they crowd and jam and struggle, and the +louder they scream, the greater the pleasure. It is a kind of contest, +full of good-humor and excitement. The one that has the shrillest voice +and can scream the loudest is most successful. It would seem at first +that they are under a singular hallucination, imagining that the more +noise there is in the room the better each one can be heard, and so each +one continues to raise his or her voice in order to drown the other +voices. The secret of the game is to pitch the voice one or two octaves +above the ordinary tone. Some throats cannot stand this strain long; +they become rasped and sore, and the voices break; but this adds to the +excitement and enjoyment of those who can scream with less inconvenience. +The angel would notice that if at any time silence was called, in order +that an announcement of music could be made, in the awful hush that +followed people spoke to each other in their natural voices, and +everybody could be heard without effort. But this was not the object of +the Reception, and in a moment more the screaming would begin again, the +voices growing higher and higher, until, if the roof were taken off, one +vast shriek would go up to heaven. + +This is not only a fashion, it is an art. People have to train for it, +and as it is a unique amusement, it is worth some trouble to be able to +succeed in it. Men, by reason of their stolidity and deeper voices, can +never be proficients in it; and they do not have so much practice--unless +they are stock-brokers. Ladies keep themselves in training in their +ordinary calls. If three or four meet in a drawing-room they all begin +to scream, not that they may be heard--for the higher they go the less +they understand each other--but simply to acquire the art of screaming at +receptions. If half a dozen ladies meeting by chance in a parlor should +converse quietly in their sweet, ordinary home tones, it might be in a +certain sense agreeable, but it would not be fashionable, and it would +not strike the prevailing note of our civilization. If it were true that +a group of women all like to talk at the same time when they meet (which +is a slander invented by men, who may be just as loquacious, but not so +limber-tongued and quick-witted), and raise their voices to a shriek in +order to dominate each other, it could be demonstrated that they would be +more readily heard if they all spoke in low tones. But the object is not +conversation; it is the social exhilaration that comes from the wild +exercise of the voice in working off a nervous energy; it is so seldom +that in her own house a lady gets a chance to scream. + +The dinner-party, where there are ten or twelve at table, is a favorite +chance for this exercise. At a recent dinner, where there were a dozen +uncommonly intelligent people, all capable of the most entertaining +conversation, by some chance, or owing to some nervous condition, they +all began to speak in a high voice as soon as they were seated, and the +effect was that of a dynamite explosion. It was a cheerful babel of +indistinguishable noise, so loud and shrill and continuous that it was +absolutely impossible for two people seated on the opposite sides of the +table, and both shouting at each other, to catch an intelligible +sentence. This made a lively dinner. Everybody was animated, and if +there was no conversation, even between persons seated side by side, +there was a glorious clatter and roar; and when it was over, everybody +was hoarse and exhausted, and conscious that he had done his best in a +high social function. + +This topic is not the selection of the Drawer, the province of which is +to note, but not to criticise, the higher civilization. But the inquiry +has come from many cities, from many women, "Cannot something be done to +stop social screaming?" The question is referred to the scientific +branch of the Social Science Association. If it is a mere fashion, the +association can do nothing. But it might institute some practical +experiments. It might get together in a small room fifty people all let +loose in the ordinary screaming contest, measure the total volume of +noise and divide it by fifty, and ascertain how much throat power was +needed in one person to be audible to another three feet from the +latter's ear. This would sift out the persons fit for such a contest. +The investigator might then call a dead silence in the assembly, and +request each person to talk in a natural voice, then divide the total +noise as before, and see what chance of being heard an ordinary +individual had in it. If it turned out in these circumstances that every +person present could speak with ease and hear perfectly what was said, +then the order might be given for the talk to go on in that tone, and +that every person who raised the voice and began to scream should be +gagged and removed to another room. In this room could be collected all +the screamers to enjoy their own powers. The same experiment might be +tried at a dinner-party, namely, to ascertain if the total hum of low +voices in the natural key would not be less for the individual voice to +overcome than the total scream of all the voices raised to a shriek. If +scientific research demonstrated the feasibility of speaking in an +ordinary voice at receptions, dinner-parties, and in "calls," then the +Drawer is of opinion that intelligible and enjoyable conversation would +be possible on these occasions, if it becomes fashionable not to scream. + + + + + + +DOES REFINEMENT KILL INDIVIDUALITY? + +Is it true that cultivation, what we call refinement, kills +individuality? Or, worse than that even, that one loses his taste by +over-cultivation? Those persons are uninteresting, certainly, who have +gone so far in culture that they accept conventional standards supposed +to be correct, to which they refer everything, and by which they measure +everybody. Taste usually implies a sort of selection; the cultivated +taste of which we speak is merely a comparison, no longer an individual +preference or appreciation, but only a reference to the conventional and +accepted standard. When a man or woman has reached this stage of +propriety we are never curious any more concerning their opinions on any +subject. We know that the opinions expressed will not be theirs, evolved +out of their own feeling, but that they will be the cut-and-dried results +of conventionality. + +It is doubtless a great comfort to a person to know exactly how to feel +and what to say in every new contingency, but whether the zest of life is +not dulled by this ability is a grave question, for it leaves no room for +surprise and little for emotion. O ye belles of Newport and of Bar +Harbor, in your correct and conventional agreement of what is proper and +agreeable, are you wasting your sweet lives by rule? Is your compact, +graceful, orderly society liable to be monotonous in its gay repetition +of the same thing week after week? Is there nothing outside of that +envied circle which you make so brilliant? Is the Atlantic shore the +only coast where beauty may lounge and spread its net of enchantment? +The Atlantic shore and Europe? Perhaps on the Pacific you might come +back to your original selves, and find again that freedom and that charm +of individuality that are so attractive. Some sparkling summer morning, +if you chanced to drive four-in-hand along the broad beach at Santa +Barbara, inhaling, the spicy breeze from the Sandwich Islands, along the +curved shore where the blue of the sea and the purple of the mountains +remind you of the Sorrentine promontory, and then dashed away into the +canon of Montecito, among the vineyards and orange orchards and live-oaks +and palms, in vales and hills all ablaze with roses and flowers of the +garden and the hothouse, which bloom the year round in the gracious sea- +air, would you not, we wonder, come to yourselves in the sense of a new +life where it is good form to be enthusiastic and not disgraceful to be +surprised? It is a far cry from Newport to Santa Barbara, and a whole +world of new sensations lies on the way, experiences for which you will +have no formula of experience. To take the journey is perhaps too heroic +treatment for the disease of conformity--the sort of malaria of our +exclusive civilization. + +The Drawer is not urging this journey, nor any break-up of the social +order, for it knows how painful a return to individuality may be. It is +easier to go on in the subordination of one's personality to the strictly +conventional life. It expects rather to record a continually perfected +machinery, a life in which not only speech but ideas are brought into +rule. We have had something to say occasionally of the art of +conversation, which is in danger of being lost in the confused babel of +the reception and the chatter of the dinner-party--the art of listening +and the art of talking both being lost. Society is taking alarm at this, +and the women as usual are leaders in a reform. Already, by reason of +clubs-literary, scientific, economic--woman is the well-informed part of +our society. In the "Conversation Lunch" this information is now brought +into use. The lunch, and perhaps the dinner, will no longer be the +occasion of satisfying the appetite or of gossip, but of improving talk. +The giver of the lunch will furnish the topic of conversation. Two +persons may not speak at once; two persons may not talk with each other; +all talk is to be general and on the topic assigned, and while one is +speaking, the others must listen. Perhaps each lady on taking her seat +may find in her napkin a written slip of paper which shall be the guide +to her remarks. Thus no time is to be wasted on frivolous topics. The +ordinary natural flow of rejoinder and repartee, the swirling of talk +around one obstacle and another, its winding and rippling here and there +as individual whim suggests, will not be allowed, but all will be +improving, and tend to that general culture of which we have been +speaking. The ladies' lunch is not to be exactly a debating society, but +an open occasion for the delivery of matured thought and the acquisition +of information. + +The object is not to talk each other down, but to improve the mind, +which, unguided, is apt to get frivolous at the convivial board. It is +notorious that men by themselves at lunch or dinner usually shun grave +topics and indulge in persiflage, and even descend to talk about wine and +the made dishes. The women's lunch of this summer takes higher ground. +It will give Mr. Browning his final estimate; it will settle Mr. Ibsen; +it will determine the suffrage question; it will adjudicate between the +total abstainers and the halfway covenant of high license; it will not +hesitate to cut down the tariff. + +The Drawer anticipates a period of repose in all our feverish social +life. We shall live more by rule and less by impulse. When we meet we +shall talk on set topics, determined beforehand. By this concentration +we shall be able as one man or one woman to reach the human limit of +cultivation, and get rid of all the aberrations of individual assertion +and feeling. By studying together in clubs, by conversing in monotone +and by rule, by thinking the same things and exchanging ideas until we +have none left, we shall come into that social placidity which is one +dream of the nationalists--one long step towards what may be called a +prairie mental condition--the slope of Kansas, where those who are five +thousand feet above the sea-level seem to be no higher than those who +dwell in the Missouri Valley. + + + + + + +THE DIRECTOIRE GOWN + +We are all more or less devoted to 'liberte', 'egalite', and considerable +'fraternite', and we have various ways of showing it. It is the opinion +of many that women do not care much about politics, and that if they are +interested at all in them, they are by nature aristocrats. It is said, +indeed, that they care much more about their dress than they do about the +laws or the form of government. This notion arises from a +misapprehension both of the nature of woman and of the significance of +dress. + +Men have an idea that fashions are haphazard, and are dictated and guided +by no fixed principles of action, and represent no great currents in +politics or movements of the human mind. Women, who are exceedingly +subtle in all their operations, feel that it is otherwise. They have a +prescience of changes in the drift of public affairs, and a delicate +sensitiveness that causes them to adjust their raiment to express these +changes. Men have written a great deal in their bungling way about the +philosophy of clothes. Women exhibit it, and if we should study them +more and try to understand them instead of ridiculing their fashions as +whims bred of an inconstant mind and mere desire for change, we would +have a better apprehension of the great currents of modern political life +and society. + +Many observers are puzzled by the gradual and insidious return recently +to the mode of the Directoire, and can see in it no significance other +than weariness of some other mode. We need to recall the fact of the +influence of the centenary period upon the human mind. It is nearly a +century since the fashion of the Directoire. What more natural, +considering the evidence that we move in spirals, if not in circles, that +the signs of the anniversary of one of the most marked periods in history +should be shown in feminine apparel? It is woman's way of hinting what +is in the air, the spirit that is abroad in the world. It will be +remembered that women took a prominent part in the destruction of the +Bastile, helping, indeed, to tear down that odious structure with their +own hands, the fall of which, it is well known, brought in the classic +Greek and republican simplicity, the subtle meaning of the change being +expressed in French gowns. Naturally there was a reaction from all this +towards aristocratic privileges and exclusiveness, which went on for many +years, until in France monarchy and empire followed the significant +leadership of the French modistes. So strong was this that it passed to +other countries, and in England the impulse outlasted even the Reform +Bill, and skirts grew more and more bulbous, until it did not need more +than three or four women to make a good-sized assembly. This was not the +result of, a whim about clothes, but a subtle recognition of a spirit of +exclusiveness and defense abroad in the world. Each woman became her own +Bastile. Men surrounded it and thundered against it without the least +effect. It seemed as permanent as the Pyramids. At every male attack it +expanded, and became more aggressive and took up more room. Women have +such an exquisite sense of things--just as they have now in regard to big +obstructive hats in the theatres. They know that most of the plays are +inferior and some of them are immoral, and they attend the theatres with +head-dresses that will prevent as many people as possible from seeing the +stage and being corrupted by anything that takes place on it. They +object to the men seeing some of the women who are now on the stage. It +happened, as to the private Bastiles, that the women at last recognized a +change in the sociological and political atmosphere of the world, and +without consulting any men of affairs or caring for their opinion, down +went the Bastiles. When women attacked them, in obedience to their +political instincts, they collapsed like punctured balloons. Natural +woman was measurably (that is, a capacity of being measured) restored to +the world. And we all remember the great political revolutionary +movements of 1848. + +Now France is still the arbiter of the modes. Say what we may about +Berlin, copy their fashion plates as we will, or about London, or New +York, or Tokio, it is indisputable that the woman in any company who has +on a Paris gown--the expression is odious, but there is no other that in +these days would be comprehended--"takes the cake." It is not that the +women care for this as a mere matter of apparel. But they are sensitive +to the political atmosphere, to the philosophical significance that it +has to great impending changes. We are approaching the centenary of the +fall of the Bastile. The French have no Bastile to lay low, nor, indeed, +any Tuileries to burn up; but perhaps they might get a good way ahead by +demolishing Notre Dame and reducing most of Paris to ashes. Apparently +they are on the eve of doing something. The women of the world may not +know what it is, but they feel the approaching recurrence of a period. +Their movements are not yet decisive. It is as yet only tentatively that +they adopt the mode of the Directoire. It is yet uncertain--a sort of +Boulangerism in dress. But if we watch it carefully we shall be able to +predict with some assurance the drift in Paris. The Directoire dress +points to another period of republican simplicity, anarchy, and the