Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-27
A FEW EXCEPTIONS
Taken by Bessie Bramble to the
Opinions of Men and Women on
A SUBJECT FULL OF INTEREST.
They Treat Too Lightly the Question Of
What They Would Do
IF THEIR SEXES WERE REVERSED
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATcH.I

women, as to what they would do or not do
II they were men, were surprising, but when
it came the turn for celebrated men to say
what they would do If they were women, it
was even more amazing. In her answer
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, while relating what
she would do If a man, shows exactly what
she most longs for as woman to make her
happy. She wants husband to be more
gallant and attentive to his own wife than
to any other woman-to make the happiness
OF his home the chief ambition of his life
to write no letters to anyone, save lis wife,
that the whole world might not read. Very
sage advice, too, that most men
should make q note of and consider
and be wise. Then if she were a
maA she would rule the home, not by ply
steal supremacy, but by force of character.
This seems to indicate that Sister Wilcox
does not believe in marriage as a free and
equal relationship, but rather in the decay
ing doctrine of the supremacy of sex, where
the husband is head of the house and the
wife is subject to his will. Now we venture
to say that there is but little content or real
felicity in any marriage where such ruling
prevails. A good man in these days, who
loves his wife and desires her happiness,
repudiates any such doctrine in practice,
whatever he may hold in theory. He is as
devoted to maintaining her dignity and
| equal rights as to his own. Under the sway
OF mutual love there is no desire to domi-
neer on the part of either husband or wife,
but rather disposition to give way.
Moreover, man may have great force of
character and capacity to manage Stand
ard Oil Company, or have supreme charge
OF Braddock steel works, or, for that
for ho off nj VI
but yet be failure as head in his own
house. Many men of highest virtue have
tried it and Jailed. Even our own beloved
and sainted Lincoln could not by iorce of
character secure such supremacy, while
Brother Blaine, as the story goes, who
makes so high a record in the political man
agement of the State, is said to have little or
no influence in domestic affairs.
FACTORS IN woMAN'S SUCCESS.
Fanny Davenport's idea of being man
is that he can smore easily attain 10 high
success in the dramatic or other professions
than a woman. To him the world is wide
and open; he has no hampering barriers to
overcome, no social impediments to over
ride, no certificates of highest character
to submit. He goes upon his own
merits mainly, while she is subjected
to severest criticism as to beauty. dress and
ability. 1t may be said, too, that the ad-
miration and approval of the Prince of
Wales is large factor in the success of a
woman on the stage, as witness Mrs. Lang
try, who has raked in, it is said, nearly
81, ,000, 900 of American money on that score
and on her reputation as a professional
beauty, where women with greater intellect
and talent have failed to climb the giddy
heights of fame or to achieve great fortunes.
In view of all this, it is little wonder that
Miss Davenport feels bitter, especially when
the domestic career of the great beauty has
been as little to be proud of as her stage
gains in cash have been great.
Mrs. Frank Leslie-if a man-would, as
she couiesses, greatly enjoy his free oppor-
tunities in business, and would endeavor to
live up to woman's ideal OF good man.
Considering the great advantages that Mrs.
Leslie admits she already possesses as a
woman, viz: 'an outlet for energy''-"a
voice in the ear of the world" and IAN in
fuence beyond the walls of home" in addi-
ton to friends and fortune, it Is surprising to
those whose limits are narrower, whose OPP
portunities are contracted by poor pay and
hard work-whose talents have had no
chance for play, that she, with apparently
all of the good things the gods provide,
should still long for a mans chances in the
world. But ii even she, with all her wealth
of privileges, still complains of lack of free
dom, how much more reason have millions
of women to feel bitter over the irony of fate
which compels them to live lives without a
prospect of advancement, without hope of
luxury, with no capital to begin with,
and no time from dreary daily toll
and poverty to secure the education for
which they SO srdently long. Shut up in
our homes are many discontented women,
who feel in themselves the power to achieve
success in some pursuit for which they have
capacity anG an ardent, longing desire, but
by the prejudices of the world, the sneer of
Mrs. Grundy, the conventionalities of 80
ciety, the cares of housekeeping, they are
debafred from doing what nature and Unborn
taste seem to dictate. Countless bad house.
keepers there are, thousands OF miserable
cooks and
POOR, sHIFTLEss WOMEN.
who are failures in what they are told is
their sphere, who. in other pursuits, might
find work for which they were by heaven
endowed, and which they could perchance
keepers, those who fall short of
their calling in many ways
are not so much so for lack
of education, but from their incapacity and
want of adaptability. The superintendent
of a training school for nurses says: "We
can train these women for nurses, we can
teach them everything to be known in the
business, but after all is said and done, it is
only the born nurse who achieves marked
success.
1t may be the same with husbands Those
born with the tact and qualifications to
make wife happy, generally know how to
do so, while others with the best intentions
fail in just'the little things that women love-
Mrs Custer evidently has this in mind,
when she saws, if she were a man, she would
make it her highest pleasure to make q wife
happy BY constant demonstrations Of love-
Mrs Mary j. Holmes conveys the same
idea, when she remarks that, if she were a
man and had a wife, she would try to be
as attentive to her, as though she were the
wife of some other man. This unanimity BY
women of genius and sense on this point
shows pretty plainly that men, as husbands,
are apt to be careless ana inattentive to
those who would most value and appreciate
their devotion.
But if most of the answers of these gifted
women to the question, "What are some of
the things you would do, or not do, if you
were man, were perhaps a little disap- |
pointing to their many admirers and sisters,
the replies of the distinguished literary men
to the question of what they would do if they |
were women were not less remarkable |
for lack OF instruction and point of interest |
Burdette would be helpless, lazy, ignorant,
useless girl of whom nothing could be re- |
ouired. One of those great, useless Jumps |
of women who are drag and burden upon |
those connected with them all their lives |
long. According to Brother Burdette they |
have the best of all thai is going, and would |
have special bliss in being spared the COM
pany of the 'monter man"