Fair to Look Upon
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Mary Belle Freeley >> Fair to Look Upon
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FAIR TO LOOK UPON
by
MARY BELLE FREELEY
With Original Illustrations by W. L. Dodge
[Illustration: "I HUMMED A GAY LITTLE TUNE FOR HIS BENEFIT."]
Chicago
Morrill, Higgins & Co.
Copyright:
Morrill, Higgins & Co.
1892
CONTENTS.
A RIPPLE OF DISSENSION AND WHAT CAME OF IT, 11
THE STORY OF EVE, 19
THE ABRAHAM-HAGAR AFFAIR, 29
ISAAC'S WIFE, 47
A WOMAN'S MONUMENT, 67
ANOTHER OF THE WOMEN OF OLD, 83
ALL NAUGHTY, BUT FAIR, 97
STORY OF SOME WOMEN AND A BABY, 107
ANOTHER OF "THE MISTAKES OF MOSES," 123
SOME MANAGING WOMEN, 135
ANOTHER GROUP OF THEM, 151
THE FAMOUS WIDOW OF MOAB, 163
HE GAVE IT UP TOO, 175
ILLUSTRATIONS.
I hummed a gay little tune for his benefit, _Frontispiece_.
He held my milk-white hand in his, 13
Our first parents, 17
While Adam was idly, lazily sunning himself in the garden, 25
The Serpent did tempt me, 28
And the men watched to see her go by, 33
And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house, 37
Abraham entertaining the three angels, 41
And he sent Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness, 43
And Abraham went down to Egypt, 44
Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher, 55
I will go, 58
Two little boys played marbles, 59
Esau cheated out of his blessing, 62
And Rebekah was--a woman, 64
And there came two angels to Sodom, 69
And Lot went out and tried to pacify them, 71
Lot's wife looked back, 75
Look not behind thee, 80
Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept, 87
And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, 89
She hoped he would excuse her for not arising, 94
Put up his hands in welcome and said "Ah, goo! ah goo!" 115
And every kiss strengthened her determination, 119
They clasped hands lingeringly and said a soft good night, 129
Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, 132
What would'st thou? 139
She let them down from the window of her house, 143
She smote the nail into his temples, 145
Cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, 147
And she betrayed him, 149
Turned her pretty head aside and blushed, 170
And Boaz and Ruth were married, 173
And I said-- 180
A RIPPLE OF DISSENSION
AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
[Illustration: (He held my milk-white hand in his.)]
A RIPPLE OF DISSENSION AND WHAT CAME OF IT.
I was about to be married. My numerous charms and attractions had won
the affections of a young man who was equally charming with myself.
We were sitting on a luxurious divan and he held my milk-white hand in
his. I do not make that statement as a startling announcement of an
unusual occurrence, but simply as a matter of fact.
We had been conversing about the culinary and domestic arrangements of
our future home when matrimony had made us "one flesh;" or, to use
English, we had been wondering what under the canopy a good cooking
stove would cost, when he asked suddenly and irrelevantly,
"And you will love me, always?"
"Of course," said I, a little impatiently; for when one is deep in a
mathematical problem such a question is a little annoying.
"And you will honor me always?" he next inquired.
"As long as you deserve to be honored," I replied, with the habitual
good sense of my age and sex, mentally wondering if granite-ware
stewpans went with a cooking stove.
"And you will obey me?" he queried next, in a tone that plainly
indicated that I'd have to. I left the mathematical problem for future
solution and said, hesitatingly:
"Yes--if--I--can."
"If you can?" he said, in sternly questioning tones; and a cloud no
bigger than a man's hand appeared upon the heaven of our love.
"I don't believe a woman ever lived who ever obeyed any one--God,
angels, or men," I cried.
"You are a traitor. You slander your sex," he exclaimed, aghast.
"I deny the charge," I replied, springing to my feet, with all the
spirit of the above-mentioned age and sex. "By that assertion I only
add glory to their fame." He looked at me for a little while, too
surprised to speak, and then said, in sarcastic tones:
"Consider our wedding postponed until you have had a little time to
study your Bible. Good night."
