The St. Louis Republic. [volume], October 04, 1903, Magazine Section, Page 6, Image 56

About The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
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To find oat Just horr far an old majd'i
theories on men and babies might diverse
from the pctual ext"lcncs of a -wife and
mother, and to discover. Incidentally. Jt
possible, any analogies between the hy
pothesis of yesterday and the fact of to
day there were my excuses for matins
a pop call on Miss UlUnn Bell that -was.
Miss Bell Is an authority on these mat
tersan authority from both points of
view.
She was an old maid; she Is now Mrs.
Arthur Bocue. She was a. lono creature,
with neither chicle nor child to call her
own.
Now she has a. baby. And It Is htr
baby.
It Is "Just ten yexr ago that Tfhe love
Affairs of en Old Maid" mado Its appear
ance. In this book, which was the first of Ltl-.
Han Beil's many xolumes, she. not only ox
.pressed her views on matrimony and
bringing up children In general, but sho
Said bare the psychology of splnsterhood.
"With scalpel and knife she dissected her
subject sometimes not tenderly, often
perhaps, & little lrrevently. but always
with, the 'unerrlny precision and Infinitesi
mal accuracy of the skilled vlvlsectlonlat.
With a irtitterlnff array of eplgrammatlo
lances end divers other surslco-llterary
Instruments, the very soul of the old maid
was bared to whomsoever, and especially
to hlmsoever, who might read.
The book was popular, and deservedly
so. Not, however, so muir' account of
Its cleverness, as because of Its sincerity.
For "The ljve Affairs of an Old Maid"
bore the unmistakable signs of a human
document.
Even the least sophisticated of Miss
. "Bell's readers, had to smlls at the author's
.Ingecuoas confession that she was 23 and
loved cats and teal
Of course she iras! To be sure she did I
Nobody ever dreamed of disputing the
only too evident fact that the woman who
wrote would never see 29 again. Were not
the earmarks of a spinster hand on every
page? Stupid!
Who could net read between the lines?
CONCLUSIONS TO BE DRAWN
FROM THE BOOK.
Tbero needed, alast no Delphic orade
for Interpreting: the subtleties of that dsU
cate tracery.
VinrTT am" - -
(THE OLD MAID'S
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ROBERT E. LEE'S "OLD WAR HORSE" AT THE AGE OF EIGHTY-TWO.
GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET, FAMOUS CONFEDERATE FIGHTER. TALKS AT MT. ATRV. GA.. OF THE OLD AND THE NEW T1MES.
WRCTTIsr TOR Tun HUNDAT REFUBUC.
General James Longstreet, the "grand .
old man of the Confederacy, la spending j
ill Ufa's peaceful winter at Mount Airy,
Ga.
He was the man whose genius Gene-al,
Grant mostly feared, a regard for whose
prowess was Inspired In Grant when both
were cadets -nt West Point, strengthened
by Longstreefs services In tha Mexican
War and the West and more seriously to
be reckoned with on the battlefields of tha
South,
The broad rotunda cf the .mountain vil
lage hotel Is the peaceful background
and Longstreet approaches.
aiowiy ne comes. remarxaDiy erect, I
looking every Inch a soldier. I
There Is a hush to the laughter: even
the orchestra seems to have respectfully
timed the Intermission. Southerners are
loyal to their champions, Longstreet, the
last of tha greater ones. Is very dear to
them.
Eighty-two years old what a stretch of
time. Born in lSH. when he was a boy
tha Louisiana Purchase had been but
recently consummated.
The great expansionist. Thomas Jeffer
son, had sown tho first seed that was to
make this country the power it Is.
The great territory west of the Mlssls
uippi was yet a wilderness. It ii a far
cry from tallow dips to the blazing arc
from lumbering coaches to the fast-flying
vestibule trains.
At the close of the Civil War physicians
warned General Longstreet he should be
very thankful to live eight years.
All of these men have crossed "th
Great Divide" more than twenty-five
years ago, and General Longstreet stands
In the white light of a wonder-working
new century.
There are few meals ha misses at ths
public table, and though suffering greatly
from an epithelioma involving hli right
eye, ho enjoys In a measure the benefits
of the splendid climate.
Always a lover of horseback riding, the
deprivation of that sport la perhaps his
greatest loss.
The General Is very deaf and uses an
ear tube. This Mrs. Longstreet carries.
