LITTLE WOMEN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 204, 27 November 1879, Page 2

LITTLE WOMEN.

(From the Liberal Review.) It may be frankly averred that the assertion of many a little .woman is delightful neither to her husband n-.r to ■anyone else. She may not snap and snarl at you as she docs at him, and she may not insinuate that you are a fool as she might do if you were mated to her, hut she will probably approach you with more or less of a defiant air. As «he draws nigh unto your presence she will perk up her head, just as if she desired to sniff the pure atmosphere or to show her contempt for everything beneath a height from the ground of some four feet. Then she will strut, rather than walk, and talk in the loudest of voices, as if her intention was to convey to you the impression, “ You see that Tarn small, hut I am not defenceless, and if you imagine that I will submit to be imposed upon you are much mistaken.” When you get into conversation with her you discover that she is very loquacious and a very learned party —in her own opinion—and yoti discover also that you must mind your p’s and q’s when you are contronted by her, She will contradict you upon the least possible provocation. Indeed she will often contradict you upon no provocation at all, and she will do so in a way that is calculated to make you feel as small mentally as she is physically. She will artfully endeavour to entrap youlinto all sorts of discussion on matters which you don’t understand, and she ..does, or imagines that she does, in order that she may be enabled to turn on you and rend you. Indeed, if there is one subject upon which you are in a state of the most helpless ignorance, and she has the smallest idea as to what that awful subject is, you may depend that she will take a delight in bringing it up for discussion, and that she will experience a thrill of almost fiendish joy if she can succeed in putting you in a corner. Yet, under favourable circumstances, ' she is able to be agreeable after a fashion. There is a certain briskness of thought and action about her which is not without its charm. 'Provided that ,she can forget that she is very little, and that there may be a disposition on some people’s parts to make light of her on that account, a disposition which she thinks she is bound to fight against with all her might and main—she may make herself pleasant to those who wPI be careful not to rub her up the wrong way. y She will have plenty to say for herself, a bright smile will illuminate her face, and she will take a delight in amusing those who show that they are disposed to think a great deal of her, and to be easily charmed by anything which, she may do. Little women are prone to fascinate big men, but perhaps the}' have a considerable amount of power over men in general. But they are endowed with no such 'Capacity for witchery so far as their .-j sisters arc concerned. Indeed, there is a certain amount of chronic antagonism between little women and other women, and this prevents them from fraternising together with that cordiality with which women who arc in no way physically remarkable can. The ordinary woman will probably tell you,if you appeal to her for an opinion, that the little woman is “ a coi ceited little thing, who gives j herself all manners of airs and graces.” This statement may not be quite correct, but those who generally make it have good cause for believing in its accuracy. The little woman is in the habit of treating them with a degree of scorn, not to say contempt, which is calculated to have a most irritating effect upon their nerves. The constant contemplation of her own insignificance lias ruffled her temper, though her very smallness is, in some cases, a ponfc in her favour rather than against it. But constant fighting, even if it is only .with - shadows, has a decidedly exasperating tendency. Now she is continually doing battle with what she and some others may be disposed to consider her weak point. It is easy to see how keenly she feels the sting of being small. She not only assumes an aggressive attitude towards a great portion of humanity on that account ; she allows the fact to influence her in matters of taste and her every day life. If she has a house she will have everything in it on as big a scale as possible ; she will love . big men and big dogs ; and she will in a variety of other ways indicate her affection for the magnificent as compared with the insignificant. All this may be regarded as a sort of protest on her part against her own littleness. It is another proof that people would like to be just what they are not and to get just, what they lack. Though her foibles and eccentricities arc many, she can be for°"ivgu tiiciUj in view of their causes. At the same time she may be recommended to make herself a little more aggreeable. She would be more agreeable were she}., less egotistical and aggressive. Perhaps v we should say that we have spoken typical little women, not of all little,, women.