rule +of a popular despot. + +It is a great pity, in view of this valuable instinct in women and the +prophetic significance of dress, that women in the United States do not +exercise their gifts with regard to their own country. We should then +know at any given time whether we are drifting into Blaineism, or +Clevelandism, or centralization, or free-trade, or extreme protection, or +rule by corporations. We boast greatly of our smartness. It is time we +were up and dressed to prove it. + + + + + + +THE MYSTERY OF THE SEX + +There appears to be a great quantity of conceit around, especially +concerning women. The statement was recently set afloat that a well- +known lady had admitted that George Meredith understands women better +than any writer who has preceded him. This may be true, and it may be a +wily statement to again throw men off the track; at any rate it contains +the old assumption of a mystery, practically insoluble, about the gentler +sex. Women generally encourage this notion, and men by their gingerly +treatment of it seemed to accept it. But is it well-founded, is there +any more mystery about women--than about men? Is the feminine nature any +more difficult to understand than the masculine nature? Have women, +conscious of inferior strength, woven this notion of mystery about +themselves as a defense, or have men simply idealized them for fictitious +purposes? To recur to the case cited, is there any evidence that Mr. +Meredith understands human nature--as exhibited in women any better than +human nature--in men, or is more consistent in the production of one than +of the other? Historically it would be interesting to trace the rise of +this notion of woman as an enigma. The savage races do not appear to +have it. A woman to the North American Indian is a simple affair, dealt +with without circumlocution. In the Bible records there is not much +mystery about her; there are many tributes to her noble qualities, and +some pretty severe and uncomplimentary things are said about her, but +there is little affectation of not understanding her. She may be a +prophetess, or a consoler, or a snare, but she is no more "deceitful and +desperately wicked" than anybody else. There is nothing mysterious about +her first recorded performance. Eve trusted the serpent, and Adam +trusted Eve. The mystery was in the serpent. There is no evidence that +the ancient Egyptian woman was more difficult to comprehend than the +Egyptian man. They were both doubtless wily as highly civilized people +are apt to be; the "serpent of old Nile" was in them both. Is it in fact +till we come to mediaeval times, and the chivalric age, that women are +set up as being more incomprehensible than men? That is, less logical, +more whimsical, more uncertain in their mental processes? The play- +writers and essayists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries +"worked" this notion continually. They always took an investigating and +speculating attitude towards women, that fostered the conceit of their +separateness and veiled personality. Every woman was supposed to be +playing a part behind a mask. Montaigne is always investigating woman as +a mystery. It is, for instance, a mystery he does not relish that, as he +says, women commonly reserve the publication of their vehement affections +for their husbands till they have lost them; then the woful countenance +"looks not so much back as forward, and is intended rather to get a new +husband than to lament the old." And he tells this story: + +"When I was a boy, a very beautiful and virtuous lady who is yet living, +and the widow of a prince, had, I know not what, more ornament in her +dress than our laws of widowhood will well allow, which being reproached +with as a great indecency, she made answer 'that it was because she was +not cultivating more friendships, and would never marry again.'" This +cynical view of woman, as well as the extravagantly complimentary one +sometimes taken by the poets, was based upon the notion that woman was an +unexplainable being. When she herself adopted the idea is uncertain. +Of course all this has a very practical bearing upon modern life, the +position of women in it, and the so-called reforms. If woman is so +different from man, to the extent of being an unexplainable mystery, +science ought to determine the exact state of the case, and ascertain if +there is any remedy for it. If it is only a literary creation, we ought +to know it. Science could tell, for instance, whether there is a +peculiarity in the nervous system, any complications in the nervous +centres, by which the telegraphic action of the will gets crossed, so +that, for example, in reply to a proposal of marriage, the intended "Yes" +gets delivered as "No." Is it true that the mental process in one sex is +intuitive, and in the other logical, with every link necessary and +visible? Is it true, as the romancers teach, that the mind in one sex +acts indirectly and in the other directly, or is this indirect process +only characteristic of exceptions in both sexes? Investigation ought to +find this out, so that we can adjust the fit occupations for both sexes +on a scientific basis. We are floundering about now in a sea of doubt. +As society becomes more complicated, women will become a greater and +greater mystery, or rather will be regarded so by themselves and be +treated so by men. + +Who can tell how much this notion of mystery in the sex stands in the way +of its free advancement all along the line? Suppose the proposal were +made to women to exchange being mysterious for the ballot? Would they do +it? Or have they a sense of power in the possession of this conceded +incomprehensibility that they would not lay down for any visible insignia +of that power? And if the novelists and essayists have raised a mist +about the sex, which it willingly masquerades in, is it not time that the +scientists should determine whether the mystery exists in nature or only +in the imagination? + + + + + + +THE CLOTHES OF FICTION + +The Drawer has never undervalued clothes. Whatever other heresies it may +have had, however it may have insisted that the more a woman learns, the +more she knows of books, the higher her education is carried in all the +knowledges, the more interesting she will be, not only for an hour, but +as a companion for life, it has never said that she is less attractive +when dressed with taste and according to the season. Love itself could +scarcely be expected to survive a winter hat worn after Easter. And the +philosophy of this is not on the surface, nor applicable to women only. +In this the highest of created things are under a law having a much wider +application. Take as an item novels, the works of fiction, which have +become an absolute necessity in the modern world, as necessary to divert +the mind loaded with care and under actual strain as to fill the vacancy +in otherwise idle brains. They have commonly a summer and a winter +apparel. The publishers understand this. As certainly as the birds +appear, comes the crop of summer novels, fluttering down upon the stalls, +in procession through the railway trains, littering the drawing-room +tables, in light paper, covers, ornamental, attractive in colors and +fanciful designs, as welcome and grateful as the girls in muslin. When +the thermometer is in the eighties, anything heavy and formidable is +distasteful. The housekeeper knows we want few solid dishes, but salads +and cooling drinks. The publisher knows that we want our literature (or +what passes for that) in light array. In the winter we prefer the boards +and the rich heavy binding, however light the tale may be; but in the +summer, though the fiction be as grave and tragic as wandering love and +bankruptcy, we would have it come to us lightly clad--out of stays, as it +were. + +It would hardly be worth while to refer to this taste in the apparel of +our fiction did it not have deep and esoteric suggestions, and could not +the novelists themselves get a hint from it. Is it realized how much +depends upon the clothes that are worn by the characters in the novels-- +clothes put on not only to exhibit the inner life of the characters, but +to please the readers who are to associate with them? It is true that +there are novels that almost do away with the necessity of fashion +magazines and fashion plates in the family, so faithful are they in the +latest millinery details, and so fully do they satisfy the longing of all +of us to know what is chic for the moment. It is pretty well understood, +also, that women, and even men, are made to exhibit the deepest passions +and the tenderest emotions in the crises of their lives by the clothes +they put on. How the woman in such a crisis hesitates before her +wardrobe, and at last chooses just what will express her innermost +feeling! Does she dress for her lover as she dresses to receive her +lawyer who has come to inform her that she is living beyond her income? +Would not the lover be spared time and pain if he knew, as the novelist +knows, whether the young lady is dressing for a rejection or an +acceptance? Why does the lady intending suicide always throw on a +waterproof when she steals out of the house to drown herself? The +novelist knows the deep significance of every article of toilet, and +nature teaches him to array his characters for the summer novel in the +airy draperies suitable to the season. It is only good art that the +cover of the novel and the covers of the characters shall be in harmony. +He knows, also, that the characters in the winter novel must be +adequately protected. We speak, of course, of the season stories. +Novels that are to run through a year, or maybe many years, and are to +set forth the passions and trials of changing age and varying +circumstance, require different treatment and wider millinery knowledge. +They are naturally more expensive. The wardrobe required in an all-round +novel would bankrupt most of us. + +But to confine ourselves to the season novel, it is strange that some one +has not invented the patent adjustable story that with a slight change +would do for summer or winter, following the broad hint of the +publishers, who hasten in May to throw whatever fiction they have on hand +into summer clothes. The winter novel, by this invention, could be +easily fitted for summer wear. All the novelist need do would be to +change the clothes of his characters. And in the autumn, if the novel +proved popular, he could change again, with the advantage of being in the +latest fashion. It would only be necessary to alter a few sentences in a +few of the stereotype pages. Of course this would make necessary other +slight alterations, for no kind-hearted writer would be cruel to his own +creations, and expose them to the vicissitudes of the seasons. He could +insert "rain" for "snow," and "green leaves" for "skeleton branches," +make a few verbal changes of that sort, and regulate the thermometer. It +would cost very little to adjust the novel in this way to any season. It +is worth thinking of. + +And this leads to a remark upon the shocking indifference of some +novelists to the ordinary comfort of their characters. In practical life +we cannot, but in his realm the novelist can, control the weather. He +can make it generally pleasant. We do not object to a terrific thunder- +shower now and then, as the sign of despair and a lost soul, but +perpetual drizzle and grayness and inclemency are tedious to the reader, +who has enough bad weather in his private experience. The English are +greater sinners in this respect than we are. They seem to take a brutal +delight in making it as unpleasant as possible for their fictitious +people. There is R--b--rt 'lsm--r', for example. External trouble is +piled on to the internal. The characters are in a perpetual soak. There +is not a dry rag on any of them, from the beginning of the book to the +end. They are sent out in all weathers, and are drenched every day. +Often their wet clothes are frozen on them; they are exposed to cutting +winds and sleet in their faces, bedrabbled in damp grass, stood against +slippery fences, with hail and frost lowering their vitality, and +expected under these circumstances to make love and be good Christians. +Drenched and wind-blown for years, that is what they are. It may be that +this treatment has excited the sympathy of the world, but is it +legitimate? Has a novelist the right to subject his creations to +tortures that he would not dare to inflict upon his friends? It is no +excuse to say that this is normal English weather; it is not the office +of fiction to intensify and rub in the unavoidable evils of life. The +modern spirit of consideration for fictitious characters that prevails +with regard to dress ought to extend in a reasonable degree to their +weather. This is not a strained corollary to the demand for an +appropriately costumed novel. + + + + + + +THE BROAD A + +It cannot for a moment be supposed that the Drawer would discourage self- +culture and refinement of manner and of speech. But it would not +hesitate to give a note of warning if it believed that the present +devotion to literature and the pursuits of the mind were likely, by the +highest authorities, to be considered bad form. In an intellectually +inclined city (not in the northeast) a club of ladies has been formed for +the cultivation of the broad 'a' in speech. Sporadic efforts have +hitherto been made for the proper treatment of this letter of the +alphabet with individual success, especially with those who have been in +England, or have known English men and women of the broad-gauge variety. +Discerning travelers have made the American pronunciation of the letter a +a reproach to the republic, that is to say, a means of distinguishing a +native of this country. The true American aspires to be cosmopolitan, +and does not want to be "spotted"--if that word may be used--in society +by any peculiarity of speech, that is, by any American peculiarity. Why, +at the bottom of the matter, a narrow 'a' should be a disgrace it is not +easy to see, but it needs no reason if fashion or authority condemns it. +This country is so spread out, without any social or literary centre +universally recognized as such, and the narrow 'a' has become so +prevalent, that even fashion finds it difficult to reform it. The best +people, who are determined to broaden all their 'a''s, will forget in +moments of excitement, and fall back into old habits. It requires +constant vigilance to keep the letter 'a' flattened out. It is in vain +that scholars have pointed out that in the use of this letter lies the +main difference between the English and the American speech; either +Americans generally do not care if this is the fact, or fashion can only +work a reform in a limited number of people. It seems, therefore, +necessary that there should be an organized effort to deal with this +pronunciation, and clubs will no doubt be formed all over the country, in +imitation of the one mentioned, until the broad a will become as common +as flies in summer. When this result is attained it will be time to +attack the sound of 'u' with clubs, and make universal the French sound. +In time the American pronunciation will become as superior to all others +as are the American sewing-machines and reapers. In the Broad A Club +every member who misbehaves--that is, mispronounces--is fined a nickel +for each offense. Of course in the beginning there is a good deal of +revenue from this source, but the revenue diminishes as the club +improves, so that we have the anomaly of its failure to be self- +supporting in proportion to its excellence. Just now if these clubs +could suddenly become universal, and the penalty be enforced, we could +have the means of paying off the national debt in a year. + +We do not wish to attach too much importance to this movement, but rather +to suggest to a continent yearning for culture in letters and in speech +whether it may not be carried too far. The reader will remember that +there came a time in Athens when culture could mock at itself, and the +rest of the country may be warned in time of a possible departure from +good form in devotion to language and literature by the present attitude +of modern Athens. Probably there is no esoteric depth in literature or +religion, no refinement in intellectual luxury, that this favored city +has not sounded. It is certainly significant, therefore, when the +priestesses and devotees of mental superiority there turn upon it and +rend it, when they are heartily tired of the whole literary business. +There is always this danger when anything is passionately pursued as a +fashion, that it will one day cease to be the fashion. Plato and Buddha +and even Emerson become in time like a last season's fashion plate. Even +a "friend of the spirit" will have to go. Culture is certain to mock +itself in time. + +The clubs for the improvement of the mind--the