The arrangement Is very clever, serving
as a break to undesirable company.
Realizing the fatigue attendant upon
long conversations I spent several days
securing the opinions herein expressed,
and ha seemed to appreciate tha consid
eration. General Longstreet was asked whether
it did not prove very tiresome to answer
tho many Questions propounded to him.
Wearily, ha replied: "It does."
"I can only refer to history, which.
rightfully recording the deeds of each.
gives the same basis of comparison I en
Joy." General Longstreet always held the abil
ity of General Grant In highest esteem.
In fact, he accorded Ma a place In mill
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Celebrated
After reading that book netting could
possibly convlnc us that wa had not wit
nessed a psychological suicide; that poor
Lillian Bell had not plunged the cTssect
lng knife Into the soul of her own spinster
hood. Accordingly, w felt sorry, and our
sorrow was deepened by the conscious
ness that It all mlcht have turned out so
differently had only the right man ap
peareo. And. In due course of time, perhaps,
maybe, possibly tho Baby.
These speculations. Inevitable at the
book's reading and perhaps forgotten In
the lapsed years, are brought vividly 'o
the memory to-day as one approaches
the Bogue residence from the Tarrytown
highway.
We knew by the papers of three years
ago that the author had married a nice
young man, and the tinkle of a cow bell
and the flash of a lacs canopleo peram
bulator among the trees spoke eloquently
of the realization of even an Old Maid's
wildest dreams.
Out of a brown cottsge that Is almost
hidden among tha Riant apple trees a tall,
determined-looking lady In a pale-blue
tea gown, comes to the rescue and drives)
away the cow with a stick.
Whlla she soundly reprimands the nurse
girl for having deserted the perambula
tor even for a. moment, I see that the
lady's dark nalr wears Just a touch of
gray, and that, although the words of her
reproof are severe, there is a good-humored
flash In her rtry black eyes a flash
that turns to something gentler than the
gentlest good humor as she tenderly lifts
a. little whtto bundle from out the billows
of lace and ribbon.
In a very soft rolce she dismisses the
nurse, aad then wa tft dovn to talk here
under th trees to talk o; old maids and
wives, of men and of babies, with the
tary merit not less than that of George
Washington.
This weighing of the olaler-Presldent'a
worth was the result that began, as did
Grant's estimate of him, at West Point.
As General Longstreet expresses It, Grant
was "a soldier."
DID NOT UNDERRATE OPPONENTS.
Ona point Is very pertinent. Longstreet
never zsada tha mlttiVa to common, to
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THE EEPTJBLIO: SUNDAY. OCTOBEB 4. 1903.
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INFANT
Authoress Believes
tlnkle-ttnUa of the cow bell tn tha other
end of tha orchard for an accompani
ment. "I believe every old msld ought to marry
and have a baby. ana with this declara
tion Mrs. Bogue set the conversational
Nail rolling.
WOMEN WHO ARE DESTINED
TO LIVE UNMARRIED.
"Hut possibly every old maid may not
be so fortunate an yourself." I veniureil
"Besides, some women are destined to
live and die unmarried."
"Never!" declared she of the book, de
cisively, bending her head to chirrup to
tha Baby.
Whereupon I produced a much-underlined
copy of the book Itself and read
that which wjk penned on the eve of the
lady's thirtieth year:
"It Is not my fault that I am an old
maid. I was cut out for one. AH toy
tendencies point that way. I always liked
cats and tea!"
"I know I said It," she admltled. "but
an old maid will say lots of things which
marriage, and sometimes even the pos
sibility of marriage, makes her willing to
recant."
Sho chirruped again to the Baby.
"Then your views have materially
changed l. ten years?"
"Ysrs and no," she replied, laughing.
"It is all a matter of misunderstanding
things: perhaps I might say of misun
derstanding one's own real self. Now.
ten years ago I had a creed that I pinned
all mr faith to."
"What was that creed?" I asked.
"Self-sufflclency." cama the prompt an
swer. "Self-sufBdency. the basic principle al
ways of splnsterhood. Why. ten years
ago I didn't think I needed any other
personality than my own to make me I
I
many cf his brother officers of under
Ing the commanding strength of the
leaders.