"'Study your Bible!' That is what everybody says when they want to
prove any theory, creed, ism, or anything. I shall study my Bible
diligently. Good night," I replied, thinking it was not such very bad
advice after all; and then I hummed a gay little tune for his benefit
until I heard the hall door close.
And I have studied my Bible with the following result.
[Illustration: (Our first parents.)]
THE STORY OF EVE.
THE STORY OF EVE.
Away back when Adam was a young man--now I know that Adam is rather an
ancient subject, but you need not elevate your eyebrows in scorn, for
you will be ancient yourself sometime--he found himself in Eden one
day; he did not know why, but we do, don't we?
He was there because Eve was to come, and it was a foregone conclusion
even in that early age that when she did appear she would want some
one to hold her bouquet, open the door for her, button her gloves,
tell her she was pretty and sweet and "I never saw a woman like you
before," you know.
Her arrival was the greatest event the world has ever known, and the
grandest preparations were made for it.
A blue sky arched gloriously over the earth, and sun, moon and stars
flashed and circled into space, silvery rivers ran cool and slow
through scented valleys, the trees threw cooling shadows on the fresh,
damp grass, the birds sang in the rosy dawn, the flowers blushed in
odorous silence and yet it was all incomplete, and Adam wandered
restlessly around like a man who has lost his collar button.
But suddenly a great hush of expectancy fell upon the world. Not a
bird fluttered its feathers, the flowers bowed their heads, the winds
and the waters listening ceased their flowing and their blowing, the
radiant moonshine mingled its light with the pale pink dawn and a
million stars paled their eternal fires, as Eve, the first woman,
stood in Eden.
And the world was young and beautiful. The first flush and bloom was
on the mountains and the valleys, the birds were thrilled by the
sweetness of their own songs, the waves broke into little murmurs of
delight at their own liquid beauty, the stars of heaven and the
unfading blue were above Adam's head--and yet he wasn't satisfied.
Long he stood idly in the brightening dawn wondering why the days were
so long and why there were so many of them, when suddenly out from the
swinging vines and the swaying foliage Eve came forth.
And though there was a vacant look on her lovely face (for her baby
soul had not yet awakened) Adam saw that her lips were red and her
arm white and rounded and he whistled a soft, low whistle with a sort
of "O-won't-you-stop-a-moment?" cadence in the music, and Eve looked
up; and I think at that moment he plucked a flower and offered it to
her; and of course she did not understand it all, but Nature, not
intelligence, asserted her power, and she reached out her hand and
took the rose--and then for the first time in the world a woman
blushed and smiled; and I suspect it was at that very moment that "the
morning stars first sang together."
Woman has never been obedient. She has always had the germ of the
ruler and autocrat in her soul. It was born when Eve first looked with
longing eyes at the apple swinging in the sunlight.
While Adam was idly, lazily sunning himself in the garden was Eve
contented to smell the fragrance of the violets and bask in the
starlight of a new world? Oh no! She was quietly wandering around
searching for the Serpent, and when she found him she smiled upon him
and he thought the world grew brighter; then she laughed and his
subjugation was complete; and then the naughty creature, without
waiting for an introduction, led him to the famous apple tree, and
standing on her tip-toes, reached up her hands and said with a
soul-subduing little pout:
"See, I want that apple, but I can't reach it. Won't you please find a
club and knock it off for me?" and she looked out of the corner of her
eye and blushed divinely.
Now this Serpent represented, so it has always been believed, a very
shrewd person. He saw that this woman had no garments, and that after
she had eaten this fruit she would know better, and delight in clothes
ever after. So he gave her the apple.
Almost instantly after she had eaten some, not because she
particularly liked apples, or had any idea of their adaptability in
the way of pies, sauce or cider, but because she wanted to "be as gods
knowing good and evil," as the Serpent said she would. Discontent with
her wardrobe crept into her heart and ambition for something better
sprang to life.
[Illustration: "WHILE ADAM WAS IDLY, LAZILY SUNNING HIMSELF IN THE
GARDEN."]
In the distance stood Adam. With a thrill of rapture she beheld him,
her aroused soul flashed from her eyes and love was born, and she
ran toward him through the flowers, pausing on the river's brink to
rest, for weariness had touched her limbs.