female mind--and of +speech, which no doubt had their origin in modern Athens, should know, +then, that it is the highest mark of female culture now in that beautiful +town to despise culture, to affect the gayest and most joyous ignorance-- +ignorance of books, of all forms of so-called intellectual development, +and all literary men, women, and productions whatsoever! This genuine +movement of freedom may be a real emancipation. If it should reach the +metropolis, what a relief it might bring to thousands who are, under a +high sense of duty, struggling to advance the intellectual life. There +is this to be said, however, that it is only the very brightest people, +those who have no need of culture, who have in fact passed beyond all +culture, who can take this position in regard to it, and actually revel +in the delights of ignorance. One must pass into a calm place when he is +beyond the desire to know anything or to do anything. + +It is a chilling thought, unless one can rise to the highest philosophy +of life, that even the broad 'a', when it is attained, may not be a +permanence. Let it be common, and what distinction will there be in it? +When devotion to study, to the reading of books, to conversation on +improving topics, becomes a universal fashion, is it not evident that one +can only keep a leadership in fashion by throwing the whole thing +overboard, and going forward into the natural gayety of life, which cares +for none of these things? We suppose the Constitution of the United +States will stand if the day comes--nay, now is--when the women of +Chicago call the women of Boston frivolous, and the women of Boston know +their immense superiority and advancement in being so, but it would be a +blank surprise to the country generally to know that it was on the wrong +track. The fact is that culture in this country is full of surprises, +and so doubles and feints and comes back upon itself that the most +diligent recorder can scarcely note its changes. The Drawer can only +warn; it cannot advise. + + + + + + +CHEWING GUM + +No language that is unfortunately understood by the greater portion of +the people who speak English, thousands are saying on the first of +January--in 1890, a far-off date that it is wonderful any one has lived +to see--"Let us have a new deal!" It is a natural exclamation, and does +not necessarily mean any change of purpose. It always seems to a man +that if he could shuffle the cards he could increase his advantages in +the game of life, and, to continue the figure which needs so little +explanation, it usually appears to him that he could play anybody else's +hand better than his own. In all the good resolutions of the new year, +then, it happens that perhaps the most sincere is the determination to +get a better hand. Many mistake this for repentance and an intention to +reform, when generally it is only the desire for a new shuffle of the +cards. Let us have a fresh pack and a new deal, and start fair. It +seems idle, therefore, for the moralist to indulge in a homily about +annual good intentions, and habits that ought to be dropped or acquired, +on the first of January. He can do little more than comment on the +passing show. + +It will be admitted that if the world at this date is not socially +reformed it is not the fault of the Drawer, and for the reason that it +has been not so much a critic as an explainer and encourager. It is in +the latter character that it undertakes to defend and justify a national +industry that has become very important within the past ten years. A +great deal of capital is invested in it, and millions of people are +actively employed in it. The varieties of chewing gum that are +manufactured would be a matter of surprise to those who have paid no +attention to the subject, and who may suppose that the millions of mouths +they see engaged in its mastication have a common and vulgar taste. From +the fact that it can be obtained at the apothecary's, an impression has +got abroad that it is medicinal. This is not true. The medical +profession do not use it, and what distinguishes it from drugs-that they +also do not use--is the fact that they do not prescribe it. It is +neither a narcotic nor a stimulant. It cannot strictly be said to soothe +or to excite. The habit of using it differs totally from that of the +chewing of tobacco or the dipping of snuff. It might, by a purely +mechanical operation, keep a person awake, but no one could go to sleep +chewing gum. It is in itself neither tonic nor sedative. It is to be +noticed also that the gum habit differs from the tobacco habit in that +the aromatic and elastic substance is masticated, while the tobacco never +is, and that the mastication leads to nothing except more mastication. +The task is one that can never be finished. The amount of energy +expended in this process if capitalized or conserved would produce great +results. Of course the individual does little, but if the power evolved +by the practice in a district school could be utilized, it would suffice +to run the kindergarten department. The writer has seen a railway car-- +say in the West--filled with young women, nearly every one of whose jaws +and pretty mouths was engaged in this pleasing occupation; and so much +power was generated that it would, if applied, have kept the car in +motion if the steam had been shut off--at least it would have furnished +the motive for illuminating the car by electricity. + +This national industry is the subject of constant detraction, satire, and +ridicule by the newspaper press. This is because it is not understood, +and it may be because it is mainly a female accomplishment: the few men +who chew gum may be supposed to do so by reason of gallantry. There +might be no more sympathy with it in the press if the real reason for the +practice were understood, but it would be treated more respectfully. +Some have said that the practice arises from nervousness--the idle desire +to be busy without doing anything--and because it fills up the pauses of +vacuity in conversation. But this would not fully account for the +practice of it in solitude. Some have regarded it as in obedience to the +feminine instinct for the cultivation of patience and self-denial-- +patience in a fruitless activity, and self-denial in the eternal act of +mastication without swallowing. It is no more related to these virtues +than it is to the habit of the reflective cow in chewing her cud. The +cow would never chew gum. The explanation is a more philosophical one, +and relates to a great modern social movement. It is to strengthen and +develop and make more masculine the lower jaw. The critic who says that +this is needless, that the inclination in women to talk would adequately +develop this, misses the point altogether. Even if it could be proved +that women are greater chatterers than men, the critic would gain +nothing. Women have talked freely since creation, but it remains true +that a heavy, strong lower jaw is a distinctively masculine +characteristic. It is remarked that if a woman has a strong lower jaw +she is like a man. Conversation does not create this difference, nor +remove it; for the development of a lower jaw in women constant +mechanical exercise of the muscles is needed. Now, a spirit of +emancipation, of emulation, is abroad, as it ought to be, for the +regeneration of the world. It is sometimes called the coming to the +front of woman in every act and occupation that used to belong almost +exclusively to man. It is not necessary to say a word to justify this. +But it is often accompanied by a misconception, namely, that it is +necessary for woman to be like man, not only in habits, but in certain +physical characteristics. No woman desires a beard, because a beard +means care and trouble, and would detract from feminine beauty, but to +have a strong and, in appearance, a resolute under-jaw may be considered +a desirable note of masculinity, and of masculine power and privilege, in +the good time coming. Hence the cultivation of it by the chewing of gum +is a recognizable and reasonable instinct, and the practice can be +defended as neither a whim nor a vain waste of energy and nervous force. +In a generation or two it may be laid aside as no longer necessary, or +men may be compelled to resort to it to preserve their supremacy. + + + + + + +WOMEN IN CONGRESS + +It does not seem to be decided yet whether women are to take the Senate +or the House at Washington in the new development of what is called the +dual government. There are disadvantages in both. The members of the +Senate are so few that the women of the country would not be adequately +represented in it; and the Chamber in which the House meets is too large +for women to make speeches in with any pleasure to themselves or their +hearers. This last objection is, however, frivolous, for the speeches +will be printed in the Record; and it is as easy to count women on a vote +as men. There is nothing in the objection, either, that the Chamber +would need to be remodeled, and the smoking-rooms be turned into Day +Nurseries. The coming woman will not smoke, to be sure; neither will +she, in coming forward to take charge of the government, plead the Baby +Act. Only those women, we are told, would be elected to Congress whose +age and position enable them to devote themselves exclusively to +politics. The question, therefore, of taking to themselves the Senate or +the House will be decided by the women themselves upon other grounds--as +to whether they wish to take the initiative in legislation and hold the +power of the purse, or whether they prefer to act as a check, to exercise +the high treaty-making power, and to have a voice in selecting the women +who shall be sent to represent us abroad. Other things being equal, +women will naturally select the Upper House, and especially as that will +give them an opportunity to reject any but the most competent women for +the Supreme Bench. The irreverent scoffers at our Supreme Court have in +the past complained (though none do now) that there were "old women" in +gowns on the bench. There would be no complaint of the kind in the +future. The judges would be as pretty as those who assisted in the +judgment of Paris, with changed functions; there would be no monotony in +the dress, and the Supreme Bench would be one of the most attractive +spectacles in Washington. When the judges as well as the advocates are +Portias, the law will be an agreeable occupation. + +This is, however, mere speculation. We do not understand that it is the +immediate purpose of women to take the whole government, though some +extravagant expectations are raised by the admission of new States that +are ruled by women. They may wish to divide--and conquer. One plan is, +instead of dual Chambers of opposite sexes, to mingle in both the Senate +and the House. And this is more likely to be the plan adopted, because +the revolution is not to be violent, and, indeed, cannot take place +without some readjustment of the home life. We have at present what +Charles Reade would have called only a right-handed civilization. To +speak metaphorically, men cannot use their left hands, or, to drop the +metaphor, before the government can be fully reorganized men must learn +to do women's work. It may be a fair inference from this movement that +women intend to abandon the sacred principle of Home Rule. This +abandonment is foreshadowed in a recent election in a small Western city, +where the female voters made a clean sweep, elected an entire city +council of women and most of the other officers, including the police +judge and the mayor. The latter lady, by one of those intrusions of +nature which reform is not yet able to control, became a mother and a +mayor the same week. Her husband had been city clerk, and held over; but +fortunately an arrangement was made with him to stay at home and take +care of the baby, unofficially, while the mayor attends to her public +duties. Thus the city clerk will gradually be initiated into the duties +of home rule, and when the mayor is elected to Congress he will be ready +to accompany her to Washington and keep house. The imagination likes to +dwell upon this, for the new order is capable of infinite extension. +When the State takes care of all the children in government nurseries, +and the mayor has taken her place in the United States Senate, her +husband, if he has become sufficiently reformed and feminized, may go to +the House, and the reunited family of two, clubbing their salaries, can +live in great comfort. + +All this can be easily arranged, whether we are to have a dual government +of sexes or a mixed House and Senate. The real difficulty is about a +single Executive. Neither sex will be willing to yield to the other this +vast power. We might elect a man and wife President and Vice-President, +but the Vice-President, of whatever sex, could not well preside over the +Senate and in the White House at the same time. It is true that the +Constitution provides that the President and Vice-President shall not be +of the same State, but residence can be acquired to get over this as +easily as to obtain a divorce; and a Constitution that insists upon +speaking of the President as "he" is too antiquated to be respected. +When the President is a woman, it can matter little whether her husband +or some other woman presides in the Senate. Even the reformers will +hardly insist upon two Presidents in order to carry out the equality +idea, so that we are probably anticipating difficulties that will not +occur in practice. + +The Drawer has only one more practical suggestion. As the right of +voting carries with it the right to hold any elective office, a great +change must take place in Washington life. Now for some years the +divergence of society and politics has been increasing at the capital. +With women in both Houses, and on the Supreme Bench, and at the heads of +the departments, social and political life will become one and the same +thing; receptions and afternoon teas will be held in the Senate and +House, and political caucuses in all the drawing-rooms. And then life +will begin to be interesting. + + + + + + +SHALL WOMEN PROPOSE? + +The shyness of man--meaning the "other sex" referred to in the woman's +journals--has often been noticed in novels, and sometimes in real life. +This shyness is, however, so exceptional as to be suspicious. The shy +young man may provoke curiosity, but he does not always inspire respect. +Roughly estimated, shyness is not considered a manly quality, while it is +one of the most pleasing and attractive of the feminine traits, and there +is something pathetic in the expression "He is as shy as a girl;" it may +appeal for sympathy and the exercise of the protective instinct in women. +Unfortunately it is a little discredited, so many of the old plays +turning upon its assumption by young blades who are no better than they +should be. + +What would be the effect upon the masculine character and comfort if this +shyness should become general, as it may in a contingency that is already +on the horizon? We refer, of course, to the suggestion, coming from +various quarters, that women should propose. The reasonableness of this +suggestion may not lie on the surface; it may not be deduced from the +uniform practice, beginning with the primitive men and women; it may not +be inferred from the open nature of the two sexes (for the sake of +argument two sexes must still be insisted on); but it is found in the +advanced civilization with which we are struggling. Why should not women +propose? Why should they be at a disadvantage in an affair which +concerns the happiness of the whole life? They have as much right to a +choice as men, and to an opportunity to exercise it. Why should they +occupy a negative position, and be restricted, in making the most +important part of their career, wholly to the choice implied in refusals? +In fact, marriage really concerns them more than it does men; they have +to bear the chief of its burdens. A wide and free choice for them would, +then, seem to be only fair. Undeniably a great many men are inattentive, +unobserving, immersed in some absorbing pursuit, undecided, and at times +bashful, and liable to fall into union with women who happen to be near +them, rather than with those who are conscious that they would make them +the better wives. Men, unaided by the finer feminine instincts of +choice, are so apt to be deceived. In fact, man's inability to "match" +anything is notorious. If he cannot be trusted in the matter of worsted- +work, why should he have such distinctive liberty in the most important +matter of his life? Besides, there are many men--and some of the best +who get into a habit of not marrying at all, simply because the right +woman has not presented herself at the right time. Perhaps, if women had +the open privilege of selection, many a good fellow would be rescued from +miserable