General Lonrstret knew what t:
pect of the enemy, and prepared todself
for It. f
Of General Robert E. Lea ha sp'&xs In
highest commendation, concedes hik great
ness aa a military engineer and admlros
him for his dishing, decisive mtttods of
fighting. r
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laSUtl
VfiUyll
ix-
AND HOW
in Fresh Air, Cuddling
happy. It was an Idea which. I bl!eve.
comes to every woman who finds herself
unmarried at '-
"She has an idea, because she has per
haps outgrown the Infatuations of the
preceding ten years, that love Is a sort
of recurrent epidemic, like the grip, for
Instance, which makes or.e very miserable
but scarcely ever sick enough to Jutlty
calllnc tha doctor."
"But!" I exclaimed, aghast it the cold
ly philosophic wa with wh'ch my hostess
compared thee two great l. of humanity.
"Hut people often die of grip!"
"But never of lov," came the quick re
tort, an she turned tho Baby en Its stom
ach across her knee and proceeded to
smooth out the wrinkles of the tiny cloak.
"Perhaps not. But you can't deny that
love often leaes Its victims confirmed In
valids for the lest of their lives, like
like the grip."
"OTHER WOMAN" WHO SO
OKTEN CAUSES TROUBLE.
"Tru-i But only when complicatlony set
In." S'ae of the book lifted her -yet from
the Baby and with a significant smile
continued:
"It Isn't the disease Itself but the com
plications that are likely to ensue that
make '.ove. like the grip, such a danger
ous ailment.
"It Is the Other Woman that does the
mischief.
"If the Other Woman would oly let
men alone constancy would lx less of a
hollow mockery, -nd there would b fewer
old maids In tb world."
"What about the Otter Man?" I asked.
"He d-es.i't rtrio.fly exist; he has no
pbcc whsO-ttvcr ;a the economy of love.
"Full7 un-h;f of the eld maids of this
wnrld o their late to "other women."
And certain.- one-half the married women
of the earth owe their husbands either to
old maids or to the wives of otbrr men."
I laughed aloud at this topsy-turvy
state of human society, and Lilian Bell
laughed too liutthed so heartily that the
Baby, who had bad Its blue eyes fastened
Intently upon a shifting and golden disk
of sunshine on the grass, now turned Its
t?o'm5inAnd.fn0f
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Wotituif bscomeincLipi
While near the subject of General Lea
might be interesting to repeat a little
section of history, to reiterate a itats
msnt made by Lee after the battle of Get
tysburg. The algoileanea of that three days car
nage Is too well known to dwell further
upon Its .Importance- to either side. On
that occasion General Lee said:
It i tad taksa Lcsgitxirt'g adrU oa
j-
TO RAISE IT. wmKm
and Plenty of "Baby
tiny head and pered up In Innocent won
derrrent as to what It was .all about.
"Now. Isn't that Just too cunning for
anything, and in a baby orly t weeks
qldn exclaimed the mother, now lapsing
into that unintelligible dialect which only
mothers and batxs can understanj.
'nl do vou re illy think the mlx-up 1
as bad as all that?'
MIXED MOTIVES THAT
OFTEN LEAD TO MARRIAGBL
"What mix-up?" She had actually for
gotten what we wre j!i.ing utout.
The matrimonial ccmrllcatlon? Oh. yes:
I remember now. Certainly It U as bad a
that. Maybe worse.
"The sooner you ret it out of your head
that the world and his wife are married
becausa they couldn't possibly have ex
Utrd without each other, the better.
"Aa a mat'er of fact, people marry
from very mixed motives. We alt have the
ioea nhen we are painfully young that of
course people marry becaue they are so
fortunate as to fall in love with each
otter."
"And don't they?"
"No. Indeed' Very few hearts are rap
tured right oil the bat. as It were, and If
statistics on the subject were possible we
would stard aghast at the very great
number that are caught on the rebound or
on the foul
"That Is why I say that half the old
maids one their condition to other wom
en, and half the married women owe their
wifely dignities to old maids and other
men's wives. Very few people marry th
persons they ought to marry, or reslly
wish to marry.
"For Instance, take the lovers quanel
The simplest, most trilling and Innocent
little lovers quarrel that ever was brewed
In the course of an otherwise supremely
happy, courtship Is eatable of changing
the destinies of anywhere from half a
dozen to twenty perrons.
"I have observed .Just such a wholeshle
upsetting' of the "ordained lives among my
own acquaintance, and to have you. and
so has everybody else.
"Ahd the blame can nearly always be
J
kP
the eve of the second day the Confederate
forces would have won that battle."
