The Osceola times., 1888-11-17
yooLisHNEss OF WOMEN.
4 Distinction Between Foolishness ana s
Lack OF Proper Training.

Lack Of Proper Training.
How far is 1t actually true that women
do sensible things In foolish mannerp
We must remember, to begin with, that
the way in which things are done, even
more than the capacity Of doing things,
depends on habit and training. The
farmers daughter will 60 into the barn,
bring out old Dobbin, and have him all
harnessed. while the inexperienced city
boarder, man though he be. is speculat-
ing how to get the narrow collar over
the bulging eyes, ending, perhaps. in
attempting to prove automatically,
like Coleridge on his pedestrian tour
with Wordsworth, that the thing is ut
terly impracticable. The fisherman's
daughter will pull or sail her fathers
dory out TO the reef while the fresh.
water fisherman, whom she carries a.
passenger, can only balance himself un-
easily in his seat or cling desperately
to the gunwale. Nay, the sailor who
has been round the world in a man-of.
war may gladly resign himself to being
padded by a young French girl down
the rapids of the Saguenay, finding
himself rated only as so many pounds
OF helpless freight on board. What We
call doing thing sensibly or foolishly
is not, three times out Of four, matter
OF instinct or natural fitness In any
way, 1t is a question Of training.
II would, OF course, be foolish to
assert that sex creates no inherent dif-
ferences in the way enterprises are un-
dertaken or tasks done; but It is GER
tain that the domain OF these differ
ences is being steadily narrowed as
education becomes equalized and oppor-
tunities thrown open. II was once
accepted as a sort Of axiom, not merely
that women could not uwith propriety
learn to swim, but that they could not
learn it at any rate, or only very clum-
silly, at least this side Of the South Sea
Islands, whereas now they are taught
swimming as naturally and readily as
boys Fifty years ago q well-known
teacher Of bookkeeping in Boston,
complained that 1t was sin the face Of
ridicule and sneers" that he took
women as pupils, whereas now ono can
hardly enter a shop without seeing a
young woman shut up in a glass case for
this very occupation. She Is doing Q
sensible thing, and nobody claims that
she does it foolishly.
There are undoubtedly many such
things, however, which a woman often
does in a manner tending to exasperate
the merely masculine mind; such as,
for instance, asking many times Of
many different railway officials at what
hour certain train will start, although
1t is distinctly announced upon the
timetable; or standing in front of the
psying-teller's pigeon-hole at a bank,
counting out fourteen dollars and
eighty-seven and half cents, which
she has just drawn, while ten hurried
business men are waiting for her to
stand little on one side, where she
could do her counting much more con-
veniently; or tying up a parcel with
three different kinds Of strings, all SO
curiously interlaced that the bundle
comes open in her hands when she final
ly turns IL over TO address IT, Yet
neither Of these exasperating actions
is properly to be called foolish, or
even inconsiderate; they are merely
because she has not had, as yet,
equal experience in affairs with the
men around her. She asks unneces-
sary questions at the railway station
because she reads upon the printed
timetables that the railway company
reserves the right TO alter hours with
out previous notice; and she asks
good many people because the company
does not, as it should. keep special
enquiry Office" conspicuously placard-
ed, where all answers would be final.
She holds closly TO her post at the
bank because she has seen notices,
there or elsewhere, that mistakes must
be rectifed before leaving the desk. or
not at all. She ties up the parcel i'm
perfectly because she was not taught
In five minutes, as she might have been
when a child, to put slip-noose
round the poor bundle, and then 10
secure 1t with three consecutive knots
that It would travel round the world in
snfety. All these are simply matters Of
training or experience or habit; IL
women fail in them, It is for want Of
these common things. - Harper's