isolation, and perhaps also many a noble woman whom chance, or +a stationary position, or the inertia of the other sex, has left to bloom +alone, and waste her sweetness on relations, would be the centre of a +charming home, furnishing the finest spectacle seen in this uphill world +--a woman exercising gracious hospitality, and radiating to a circle far +beyond her home the influence of her civilizing personality. For, +notwithstanding all the centrifugal forces of this age, it is probable +that the home will continue to be the fulcrum on which women will move +the world. + +It may be objected that it would be unfair to add this opportunity to the +already, overpowering attractions of woman, and that man would be put at +an immense disadvantage, since he might have too much gallantry, or not +enough presence of mind, to refuse a proposal squarely and fascinatingly +made, although his judgment scarcely consented, and his ability to +support a wife were more than doubtful. Women would need to exercise a +great deal of prudence and discretion, or there would be something like a +panic, and a cry along the male line of 'Sauve qui peut'; for it is +matter of record that the bravest men will sometimes run away from danger +on a sudden impulse. + +This prospective social revolution suggests many inquiries. What would +be the effect upon the female character and disposition of a possible, +though not probable, refusal, or of several refusals? Would she become +embittered and desperate, and act as foolishly as men often do? Would +her own sex be considerate, and give her a fair field if they saw she was +paying attention to a young man, or an old one? And what effect would +this change in relations have upon men? Would it not render that +sporadic shyness of which we have spoken epidemic? Would it frighten +men, rendering their position less stable in their own eyes, or would it +feminize them--that is, make them retiring, blushing, self-conscious +beings? And would this change be of any injury to them in their +necessary fight for existence in this pushing world? What would be the +effect upon courtship if both the men and the women approached each other +as wooers? In ordinary transactions one is a buyer and one is a seller-- +to put it coarsely. If seller met seller and buyer met buyer, trade +would languish. But this figure cannot be continued, for there is no +romance in a bargain of any sort; and what we should most fear in a +scientific age is the loss of romance. + +This is, however, mere speculation. The serious aspect of the proposed +change is the effect it will have upon the character of men, who are not +enough considered in any of these discussions. The revolution will be a +radical one in one respect. We may admit that in the future woman can +take care of herself, but how will it be with man, who has had little +disciplinary experience of adversity, simply because he has been +permitted to have his own way? Heretofore his life has had a stimulus. +When he proposes to a woman, he in fact says: "I am able to support you; +I am able to protect you from the rough usage of the world; I am strong +and ambitious, and eager to take upon myself the lovely bondage of this +responsibility. I offer you this love because I feel the courage and +responsibility of my position." That is the manly part of it. What +effect will it have upon his character to be waiting round, unselected +and undecided, until some woman comes to him, and fixes her fascinating +eyes upon him, and says, in effect: "I can support you; I can defend you. +Have no fear of the future; I will be at once your shield and your +backbone. I take the responsibility of my choice." There are a great +many men now, who have sneaked into their positions by a show of courage, +who are supported one way and another by women. It might be humiliating +to know just how many men live by the labors of their wives. And what +would be the effect upon the character of man if the choice, and the +responsibility of it, and the support implied by it in marriage, were +generally transferred to woman? + + + + + + +FROCKS AND THE STAGE + +The condescension to literature and to the stage is one of the notable +characteristics of this agreeable time. We have to admit that literature +is rather the fashion, without the violent presumption that the author +and the writer have the same social position that is conferred by money, +or by the mysterious virtue there is in pedigree. A person does not lose +caste by using the pen, or even by taking the not-needed pay for using +it. To publish a book or to have an article accepted by a magazine may +give a sort of social distinction, either as an exhibition of a certain +unexpected capacity or a social eccentricity. It is hardly too much to +say that it has become the fashion to write, as it used to be to dance +the minuet well, or to use the broadsword, or to stand a gentlemanly mill +with a renowned bruiser. Of course one ought not to do this +professionally exactly, ought not to prepare for doing it by study and +severe discipline, by training for it as for a trade, but simply to toss +it off easily, as one makes a call, or pays a compliment, or drives four- +in-hand. One does not need to have that interior impulse which drives a +poor devil of an author to express himself, that something to say which +torments the poet into extreme irritability unless he can be rid of it, +that noble hunger for fame which comes from a consciousness of the +possession of vital thought and emotion. + +The beauty of this condescension to literature of which we speak is that +it has that quality of spontaneity that does not presuppose either a +capacity or a call. There is no mystery about the craft. One resolves +to write a book, as he might to take a journey or to practice on the +piano, and the thing is done. Everybody can write, at least everybody +does write. It is a wonderful time for literature. The Queen of England +writes for it, the Queen of Roumania writes for it, the Shah of Persia +writes for it, Lady Brassey, the yachtswoman, wrote for it, Congressmen +write for it, peers write for it. The novel is the common recreation of +ladies of rank, and where is the young woman in this country who has not +tried her hand at a romance or made a cast at a popular magazine? The +effect of all this upon literature is expansive and joyous. Superstition +about any mystery in the art has nearly disappeared. It is a common +observation that if persons fail in everything else, if they are fit for +nothing else, they can at least write. It is such an easy occupation, +and the remuneration is in such disproportion to the expenditure! Isn't +it indeed the golden era of letters? If only the letters were gold! + +If there is any such thing remaining as a guild of authors, somewhere on +the back seats, witnessing this marvelous Kingdom Come of Literature, +there must also be a little bunch of actors, born for the stage, who see +with mixed feelings their arena taken possession of by fairer if not more +competent players. These players are not to be confounded with the play- +actors whom the Puritans denounced, nor with those trained to the +profession in the French capital. + +In the United States and in England we are born to enter upon any +avocation, thank Heaven! without training for it. We have not in this +country any such obstacle to universal success as the Theatre Francais, +but Providence has given us, for wise purposes no doubt, Private +Theatricals (not always so private as they should be), which domesticate +the drama, and supply the stage with some of the most beautiful and best +dressed performers the world has ever seen. Whatever they may say of it, +it is a gallant and a susceptible age, and all men bow to loveliness, and +all women recognize a talent for clothes. We do not say that there is +not such a thing as dramatic art, and that there are not persons who need +as severe training before they attempt to personate nature in art as the +painter must undergo who attempts to transfer its features to his canvas. +But the taste of the age must be taken into account. The public does not +demand that an actor shall come in at a private door and climb a steep +staircase to get to the stage. When a Star from the Private Theatricals +descends upon the boards, with the arms of Venus and the throat of Juno, +and a wardrobe got out of Paris and through our stingy Custom-house in +forty trunks, the plodding actor, who has depended upon art, finds out, +what he has been all the time telling us, that all the world's a stage, +and men and women merely players. Art is good in its way; but what about +a perfect figure? and is not dressing an art? Can training give one an +elegant form, and study command the services of a man milliner? The +stage is broadened out and re-enforced by a new element. What went ye +out for to see? + +A person clad in fine raiment, to be sure. Some of the critics may growl +a little, and hint at the invasion of art by fashionable life, but the +editor, whose motto is that the newspaper is made for man, not man for +the newspaper, understands what is required in this inspiring histrionic +movement, and when a lovely woman condescends to step from the drawing- +room to the stage he confines his descriptions to her person, and does +not bother about her capacity; and instead of wearying us with a list of +her plays and performances, he gives us a column about her dresses in +beautiful language that shows us how closely allied poetry is to +tailoring. Can the lady act? Why, simpleminded, she has nearly a +hundred frocks, each one a dream, a conception of genius, a vaporous +idea, one might say, which will reveal more beauty than it hides, and +teach the spectator that art is simply nature adorned. Rachel in all her +glory was not adorned like one of these. We have changed all that. The +actress used to have a rehearsal. She now has an "opening." +Does it require nowadays, then, no special talent or gift to go on the +stage? No more, we can assure our readers, than it does to write a book. +But homely people and poor people can write books. As yet they cannot +act. + + + + + + +ALTRUISM + +Christmas is supposed to be an altruistic festival. Then, if ever, we +allow ourselves to go out to others in sympathy expressed by gifts and +good wishes. Then self-forgetfulness in the happiness of others becomes +a temporary fashion. And we find--do we not?--the indulgence of the +feeling so remunerative that we wish there were other days set apart to +it. We can even understand those people who get a private satisfaction +in being good on other days besides Sunday. There is a common notion +that this Christmas altruistic sentiment is particularly shown towards +the unfortunate and the dependent by those more prosperous, and in what +is called a better social position. We are exhorted on this day to +remember the poor. We need to be reminded rather to remember the rich, +the lonely, not-easy-to-be-satisfied rich, whom we do not always have +with us. The Drawer never sees a very rich person that it does not long +to give him something, some token, the value of which is not estimated by +its cost, that should be a consoling evidence to him that he has not lost +sympathetic touch with ordinary humanity. There is a great deal of +sympathy afloat in the world, but it is especially shown downward in the +social scale. We treat our servants--supposing that we are society-- +better than we treat each other. If we did not, they would leave us. We +are kinder to the unfortunate or the dependent than to each other, and we +have more charity for them. + +The Drawer is not indulging in any indiscriminate railing at society. +There is society and society. There is that undefined something, more +like a machine than an aggregate of human sensibilities, which is set +going in a "season," or at a watering-place, or permanently selects +itself for certain social manifestations. It is this that needs a +missionary to infuse into it sympathy and charity. If it were indeed a +machine and not made up of sensitive personalities, it would not be to +its members so selfish and cruel. It would be less an ambitious scramble +for place and favor, less remorseless towards the unsuccessful, not so +harsh and hard and supercilious. In short, it would be much more +agreeable if it extended to its own members something of the +consideration and sympathy that it gives to those it regards as its +inferiors. It seems to think that good-breeding and good form are +separable from kindliness and sympathy and helpfulness. Tender-hearted +and charitable enough all the individuals of this "society" are to +persons below them in fortune or position, let us allow, but how are they +to each other? Nothing can be ruder or less considerate of the feelings +of others than much of that which is called good society, and this is why +the Drawer desires to turn the altruistic sentiment of the world upon it +in this season, set apart by common consent for usefulness. Unfortunate +are the fortunate if they are lifted into a sphere which is sapless of +delicacy of feeling for its own. Is this an intangible matter? Take +hospitality, for instance. Does it consist in astonishing the invited, +in overwhelming him with a sense of your own wealth, or felicity, or +family, or cleverness even; in trying to absorb him in your concerns, +your successes, your possessions, in simply what interests you? However +delightful all these may be, it is an offense to his individuality to +insist that he shall admire at the point of the social bayonet. How do +you treat the stranger? Do you adapt yourself and your surroundings to +him, or insist that he shall adapt himself to you? How often does the +stranger, the guest, sit in helpless agony in your circle (all of whom +know each other) at table or in the drawing-room, isolated and separate, +because all the talk is local and personal, about your little world, and +the affairs of your clique, and your petty interests, in which he or she +cannot possibly join? Ah! the Sioux Indian would not be so cruel as that +to a guest. There is no more refined torture to a sensitive person than +that. Is it only thoughtlessness? It is more than that. It is a want +of sympathy of the heart, or it is a lack of intelligence and broad- +minded interest in affairs of the world and in other people. It is this +trait--absorption in self--pervading society more or less, that makes it +so unsatisfactory to most people in it. Just a want of human interest; +people do not come in contact. + +Avid pursuit of wealth, or what is called pleasure, perhaps makes people +hard to each other, and infuses into the higher social life, which should +be the most unselfish and enjoyable life, a certain vulgarity, similar to +that noticed in well-bred tourists scrambling for the seats on top of a +mountain coach. A person of refinement and sensibility and intelligence, +cast into the company of the select, the country-house, the radiant, +twelve-button society, has been struck with infinite pity for it, and +asks the Drawer to do something about it. The Drawer cannot do anything +about it. It can only ask the prayers of all good people on Christmas +Day for the rich. As we said, we do not have them with us always--they +are here today, they are gone to Canada tomorrow. But this is, of +course, current facetiousness. The rich are as good as anybody else, +according to their lights, and if what is called society were as good and +as kind to itself as it is to the poor, it would be altogether enviable. +We are not of those who say that in this case, charity would cover a +multitude of sins, but a diffusion in society of the Christmas sentiment +of goodwill and kindliness to itself would tend to make universal the joy +on the return of this season. + + + + + + +SOCIAL CLEARING-HOUSE + +The Drawer would like to emphasize the noble, self-sacrificing spirit of +American women. There are none like them in the world. They take up all +the burdens of artificial foreign usage, where social caste prevails, and +bear them with a heroism worthy of a worse cause. They indeed represent +these usages to be a burden almost intolerable, and yet they submit to +them with a grace and endurance all their own. Probably there is no +harder-worked person than a lady in the season, let us say in Washington, +where the etiquette of visiting is carried to a perfection that it does +not reach even in New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, and where woman's +effort to keep the social fabric together requires more expenditure of +intellect and of physical force than was needed to protect the capital in +its peril a quarter of a century ago. When this cruel war is over, the +monument to the women who perished in it will need to be higher than that +to the Father of his Country. Merely in the item of keeping an account +of the visits paid and due, a woman needs a bookkeeper. Only