A higher tribute could scarcely be paid
to tha generalship of this military genius
than the acknowledgment of superior
strategic powers by his senior officer.
In the cool of a summer evening, finding
the General comfortably ensconced in a
rocking chair on the veranda, I asked him
wfcAt he 'ttocaJM of tha future at the re
&GB6Sg&R&
Talk."
laid to tha fiooT of G Otttr Woman.
Tn every lovers quarrtl there U al
ways the Other Woman, a whola battalion
of her. in fact, lying In ambush, ready to
capture the heart on Its rebound.
CATCHING A HEART
ON THE REBOUND.
"And the heart Is ususlly captured, and
that pretty quickly. For there Is nothing
In the world so easy for a woman to do
as to make a man propose marriage who
has quarrelej with tha woman ha loves.
It is one of the psycho'egical mysteries
which can never be quite explained. It Is
not due to wounded vanity, as most peo
ple imagine; It Is not due to a deftra for
revenge. It seems to be a more funda
mental ra'nn than any of thee.
"A man may quar-el with any other per
scn on earth save the woman he loves and
not lose his Judgment, but when he quar
rtls with her the very foundations of his
Judgment become shattered. He up and
marries the first woman who comes along
and says boV In a sympathetic tone. And
then tho woman whom he really loves
and really wanted to marry, she either
makes a brave bet desperate effort to hlda
her mortification by falling back upon tha
nearest available suitor and marrying him
In all tx?j-Ibltj haste or else becomes an
old maid."
"And how about lovers quarrels after
one Is married?"
"They're infinitely worse." she answered
tucking the baby Into the hollow of her
ami. "Quarrels, however pimple their
caue, are dangerous pastimes for any
body, but most of all for people who lova
each other. A wise girl will absolutely
neier quarrel w.th her lover under any
circumstances unless she wants to take
u pretty good risk of lcalng him forever.
And a married woman should never do so
either, for. whether married or merely en
gaged, there Is for a man always BOmi
other woman to whom he can and will
turn and to whom he will not turn in
vain."
A yUERT SUGGESTED
BT THE COW.
The tinkle of the cow tell had been
drawing nearer and nearer, telling cs that
the gentle beast. In her grazing peregrtna
Ikmy. was again approaching tha forbid
den precinct.
With her dainty Aldemey nosa hidden In
the rich green pasture, she had browsed
her way slowly back again to the peram
bulator and to the human kind, which all
ell-bred cons seem to lova with an al
raist human affection.
It seemed an opportune moment to ask a
most delicate and crucial question.
"Do you." I ventured, summoning all
the euphemlim I could command: "do
ou depend upon her?" looking significant
ly toward the cow. which now stood
watching us with her big. mild, beauti
ful eyes, contentedly chewing her cud.
"Oh. my. yesl She Is a Jewell Why, I
don't think she'd so much as speak to a
policeman."
"You misunderstand me," I began
a aln: "I didn't mean tha nurse maid.
b it the cow."
The cow!" In surprise. Tha cowl
What do you. Oh. yest Now I see what
you're driving at," sha laughed. "Tou
want to know whether I am performing
united nation, assuring that a prophecy
from a man who, like himself, had
watched so closely the progress of the
Union: would be of Inestimable worth. H
said:
"I am very hopeful of an Increasing
sympathy and understanding between the
North and the South.
"What little sectionalism there was van
ished la the late war.
VWWAWW4
ET--
thj pacaUar fcncuottl of" tSxt animal r
"Taa,"
"Well, I am." she declared with a
merry nod of her head.
"Do you suppose that Just because I
happened to have written a few books be
fore I got my baby and because I hava
a few strong-minded tendencies I would
handicap her In the beginning by giving
her a bottler
"But." I objected, "bringing up babies
artificially Isn't nece-witUy restricted to
strong-minded and literary motherhood.
Is ltr
"No, certainly not; but It Is neverthe
less tha strong-minded tendencies of tha
motherhood of to-day which hae to
bear tha blama and brunt of all this
Idlotlo talk about race suicide, and It Is
tho strong-minded woman who is sup
posed to bo tbi least motherly of mothers
and the least wifely of wives. j I
"Why la It that people still harp so
senseiessiy uwui wi ......- -tlona
of the clever woman?"
"Why can't clever women marry and
make.' Just as good wives as more com
monplace ones?"
