St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-08
Femininity Kicks Because
Every Act Of the Sex Is
Referred to Men.
Some Pointers as to the Best
Way to Reform the Man
81 nish Girl.
Also a Few Suggestions to
Women Not Of the Pass
81 i've, Clinging Sort.

sister. Tired of what? This hearing
every act of woman referred to men.
The bad man is threatened with hell and
the good man is promised heaven. The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of a
mans righteousness, but the way the
world puts it, nothing but the fear of spin
sterhoOd is the beginning of wOman's.
The woman who departs from
the course society prescribes for
her is lost, not to heaven, but
to matrimony. She is saved, not for
God. but for husband. vengeance is
mine and l will repay saith the Lord
to man. vengeance is mine and won't
marry you," saith the man to woman.
Now, if [ am responsible for my life
to men only-come here. Adam, old
boy; for goodness sake, take back the
rib that thou gavest! What is thy
bleached bone to me? Heaven Synony-
nous with matrimOny, is it? | forget.
But remember that the sympathetic
cOmpanionShip of the ideal marriage is
as rare as day in June. l remember
that it is the lucky wife who occupies
the same position among a mans be-
longings that brood mare OF fancy
trotter does. In the one instance the
woman is provided with quarters, pro-
portiOned to her husbands purse and
HIS INTEREST IN STOCK-RAISING.
In the other he keeps her in fine trap
ings and shows her up on all occasions,
with self-satiSfied mice beast and my
property" She is well cared for as an
animal, but the care she gets spiritually
is that which the devil gives his own.
Yet every sermon leveled at the heads
of women is based on the assumption
that it is better to be any kind
of wife than the best kind of woman.
Her duties are all referred to the man
that perhaps will never come, and never
bit do they count the duty the poor
creature owes to herself, Independent
of husbands or any other happy acct
dent of this surprising world.
''This was the button that touched me
OM-a screed, one Of 10000, cOndemning
the fast mannish girl, whose only hold
upon WOmanhOOd is her petticoatS,' and
the woman with ideas. whose unseXing
lies solely in the absence of a wooden
head and conSigning both to the burn
ing torment of single bleSsednesS for
ever.
"The men of the period may think
the 'horsy' girl awfully jolly, but they
do not want to marry her. The men OF
brains may like set-to with woman
of opinions, but they do not want it
for breakfast, dinner and supper. The
student knows that algebra and ismS
are not worth cent to keep household
machinery in good running order.
No! every mothers son of them
will pick out for a wife
the I clinging, modest, womanly
woman who will be content to shine by
. reflected light" You blessed old goose
question of Self-reSpect before the
'horsey'' girl you can never work her
reformation. When you have pro-
nounced the benediction and dismissed
the congregation, your "horSy" girl
will settle her silk hat more firmly on
her head, put her hands in her ulster
pockets, whistle for her dog, and stride
home with the animal at her heels, con-
selling herself with the assurances that
she can have one beast, if, the other
won't have her, and that his loss is her
gain. Nobody will deny but there are
educated fools among Women-to match
the educated fools among men. But it
is the most utter rot to imply that
wOmanlineSs consists in weakness; that
a WOman'S sphere of action is passivity;
that woman, who was born to walk,
must paralyZe her legs and crawl; that
a woman who can shine, must
put herself under bushel and
smother to death; that the efful-
gence of a possible husbands
istence. 1T is absurd to imply that
women WHO'S not an idiot is necessarily
pedant, that a woman'S opinions are
certain death to sound judgment, or
that a wOman'S reasoning faculties al
ways stop short of housekeeping mat
ters. One of the leading lady physicians
of the country said to me not long ago,
$50 far as my experience goes, to be
doctor does not in anyWiSe interfere
with the duties of ahOusekeeper, though
one cannot be physician and maid of
all work'-which is often considered
the same thing as housekeeper. 1t seems
to me the discipline of the practice of
medicine, with the habit of command
essential to its success, can be as prop
erly used in the management of the
household as in the details of case
| know number of women physicians
who are excellent housekeepers, and in
my own experience of nearly fifteen
years, there has been no conflict. But |
would most earneStlyemphaSiZe the prin-
ters.' One duty must claim precedence.
Women are apt to try to do too many
things. 1t is no more needful for
woman who can earn the money to pay
for sewing on buttons, to do such work
herself, than for the head of a banking
establishment to do his own tailoring"
Did you ever hear the likes O. that,
now. girls? 1t is as logical as two and
two make four; and what is true of one
mentally developed woman is true
of another. Educating wo-
woman does not kill her
and make her over. An intelligent
dog is still dog, and any amount of
training cannot change the beast, only to
increase his value. The howl men send
| up because women, when they come to
know how to do better, pie asanter, more
profitable work, acquire a distate for
dishwashing and darning stockings, be-
trays either jealous, or unreaSOning
animal. Dishwashing, scrubbing, cook
ing, darning, are no more essentially
| wOman's work than are saving wood,
shoveling sand, and hOing potatoes, eS
Sentially mans work. Such occupa-
tions, are distinctly the employment
of lower order of beings. AS we adj
vance in civilization and grow in mind
we leave our dirty, diSagreeable work
behind us and earn the privilege of hay
|. ing it done for us by those who, in their
turn and time, shall rise to something
better. For man to consider it an
alarming
SYMPTOM OF DISORDERED WOMANHOOD
because his wife prefers playing the
piano to peeling potatoes, Is about as
sound reasoning as for woman to be-
lieve her husband wanting in manliness
because he does not sit up nights to
shine his boots for the love of the ex-
ercise. Housework is not the light,
healthy, pleasant pastime men are fast
to think it. 1t is nasty. tlresome bust
observation-disclosures as matrimony and
heavy as the wit of blood relation.
Raise yourselves above it, girls. Do it.
if you grow strong-minded until you