The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1889-12-07
IF THEY WERE MEN.
What Famous Women Would and Would
Not Do.

" hat EamOuS " omen w OuAu anu w OuAU
Not Do.
The pointed question, "What
would you do if you were a man?"
was recently submitted by the Lew
iston Journal to some Of the worlds
most famous women. Interesting
answers were received, as will be
seen by the extracts given below:
Having been always perfectly con-
tented with my lot as woman, and
thinking a woman's life in many
ways preferable to a mans, [ have
never given a thought as to what [
would do if [ were man. In fact, l
cannot summon the apparition of
single thing that [ cannot do as
woman, with the one exception of
voting. That [ would do, and take
my part in directing the affairs of
men. I would do justice to all, and
withhold natural or social rights
from none. But then, I would do
all that as a woman, had l the OPP
portunity.-Harriet Prescott Spot
ford.
Were [ a man, I'd do unto women
as I'd be done by. I would not adj
wise a woman to try real estate, and
then sell it to her at three times its
value. This is what happened to
me recently at Atchison, Kan,-Kate
Field.
I would tell my wife something
every day, not only by look or act,
but in plain Saxon, that would con-
vey to her a daily remembrance of
the love that was hers.-Elizabeth
B. Custer.
[ should reverence my mother
above all other women, and hold
every woman sacred for her sake,
and if I had a wife I should try to
be as polite and attentive to her as
if she were the wife of some other
man.-Mary J. Holmes.
[ would never let any woman
know me for just what I was by ma
ture, but having discovered her
ideal of me would try to live up to
it, Or rather to copy it as best I
could. No man yet has ever been
all that the woman who loves him
tries to believe him. II I were a
man [ would take care that she
never found out her mistake!-Mrs
Frank Leslie.
l would never imagine that the
possession of a first class tailor and
an eye glass could excuse a vile
breath or an insolent air.
And in my general association
with women [ would treat them as
nearly as possible as [ like other
men to treat my sister or my wife,
Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
[ should regard courage as the
highest gift of God, but I should not
consider prowess in mere field sports
as constituting that great gift. To
conquer and STAY the lower animal
should not be taken as the end and
aim of life. There must be some
thing beyond it. To excel in moral
courage, to be able to control ones
self, to kill the evil in ones inner
nature, to be able to defy society for
a principle, is surely a greater tri
umph than to stand with ones foot
upon the body of ones country's
foe!
If / were man [ should count
myself blessed, indeed!
But Providence has ordained il
otherwise, for l am
The DUCHESS.
[ don't exactly know what I woulc
do if were a man, but [ do know
what I would be, and that is happy
[ could go to the theatre without
waiting to be taken or bribing some
amiable old lady to accompany me
| could indulge a sudden fancy
for a midnight stroll under the stars
[ could tell woman if I loved her
In short, [ could live a free, ma
tural, unfettered life.
Men are ungratefnl for their priv
ileges, think. I wonder they are
not thousand times happier than
they are. To be sure, | never heard
yet of one who wanted to be wo-
man. Did you?-[ Louise Chandler
Moulton.
Thousands of women continually
wish they were men. For woman
not to feel or express the wish is the
exception rather than the rule.
And from the standpoint. of the
perfect freedom and unrestraint &C
corded men In almost everything, all
women may well wish to be of the
opposite sex.
Wcman's scope for action is SO
small that I often marvel at the sue
cesses she has achieved and infu-
enced in the world. Thrice more to
her credit, 1 say, then, is any success