The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-19
OTHER PEOPLE AND /.

mas started an eight page, semi weekly paper In
Henderson, N. c., called Southern Woman"
Ii Miss Mamie publishes her journal for the ex.
elusive benefit of Der family circle and admirinG
friends, comment has no business with her names
out II, as is probable, this new semi weekly
goes forth into great, unsympathetic, unsenti
mental world, that isn't susceptible to the
cnarms OF pet names, and doesn't care a buttoH
whether its entertainment comes from Miss
Mamie or plain Mehitable, then shall ar
raign this young person, editor, publisher. pro-
pr'etor, or what not. at the bar of the unbe-
"lgged common sense of the nineteenth century,
and thus and thus shall 1 say: Miss Mamie
chrlstened Mary, surnamed Hatchett: Could
you by going up and down the length
| and breadth of your land and
searching industriously in all the devious ways
and dark corners thereof, find one single editor.
publisher, proprietor or literary confrere of
yours whatsoever who subscribed himself to the .
public Mr.. Johnnie O. Smith, And considering
that mon have managed these things with GER
tain percentage of profit for so many years be-
fore you thought of it, would it be entirely Inc
compatible with your dignity to consider their
methods, in so far as they make for righteous
nessf Furthermore. before this tribunal ac-
quits you on the ground of the first oense, what
do you want the public to expect of Southern
Woman! From Mary L. Hatchett one might
look for ideas, but from Miss Mamie-forgiva
Interpretation might iustfably average de-
!ectable recipes for chocolate caramels,
and eliminate in superior patterns for
darned net founces. do not say
that we should get nothing better.
only that it would be excusable TO
expect nothing better. 1t is a pity that women
| learn SO slowly to deal impersonally with the
world. This clnging to petty dignities and en-
dearing diminutives goes far toward putting an
element of incongruity between them and their
work, and gives it character often undeserved-
ly fiippant and frivolous. I should not feel dis
posed to intrust to lawyer Jennie Jones my last
summers suit or my title to fresh air; nor would
l-such is purbind public prejudice-incIine to
consult DR.. Flossie Flirt, unless her reputation
counterbaanced her sign, in the last extremity
of valuable cat. Workingwomen may expect
the appreciative support of the public, solidifed
into the coin of the realm, or possibly its bank
| notes; respect and even admiration are also
attainable; but to demand the caressing affection
1t reserves for its nurseries and semnaries is tor
merit its derision and usually to receive it.
|
Concerning sentiment, have often and vainly
regretted that in the beginning, when the un-
| movable created a molecule and vegetables
| were evolved in bucolic succession and mon
keys with the power of annuling the entail,
and finally the unknowing and Mr. Herbert
| Spencer, that there had not been more equi-
table arrangement with regard to this somewhat
overestimated quality. Why all masculinity
should walk dryshod the worlds highways and
| the footsteps of femininity be forever traced by
the drippings of their sentiment-saturated gar
rnents like the oil that Aaron's beard ran down,
is more of puzzle to me than any theological
conuudrum whatever. And especially why we
should be so drenched with the colorless flavor.
less fluid that even when we sit in council and
one rises eloquent, single gesticula-
ton should besprinkie us all I do
| not attend a suffrage convention for
the exercise of my emotions, and / confess
should like to 60 to a temperance meeting with
out running the risk of being called "dear
sister," Upon sober reflection, you know,
| nobody wants to adopt the ssterly relation with
glorious impulse, to lot of damp females of
| possibly questionable orthodoxy and unrecepted
millinery bills. And when you sit in your place
| and wait for strong statement or trenchant ideas,
or promising plans. and Mrs. A. opens the delib.
erations by asserting, with tears in her eyes, her
conviction that this is good work, and ordered
of the Lord, you feel that she has not speeded
its consummation; and when Mrs. B. continues
them by the statement that her heart went out
to Mrs A, whom she never saw before, what
can you do but wish it would stay out and shut
the door2 Men don't fraternize prolniscuously
in public, and in some things men are very
sensible
suppose this sentimentalism is the platform
exhibition of the ''womanly intuition and emo
tonal force" that is to clarity politics when poll
ticians have the grace to make it vocal in theiE-
assemblies Now, apart from the fact that it is
not politics, but politicians, that require clarif-
cation and the other fact that the process might
| find more desirable opportunities thaf the very
den and act of their iniquity, it seems to me
that better reasons than this might be urged for
placing the power of the ballot in the hands Of
women. Nothing is more unconsciously drafs
matte than womans cutlery against suffering,
which is often hers through no fault of her own;
nothing more beautiful in all the dim world Of
distractions than the intuitions with which she
| guards the hearthstone she has made sacred; but
if she asks the ballot by virtue of her ability to
sorrow eloquently or to know what is best for
The baby, it seems to me that she
| will be sorely puzzled to know what to do with
it when it is hers To hear the prophecies Of
some enthusiastic suffragists one might fancy
that, with fair proportion Of noble purposed
women aboard, the ship of state waited along
with an emotional rudder and intuitonal sails,
would be ever assured of peaceful voyage to a
fair haven. Yet weather beaten navigators
whom we are to teach more excellent way, will
| tell us that our intuitions must go overheard
and our emotions be made to subserve facts.