Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1889-11-15
CAN WOMEN THINK
One Of Them Argues on tho Negative Sid.
Of the Question.


One Of Them Argues on tho Negative Sid.
Of the Question.
The most striking paper in a recent issue
of the Unipcrsdt RepieW is entitled. "On a
Certain Deficiency in Women" and written
by Miss Fletcher. the author of "Kismet. -
"Vestiga," and one or two other delightful
stories, who walls her identity under the nom
de plume OF George Fleming. The problem
proposed In this paper is "Have women a
capacity for serious thinkingP'-a question
Of which the writer plainly espouses the
negative side. And the one great reason
for their failure, she alleges, is one so full
of force, of unerring insight and of actual
truth that 1t Is impossible to deny 1.-THE
reason that women are practically never
alone. I'm the present writer's eyes,n she
says, "that disability consists almost entire
ly in the feminine incapacity or radical dis
inclination (the word matters little) for Sc
rious concentrated and continued thought.
And this again derives In great measure
from the crowded life, the egregarious hab-
its, the sheep-like falling and hating of
educated women. Whether it is imposed
on them or accepted by them, the result, so
far as art and morals are concerned, re-
mains the same" There is depth of sig
nifcance in this. To woman in what is
conventionally known as good society the
love Of solitude is utterly unknown. She is
chaperoned and escorted and companioned
till she has not only no clear idea of her
own identity, but no very clear identity of
which to have an idea. To achieve this re-
suit is, under circumstances that very fire.
quently occur, a tax that becomes a serious
burden materially as well as a constant clog
mentally. A man may betake himself to
any place or resort he pleases, be specta-
tor Of its life, and yet retains, if he likes the
personal solitude Of the primaval wilder
ness; but II q woman would go to the
mountains, to the sea, to the city--anywhere
she will-she must have at least a woman
companion with her in the guise of a chaper-
one, friend or maid.
Otherwise she will require at best
reputation for eccentricity, and, at worst,
something even less desirable And thus
she never tastes the sweets of solitude.
She never knows the silence Of her inspira-
tions. "There is scarcely one man in q
thousand" says Miss Fletcher, 'who, at
some time in his life, has not felt and in
dulged the impulse to step out from the
rank and file Of his familars and his con-
temporaries, and envisage his own nature
stripped Of its forms and surroundings; not
man worthy of the name but has searched
AoE ebu lOuuu uIluS6ll, mas QeWn OUT MS
conviction and wrestled, like Jacob,
through the long nights of his youth, with
the stern-browed angel Of some revela-
ton. And all this implies voluntary soil
,tude; it implies an impassioned interest in
the impersonal and continuous habit of the
mind. And are such things, then, finally
denied to the largest half of our adult
population" As society goes, they are;
and it is hardly an extravaganza to say that
this denial Of individual freedom is the |
most inimical influence to womens intel |
lectual achievements. To woman living |
without members Of her own family this |
unwritten law becomes severe financial
tax. In at least half the affairs of her life
she must duplicate her expenses. When
ever she takes her walks abroad, so to
speak, she must invite lady companion,
and, as her companion is her guest, she
must be entertained, both in the sordid
matter Of bills paid, but in what is often
more-in giving her time and energy to her |
guest. Thus she is severely handicapped |
for intellectual work. She is cabined,
cribbed, confined. She can command no |
conditions for serious thought And,
''without serious thought behind it-a
serious habit of thought''-as George |
Fleming well says, ''talent Of which the |
world is full lowers to the merest monkey |
trick of the imagination; thing pliable to
fashion, at once reigning over and de- |
pendent upon the idlest whims OF the