She watched the waters running south out of the garden, and like one
coming out of a dim, sweet twilight into a blaze of glory she looked
and wondered "why" it ran that way, and lo! Thought blossomed like a
rose, and generosity laughed in the sunshine when she put the apple in
Adam's hand; and Adam, with the only woman in the world beside him,
and the first free lunch before him, forgot all about God and His
commands and "did eat," and the results prove that free lunches always
did demoralize men--and always will. And modesty blushed rosy red when
Adam put the apple to his lips, and invention and ingenuity, new-born,
rushed to the rescue, and they gathered the fig leaves.
Then memory like a demon whispered in her ear: "The day that ye eat
thereof ye shall surely die." She glanced at Adam and deadly fear
chilled the joyous blood in her veins. Then she argued: "He will be
less angry with me, a woman, and His vengeance will fall less heavily
on me than on the man to whom His command was given;" and lo! Reason
rose like a star on the waves of life, and shoulder to shoulder
womanly devotion and heroism that fears neither God nor death in
defense of its loved ones entered her soul, and she instructed Adam to
say: "The woman tempted me," and deception trembled on her lips when
she cried: "The serpent did tempt me," and the tears of regret and
remorse watered the seeds of deception and they grew so luxuriously
that women have always had that same way of getting out of scrapes
ever since.
Yet to Eve belongs the honor of never having obeyed any one--when it
interfered with progress, advancement and intelligence--neither God,
angels nor men.
The women of the nineteenth century make a profound salaam of
admiration and respect to Eve, in whom they recognize the first
courageous, undaunted pioneer woman of the world.
[Illustration: (The Serpent did tempt me.)]
THE ABRAHAM-HAGAR AFFAIR.
THE ABRAHAM-HAGAR AFFAIR.
"And there was a famine in the land; and Abraham went down to Egypt to
sojourn there."
You see Abraham was that charming kind of man--a man with his pockets
full of shekels, for "he was very rich in cattle, in silver and in
gold." So, as provisions grew short in Canaan, and as in those days
when men went on a pleasure trip they took their wives with them,
Sarah accompanied him to Egypt.
Up to this time husbands had only been obedient, but in this age they
began to be complimentary, and as Sarah and Abraham were about
entering Egypt, he said to her, "Behold now, I know that thou art a
fair woman to look upon," and even if it is the first compliment on
record, we must admit, even at this late day, that Abraham was far
advanced in the art of flattery.
Now Sarah was the pioneer, champion, incomparable coquette of the
ancient world, and as such deserves our earnest attention.
We gather from the following events that Abraham realized her
unequaled proclivities for getting in with kings, landlords and other
magnates of the countries through which she was pleasuring, and so he
told her to pass herself off as his sister; and because she believed
it would enhance her chances of having a good time, and as it was
easy, natural and agreeable, she did it, and not because she had any
idea of merely obeying her husband.
Abraham wanted their marriage kept secret because, in those days, when
a lover-king wished to get rid of an obnoxious husband, he hypnotized
him into eternal silence by having him used as a target for a sling, a
spear or javelin, instead of causing an appeal to the divorce courts,
as they do in this civilized and enlightened generation. And I believe
that, after all, the old way is the better one, for when men and women
die, they are dead, but when they are only divorced they are awfully
alive sometimes.
[Illustration: "AND THE MEN WATCHED TO SEE HER GO BY."]
And it came to pass, when they arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians "beheld
the woman that she was very fair," and the men watched on the street
corners to see her go by; and she passed herself as a giddy maiden
with such unrivaled success that she gained a notoriety that would
have made the fortune of a modern actress, and the princes of Pharaoh
commended her wit, beauty and grace to the king, "and the woman was
taken into Pharaoh's house."
The attentive reader will observe that Holy Writ, in speaking of a
woman, never deigns to say that she is virtuous, industrious,
obedient, or a good cook, but seems to ignore everything but the fact
that "she was fair to look upon."
That was all that seemed to be required of the "holy women of old."
And Pharaoh "entreated Abraham well for Sarah's sake" (you notice they
did everything to please the ladies in those days), and loaded him
with riches, presents and honors; and Pharaoh's wives and sub-wives
and cadet wives didn't like it. And the Secretary of the Treasury, the
Prime Minister and the High Lord Chamberlain of the Bedchamber didn't
like it. The neighbors began to talk openly; the scandal "smelled to
heaven;" and the Lord Himself had to interfere to head the fair Sarah
off, and He "plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because
of Sarah, Abraham's wife."
