The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-07-22
The Wish That She Ms.. . Man.

The saddest expression a.. comes
from the lips of woman is fba fish that
she were man.
This expression of ine,,;. .oJnass
comes only from women NJ never
wishes that he had been a VIZ Nor
IS tins wish made only 10y wo,,lan whose
fate IS harder than the gsnaral. il is
heard from those whose ciro nv,''si
seem fortunate, and who can e,,a tify their
feminine tastes by rich and elaaant APP
parel. But even when daclrod with
glories whose texture and coiors make
the lily holnely, they still m;eb tbev
were men, and they esteem roor's nlain
bnurcated clothes better than ali their
gorgeous raiment.
Man has that which to b;n, : a su-
prene reason for not wisbinor that he
were woman. The idea Shocks him
with the thought that if he Were n woman
he could not have the happiness Of low
ing woman and of being loved II Is not
necessary for him to think further to
decide that to be changed 10 n woman
would take away the chief JOY of his life,
and indeed all that makes n,on's life
worth living. But no consideration cor
relative to this keeps woman from wish
ing that she were n man.
Is there not In this difference some
thing sadly suggestive that love does
not take SO deep hold in women's ma
ture as IN mans? When the thought of
being woman is suggested 10 mans
mind, it instantly takes in his relations
to women, which become the great part
Of his life, all of which would never had
existed had he boon female He can not
conceive of compensation IN rehtions the
counterpart of these, which night be if
he were a woman, for he calssot CON
ceiye that they can equal lEesent
experience
But it Is dreadful to hear women wish
they were men, thus in effect wishing
that their husbands, lovers, aud children
had never existed; wishing that which is
humiliation to their present love, and to
all the objects of it. 1t is dreadful to
the fresh lover, to whom she IS all the
world, and who has been told from her
lips that he Is all the world 10 her, to
hear the expression drop out, as if it
were constant thought, that she wishes
she were man. To what nothlngness
does this sink the lover?
The man who hears woman speak this,
finds that he is not the first object TO her,
but that her dearest wish Is anotherman.
And that man would be no compensation
to him He realizes that he is but the
secondary object, and that she would
gladly cut him off to be Ii man herself,
with all which that implies. As nothing
raises mans conceit so much as woman 5
love, so nothing so cuts it down as the
loving woman's declaration that she
would be a man. All this leads him to
think that after all there must be q radi-
cal difference in mans and woman's ma
ture; a difference more radical than
clothes or external formation.
Yet women's belief that to be made fe-
male is cruel fate may not be well
founded Having never been man she
can not Judge whether his life is the
happier or nobler Being disseminated,
and being woman, and seeing the other
half of the race man, she fancies that
mans state Is better But man is dis
contented. She would be no more con
tented if she were man. And still she
would find her life as man bound up and
tied down and mseparably tangled with
woman, so that she would have to bear
many of woman's burdens Cincinnati
Gazette.