Frost and enervation are mutually repellant. The Northland gives a
keenness and zest to the blood which cannot be obtained in warmer
climes. Naturally so, then, the friendship which sprang up between
Corliss and Frona was anything but languid. They met often under her
father's roof-tree, and went many places together. Each found a
pleasurable attraction in the other, and a satisfaction which the
things they were not in accord with could not mar. Frona liked the man
because he was a man. In her wildest flights she could never imagine
linking herself with any man, no matter how exalted spiritually, who
was not a man physically. It was a delight to her and a joy to look
upon the strong males of her kind, with bodies comely in the sight of
God and muscles swelling with the promise of deeds and work. Man, to
her, was preeminently a fighter. She believed in natural selection and
in sexual selection, and was certain that if man had thereby become
possessed of faculties and functions, they were for him to use and
could but tend to his good. And likewise with instincts. If she felt
drawn to any person or thing, it was good for her to be so drawn, good
for herself. If she felt impelled to joy in a well-built frame and
well-shaped muscle, why should she restrain? Why should she not love
the body, and without shame? The history of the race, and of all
races, sealed her choice with approval. Down all time, the weak and
effeminate males had vanished from the world-stage. Only the strong
could inherit the earth. She had been born of the strong, and she
chose to cast her lot with the strong.
Yet of all creatures, she was the last to be deaf and blind to the
things of the spirit. But the things of the spirit she demanded should
be likewise strong. No halting, no stuttered utterance, tremulous
waiting, minor wailing! The mind and the soul must be as quick and
definite and certain as the body. Nor was the spirit made alone for
immortal dreaming. Like the flesh, it must strive and toil. It must
be workaday as well as idle day. She could understand a weakling
singing sweetly and even greatly, and in so far she could love him for
his sweetness and greatness; but her love would have fuller measure
were he strong of body as well. She believed she was just. She gave
the flesh its due and the spirit its due; but she had, over and above,
her own choice, her own individual ideal. She liked to see the two go
hand in hand. Prophecy and dyspepsia did not affect her as a
felicitous admixture. A splendid savage and a weak-kneed poet! She
could admire the one for his brawn and the other for his song; but she
would prefer that they had been made one in the beginning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account