though she may think of him but a quarter as much as he thinks of her. Woman's happiness would be secured if she renounced bargaining in her love.
Therefore my counsel to man, that fortune may favor him in the world of woman, is to love her, to treat her tenderly, and to humor her — with reserve, and without excess. Of old it was said: woman is like the gazelle — approach, and it turns away; leave it, and it draws near.
Among the manifestations of woman's selfishness, moreover, is her leaning toward exaggeration and excess: she is excessive in her love and in her hatred, which confirms the want of balance in her emotional life.
Finally, we point to the phenomenon of endless invention in fashions and adornment. Her changing of fashions is nothing but one manifestation of her weariness of the monotonous social order. The human being is by nature self-renewing, evolving ceaselessly with time. And what have renewal and variety ever been but the very symbol of life — which is a continuous becoming — and rigidity but death?
And we must point out, too, that the philosophy of clothes and adornment, in woman as in man, very often turns upon the meaning of deception — deception of self, and deception of others. She puts on an affected garment that hides her true personality; and there lies the great calamity, for preventing others from knowing us as we truly are leads us into ignorance of many regions of ourselves, just as our failure to understand others deepens our ignorance of ourselves — since in our view of ourselves there is much of others' view of us, and the reverse.
And now — this has been a talk in which I have surveyed certain of the psychic phenomena of woman. Without doubt they do not hold true of every woman: there are those who, by culture and refinement, have gained the mastery over their nature and their instincts, and so have come to possess strength of character and a settled, firm personality, with which such a woman need
no longer fear for her standing. She has become, rather, an independent individual, sovereign over her dignity, her mind, and her spirit, whom no conqueror can overcome — nay, there are
women who surpass man himself, becoming a great treasure that profits the generations and sets lofty examples of devotion, sincerity, and nobility, thereby drawing near to the fullness of humanity.
– 3 –
Little sailor!
In your bright, calm smile, too, there is great confidence in yourself and in the flourishing future that awaits you!!
"From the Editors"
We regret most deeply the slow response our artistic and literary contest is meeting, for all the charm of its subject and its nearness to our mothers' inclination. The truth is that we never meet a single mother without sensing in her a clear appreciation of this contest, and a sure desire to take part in it — only the time has not yet allowed her to photograph her child, or even to trouble her thoughts with sending in a photograph already made!
"The Woman's Voice," while repeating its regret for this cold indifference with which the contest is being met, announces to its gracious readers that it has fixed the coming issue as the date on which the contest's term expires. Those whom the matter concerns are therefore requested to hasten at once to send in the photographs, accompanied by literary commentaries, as required.