the male initiative, she became dependent, and when in consequence he began to pick and choose with a degree of fastidiousness, and when the less charming women were not married—­especially when “invidious distinctions” arose between the wed and unwed, and the desirably wed and the undesirably wed-woman had to charm for her life; and she not only employed the passive arts innate with her sex, but flashed forth in all the glitter which had been one of man’s accessories in courtship, but which he had dispensed with when the superiority acquired through occupational pursuits enabled him to do so.  Under a new stimulation to be attractive, and with the addition of ornament to the repertory of her charms, woman has assumed an almost aggressive attitude toward courtship.  The means of attraction she employs are so highly elaborated, and her technique is so finished, that she is really more active in courtship than man.  We speak of man as the wooer, but falling in love is really mediated by the woman.  By dress, behavior, coquetry, modesty, reserve, and occasional boldness she gains the attention of man and infatuates him.  He does the courting, but she controls the process.  “Er glaubt zu schieben, und er wird geschoben.”

The condition of limited stimulation, also, in which woman finds herself as a result of the control by man of wealth, of affairs, of the substantial interests of society, and even of her own personality, leads woman to devote herself to display as an interest in itself, regardless of its effect on men.  In doing this she is really falling back on an instinct.  One of the most powerful stimulations to either sex is glitter, in the most general sense, and the interest in showing off begins in the coloration and plumage of animals, and continues as ornament in the human species.  It is true that the wooing connotation of ornament was originally its most important one, and that it was characteristic of man in particular; but woman has generalized it as an interest, and as a means of self-realization.  She seeks it as a means of charming men, of outdoing other women, and as an artistic interest; and her attention often takes that direction to such a degree that its acquisition means satisfaction, and its lack discontent.  Sometimes, indeed, when a woman is married and knows that she is “sped,” she drops the display pose altogether, tends to lose herself in household interests, and to become a slattern.  On the other hand, she often makes marriage the occasion of display on a more elaborate scale, and is pitiless in her demands for the means to this.  A glance at the windows of our great stores shows that men have organized their business in a full appreciation of these facts.  Dressing, indeed, becomes a competitive game with women, and since their opponents and severest critics are women, it turns out curiously enough that they dress even more with reference to the opinion of women than for men.

  The earth hath bubbles as the water has,
  And these are of them.