The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 9, May, 1835Various
History
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. I., No. 9, May, 1835
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
As woman then cannot conquer by physical strength, she must depend
upon other attributes of a more passive quality. The following little
anecdote well illustrates the characteristic differences between the
sexes in this respect. I was once giving a handsome and accomplished
lady a description of the Menagerie Royal at Paris, and was describing
the apartment of a large ferocious lion that had been brought from
Africa. The apartment was double, with a partition wall between the
chambers. Whilst the lion would be in one chamber eating, it was the
custom of the keeper to go into the other for the purpose of cleaning
it out, taking care to shut the door between them. One day he
neglected this; and the lion leaving the meat which he had been
devouring, suddenly entered the room, advanced to the man, who backed
against the wall, then leaped upon his breast, and looked him steadily
in the face. Just at this point, I paused and asked the lady, for she
seemed agitated, what she would have done in a similar crisis. Her
answer was characteristic indeed: I would have _kissed_ him! Now I
assert that there is not a man in the wide world who would have ever
thought of appeasing the wrath of the monarch of the forest by a kiss.
His power does not depend on a kiss. From him it is not sufficiently
appreciated to make it coveted by others, and therefore a source of
his power. But with woman it is far otherwise; it is one of her most
potent means--a sort of reserve, not to be resorted to but under the
pressure of necessity. Had you addressed the same question to man, he
would have told you, that he would have stood quiet and firm, (as did
the individual just mentioned,) till assistance could be brought; or
he would have summoned up all his courage and all his strength for one
desperate effort, and attempted to hurl the lion from him; but never
would he have thought of purchasing his life by giving him a kiss.
This is one of woman's resources in the hour of peril, and woman alone
would ever have thought of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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