Wichita eagle., 1888-05-15
THE PERFECT LADY,


church full of people. by saying that be-
cause he held an opinion it did not follow
that it was true, even in his own opinion.
| He only thought that it was true, God
would take care of the truth. He was only
responsible for his conception of the truth.
He had been abused for not being "A prohi-
bitionist. He had fought this matter OF
prohibition from its inception. He was
now getting his reward. He did not be-
! lieve in female suffrage. He might be
wrong. He only asked for hearing. He
then called attention to the fact that ne
had lectured on "The Perfect Gentleman
on the previous Sunday evening, and an
nounced that he would complete the series
by lecturing on The Perfect Child on
next Sunday evening. He said that, as he
had remarked in his previous lee
ture-the male of the human spe-
cies NAV be called--a man,
a gentleman or a gent. They, in his esti-
nation, the most abominable of abbrevia-
| tons. He could never see 1t without
anger. Who would think of saying ladies':
| The female member of the human species
is extremely fortunate in that she can only
be called woman or lady. What do we
mean by the word lady? In England it
| corresponds to lord, and she is lady
whose father is not lower than an earl, or
whose husband is at least a knight. In
| the American sense these ladies are not
always ladies-though generally they are.
| He was remin ded of good story told by
| Lord Lytton When boy he used to see
much of an old lady who was recommend
| by her physicians to take a teaspoonful of
brandy in her tea Her eyeglasses were
not good She could not see well. She
| always poured the brandy in the spoon
held upside down The dean believes in
heridity. The adage says that sit
| takes five generations to pro-
| duce gentleman" The same
must be true of the lady. He was glad TO
see that pride in family grows in America.
We have an immense nobility in the Re
public Look over our history and you
will be surprised to see how much of our
national work has been done by the de-
scendents of the Puritans and of the Cava-
| hers. The former landing in New Eng
land and the latter in Virginia about the
same time. Not the descendants of one
man or of one woman is not longer than
than of another There may be a dozen
generations of ladies and gentlemen back
of anyone without his knowing it.
The lady has certain characteristics in
her education there must be a remember
ance that her mind is feminine. The
masculine mind takes to scenery, art,
philosophy, theology In not one
of these departments has there ever
been female master. In all
of these departments women have
done work, but rot masterful work. This
the Dean said with the highest estimation
of the female mind He did not say that
nature does not now and then place mas
culine mind in a female head. He was not
speaking about the exceptions, but about
the rule. Men have always been the fight
ers, the workers, women have been the
takers care OF the home. He thought that
brigade of women going into battle
would be a rather amusing sight Women
do not realize That when a man votes, if he
does so intelligently, honestly, he virtually
says that as he votes he would shoot if
necessary. One can hardly see how, a
woman could bear the responsibilities of
citizenship Some women seem to think
that there is something dishonorable in
taking care of the home and nursing the
babies What man here does not look
back with love amounting to
worship to the time when
he lay upon his mothers
or stood at his mothers knee. The mother
raises the men of the future When she
rocks the cradle she is rocking possible
empire.
The manly man always admires. loves
and is ready to defend a womanly woman.
was told once BY one Of the most manly
men | have ever met-the executive of the
great overland stage line-that he had
placed hundreds Of women upon stages
and sent them through the hands of the
toughest men he had ever knowfl--the
stage drivers of the mountains and the
plains-and they had always been de
Tended.
On the other hand, though the Dean here
spoke without experimental knowledge
having had the honor of being woman
he rather suspected that womenly women
respect manly men, whether they love them
or not He noticed at one time that no
men generally did not care much for
white fingered fellow who could not strike
a manly blow, but who could train bow
net to perfection, and whose flags coming
half way down his forehead were perfect
in their way Beside him place the woman
who according to the old story came Oh a
train in the south She had been lectur
ing ON Woman's Rights. The coach was
crowded, no one offered her a seat; she
said that that was fine set of gentle
men," A rough fellow SO far forgot him
self as to say: You believe in Woman's
Rights, do you not?" Yes was the an
swer. ''Then exercise them" There are
certain amenities of life which make life
worth livirk that are being trampled I'M
der foot today.
The Dean said that many of the argu-
ments that are considered STRONG in favor
of Woman Suffrage are indeed weak.
Taxation without representation" is
certainly wrong. But how often does the
average rich widow remain widow? Old
maids do not select old mafdhood as an
avocation. Then should we have legisla-
ton in favor OF a class;
The Lean concluded by saying that the
human race can only progress by the per-
feet lady oompIementing the perfect gen
tlemau-by the perfect gentleman correl-
ating the perfect lady
The lecture was logical, eloquent and
perfectly good natured. Il was in the in
terests of the homes of America, out Of
come the men Of America, and when the
women of America await their return.
AIITTLE INCIDENT.