Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1881-07-14
THE WISH THAT SHE WERE 4 MAN.

The saddcst expression which comes
from the lips of woman is the wish that
she were man. How infinitely sad
that onc-half OF the race should think
| themselves maliormcd by the Creator.
1t i, an arraignment Of the Creator for
| forming them 10 fate lc-s fortunate
| than the other half Of His children.
! And they recognize that it is mis-
fortune from which not all Of woman's
civil and political rights can deliver
them, ard that all which the most radi.
cal rciormcrs demand cannot relieve
the di-as .cr of this female formation.
The expression of infinite sadness
come. only from woman. Man never
wishes that he had been a woman.
Nor Is this wish made only by woman
whose fate is harder than the general !:
it j. heard from those whose circum-
stances seem fortunate, and who can
CRAFTY their feminine tastes by rich
and elegant apparel. But even when
deckcd with glorics whose texture and
colors make the lily homcly. they still
wish they were men, aud they esteem
mans plain bifurcalcd clothes better
than all their gorgcou, raimcpt.
Men has that which to him j. SUI
prelIc reason for not wishing that be
were a woman. The idea shocks him
with the thought that if hc were Il
woman he could not have the happi.
ness of loving women and Of being
loved. II is not necessary for him to
think further To decide that to be-
changed to a woman would take away
the chief JOY of his life, and indeed
all that makes man. life worth liz.
ing. But no consideration corrclatiyc
to this keeps woman from wishing that
she were a man.
l. there not in this difference some.
thing sadly suggestive that love does
not take 20 deep n hold in woman's
nature as in mau'-y When the thought
of being q woman is suggested to mans
mind, it instantly takes in his relations
to woman, which have become the
great part of his life, all Of which
would never have existed had be been
4 female. He cannot conceive of com
pcn.ation in relations the counterpart
of these, which might be if he were
woman, for he cannot conceive that
they can equal his present experience.
But it i dreadful to hear women
wish they were men, thus, in effect,
wishing that their husbands, lovers.
aud children had never existed; wish.
ing that which Is annihilation to their
present love, and TO all the objects of
it. 1t is dreadful to the fresh lover.
to whom she il all the world, and who
has been told from her lips that he j.
all the world to her, to hear the cx.
preston drop out, as it it were con
slant thought, that she wishes she were
a man. To what nothingnes. docs this
sink the lovcr2
The man who hears woman speak
this, fluids that he i not the first oh.
icct to her, but that her dearest wish
Is another man. And that man would
be no compensation to him. He real
lies that he Is but the secondary object.
aud that she would gladly cut him off
to be man herself. with all which
that implies. As nothing raises mans
conccit so much rs woman's love. so
nothing so cuts it down as the loving
woman's declaration that she would
be man. All this leads him to think
that after all there must be radical
difference in mans and woman's ma.
ture difference more radical than
clothes or external formation.
How vain are all the struggles for
political equality for woman, when she
feels that to be a man is more than
all rights The more she strives for
equality with man. the more keenly
she feels the hard fate of being woman.
One of the most advanced and most
fortunate of the advocates of womans
elevation it was who said that when
she became a mother, and they told
her that it was n girl, she turned her
face to the wall and wept.
Yet womans belief that TO be made
female is a cruel fate may not be we'll
founded. Having never been man
she cannot judge whether his life is
the happier or nobler. Being discon-
tented, and being woman, and seeing
the other half of the race man, she
fancies that mans state is better. But
man is discontented. She would be no
more contented if she we're man. And
still she would find her life as man
bound up and tied down and INSOFAR.
ably tangled with woman, so that she
would have to bear many Of woman's
burdens.