to know +the etiquette of how and when and to whom and in what order the visits +are to be paid is to be well educated in a matter that assumes the first +importance in her life. This is, however, only a detail of bookkeeping +and of memory; to pay and receive, or evade, these visits of ceremony is +a work which men can admire without the power to imitate; even on the +supposition that a woman has nothing else to do, it calls for our humble +gratitude and a recognition of the largeness of nature that can put aside +any duties to husband or children in devotion to the public welfare. The +futile round of society life while it lasts admits of no rival. It seems +as important as the affairs of the government. The Drawer is far from +saying that it is not. Perhaps no one can tell what confusion would fall +into all the political relations if the social relations of the capital +were not kept oiled by the system of exchange of fictitious courtesies +among the women; and it may be true that society at large--men are so +apt, when left alone, to relapse--would fall into barbarism if our +pasteboard conventions were neglected. All honor to the self-sacrifice +of woman! + +What a beautiful civilization ours is, supposed to be growing in +intelligence and simplicity, and yet voluntarily taking upon itself this +artificial burden in an already overtaxed life! The angels in heaven +must admire and wonder. The cynic wants to know what is gained for any +rational being when a city-full of women undertake to make and receive +formal visits with persons whom for the most part they do not wish to +see. What is gained, he asks, by leaving cards with all these people and +receiving their cards? When a woman makes her tedious rounds, why is she +always relieved to find people not in? When she can count upon her ten +fingers the people she wants to see, why should she pretend to want to +see the others? Is any one deceived by it? Does anybody regard it as +anything but a sham and a burden? Much the cynic knows about it! Is it +not necessary to keep up what is called society? Is it not necessary to +have an authentic list of pasteboard acquaintances to invite to the +receptions? And what would become of us without Receptions? Everybody +likes to give them. Everybody flocks to them with much alacrity. When +society calls the roll, we all know the penalty of being left out. Is +there any intellectual or physical pleasure equal to that of jamming so +many people into a house that they can hardly move, and treating them to +a Babel of noises in which no one can make herself heard without +screaming? There is nothing like a reception in any uncivilized country. +It is so exhilarating! When a dozen or a hundred people are gathered +together in a room, they all begin to raise their voices and to shout +like pool-sellers in the noble rivalry of "warious langwidges," rasping +their throats into bronchitis in the bidding of the conversational ring. +If they spoke low, or even in the ordinary tone, conversation would be +possible. But then it would not be a reception, as we understand it. +We cannot neglect anywhere any of the pleasures of our social life. +We train for it in lower assemblies. Half a dozen women in a "call" are +obliged to shout, just for practice, so that they can be heard by +everybody in the neighborhood except themselves. Do not men do the same? +If they do, it only shows that men also are capable of the higher +civilization. + +But does society--that is, the intercourse of congenial people--depend +upon the elaborate system of exchanging calls with hundreds of people who +are not congenial? Such thoughts will sometimes come by a winter +fireside of rational-talking friends, or at a dinner-party not too large +for talk without a telephone, or in the summer-time by the sea, or in the +cottage in the hills, when the fever of social life has got down to a +normal temperature. We fancy that sometimes people will give way to a +real enjoyment of life and that human intercourse will throw off this +artificial and wearisome parade, and that if women look back with pride, +as they may, upon their personal achievements and labors, they will also +regard them with astonishment. Women, we read every day, long for the +rights and privileges of men, and the education and serious purpose in +life of men. And yet, such is the sweet self-sacrifice of their nature, +they voluntarily take on burdens which men have never assumed, and which +they would speedily cast off if they had. What should we say of men if +they consumed half their time in paying formal calls upon each other +merely for the sake of paying calls, and were low-spirited if they did +not receive as many cards as they had dealt out to society? Have they +not the time? Have women more time? and if they have, why should they +spend it in this Sisyphus task? Would the social machine go to pieces-- +the inquiry is made in good faith, and solely for information--if they +made rational business for themselves to be attended to, or even if they +gave the time now given to calls they hate to reading and study, and to +making their household civilizing centres of intercourse and enjoyment, +and paid visits from some other motive than "clearing off their list"? If +all the artificial round of calls and cards should tumble down, what +valuable thing would be lost out of anybody's life? + +The question is too vast for the Drawer, but as an experiment in +sociology it would like to see the system in abeyance for one season. +If at the end of it there had not been just as much social enjoyment as +before, and there were not fewer women than usual down with nervous +prostration, it would agree to start at its own expense a new experiment, +to wit, a kind of Social Clearing-House, in which all cards should be +delivered and exchanged, and all social debts of this kind be balanced by +experienced bookkeepers, so that the reputation of everybody for +propriety and conventionality should be just as good as it is now. + + + + + + +DINNER-TABLE TALK + +Many people suppose that it is the easiest thing in the world to dine if +you can get plenty to eat. This error is the foundation of much social +misery. The world that never dines, and fancies it has a grievance +justifying anarchy on that account, does not know how much misery it +escapes. A great deal has been written about the art of dining. From +time to time geniuses have appeared who knew how to compose a dinner; +indeed, the art of doing it can be learned, as well as the art of cooking +and serving it. It is often possible, also, under extraordinarily +favorable conditions, to select a company congenial and varied and +harmonious enough to dine together successfully. The tact for getting +the right people together is perhaps rarer than the art of composing the +dinner. But it exists. And an elegant table with a handsome and +brilliant company about it is a common conjunction in this country. +Instructions are not wanting as to the shape of the table and the size of +the party; it is universally admitted that the number must be small. +The big dinner-parties which are commonly made to pay off social debts +are generally of the sort that one would rather contribute to in money +than in personal attendance. When the dinner is treated as a means of +discharging obligations, it loses all character, and becomes one of the +social inflictions. While there is nothing in social intercourse so +agreeable and inspiring as a dinner of the right sort, society has +invented no infliction equal to a large dinner that does not "go," as the +phrase is. Why it does not go when the viands are good and the company +is bright is one of the acknowledged mysteries. + +There need be no mystery about it. The social instinct and the social +habit are wanting to a great many people of uncommon intelligence and +cultivation--that sort of flexibility or adaptability that makes +agreeable society. But this even does not account for the failure of so +many promising dinners. The secret of this failure always is that the +conversation is not general. The sole object of the dinner is talk--at +least in the United States, where "good eating" is pretty common, however +it may be in England, whence come rumors occasionally of accomplished men +who decline to be interrupted by the frivolity of talk upon the +appearance of favorite dishes. And private talk at a table is not the +sort that saves a dinner; however good it is, it always kills it. The +chance of arrangement is that the people who would like to talk together +are not neighbors; and if they are, they exhaust each other to weariness +in an hour, at least of topics which can be talked about with the risk of +being overheard. A duet to be agreeable must be to a certain extent +confidential, and the dinner-table duet admits of little except +generalities, and generalities between two have their limits of +entertainment. Then there is the awful possibility that the neighbors at +table may have nothing to say to each other; and in the best-selected +company one may sit beside a stupid man--that is, stupid for the purpose +of a 'tete-a-tete'. But this is not the worst of it. No one can talk +well without an audience; no one is stimulated to say bright things +except by the attention and questioning and interest of other minds. +There is little inspiration in side talk to one or two. Nobody ought to +go to a dinner who is not a good listener, and, if possible, an +intelligent one. To listen with a show of intelligence is a great +accomplishment. It is not absolutely essential that there should be a +great talker or a number of good talkers at a dinner if all are good +listeners, and able to "chip in" a little to the general talk that +springs up. For the success of the dinner does not necessarily depend +upon the talk being brilliant, but it does depend upon its being general, +upon keeping the ball rolling round the table; the old-fashioned game +becomes flat when the balls all disappear into private pockets. There +are dinners where the object seems to be to pocket all the balls as +speedily as possible. We have learned that that is not the best game; +the best game is when you not only depend on the carom, but in going to +the cushion before you carom; that is to say, including the whole table, +and making things lively. The hostess succeeds who is able to excite +this general play of all the forces at the table, even using the silent +but not non-elastic material as cushions, if one may continue the figure. +Is not this, O brothers and sisters, an evil under the sun, this dinner +as it is apt to be conducted? Think of the weary hours you have given to +a rite that should be the highest social pleasure! How often when a +topic is started that promises well, and might come to something in a +general exchange of wit and fancy, and some one begins to speak on it, +and speak very well, too, have you not had a lady at your side cut in and +give you her views on it--views that might be amusing if thrown out into +the discussion, but which are simply impertinent as an interruption! How +often when you have tried to get a "rise" out of somebody opposite have +you not had your neighbor cut in across you with some private depressing +observation to your next neighbor! Private talk at a dinner-table is +like private chat at a parlor musicale, only it is more fatal to the +general enjoyment. There is a notion that the art of conversation, the +ability to talk well, has gone out. That is a great mistake. +Opportunity is all that is needed. There must be the inspiration of the +clash of minds and the encouragement of good listening. In an evening +round the fire, when couples begin, to whisper or talk low to each other, +it is time to put out the lights. Inspiring interest is gone. The most +brilliant talker in the world is dumb. People whose idea of a dinner is +private talk between seat-neighbors should limit the company to two. +They have no right to spoil what can be the most agreeable social +institution that civilization has evolved. + + + + + + +NATURALIZATION + +Is it possible for a person to be entirely naturalized?--that is, to be +denationalized, to cast off the prejudice and traditions of one country +and take up those of another; to give up what may be called the +instinctive tendencies of one race and take up those of another. It is +easy enough to swear off allegiance to a sovereign or a government, and +to take on in intention new political obligations, but to separate one's +self from the sympathies into which he was born is quite another affair. +One is likely to remain in the inmost recesses of his heart an alien, and +as a final expression of his feeling to hoist the green flag, or the +dragon, or the cross of St. George. Probably no other sentiment is, so +strong in a man as that of attachment to his own soil and people, a sub- +sentiment always remaining, whatever new and unbreakable attachments he +may form. One can be very proud of his adopted country, and brag for it, +and fight for it; but lying deep in a man's nature is something, no +doubt, that no oath nor material interest can change, and that is never +naturalized. We see this experiment in America more than anywhere else, +because here meet more different races than anywhere else with the +serious intention of changing their nationality. And we have a notion +that there is something in our atmosphere, or opportunities, or our +government, that makes this change more natural and reasonable than it +has been anywhere else in history. It is always a surprise to us when a +born citizen of the United States changes his allegiance, but it seems a +thing of course that a person of any other country should, by an oath, +become a good American, and we expect that the act will work a sudden +change in him equal to that wrought in a man by what used to be called a +conviction of sin. We expect that he will not only come into our family, +but that he will at once assume all its traditions and dislikes, that +whatever may have been his institutions or his race quarrels, the moving +influence of his life hereafter will be the "Spirit of '76." + +What is this naturalization, however, but a sort of parable of human +life? Are we not always trying to adjust ourselves to new relations, to +get naturalized into a new family? Does one ever do it entirely? And +how much of the lonesomeness of life comes from the failure to do it! It +is a tremendous experiment, we all admit, to separate a person from his +race, from his country, from his climate, and the habits of his part of +the country, by marriage; it is only an experiment differing in degree to +introduce him by marriage into a new circle of kinsfolk. Is he ever +anything but a sort of tolerated, criticised, or admired alien? Does the +time ever come when the distinction ceases between his family and hers? +They say love is stronger than death. It may also be stronger than +family--while it lasts; but was there ever a woman yet whose most +ineradicable feeling was not the sentiment of family and blood, a sort of +base-line in life upon which trouble and disaster always throw her back? +Does she ever lose the instinct of it? We used to say in jest that a +patriotic man was always willing to sacrifice his wife's relations in +war; but his wife took a different view of it; and when it becomes a +question of office, is it not the wife's relations who get them? To be +sure, Ruth said, thy people shall be my people, and where thou goest I +will go, and all that, and this beautiful sentiment has touched all time, +and man has got the historic notion that he is the head of things. But +is it true that a woman is ever really naturalized? Is it in her nature +to be? Love will carry her a great way, and to far countries, and to +many endurances, and her capacity of self-sacrifice is greater than +man's; but would she ever be entirely happy torn from her kindred, +transplanted from the associations and interlacings of her family life? +Does anything really take the place of that entire ease and confidence +that one has in kin, or the inborn longing for their sympathy and +society? There are two theories about life, as about naturalization: one +is that love is enough, that intention is enough; the other is that the +whole circle of human relations and attachments is to be considered in a +marriage, and that in the long-run the question of family is a +preponderating one. Does the gate of divorce open more frequently from +following the one theory than the other? If we were to adopt the notion +that marriage is really a tremendous act of naturalization, of absolute +surrender on one side or the other of the deepest sentiments and +hereditary tendencies, would there be so many hasty marriages--slip-knots +tied by one justice to be undone by another? The Drawer did not intend +to start such a deep question as this. Hosts of people are yearly +naturalized in this country, not from