THE IDEAL MAN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 13 November 1913, Page 2

THE IDEAL MAN.

. r^lo Ideal Man, such as young girls picture to themselves in their romantic dreams, iy rarely found outside the pages of a novel. Again and again wo have seen men who individually possessed a few of the qualities which go to make up the Ideal Man, but never havo they been all combined in a single specimen of humanity. Not that ho is faultless, but that he is distinctly uncommon, not to say improbable. Every girl has her own conception of the ideal man, who shall presently appeal' in the guise of Prince Charming, and lead her to the altar. Unfortunately, the ldea,l.Man hever ap- { pears, and accordingly, after she lias recovered from her disappointment, j she allows, his role to be taken by some very ordinary Tom, Dick, or Harry; and not merely is she happy, but after a time ,sho begins to loolc with a .sort of contempt on tho jieio of her girlish dreams. The Ideal Man is of such a retiring nature that he has never vet been "snapshotted," but for all that a description of his characteristics may bo easily given by almost any woman '' which would be of valuable assistance to i-be police, were such a person cor likely to be "wanted." First of all, of course, he is strong. Woman adotres strength, and accordingly her hero must be ondov/e 1 with ; kt-.iomenal otumgth < I' mind, son| r ftiid body. Of all three if possible; but strength of some kind is absolutely i ,:.<-VH'y if it bo .>n)v that of muscles; and though she may finally wed an utter weakling, you will find either slui has glorified him into a hero wlio'has been worsted in a grim battle with fate, and therefore is to lie honoured; or that sho lias for him an almasb maternal pitying love, not perhaps entirely unmixed with scorn. In a line with strength comes courage. To a woman who, by reason of her nature, cannot expect to bo able to conquer by force, this seems a godlike attribute. She may over, come Iter foes by strategy, but ho must challenge them boldly, and by sheer force and courage must tri- ' umph over them. I

Besides being biave and strong, the Ideal Man must be large, r.ot necessarily in stature —though he generally is so —but large in mind, heart, and sympathies. He must take a big vie\f of life as a whole, and not limit his regard to his own little bit of it. She dislikes a man who worries about details, and, with an expressive gesture, will say: "That is all very well for women, but for a man to be interested in details, and to want to know tho ins and outs of everything, is ridiculous!" The Ideal Man is often despotic, but his despotism is never unbearable, since whatever tyranny he may perpetrate, it is always evident that he us continually worshipping woman. Ho never takes her to task for letting his fire out, or for neglecting to sew on his buttons, though ho may keep her a close prisoner for a month on the bare suspicion that if she went out sho would probably catch cold. Ho may be as despotic and able as he likes, provided always that it is evident he is thinking of her, and not of himself. A woifian's Ideal Man is not overburdened -with virtue; in fact, she may even suspect him to be "rather fast"; but having ,tho vaguest idea of what that may mean, sho may regard it as rather interesting than otherwise, and proof positive that he is "every inch a man" aa her hero is bound to be. What she hates above all things in a man is any little fioble that is supposed to belong exclusively to her own sex.

She is not always exactly discriminating, and sometimes she will mistake tho modesty and diffidence of a hero in embryo as evidenec of a want of .manliness, and will describe him as "ladylike" that being the most damning reproach that she could possibly hurl at him. Mere "cheek" she sometimes mistakes for manly courage; but when; all is summed up it is quite clear that the Ideal Man has just those qualities that women generally lack, such as strength, courage, and authority.