San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-05-18
WOMAN AND HOME.
ARE AMERICAN WOMEN REALLY
MORE CLEVER THAN MENf
The Widow of South American Dicta-
tor-women at the Washington Monu-
ment-Our Sisters ut Home and Abroad.
The Household and tho Children.

ment-Our Sisters ut Home and Abroad
The Household and tho Children.
The character of a man may, like the char
acter of people, be judged by his estima
ton of woman. The lower he Is in the scal'
Of humanity the less he amounts to as an in
dividual, the poorer is apt to be his opinion
of her. An inferior man is likely to speak OF
women patronizingly if not slightingly, as
| members sof the softer or weaker sex. He
| admits that their hearts and intentions are
| good, intimating that their minds and acts
will not bear scrutinizing But man of in
tellect and insight, capable of understanding
and sympathizing with women, will seldom
accept such judgment He is qualified to
appreciate them mentally, to see that they
are often cleverer than himself; that their
instincts are correcter, their perceptions
clearer their intelligence quicker.
This seems to lie true, surely, of American
women. who have many advantages that
women OF other natOnalities do not have
They are treated with far more consideration
and chivalry, held in much higher regard
than their transatlantic sisters Europeans
think they are spoiled by their brothers, hus-
bands, fathers, but they show their spelling
in very creCitabe ways-in individuality, in
independence, in poise of nature A common
foreign criticism is that they are superior to
their cOultrymen, particularly in agreeable
ness, in the faculty of being interesting, in
whatever pertains to manners and social
culture. The reason may be that they have
opportunities for development and improve
ment denied to our men, who are immersed
in business to the exclusion of everything
10 hoy l..
on wives and daughters, who are thus en-
abled to travel, to increase their knowledge
and experience, to perfect the graces, to add
to their personal charm.
How constantly we meet women whose
husbands and fathers have prospered in their
affairs, though they all had humble ante
cedentS and small beginningsl The women
appear elegant, well bred, distinguished, as if
they had been born to their luxurious sur
roundings. But the men are awkward, evil
IDENTIFY strange to their altered circumstances,
emphasizing the fact by their constrained be-
havior. They cannot learn so speedily; they |
cannot adapt themselves to the new and the |
untried; they cannot be recreated like wo- |
men, with whom ambition is merely equiva, |
lent to performance; who abSorbs through |
her pores; whose idea and ideal may be made |
conjunctive. She may not possess the breadth |
and depth of intellect, the weighty wisdom,
the profound learning of her partner in life
and destiny; but every indication is that she
Is cleverer where environment favors and
motive is urgent
She talks better; her letters and much of her
writing are more graceful, more picturesque
more eloquent; her aesthetic and artistic
sense is finer; her minor mentality is much
n advance Of his. She can often accomplish
what he cannot when delicacy, tact, adroit-
less, instant judgment are required.
In this land, where woman is not only re,
pected, but honored and revered as she is
Nowhere else, she is rarely, if ever, dull-al-
,eit the same may not be said of men. She
S clever by right of birth and by reason of
Ter sex-clever by inheritance, by association.
~ custom, by recognition and by prefer
nent. Man really comedies this, whatever
lis assumption, by engaging her when he
las fallen into difficulty from which he can,
lot extract himself as his deliverer. Indeed
he is altogether too clever to be a man even
she could. Cleverness is her inborn pre-
ogative.-J. H, Browne in Once a Week.