Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1869-12-03
woman Lecturers.

/
The Independent speaking Of Ks'e
Fields lecture upon "Life in the Woods,
at S.einway Hall, New York, says:
"The most marked fact in her audience
was its large proportion Of Intelligent and
Intellectual men. Men like to be read to
usually by q sweetvoiced woman; it suite
their tiredness, their laziness, their love of
music, and their delight in being admins.
tered INTO. They make no small ado,
some of them, about woman "lecturing"
to more than one but it is noticeable that
almost all Of them 60 to hear her once. and
then, if she is contented toappear woman,
they are very sure to 60 again. We can
not, with any show of fairness, blame these
brothers Of ours if they decline to 60 .
second time to see woman stride, brand
ish, aud gesticulate, or to hear her scold in
the tones Of . terraChnt and the words Of
shrew. For = y credit Of women, We are
glad that such woman speakers are few,
and equally sorry that few have cast their
dubious shadow upon profession to which
gentle women may bring all the grace Of
their culture and the finest charm of their
womanliness. Whatever woman may some
times be on the lecture platform, "Woman
in the Lyceum' is a very pleasing object.
But, as no man is going to fly to Heaven
ON the wings of his reasonableness or Of
unsel6shness, we are in nowise surprised
to see these creatures, who proclaim SO As
tutely against woman's rights elsewhere,
sitting in Steinway Hall, behind lovely
neckties and unexceptionable kids, listen
ing in serene delight to Kate Field-not
for the sake of any principle, mind you,
not at all, but because ''she pleases mel"
Well, she pleases most Of us. She scarce
~ recalls the thought Of a lecturer. Her
method is entirely her own-pare, woman
~, without the suggestion of the masculine
1t is that of graceful, richly.attired wom-
an reading by parlor table a well-written
narrative of her own life in the woods. Her
manner is grace itself, her voice clear mu.
sic, her elocution almost faultless. Be-
cause she never jars their ears, or their
most fastidious tastes, these innocent NOR.
tails of men smilingly listen, and never for
q moment seem to realize that the maid be-
fore them, with her azure dress and gold
fan, is in herself an absolute illustration
and incarnation of woman's rights. The
deluded beings don't realize it even when
she tells them that she wore boomers in
the Adirondacks made q pillow Of her
c,rpet-bag, full of bottles and boots; shot
buck, and afterward "felt sorry for it"
We rejoice in her success, as we always re.
joice in the success of every woman who,
with clear cad, honest heart, and patient
hands, does ne work which she is best fit
ted to do, without asking Of any mortal the
right to do it, having received that already
in the gift of her Creator.
In recent work on China by the Rev.
Mr.. Nevins, occur some amusing illustra-
tons oftranslating from English into the
Chinese jargon known as pigeon English.
The author says: II saw, before leaving
China, a translation into this dialect, by an
Englishman, of the address familiar to most
school-boys, my nane is Norval on the
Grampian Hills my father feeds his fock,'
etc., a few sentences of the beginning of
which many be given, by way Of illustration,
as follows: MY name b'long Norval. Top
side Keh.lam-pian hill my fader chow-chow
he sheep Hardly a word Of the next SEN
tence, "A frugal swain, whose constant
care is to increase his story has any equiv
alent in this poverty stricken toEgue, so
free translation is made: MY fader very
small heartee man-too much ikee dat
piecie dolla.'"