any love of its institutions, but +because they can more easily get a living here, and they really surrender +none of their hereditary ideas, and it is only human nature that +marriages should be made with like purpose and like reservations. These +reservations do not, however, make the best citizens or the most happy +marriages. Would it be any better if country lines were obliterated, and +the great brotherhood of peoples were established, and there was no such +thing as patriotism or family, and marriage were as free to make and +unmake as some people think it should be? Very likely, if we could +radically change human nature. But human nature is the most obstinate +thing that the International Conventions have to deal with. + + + + + + +ART OF GOVERNING + +He was saying, when he awoke one morning, "I wish I were governor of a +small island, and had nothing to do but to get up and govern." It was an +observation quite worthy of him, and one of general application, for +there are many men who find it very difficult to get a living on their +own resources, to whom it would be comparatively easy to be a very fair +sort of governor. Everybody who has no official position or routine duty +on a salary knows that the most trying moment in the twenty-four hours is +that in which he emerges from the oblivion of sleep and faces life. +Everything perplexing tumbles in upon him, all the possible vexations of +the day rise up before him, and he is little less than a hero if he gets +up cheerful. + +It is not to be wondered at that people crave office, some salaried +position, in order to escape the anxieties, the personal +responsibilities, of a single-handed struggle with the world. It must be +much easier to govern an island than to carry on almost any retail +business. When the governor wakes in the morning he thinks first of his +salary; he has not the least anxiety about his daily bread or the support +of his family. His business is all laid out for him; he has not to +create it. Business comes to him; he does not have to drum for it. His +day is agreeably, even if sympathetically, occupied with the troubles of +other people, and nothing is so easy to bear as the troubles of other +people. After he has had his breakfast, and read over the +"Constitution," he has nothing to do but to "govern" for a few hours, +that is, to decide about things on general principles, and with little +personal application, and perhaps about large concerns which nobody knows +anything about, and which are much easier to dispose of than the +perplexing details of private life. He has to vote several times a day; +for giving a decision is really casting a vote; but that is much easier +than to scratch around in all the anxieties of a retail business. Many +men who would make very respectable Presidents of the United States could +not successfully run a retail grocery store. The anxieties of the +grocery would wear them out. For consider the varied ability that the +grocery requires-the foresight about the markets, to take advantage of an +eighth per cent. off or on here and there; the vigilance required to keep +a "full line" and not overstock, to dispose of goods before they spoil or +the popular taste changes; the suavity and integrity and duplicity and +fairness and adaptability needed to get customers and keep them; the +power to bear the daily and hourly worry; the courage to face the ever- +present spectre of "failure," which is said to come upon ninety merchants +in a hundred; the tact needed to meet the whims and the complaints of +patrons, and the difficulty of getting the patrons who grumble most to +pay in order to satisfy the creditors. When the retail grocer wakens in +the morning he feels that his business is not going to come to him +spontaneously; he thinks of his rivals, of his perilous stock, of his +debts and delinquent customers. He has no "Constitution" to go by, +nothing but his wits and energy to set against the world that day, and +every day the struggle and the anxiety are the same. What a number of +details he has to carry in his head (consider, for instance, how many +different kinds of cheese there are, and how different people hate and +love the same kind), and how keen must be his appreciation of the popular +taste. The complexities and annoyances of his business are excessive, +and he cannot afford to make many mistakes; if he does he will lose his +business, and when a man fails in business (honestly), he loses his +nerve, and his career is ended. It is simply amazing, when you consider +it, the amount of talent shown in what are called the ordinary businesses +of life. + +It has been often remarked with how little wisdom the world is governed. +That is the reason it is so easy to govern. "Uneasy lies the head that +wears a crown" does not refer to the discomfort of wearing it, but to the +danger of losing it, and of being put back upon one's native resources, +having to run a grocery or to keep school. Nobody is in such a pitiable +plight as a monarch or politician out of business. It is very difficult +for either to get a living. A man who has once enjoyed the blessed +feeling of awaking every morning with the thought that he has a certain +salary despises the idea of having to drum up a business by his own +talents. It does not disturb the waking hour at all to think that a +deputation is waiting in the next room about a post-office in Indiana or +about the codfish in Newfoundland waters--the man can take a second nap +on any such affair; but if he knows that the living of himself and family +that day depends upon his activity and intelligence, uneasy lies his +head. There is something so restful and easy about public business! +It is so simple! Take the average Congressman. The Secretary of the +Treasury sends in an elaborate report--a budget, in fact--involving a +complete and harmonious scheme of revenue and expenditure. Must the +Congressman read it? No; it is not necessary to do that; he only cares +for practical measures. Or a financial bill is brought in. Does he +study that bill? He hears it read, at least by title. Does he take +pains to inform himself by reading and conversation with experts upon its +probable effect? Or an international copyright law is proposed, a +measure that will relieve the people of the United States from the world- +wide reputation of sneaking meanness towards foreign authors. Does he +examine the subject, and try to understand it? That is not necessary. +Or it is a question of tariff. He is to vote "yes" or "no" on these +proposals. It is not necessary for him to master these subjects, but it +is necessary for him to know how to vote. And how does he find out that? +In the first place, by inquiring what effect the measure will have upon +the chance of election of the man he thinks will be nominated for +President, and in the second place, what effect his vote will have on his +own reelection. Thus the principles of legislation become very much +simplified, and thus it happens that it is comparatively so much easier +to govern than it is to run a grocery store. + + + + + + +LOVE OF DISPLAY + +It is fortunate that a passion for display is implanted in human nature; +and if we owe a debt of gratitude to anybody, it is to those who make the +display for us. It would be such a dull, colorless world without it! +We try in vain to imagine a city without brass bands, and military +marchings, and processions of societies in regalia and banners and +resplendent uniforms, and gayly caparisoned horses, and men clad in red +and yellow and blue and gray and gold and silver and feathers, moving in +beautiful lines, proudly wheeling with step elate upon some responsive +human being as axis, deploying, opening, and closing ranks in exquisite +precision to the strains of martial music, to the thump of the drum and +the scream of the fife, going away down the street with nodding plumes, +heads erect, the very port of heroism. There is scarcely anything in the +world so inspiring as that. And the self-sacrifice of it! What will not +men do and endure to gratify their fellows! And in the heat of summer, +too, when most we need something to cheer us! The Drawer saw, with +feelings that cannot be explained, a noble company of men, the pride of +their city, all large men, all fat men, all dressed alike, but each one +as beautiful as anything that can be seen on the stage, perspiring +through the gala streets of another distant city, the admiration of +crowds of huzzaing men and women and boys, following another company as +resplendent as itself, every man bearing himself like a hero, despising +the heat and the dust, conscious only of doing his duty. We make a great +mistake if we suppose it is a feeling of ferocity that sets these men +tramping about in gorgeous uniform, in mud or dust, in rain or under a +broiling sun. They have no desire to kill anybody. Out of these +resplendent clothes they are much like other people; only they have a +nobler spirit, that which leads them to endure hardships for the sake of +pleasing others. They differ in degree, though not in kind, from those +orders, for keeping secrets, or for encouraging a distaste for strong +drink, which also wear bright and attractive regalia, and go about in +processions, with banners and music, and a pomp that cannot be +distinguished at a distance from real war. It is very fortunate that men +do like to march about in ranks and lines, even without any +distinguishing apparel. The Drawer has seen hundreds of citizens in a +body, going about the country on an excursion, parading through town +after town, with no other distinction of dress than a uniform high white +hat, who carried joy and delight wherever they went. The good of this +display cannot be reckoned in figures. Even a funeral is comparatively +dull without the military band and the four-and-four processions, and the +cities where these resplendent corteges of woes are of daily occurrence +are cheerful cities. The brass band itself, when we consider it +philosophically, is one of the most striking things in our civilization. +We admire its commonly splendid clothes, its drums and cymbals and +braying brass, but it is the impartial spirit with which it lends itself +to our varying wants that distinguishes it. It will not do to say that +it has no principles, for nobody has so many, or is so impartial in +exercising them. It is equally ready to play at a festival or a funeral, +a picnic or an encampment, for the sons of war or the sons of temperance, +and it is equally willing to express the feeling of a Democratic meeting +or a Republican gathering, and impartially blows out "Dixie" or "Marching +through Georgia," "The Girl I Left Behind Me" or "My Country, 'tis of +Thee." It is equally piercing and exciting for St. Patrick or the Fourth +of July. + +There are cynics who think it strange that men are willing to dress up in +fantastic uniform and regalia and march about in sun and rain to make a +holiday for their countrymen, but the cynics are ungrateful, and fail to +credit human nature with its trait of self-sacrifice, and they do not at +all comprehend our civilization. It was doubted at one time whether the +freedman and the colored man generally in the republic was capable of the +higher civilization. This doubt has all been removed. No other race +takes more kindly to martial and civic display than it. No one has a +greater passion for societies and uniforms and regalias and banners, and +the pomp of marchings and processions and peaceful war. The negro +naturally inclines to the picturesque, to the flamboyant, to vivid colors +and the trappings of office that give a man distinction. He delights in +the drum and the trumpet, and so willing is he to add to what is +spectacular and pleasing in life that he would spend half his time in +parading. His capacity for a holiday is practically unlimited. He has +not yet the means to indulge his taste, and perhaps his taste is not yet +equal to his means, but there is no question of his adaptability to the +sort of display which is so pleasing to the greater part of the human +race, and which contributes so much to the brightness and cheerfulness of +this world. We cannot all have decorations, and cannot all wear +uniforms, or even regalia, and some of us have little time for going +about in military or civic processions, but we all like to have our +streets put on a holiday appearance; and we cannot express in words our +gratitude to those who so cheerfully spend their time and money in +glittering apparel and in parades for our entertainment. + + + + + + +VALUE OF THE COMMONPLACE + +The vitality of a fallacy is incalculable. Although the Drawer has been +going many years, there are still remaining people who believe that +"things which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other." This +mathematical axiom, which is well enough in its place, has been extended +into the field of morals and social life, confused the perception of +human relations, and raised "hob," as the saying is, in political +economy. We theorize and legislate as if people were things. Most of +the schemes of social reorganization are based on this fallacy. It +always breaks down in experience. A has two friends, B and C--to state it +mathematically. A is equal to B, and A is equal to C. A has for B and +also for C the most cordial admiration and affection, and B and C have +reciprocally the same feeling for A. Such is the harmony that A cannot +tell which he is more fond of, B or C. And B and C are sure that A is +the best friend of each. This harmony, however, is not triangular. A +makes the mistake of supposing that it is--having a notion that things +which are equal to the same thing are equal to each other--and he brings +B and C together. The result is disastrous. B and C cannot get on with +each other. Regard for A restrains their animosity, and they +hypocritically pretend to like each other, but both wonder what A finds +so congenial in the other. The truth is that this personal equation, as +we call it, in each cannot be made the subject of mathematical +calculation. Human relations will not bend to it. And yet we keep +blundering along as if they would. We are always sure, in our letter of +introduction, that this friend will be congenial to the other, because we +are fond of both. Sometimes this happens, but half the time we should be +more successful in bringing people into accord if we gave a letter of +introduction to a person we do not know, to be delivered to one we have +never seen. On the face of it this is as absurd as it is for a +politician to indorse the application of a person he does not know for an +office the duties of which he is unacquainted with; but it is scarcely +less absurd than the expectation that men and women can be treated like +mathematical units and equivalents. Upon the theory that they can, rest +the present grotesque schemes of Nationalism. + +In saying all this the Drawer is well aware that it subjects itself to +the charge of being commonplace, but it is precisely the commonplace that +this essay seeks to defend. Great is the power of the commonplace. "My +friends," says the preacher, in an impressive manner, "Alexander died; +Napoleon died; you will all die!" This profound remark, so true, so +thoughtful, creates a deep sensation. It is deepened by the statement +that "man is a moral being." The profundity of such startling assertions +cows the spirit; they appeal to the universal consciousness, and we bow +to the genius that delivers them. "How true!" we exclaim, and go away +with an enlarged sense of our own capacity for the comprehension of deep +thought. Our conceit is flattered. Do we not like the books that raise +us to the great level of the commonplace, whereon we move with a sense of +power? Did not Mr. Tupper, that sweet, melodious shepherd of the +undisputed, lead about vast flocks of sheep over the satisfying plain of +mediocrity? Was there ever a greater exhibition of power, while it +lasted? How long did "The Country Parson" feed an eager world with +rhetorical statements of that which it already knew? The thinner this +sort of thing is spread out, the more surface it covers, of course. What +is so captivating and popular as a book of essays which gathers together +and arranges a lot of facts out of histories and cyclopaedias, set forth +in the form of conversations that any one could have taken part in? Is +not this book pleasing because it is commonplace? And is this because we +do not like to be insulted with originality, or because in our experience +it is only the commonly accepted which is true? The statesman or the +poet who launches out unmindful of these conditions will be likely to +come to grief in her generation. Will not the wise novelist seek to +encounter the least intellectual resistance? + +Should one take a cynical view of mankind because he perceives this great +power of the commonplace? Not at all. He should