The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1884-02-16
A Wolf In Sleeps Clothing

Philadelphia Press.
The idiosyncrasy of the woman who assumes
the attire of man and that of man who puts
ON the parb of female would seem to be much
alike. But the difference in the motives of the
two cases is not broader than the difference in
the consequences In nearly all the numerous in
stances brought to light within few months OF
the detection of woman under the coat off man,
the deceit has been practiced simply that the
woman might gain credit for having greater phys
icaI strength than women usually possess.
Woman has found the physical feebleness of her
sex to stand in the way of her gaining employ
ment outside of those occupations which are al
ready overcrowded by women. She has put on
mans attire in order that she might earn living
by hewing and carrying or by performing some
other work which men have assumed to appropri-
--ats to themselves. As far can be learned from
q number of cases recorded, she has succeeded
very well. She has performed the work so that
her employer could not tell that his employee was
not man or she has managed business so that
persons dealing with her never suspected that
she was one of sex whose business capacity they
are accustomed to underestimate. Her deceit has
usually been discovered by some triaing accident,
and she has usually been marched off to Jail by a
policeman, though she has wronged no one, harm
ed no one, cheated nobody nor committed any
more serious offence than that of wearing the
clothing which custom has accorded to the oppo-
site sex.
1t can easily be maintained that a lamb in
ruoIf,a oIoth;nr 10 vary much dan1erous than
o wolf in sleeps clothing. The woman in mans
attire cannot do near much damage among
men as if she were clad in silk dresses snd deco
rated with ribbons and laces. But the wolf who
puts on the sleeps clothing and goes among the
lambs seeking whom he may devour, is danger
Gus because he takes the flock unawares. He is
the poacher whom the policeman ought to march
off to Jail. Think of the condolences which he
has shared, the innocent secrets into which he
has unwillingly been admitted. No man ever
understands a woman, because no woman ever
wants him to. But Jane Catherine Payne, the
man who for thirty-fve years has lived in the
vicinity of Winchester, W. Va, and all that time
has been known only as a woman, has by stealth
gained an entrance into the woman's world and
an opportunity to understand women, which most
men would have refused if it had been offered on
the same conditions. How well it speaks for
woman that this man, after living thirty years
as a woman among women, should at last declare
himself to be man in order that he might marry
o woman. The women who all their lives knew
him as woman are indignant at his imposture.
They have right to be indignant. They would
be justified in demanding that the wolf who had
donned the sleeps clothing and frisked among
the lambs should be punished for his deceit, if for
nothing else. But how well women stood the
test of this close and confidential, if unwilling
intimacy can best be learned by the mans mar
rage. 1t is clear that woman underestimates her.
self when she is unwilling that man should un-
derstand her.