"Can a woman not bend her cleverness
to see that her house U In order, and her
dinners well cooxea. ana mo
sewed on?
buttons
"Da von suBOOsa that because
ah
knows Greek she cannot bo In lave?
"Do you suppose because the went
through higher mathematics ha never
pressed a flower he gave her? Do they
think that an acquaintance with biology
kills blushing In a woman?
I wonder If they think that philosophy
keeps a girl from crying herself to sleep
because she thinks he doesn't -are for
her. and If a knowledge of logic keeps
her from growing Idiotically glad when
ha tells her he does?"
SATS MODERN "DONTS"
ARE NOT TO BE REGARDED.
Lillian Bell Bogus the 8eeond had fallea. j
fast asleep on her clever mother's hotoj"k j
The nursegtr! came and dropped a sotti j
coverlet over tho little dreamer, whlla
the cow. with dainty diffidence, poked her
head Jnto the billowy depths of ths.per
ambulator. "Do you "believe tn the scientific bring
ing up of a child?" I asked.
"Sclentlflc nondensel Indeed. I do not,
I believe In baby talk, and I talk It to my
baby. I believe In rocking, too, soma
tlmes. and I hava a cradle for my baby.
I believe In cuddling, and cuddle my baby
to my heart's content.
"What'a tho use of having a baby If
you can't do all these foolish things which
the club women try to teach us are un
scientific and unhygienic? No, Indeed!
I'm going to be foolish.
"I'm going to enjoy my baby. Uk ev
ery mother should.
"And. moreover, when my baby gets old
enough to need It and naughty enough to
deserve It I shall spank her."
"Tou are an old-fashioned mother." I
commented.
"Yes. Indeed!" the Lady of the Book re
plied. "Whatever I have been as an Old
Maid, you may depend upon it I am go
ing to be an oid-Fashioned Motaer.
And she lifted a warning Anger as
nurseirlrl came a-tlntoelne to the dellca
cat
task of transferring sleeping babyhood.
"We are more and more one people, and
the Investments in commercial enterprise
by each section In the other will strength
en the bond so that It will become Indis
soluble. With this accomplished tha
United States must become one of the
greate-". of world Powers."
Just at this time a train drew up, and
from his chair the General caught sight
g. a company of "regulars' en route to
Fort McPherson. The platform wa
crowded with pretty maidens, at whonvlfct
young soldiers stole many an admlrb
glance. General Longstreet looked at thsS
smilingly, and then, as though his mind
reverted to srenes of twoseore years ago,
grimly remarked: SoldIerIng Isn't what
It used to be."
TRIAL YET TO COME.
Hard as General Longstreet had fought,
much as he had suffered the wounds at
conflict, the greatest trial wa yet to coma.
After the guns had silenced and the dova
of peace was supposed to have alighted
In every American home, it was his mls
fortunn to be misunderstood, his hardship
that alleged friends and a misguided peo
ple could not fathom the depth of princi
ple In the man.
If he wai great In war he was greater
In peace, and It remnlned for Lee's mighty
"War Horse." the thunder of whose guns
had echo"! around tho world, to display
In th days of a war troubled peace a
courage that outshines the deed, of Ma-nas-n.
Ch'cknmauca. Fredericksburg, the
WIMeenese ! Gt-ttyahnrg
In 1s President Grant nnpi'nted Mm
Surveyor of Cuitoms at New Orleans' yd
had even sent hln name to CongressJe
fore consulting the General about it.
After resigning that rotltfon. f 'ir years
later. General Longstreet resided In tha
South, excepting tho period spent a" M'n
Ister to Turkey under President Hires,
ard still later, and norr h'. duties as
Commissioner of Railroads, to whlrh po
sition he was called bv PresIJent MeKln
ley, necessitate his resldenc: in WasPing
ton. I requested General Longstreet to give
me some recollections of people he had
met. and In reply he referred me to some
thing he bad written some ten years be
fore. He referred to meeting his oM nurse.
"Daniel." at what was once the family
home. In Macon. Miss. To quote the Gen
eral: He calls promptly when I visit Macon
and looks for something to remember you
by.'
"During my last visit he seemed more
concerned for me than usual, and on one
of his' calls asked:
"Marse Jim. do you belong to ia
church?" "V
fear
"Oh. yes-, I said. I try to be a-iood
Christian.
"Something must have scared you
mighty bad to change you so from what
you was when X bad to care for you, .
?
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