recognize and respect +this power. He may even say that it is this power that makes the world +go on as smoothly and contentedly as it does, on the whole. Woe to us, +is the thought of Carlyle, when a thinker is let loose in this world! +He becomes a cause of uneasiness, and a source of rage very often. But +his power is limited. He filters through a few minds, until gradually +his ideas become commonplace enough to be powerful. We draw our supply +of water from reservoirs, not from torrents. Probably the man who first +said that the line of rectitude corresponds with the line of enjoyment +was disliked as well as disbelieved. But how impressive now is the idea +that virtue and happiness are twins! + +Perhaps it is true that the commonplace needs no defense, since everybody +takes it in as naturally as milk, and thrives on it. Beloved and read +and followed is the writer or the preacher of commonplace. But is not +the sunshine common, and the bloom of May? Why struggle with these +things in literature and in life? Why not settle down upon the formula +that to be platitudinous is to be happy? + + + + + + +THE BURDEN OF CHRISTMAS + +It would be the pity of the world to destroy it, because it would be next +to impossible to make another holiday as good as Christmas. Perhaps +there is no danger, but the American people have developed an unexpected +capacity for destroying things; they can destroy anything. They have +even invented a phrase for it--running a thing into the ground. They +have perfected the art of making so much of a thing as to kill it; they +can magnify a man or a recreation or an institution to death. And they +do it with such a hearty good-will and enjoyment. Their motto is that +you cannot have too much of a good thing. They have almost made funerals +unpopular by over-elaboration and display, especially what are called +public funerals, in which an effort is made to confer great distinction +on the dead. So far has it been carried often that there has been a +reaction of popular sentiment and people have wished the man were alive. +We prosecute everything so vigorously that we speedily either wear it out +or wear ourselves out on it, whether it is a game, or a festival, or a +holiday. We can use up any sport or game ever invented quicker than any +other people. We can practice anything, like a vegetable diet, for +instance, to an absurd conclusion with more vim than any other nation. +This trait has its advantages; nowhere else will a delusion run so fast, +and so soon run up a tree--another of our happy phrases. There is a +largeness and exuberance about us which run even into our ordinary +phraseology. The sympathetic clergyman, coming from the bedside of a +parishioner dying of dropsy, says, with a heavy sigh, "The poor fellow is +just swelling away." + +Is Christmas swelling away? If it is not, it is scarcely our fault. +Since the American nation fairly got hold of the holiday--in some parts +of the country, as in New England, it has been universal only about fifty +years--we have made it hum, as we like to say. We have appropriated the +English conviviality, the German simplicity, the Roman pomp, and we have +added to it an element of expense in keeping with our own greatness. +Is anybody beginning to feel it a burden, this sweet festival of charity +and good-will, and to look forward to it with apprehension? Is the time +approaching when we shall want to get somebody to play it for us, like +base-ball? Anything that interrupts the ordinary flow of life, +introduces into it, in short, a social cyclone that upsets everything for +a fortnight, may in time be as hard to bear as that festival of +housewives called housecleaning, that riot of cleanliness which men fear +as they do a panic in business. Taking into account the present +preparations for Christmas, and the time it takes to recover from it, we +are beginning--are we not?--to consider it one of the most serious events +of modern life. + +The Drawer is led into these observations out of its love for Christmas. +It is impossible to conceive of any holiday that could take its place, +nor indeed would it seem that human wit could invent another so adapted +to humanity. The obvious intention of it is to bring together, for a +season at least, all men in the exercise of a common charity and a +feeling of good-will, the poor and the rich, the successful and the +unfortunate, that all the world may feel that in the time called the +Truce of God the thing common to all men is the best thing in life. +How will it suit this intention, then, if in our way of exaggerated +ostentation of charity the distinction between rich and poor is made to +appear more marked than on ordinary days? Blessed are those that expect +nothing. But are there not an increasing multitude of persons in the +United States who have the most exaggerated expectations of personal +profit on Christmas Day? Perhaps it is not quite so bad as this, but it +is safe to say that what the children alone expect to receive, in money +value would absorb the national surplus, about which so much fuss is +made. There is really no objection to this--the terror of the surplus is +a sort of nightmare in the country--except that it destroys the +simplicity of the festival, and belittles small offerings that have their +chief value in affection. And it points inevitably to the creation of a +sort of Christmas "Trust"--the modern escape out of ruinous competition. +When the expense of our annual charity becomes so great that the poor are +discouraged from sharing in it, and the rich even feel it a burden, there +would seem to be no way but the establishment of neighborhood "Trusts" in +order to equalize both cost and distribution. Each family could buy a +share according to its means, and the division on Christmas Day would +create a universal satisfaction in profit sharing--that is, the rich +would get as much as the poor, and the rivalry of ostentation would be +quieted. Perhaps with the money question a little subdued, and the +female anxieties of the festival allayed, there would be more room for +the development of that sweet spirit of brotherly kindness, or all- +embracing charity, which we know underlies this best festival of all the +ages. Is this an old sermon? The Drawer trusts that it is, for there +can be nothing new in the preaching of simplicity. + + + + + + +THE RESPONSIBILITY OF WRITERS + +It is difficult enough to keep the world straight without the +interposition of fiction. But the conduct of the novelists and the +painters makes the task of the conservators of society doubly perplexing. +Neither the writers nor the artists have a due sense of the +responsibilities of their creations. The trouble appears to arise from +the imitativeness of the race. Nature herself seems readily to fall into +imitation. It was noticed by the friends of nature that when the +peculiar coal-tar colors were discovered, the same faded, aesthetic, and +sometimes sickly colors began to appear in the ornamental flower-beds and +masses of foliage plants. It was hardly fancy that the flowers took the +colors of the ribbons and stuffs of the looms, and that the same instant +nature and art were sicklied o'er with the same pale hues of fashion. +If this relation of nature and art is too subtle for comprehension, there +is nothing fanciful in the influence of the characters in fiction upon +social manners and morals. To convince ourselves of this, we do not need +to recall the effect of Werther, of Childe Harold, and of Don Juan, and +the imitation of their sentimentality, misanthropy, and adventure, down +to the copying of the rakishness of the loosely-knotted necktie and the +broad turn-over collar. In our own generation the heroes and heroines of +fiction begin to appear in real life, in dress and manner, while they are +still warm from the press. The popular heroine appears on the street in +a hundred imitations as soon as the popular mind apprehends her traits in +the story. We did not know the type of woman in the poems of the +aesthetic school and on the canvas of Rossetti--the red-haired, wide-eyed +child of passion and emotion, in lank clothes, enmeshed in spider-webs +--but so quickly was she multiplied in real life that she seemed to have +stepped from the book and the frame, ready-made, into the street and the +drawing-room. And there is nothing wonderful about this. It is a truism +to say that the genuine creations in fiction take their places in general +apprehension with historical characters, and sometimes they live more +vividly on the printed page and on canvas than the others in their pale, +contradictory, and incomplete lives. The characters of history we seldom +agree about, and are always reconstructing on new information; but the +characters of fiction are subject to no such vicissitudes. + +The importance of this matter is hardly yet perceived. Indeed, it is +unreasonable that it should be, when parents, as a rule, have so slight a +feeling of responsibility for the sort of children they bring into the +world. In the coming scientific age this may be changed, and society may +visit upon a grandmother the sins of her grandchildren, recognizing her +responsibility to the very end of the line. But it is not strange that +in the apathy on this subject the novelists should be careless and +inconsiderate as to the characters they produce, either as ideals or +examples. They know that the bad example is more likely to be copied +than to be shunned, and that the low ideal, being easy to, follow, is +more likely to be imitated than the high ideal. But the novelists have +too little sense of responsibility in this respect, probably from an +inadequate conception of their power. Perhaps the most harmful sinners +are not those who send into the world of fiction the positively wicked +and immoral, but those who make current the dull, the commonplace, and +the socially vulgar. For most readers the wicked character is repellant; +but the commonplace raises less protest, and is soon deemed harmless, +while it is most demoralizing. An underbred book--that is, a book in +which the underbred characters are the natural outcome of the author's +own, mind and apprehension of life--is worse than any possible epidemic; +for while the epidemic may kill a number of useless or vulgar people, the +book will make a great number. The keen observer must have noticed the +increasing number of commonplace, undiscriminating people of low +intellectual taste in the United States. These are to a degree the +result of the feeble, underbred literature (so called) that is most +hawked about, and most accessible, by cost and exposure, to the greater +number of people. It is easy to distinguish the young ladies--many of +them beautifully dressed, and handsome on first acquaintance--who have +been bred on this kind of book. They are betrayed by their speech, their +taste, their manners. Yet there is a marked public insensibility about +this. We all admit that the scrawny young woman, anaemic and physically +undeveloped, has not had proper nourishing food: But we seldom think that +the mentally-vulgar girl, poverty-stricken in ideas, has been starved by +a thin course of diet on anaemic books. The girls are not to blame if +they are as vapid and uninteresting as the ideal girls they have been +associating with in the books they have read. The responsibility is with +the novelist and the writer of stories, the chief characteristic of which +is vulgar commonplace. + +Probably when the Great Assize is held one of the questions asked will +be, "Did you, in America, ever write stories for children?" What a +quaking of knees there will be! For there will stand the victims of this +sort of literature, who began in their tender years to enfeeble their +minds with the wishy-washy flood of commonplace prepared for them by dull +writers and commercial publishers, and continued on in those so-called +domestic stories (as if domestic meant idiotic) until their minds were +diluted to that degree that they could not act upon anything that offered +the least resistance. Beginning with the pepsinized books, they must +continue with them, and the dull appetite by-and-by must be stimulated +with a spice of vulgarity or a little pepper of impropriety. And +fortunately for their nourishment in this kind, the dullest writers can +be indecent. + +Unfortunately the world is so ordered that the person of the feeblest +constitution can communicate a contagious disease. And these people, +bred on this pabulum, in turn make books. If one, it is now admitted, +can do nothing else in this world, he can write, and so the evil widens +and widens. No art is required, nor any selection, nor any ideality, +only capacity for increasing the vacuous commonplace in life. A princess +born may have this, or the leader of cotillons. Yet in the judgment the +responsibility will rest upon the writers who set the copy. + + + + + + +THE CAP AND GOWN + +One of the burning questions now in the colleges for the higher education +of women is whether the undergraduates shall wear the cap and gown. The +subject is a delicate one, and should not be confused with the broader +one, what is the purpose of the higher education? Some hold that the +purpose is to enable a woman to dispense with marriage, while others +maintain that it is to fit a woman for the higher duties of the married +life. The latter opinion will probably prevail, for it has nature on its +side, and the course of history, and the imagination. But meantime the +point of education is conceded, and whether a girl is to educate herself +into single or double blessedness need not interfere with the +consideration of the habit she is to wear during her college life. That +is to be determined by weighing a variety of reasons. + +Not the least of these is the consideration whether the cap-and-gown +habit is becoming. If it is not becoming, it will not go, not even by an +amendment to the Constitution of the United States; for woman's dress +obeys always the higher law. Masculine opinion is of no value on this +point, and the Drawer is aware of the fact that if it thinks the cap and +gown becoming, it may imperil the cap-and-gown cause to say so; but the +cold truth is that the habit gives a plain girl distinction, and a +handsome girl gives the habit distinction. So that, aside from the +mysterious working of feminine motive, which makes woman a law unto +herself, there should be practical unanimity in regard to this habit. +There is in the cap and gown a subtle suggestion of the union of learning +with womanly charm that is very captivating to the imagination. On the +other hand, all this may go for nothing with the girl herself, who is +conscious of the possession of quite other powers and attractions in a +varied and constantly changing toilet, which can reflect her moods from +hour to hour. So that if it is admitted that this habit is almost +universally becoming today, it might, in the inscrutable depths of the +feminine nature--the something that education never can and never should +change--be irksome tomorrow, and we can hardly imagine what a blight to a +young spirit there might be in three hundred and sixty-five days of +uniformity. + +The devotees of the higher education will perhaps need to approach the +subject from another point of view--namely, what they are willing to +surrender in order to come into a distinctly scholastic influence. The +cap and gown are scholastic emblems. Primarily they marked the student, +and not alliance with any creed or vows to any religious order. They +belong to the universities of learning, and today they have no more +ecclesiastic meaning than do the gorgeous robes of the Oxford chancellor +and vice-chancellor and the scarlet hood. From the scholarly side, then, +if not from the dress side, there is much to be said for the cap and +gown. They are badges of devotion, for the time being, to an +intellectual life. + +They help the mind in its effort to set itself apart to unworldly +pursuits; they are indications of separateness from the prevailing +fashions and frivolities. The girl who puts on the cap and gown devotes +herself to the society which is avowedly in pursuit of a larger +intellectual sympathy and a wider intellectual life. The enduring of +this habit will have a confirming influence on her purposes, and help to +keep her up to them. It is like the uniform to the soldier or the veil +to the nun--a sign of separation and devotion. It is difficult in this +age to keep any historic consciousness, any proper relations to the past. +In the cap and gown the girl will at least feel that she is in the line +of the traditions of pure learning. And there is also something of order +and discipline in the uniforming of a community set apart for an +unworldly purpose. Is it believed that three or four years of the kind +of separateness marked by this habit in the life of a girl will rob her +of any desirable womanly quality? + +The