And then--after the preliminary amorous clasping of hands, the little
caressing attentions, the lingering kisses; after the fiery
expectation and the rapture of possession, after all this came--as it
always does--the tragedy of satiety and separation.
"And Abraham went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife and all that he
had."
[Illustration: "AND THE WOMAN WAS TAKEN INTO PHARAOH'S HOUSE."]
Yet Peter, in speaking of the duties of wives, has the temerity to
refer to the "holy women of old," and holds Sarah up as a bright and
shining example for us to follow, saying, "even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him lord." But we won't lay this up against Peter,
for it is a telling fact (and shows the predicament he was in) that he
had to go back nearly two thousand years to find an obedient woman.
There were evidently none in his day, but as he wished to make his
teaching effective and submit some proof to clinch his argument, he
went back to Sarah and said, "even as Sarah obeyed Abraham," which
shows he had never gotten at the real facts in the lovely Sarah's
career, or else was misrepresenting Sarah to carry his point in favor
of the men.
A careful perusal of my Bible convinces me that the "holy women of
old," as Peter dubs them, were all afflicted with a chronic
determination to have their own way--and they had it.
But the men were always obedient to the women, and each one "hearkened
unto the voice of his wife" and also obeyed God and the angels.
At this point in the history of the affable Sarah and the dutiful
Abraham we come to the Abraham-Hagar case, and find the hired-girl
question already agitating society.
And the historian tells us that Sarah told Abraham that he could have
Hagar for his very own, and then the narrator naively remarks, "And
Abraham hearkened unto the voice of his wife."
But of course this is a vile slander against Sarah, and, at this late
day, I rise to refute the charge.
Probably some of Abraham's political friends, when the disgrace broke
forth in all its rosy glory, trumped up this story about Sarah's
consent to save his reputation. But Sarah never did anything of the
kind, as her subsequent actions prove. It isn't human nature; it isn't
wifely nature; and although Sarah was a little gay-hearted herself,
she wasn't going to stand any such nonsense--to speak lightly--from
Abraham, and when she discovered his intimacy with the hired girl she
quietly called him into the tent, and in less than ten seconds she
made his life a howling wilderness. I don't know exactly what she said
(as I wasn't there), but it ended, as such scenes usually do end, by
the dear man repenting. For, since he is found out, what else can a
man do? He said he was sorely tempted, no doubt, and so forth and so
on to the end of the chapter, and said: "Thy maid is in thy hands; do
unto her as it pleaseth thee." And "Sarah dealt hardly with her, and
she fled from her face." But she came back, because you remember she
met an angel in the wilderness, and he told her to return. Nice advice
from an angel, wasn't it?
[Illustration: (Abraham entertaining the three angels.)]
The next scene in which the lovely Sarah distinguishes herself, and
nobly sustains her record for disobedience and a determination to
follow the dictates of her own sweet will, was when Abraham
entertained the three angels.
Now hobnobbing with angels wasn't an every-day affair, even in that
age when angels were more plentiful than they are now.
And Abraham was naturally a little excited, and he "hastened into the
tent unto Sarah," and said: "Make ready quickly three measures of fine
meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth;" and he gave orders to
a young man to kill a calf, etc. And after a while the supper was
served, with all the delicacies the rich and great could afford, and
everything appeared that he had ordered--except Sarah's cakes. They
were simply and inexplicably _non est_.
Of course it was a pretty shabby thing for a woman to go back on her
husband in his hour of need, and when there were angels in the house
too; but she did it, thereby sustaining her reputation for crookedness
and general contrariness as a wife.
And yet it has always been preached to us that we should obey our
husbands "even as Sarah obeyed Abraham." Well, we're willing, since
all she had to do was to look pretty, be agreeable, and do exactly as
she pleased.
But the very fact that Sarah has been held up as an example for us to
follow proves that the men had not read up her record intelligently,
or else in their extremity they were presuming on our ignorance while
trying to enforce order and submission.
