The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 14, 1902, Page 25

OU'VE often heard of the confl- I suppose, but have confidence 1 my- a confidential I define a rticular rep- bécause of ve for talking, is con- ou of the doings of her hbors, scquaintances and nothing short. of ' a discharge or a streak of n ever shut off the linguistic confidential woman. t confound this type with e gessipy woman. They &re far removefl h from the wther. The woman jof con-? e talks, not with malicious -intent; Bécause she can't. help hersélf—and/ he never tries or tires. On the other of gossip starts her when, with mall- ought, she starfs out:to ks uble, and mayhap, break ® hearts: and cause a few divorces by sinister nod- s of ;her head and magnified and em~ he co! besides l\:et' having malice in her soul, does not dis- tort statements; nor does she color her words by the peculiar mannerisms em- ployed by expert gossips. She simply is in = chronic wound-up state and must either talk or explode. She doesn't care to explode, and therefore she talks about everything and everybody. I.dare say that at times her words make mischief, but such an effect is far from her mind when she repests her confidences. And the rest of the world knows that this is admiring the confidential woman For &l of us mortals—men as much as Weomet—love to be taken into some one’s Sonfidence, especially if that some one s The esuldence woman reigns whenever end wherever two or thres are gathersd fagether for social or serious purposes. Pesides the drewing-room and the ednestay evening prayer-meeting, her faverite place of Gisbursing her wares is she manages to extract the sum tetal of all that d&trectly or indirectly concerns you. An expert econfidence woman al- ways éoes this so that she will be able %o tell the next friend she meets all the pews sbout “dear Mra Bo-and-8e, whom 1 was talking to & few minutes ago in the strestosr.” Then, after she bas replenished her stock fn talk &t your expense, the con- fdential woman opens suddenly with all her batteries. She leans over and whis- pers, “Did you hear about’ poor Mra, JonesT™ and before you cin edge In a reply, she has her hand to ber mouth her endless chain of £ | § i ] published for Bunday-school circulation. Ble reveals herself as the latest edition of the news column, with social, theatri- eal and religious notes thrown in, for she knows all about the public and pri- wvate life of every one whose name she bas ever heard, from the Mayor of the town down to the humblest “coon” coal heaver. Bhe is ® human sieve—she can’t kesp anything to herself. And you sit and listen and drink it all in and smile st and scquiesce with the amiable little chatterbox at your side, notwithstanding that you know full well that, as soon &s your back is turned, her tongue will be chattering like a thing pos- sessed about you. In sooth, our curiosity leads us to enjoy &ll that she may msay, end the risk that we ourselves brave in knowing that we, too, will receive our share of attention adds to the faséina- tion that envelops the confidential woman. ' If you meet her at some large publie function you find the confidential woman not only & mine of information. but no end of fun throughout If you sit with ber during the grand promenade you have seized the best possible place of vantage. Ehe knows the complete, unabridged and umexpurgated ’ histories of every man or woman in the line. It goes without say- ing, therefore, that she cannot be aught else than entertaining and that you can- not be other than exceedingly interested. And as you sit by her side and your head is close to her, behind her fan, these are some of the things that you add to your store of social knowledge: Bhe' points out the pretty girl in red and the man with the big brown mustache andtells you, in strictest confidence, that the ‘girl- runs after him from dawn till sundown. - If you ask how she happens to - know, she will shrug her shoulders and apswer in a most impressive and mysterious way “that she knows,” and 4is the first to tell you of Maud's engagement. g Likewise she knows, almost as soon as the .happy father, that a new baby has come to Smith’s home. Bhe chatters that Jack Dashaway neg- leots his pretty; wife most cruelly and that & sensation is brewing in that quar- ter—sure. " B BShe wonders, and says others are won- dering,. too, how Mrs. Newlywed can af- ford to dress so extravagantly, considering her husband’s none too remunerative po- sition. Perhaps:Mrs. Newlywed's parents gave her a snug sum whep she was mar- ried. * And so her tongue keeps wagging.on as the hours go by.: SBhe is always perfectly good-natured as she talks, and the idea of creating trouble is never in her:mind, but often, by the things that she, enu- merates, she unintentiondlly plants the seeds of distrust and suspicion in”many of her hearers’ hearts. She quite inno- cently tells a wife that she saw her hus- band bowing and gushing over the wife's most intimate friend. She tells it as a huge joke, but she fails to discount the heartache thet is the. pith of the joke. In other words, her love for talk and to talk has negatived discretion and blunted the keen edge of delicacy, and she for- gets about the sting of the bee that ac- companies the honey. The confidential woman likes to pose as well informed, and her vanity, rath- er than a mean spirit, is responsible for her little fallings. She has the necessary amount of refinement that keeps curiosity in check and never betrays it, but her whole personalit} seems to attract all the news that is in the air. It clings to h 88 do the snowflakes of winter, and she distriputes the news as carelessly and thoughtlessly as she shakes off the flakes, The confidential woman carries about her an air of mysterious importance that is calculated to prove an open sesame wherever she may choose to appear. Every one likes her because she exhibits no malice and is full of shocks and prises, both amusing &nd entertaining. The confidential woman does not talk of herself; she has too much to tell of the rest of mankind. She is the latest news edition, with a few extras thrown in. She bristles with importance and simply loves to talk and—oh, well, she can’'t exactly help that—because—she is a woman. “COLONEL KATR.” T TREST SRR NND eX TRl TS FmOr Vov rHE SUr? rorAL or NLL THAT CONCERIT VYOV EDITION — 1902