cap and gown are only an emphasis of the purpose to devote a certain +period to the higher life, and if they cannot be defended, then we may +begin to be skeptical about the seriousness of the intention of a higher +education. If the school is merely a method of passing the time until a +certain event in the girl's life, she had better dress as if that event +were the only one worth considering. But if she wishes to fit herself +for the best married life, she may not disdain the help of the cap and +gown in devoting herself to the highest culture. Of course education has +its dangers, and the regalia of scholarship may increase them. While our +cap-and-gown divinity is walking in the groves of Academia, apart from +the ways of men, her sisters outside may be dancing and dressing into the +affections of the marriageable men. But this is not the worst of it. +The university girl may be educating herself out of sympathy with the +ordinary possible husband. But this will carry its own cure. The +educated girl will be so much more attractive in the long-run, will have +so many more resources for making a life companionship agreeable, that +she will be more and more in demand. And the young men, even those not +expecting to take up a learned profession, will see the advantage of +educating themselves up to the cap-and-gown level. We know that it is +the office of the university to raise the standard of the college, and of +the college to raise the standard of the high school. It will be the +inevitable result that these young ladies, setting themselves apart for a +period to the intellectual life, will raise the standard of the young +men, and of married life generally. And there is nothing supercilious in +the invitation of the cap-and-gown brigade to the young men to come up +higher. + +There is one humiliating objection made to the cap and gown-made by +members of the gentle sex themselves--which cannot be passed by. It is +of such a delicate nature, and involves such a disparagement of the sex +in a vital point, that the Drawer hesitates to put it in words. It is +said that the cap and gown will be used to cover untidiness, to conceal +the makeshift of a disorderly and unsightly toilet. Undoubtedly the cap +and gown are democratic, adopted probably to equalize the appearance of +rich and poor in the same institution, where all are on an intellectual +level. Perhaps the sex is not perfect; it may be that there are slovens +(it is a brutal word) in that sex which is our poetic image of purity. +But a neat and self-respecting girl will no more be slovenly under a +scholastic gown than under any outward finery. If it is true that the +sex would take cover in this way, and is liable to run down at the heel +when it has a chance, then to the "examination" will have to be added a +periodic "inspection," such as the West-Pointers submit to in regard to +their uniforms. For the real idea of the cap and gown is to encourage +discipline, order, and neatness. We fancy that it is the mission of +woman in this generation to show the world that the tendency of woman to +an intellectual life is not, as it used to be said it was, to untidy +habits. + + + + + + +A TENDENCY OF THE AGE + +This ingenious age, when studied, seems not less remarkable for its +division of labor than for the disposition of people to shift labor on to +others' shoulders. Perhaps it is only another aspect of the spirit of +altruism, a sort of backhanded vicariousness. In taking an inventory of +tendencies, this demands some attention. + +The notion appears to be spreading that there must be some way by which +one can get a good intellectual outfit without much personal effort. +There are many schemes of education which encourage this idea. If one +could only hit upon the right "electives," he could become a scholar with +very little study, and without grappling with any of the real +difficulties in the way of an education. It is no more a short-cut we +desire, but a road of easy grades, with a locomotive that will pull our +train along while we sit in a palace-car at ease. The discipline to be +obtained by tackling an obstacle and overcoming it we think of small +value. There must be some way of attaining the end of cultivation +without much labor. We take readily to proprietary medicines. It is +easier to dose with these than to exercise ordinary prudence about our +health. And we readily believe the doctors of learning when they assure +us that we can acquire a new language by the same method by which we can +restore bodily vigor: take one small patent-right volume in six easy +lessons, without even the necessity of "shaking," and without a regular +doctor, and we shall know the language. Some one else has done all the +work for us, and we only need to absorb. It is pleasing to see how this +theory is getting to be universally applied. All knowledge can be put +into a kind of pemican, so that we can have it condensed. Everything +must be chopped up, epitomized, put in short sentences, and italicized. +And we have primers for science, for history, so that we can acquire all +the information we need in this world in a few hasty bites. It is an +admirable saving of time-saving of time being more important in this +generation than the saving of ourselves. + +And the age is so intellectually active, so eager to know! If we wish to +know anything, instead of digging for it ourselves, it is much easier to +flock all together to some lecturer who has put all the results into an +hour, and perhaps can throw them all upon a screen, so that we can +acquire all we want by merely using the eyes, and bothering ourselves +little about what is said. Reading itself is almost too much of an +effort. We hire people to read for us--to interpret, as we call it-- +Browning and Ibsen, even Wagner. Every one is familiar with the pleasure +and profit of "recitations," of "conversations" which are monologues. +There is something fascinating in the scheme of getting others to do our +intellectual labor for us, to attempt to fill up our minds as if they +were jars. The need of the mind for nutriment is like the need of the +body, but our theory is that it can be satisfied in a different way. +There was an old belief that in order that we should enjoy food, and that +it should perform its function of assimilation, we must work for it, and +that the exertion needed to earn it brought the appetite that made it +profitable to the system. We still have the idea that we must eat for +ourselves, and that we cannot delegate this performance, as we do the +filling of the mind, to some one else. We may have ceased to relish the +act of eating, as we have ceased to relish the act of studying, but we +cannot yet delegate it, even although our power of digesting food for the +body has become almost as feeble as the power of acquiring and digesting +food for the mind. + +It is beautiful to witness our reliance upon others. The house may be +full of books, the libraries may be as free and as unstrained of +impurities as city water; but if we wish to read anything or study +anything we resort to a club. We gather together a number of persons of +like capacity with ourselves. A subject which we might grapple with and +run down by a few hours of vigorous, absorbed attention in a library, +gaining strength of mind by resolute encountering of difficulties, by +personal effort, we sit around for a month or a season in a club, +expecting somehow to take the information by effortless contiguity with +it. A book which we could master and possess in an evening we can have +read to us in a month in the club, without the least intellectual effort. +Is there nothing, then, in the exchange of ideas? Oh yes, when there are +ideas to exchange. Is there nothing stimulating in the conflict of mind +with mind? Oh yes, when there is any mind for a conflict. But the mind +does not grow without personal effort and conflict and struggle with +itself. It is a living organism, and not at all like a jar or other +receptacle for fluids. The physiologists say that what we eat will not +do us much good unless we chew it. By analogy we may presume that the +mind is not greatly benefited by what it gets without considerable +exercise of the mind. + +Still, it is a beautiful theory that we can get others to do our reading +and thinking, and stuff our minds for us. It may be that psychology will +yet show us how a congregate education by clubs may be the way. But just +now the method is a little crude, and lays us open to the charge--which +every intelligent person of this scientific age will repudiate--of being +content with the superficial; for instance, of trusting wholly to others +for our immortal furnishing, as many are satisfied with the review of a +book for the book itself, or--a refinement on that--with a review of the +reviews. The method is still crude. Perhaps we may expect a further +development of the "slot" machine. By dropping a cent in the slot one +can get his weight, his age, a piece of chewing-gum, a bit of candy, or a +shock that will energize his nervous system. Why not get from a similar +machine a "good business education," or an "interpretation" of Browning, +or a new language, or a knowledge of English literature? But even this +would be crude. We have hopes of something from electricity. There +ought to be somewhere a reservoir of knowledge, connected by wires with +every house, and a professional switch-tender, who, upon the pressure of +a button in any house, could turn on the intellectual stream desired. +--[Prophecy of the Internet of the year 2000 from 110 years ago. D.W.]-- +There must be discovered in time a method by which not only information +but intellectual life can be infused into the system by an electric +current. It would save a world of trouble and expense. For some clubs +even are a weariness, and it costs money to hire other people to read and +think for us. + + + + + + +A LOCOED NOVELIST + +Either we have been indulging in an expensive mistake, or a great foreign +novelist who preaches the gospel of despair is locoed. + +This word, which may be new to most of our readers, has long been current +in the Far West, and is likely to be adopted into the language, and +become as indispensable as the typic words taboo and tabooed, which +Herman Melville gave us some forty years ago. There grows upon the +deserts and the cattle ranges of the Rockies a plant of the leguminosae +family, with a purple blossom, which is called the 'loco'. It is sweet +to the taste; horses and cattle are fond of it, and when they have once +eaten it they prefer it to anything else, and often refuse other food. +But the plant is poisonous, or, rather, to speak exactly, it is a weed of +insanity. Its effect upon the horse seems to be mental quite as much as +physical. He behaves queerly, he is full of whims; one would say he was +"possessed." He takes freaks, he trembles, he will not go in certain +places, he will not pull straight, his mind is evidently affected, he is +mildly insane. In point of fact, he is ruined; that is to say, he is +'locoed'. Further indulgence in the plant results in death, but rarely +does an animal recover from even one eating of the insane weed. + +The shepherd on the great sheep ranges leads an absolutely isolated life. +For weeks, sometimes for months together, he does not see a human being. +His only companions are his dogs and the three or four thousand sheep he +is herding. All day long, under the burning sun, he follows the herd +over the rainless prairie, as it nibbles here and there the short grass +and slowly gathers its food. At night he drives the sheep back to the +corral, and lies down alone in his hut. He speaks to no one; he almost +forgets how to speak. Day and night he hears no sound except the +melancholy, monotonous bleat, bleat of the sheep. It becomes +intolerable. The animal stupidity of the herd enters into him. +Gradually he loses his mind. They say that he is locoed. The insane +asylums of California contain many shepherds. + +But the word locoed has come to have a wider application than to the poor +shepherds or the horses and cattle that have eaten the loco. Any one who +acts queerly, talks strangely, is visionary without being actually a +lunatic, who is what would be called elsewhere a "crank," is said to be +locoed. It is a term describing a shade of mental obliquity and +queerness something short of irresponsible madness, and something more +than temporarily "rattled" or bewildered for the moment. It is a good +word, and needed to apply to many people who have gone off into strange +ways, and behave as if they had eaten some insane plant--the insane plant +being probably a theory in the mazes of which they have wandered until +they are lost. + +Perhaps the loco does not grow in Russia, and the Prophet of +Discouragement may never have eaten of it; perhaps he is only like the +shepherd, mainly withdrawn from human intercourse and sympathy in a +morbid mental isolation, hearing only the bleat, bleat, bleat of the +'muxhiks' in the dullness of the steppes, wandering round in his own +sated mind until he has lost all clew to life. Whatever the cause may +be, clearly he is 'locoed'. All his theories have worked out to the +conclusion that the world is a gigantic mistake, love is nothing but +animality, marriage is immorality; according to astronomical calculations +this teeming globe and all its life must end some time; and why not now? +There shall be no more marriage, no more children; the present population +shall wind up its affairs with decent haste, and one by one quit the +scene of their failure, and avoid all the worry of a useless struggle. + +This gospel of the blessedness of extinction has come too late to enable +us to profit by it in our decennial enumeration. How different the +census would have been if taken in the spirit of this new light! How +much bitterness, how much hateful rivalry would have been spared! We +should then have desired a reduction of the population, not an increase +of it. There would have been a pious rivalry among all the towns and +cities on the way to the millennium of extinction to show the least +number of inhabitants; and those towns would have been happiest which +could exhibit not only a marked decline in numbers, but the greater +number of old people. Beautiful St. Paul would have held a thanksgiving +service, and invited the Minneapolis enumerators to the feast, Kansas +City and St. Louis and San Francisco, and a hundred other places, would +not have desired a recount, except, perhaps, for overestimate; they would +not have said that thousands were away at the sea or in the mountains, +but, on the contrary, that thousands who did not belong there, attracted +by the salubrity of the climate, and the desire to injure the town's +reputation, had crowded in there in census time. The newspapers, instead +of calling on people to send in the names of the unenumerated, would have +rejoiced at the small returns, as they would have done if the census had +been for the purpose of levying the federal tax upon each place according +to its population. Chicago--well, perhaps the Prophet of the Steppes +would have made an exception of Chicago, and been cynically delighted to +push it on its way of increase, aggregation, and ruin. + +But instead of this, the strain of anxiety was universal and heart- +rending. So much depended upon swelling the figures. The tension would +have been relieved if our faces were all set towards extinction, and the +speedy evacuation of this unsatisfactory globe. The writer met recently, +in the Colorado desert of Arizona, a forlorn census-taker who had been +six weeks in the saddle, roaming over the alkali plains in order to +gratify the vanity of Uncle Sam. He had lost his reckoning, and did not +know the day of the week or of the month. In all the vast territory, +away up to the Utah line, over which he had wandered, he met human beings +(excluding "Indians and others not taxed ") so rarely that he was in +danger of being locoed. He was almost in despair when, two days before, +he had a windfall, which raised his general average in the form of a +woman with twenty-six children, and he was rejoicing that he should be +able to turn in one hundred and fifty people. Alas, the revenue the +government will derive from these half-nomads will never pay the cost of +enumerating them. + +And, alas again, whatever good showing we may make, we shall wish it were +larger; the more people we have the more we shall want. In this +direction there is no end, any more than there is to life. If +extinction, and not life and growth, is the better rule, what a costly +mistake we have been making! + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of As We Were Saying +by Charles Dudley Warner + diff --git a/old/cwaws11.zip b/old/cwaws11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ccbbde --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cwaws11.zip |