sible for the inheritance, though she may be amenable for continued possession. If a man finds himself the possessor of a box of fleas, the bequest of an eccentric relative, he is not thereby compelled to keep and propagate them as heirlooms in the family.
She who has for ages lived in her home as a nun in a cloister, who has studied no translation of the world except the expurgated condition which custom and tradition has vouchsafed her, is in the renaissance of a new day, like a blind person suddenly restored to sight. He has no idea of perspective. He will put his hand on the window to touch the tree across the street; will shrink back lest the passing vehicles run over him; will hesitate to step over a crack in the floor. Woman has been so long accustomed to retirement, to avoiding criticism, to feeling her way, that it takes time for her to acquire confidence. She must encourage the culture of definite ideas, learn to focus thoughts and concentrate effort, not to expend ten pounds of flutter for each pound of result, nor drape a dollar's worth of words on a nickle idea.
The new woman has also found a screw loose in the machinery of social conditions. It is undeniable that men as a class prefer clinging, to independent women. The doll-like society girl has a dozen offers of marriage when her self-reliant sister has but one. May not this be equally true, that the majority of men recognize the fact, that the woman who has gained strength and breadth of character, who is no longer a child or plaything, demands of the man she would marry an equivalent in exchange, that he shall himself keep the law of conduct he lays down for her, that for her to be proud of him, he must first be proud of himself.
This we know to be true, that woman of strong individuality have made happy homes and served their families with great fidelity, while those of the vine-like type do not always make model house-keepers, nor raise the best behaved children.
We do not hear much of the "new man" but he is evolving side by side with the ." new woman" and it is the silent influence of the latter which gauges the standard and measures the progress of the former. Imperfect as he may be in his present condition, the new woman has no thought of undertaking his complete elimination from the scheme of creation. If he cannot keep up with her pace, he deserves to be left behind. But he will keep up—-and try to deserve her—-thus the best result of the new woman will be the new man. He will see as never before that home encircling a noble and excellent womanhood—-is the safeguard of a nation. However no one expects him to be as interesting a novelty as the "new woman."
Much has been said and written concerning the ideal woman. The new woman does not profess to be the ideal but she has an ideal.
Poets from the days of Homer have sung of beauty as the chief characteristic and charm of ideal woman.
It is quite comforting to the majority of women to know that physical beauty seems of little importance to the masculine mind of the present century. One connoisseur says she is like a rose. With the rose you can tell by every indication of its health, strength and beauty that it is from one of the finest strains of roses, and that all the conditions of its development have been as nearly perfect as they could be made. So with the ideal woman, one knows by every look and word and by the subtle charm of thought unexpressed, that she has developed as perfectly as the rose.
Another critic asserts that there is no definite ideal of womanhood. Our age is so generous it discards the Grecian measurements and symmetry between nose, forehead, mouth and chin. It matters not whether her hair be black, brown or auburn. She may permit it to hang loose or pile it up in a psyche knot. She may have the soft black eye of a gazelle or the squint of an Ellen Terry. Her ear and hand were better free from jewelry, she might compromise on a ring and necklace if she would let the ear go unmutilated, but it is indispensable that a soul adorn her face.
She must be a scholar, a thinker and a talker, possess eternal good humor and plenty of sense. A noted conversationalist decides that the ideal woman must possess the tact to keep conversation going about her, but must not herself be a great talker. She must never let those about her know all that she knows, but keep them in doubt as to her mental resources.
Some extol physical strength and courage, some have no leisure to discuss a theme so axiomatic as an ideal woman. Some fearlessly relegate her throne to the kitchen and the nursery and brand her as an intruder and tresspasser if she cross the limits of those domains, some generously accord her a place in affairs of state and municipal government, if she so desire, but for their own part think she is happier in the home, and the ideal woman must be the happiest woman.
Some aver that the ideal woman will exist only in an ideal society which condition of that state called the millennium, an altruria of which poets and reformers dream. That she would be out of place in the fierce competition of to-day, in the life and death struggle in which so few miserably succeed, and the masses patiently suffer.
A word artist paints as his ideal, not a statuesque Juno, not a voluptious Venus, not a sedate Minerva, not an unfettered Diana, but a home angel, crowned by a halo of motherhood.