But that was not the worst of it. When she heard the angel tell
Abraham that she should have a son she ridiculed the idea.
She had the germ of the infidel in her heart, and lacked Abraham's
credulity, and would not believe anything, even if an angel did say
so, unless it was backed up by reason and common sense, and so she
laughed behind their backs.
Now it appears that angels object to being ridiculed as well as other
folk, and when they heard her giggling they demanded to know the
reason of Abraham. It was exceedingly naughty for her to place her
husband in such a predicament, and when she found she was getting the
whole family into an uproar she denied the charge, which shows that to
her other charming and wifely qualities she added the art of
equivocating.
[Illustration: (And he sent Hagar and Ishmael out into the
wilderness.)]
After that Abraham "sojourned in Gerar," and again the seductive Sarah
charmed the great king, and again the Lord had to interfere and settle
the affair.
When Isaac was born Sarah was more exacting and jealous than ever of
Hagar, and said to Abraham: "Cast out this bond-woman and her son; for
the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son."
[Illustration: (And Abraham went down to Egypt.)]
"And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight," but he
"hearkened unto the voice of his wife," like the dutiful and obedient
husband he was, and he sent Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness.
And even to this day the women who are guilty of Hagar's crime are
remorselessly sent out into the wilderness of desertion, despair and
disgrace--and it is right and just!
We are told that "fashions change;" but Sarah inaugurated a fashion
that wives have followed to this day, and will follow till the ocean
of eternity shall sweep the island of Time into oblivion.
And so endeth the chapter of the second prominent woman of "Holy
Writ."
And Abraham was always "obedient," and "hearkened unto the voice of
his wife;" and Sarah was a lawless, crafty, coquettish--but never
obedient woman.
ISAAC'S WIFE.
ISAAC'S WIFE.
And Abraham said unto his servant, "Thou shalt go unto my country and
to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac."
But the servant, who was evidently a student of female character and
knew
"That when a woman will, she will,
You may depend on it;
And when she won't, she won't,
And there's an end on it;"
said: "Peradventure, the woman will not be willing to follow me unto
this land."
Then Abraham, who was a connoisseur in feminine ethics (as he
naturally would be, having had such able instructors as Sarah and
Hagar) and realized the utter futility of attempting to persuade,
bribe or induce a woman to do anything she objected to doing, said:
"And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt
be clear from this mine oath."
So the servant departed and "went to Mesopotamia unto the city of
Nahor."
Now it seems in those days the girls of Nahor went outside the city
gates every evening, according to Oriental custom, to draw water from
a well, and the artful servant of Abraham tarried at the well at
sunset, for he knew the girls would be along presently.
It was a lovely eventide. The wind touched caressingly the few dainty
flowers drooping their heads in sleepy fragrance, the birds twittered
soft words of love to their nestling mates, the departing god of day
lavished in reckless abandon his wealth of colors; piled crimson
mountains red as his ardent love in the western sky, and robed high
heaven in golden glory that his sweetheart--the earth--reveling in and
remembering the grandeur of his passion and the splendor of his
departure, might not love his silver-armored rival of the night.
About this time the maidens tripped down to the well, where the shrewd
servant stood as the "daughters of the men of the city came out to
draw water," and prayed:
"And let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, 'Let
down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink;' and she shall say,
'Drink,' may be the one I am looking for;" or words to that effect.
The words had hardly passed his lips ere Rebekah, with the color
snatched from the roses in her cheeks and the grace of untrammeled
freedom in her step, skipped down to the well.
And Rebekah "was very fair to look upon." Of course. In relating the
history of these examples who have been held up since time immemorial
for us to follow, the writers of "Holy Writ" never expatiate upon
their virtue, industry, domesticity, constancy or love, but we are
simply and briefly told they were "fair to look upon," and the natural
logical inference is that we shall "go and do likewise."
Belonging to one of the wealthiest and most influential families of
Nahor, of course Rebekah's practiced eye saw at a glance that the
handsome fellow waiting at the well and looking the girls over was a
person of rank and importance; for it is only a logical conclusion
that coming from such a master and bound upon such an errand, he was
surrounded by all the trappings and signs of wealth and luxury that
the times afforded.