The moment women step out from the sanctuary of their homes, the glamour that girlhood or maternity has thrown around them cast aside, that moment will they cease to rule mankind.Women may agitate until they have obtained political recognition, but will awake from their foolish dream of power, realizing too late what they have sacrificed to obtain it, that the price has been very heavy, and the fruit of their struggles bitter on their lips.
There are few men, I imagine, of my generation to whom the words "home" and "mother" have not a penetrating charm, who do not look back with softened heart and tender thoughts to fireside scenes of evening readings and twilight talks at a mother's knee, realizing that the best in their natures owes its growth to these influences.
I sometimes look about me and wonder what the word "mother" will mean later, to modern little boys.It will evoke, I fear, a confused remembrance of some centaur-like being, half woman, half wheel, or as it did to neglected little Rawdon Crawley, the vision of a radiant creature in gauze and jewels, driving away to endless FETES - FETES followed by long mornings, when he was told not to make any noise, or play too loudly, "as poor mamma is resting."What other memories can the "successful" woman of to-day hope to leave in the minds of her children? If the child remembers his mother in this way, will not the man who has known and perhaps loved her, feel the same sensation of empty futility when her name is mentioned?
The woman who proposes a game of cards to a youth who comes to pass an hour in her society, can hardly expect him to carry away a particularly tender memory of her as he leaves the house.The girl who has rowed, ridden, or raced at a man's side for days, with the object of getting the better of him at some sport or pastime, cannot reasonably hope to be connected in his thoughts with ideas more tender or more elevated than "odds" or "handicaps," with an undercurrent of pique if his unsexed companion has "downed" him successfully.
What man, unless he be singularly dissolute or unfortunate, but turns his steps, when he can, towards some dainty parlor where he is sure of finding a smiling, soft-voiced woman, whose welcome he knows will soothe his irritated nerves and restore the even balance of his temper, whose charm will work its subtle way into his troubled spirit? The wife he loves, or the friend he admires and respects, will do more for him in one such quiet hour when two minds commune, coming closer to the real man, and moving him to braver efforts, and nobler aims, than all the beauties and "sporty"acquaintances of a lifetime.No matter what a man's education or taste is, none are insensible to such an atmosphere or to the grace and witchery a woman can lend to the simplest surroundings.She need not be beautiful or brilliant to hold him in lifelong allegiance, if she but possess this magnetism.
Madame Recamier was a beautiful, but not a brilliant woman, yet she held men her slaves for years.To know her was to fall under her charm, and to feel it once was to remain her adorer for life.She will go down to history as the type of a fascinating woman.Being asked once by an acquaintance what spell she worked on mankind that enabled her to hold them for ever at her feet, she laughingly answered:
"I have always found two words sufficient.When a visitor comes into my salon, I say, 'ENFIN!' and when he gets up to go away, Isay, 'DEJA!' "
"What is this wonderful 'charm' he is writing about?" I hear some sprightly maiden inquire as she reads these lines.My dear young lady, if you ask the question, you have judged yourself and been found wanting.But to satisfy you as far as I can, I will try and define it - not by telling you what it is; that is beyond my power - but by negatives, the only way in which subtle subjects can be approached.
A woman of charm is never flustered and never DISTRAITE.She talks little, and rarely of herself, remembering that bores are persons who insist on talking about themselves.She does not break the thread of a conversation by irrelevant questions or confabulate in an undertone with the servants.No one of her guests receives more of her attention than another and none are neglected.She offers to each one who speaks the homage of her entire attention.She never makes an effort to be brilliant or entertain with her wit.
She is far too clever for that.Neither does she volunteer information nor converse about her troubles or her ailments, nor wander off into details about people you do not know.
She is all things - to each man she likes, in the best sense of that phrase, appreciating his qualities, stimulating him to better things.
- for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness and a smile and eloquence of beauty;and she glides Into his darker musings with a mild and healing sympathy that steals away Their sharpness ere he is aware.
