The Dickinson press., 1889-06-08

The Widow of o South American Dicta
tor-Women at the Washington Monu'
mcnt Our Sisters ut Home and Abroad
The Household and the Children.
The character of a man may, like the char
acter of a people, be judged bN his cstima.
ton of woman. The lower lie is in the scale
of humanity the less lie amounts to as an in.
d~ivilual, 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 of the softer or weaker sex. He
admits that their hearts and intentions arc
good. intimating that their minds and acts
will not bear scrutinizing. But Il man of in
tcllcct and insight, capable of understanding
and svmpathizing with women, will seldom
accept such judgment. He is qualified to
appreciate them mentally, to SEQ that they
are often %clcvcrer than himself; that their
instincts are corrccter, their perceptions
clearer, their intelligence quicker.
This seems to be true, surely, of American
women. who have many advantages that
wonien of other nationalities 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 creditahle ways-in individuality, in
Independence, in poiSe of nature. a common
foreign criticism is that they are superior to
their countrymen, particularly in agreeable
ness, in tho faculty of being interesting, in
whatever pertains to manners and social
culture. The reason may he that they have
opportunities for development and improve
meat denied to our men, who are immersed
in business to the exclusion of everything
else. The money that these make they lavish
on wives and daughters, who are thus en-
allcd to travel, to increase their knowledge
and experience, to perfect tho graccs, 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 beginnings! The womcn
appear elegant. well bred, distinguished, as if
they had been born to their luxurious sur
roundings. But the nlen are awkward, cvi-
IDENTIFY strange to their altered circumstances,
emphasizing the fact by their constrained be-
havior. They cannot learn so speedily; they
cannot adapt themselves to tho new and the
unIriel, they cannot be recrcatcd, like wo-
men, with whom ambition is merely cquiva-
lent to performance. who absorbs through
her pores; whose idea and ideal may be made
con junctivc. Shennay not possess the breadth
and depth of intellect, the wcighty wisdom,
the profound learning of her partner in life
and destiny; but every indication is that she
is c~leverer where environment favors and
motive is urgent
She talks better. her letters and much of Ter
writing arc more graceful, more picturesque,
mere eloquent; her aesthetic and artistic
sense is finer, her minor mentality is much
i'll advance of his. She can often accomplish
what he cannot when delicacy, tact, adroit-
ness, instant judgment arc required.
In this land, wlere woman is not only re-
spected, but honored and rcvered as she is
nowhere else, she is rarely, if ever, dull-al-
belt the same may not DO said of men. She
is clever 10y right of birth and 10y reason of
her sex-clever 10y Inheritance, by association,
by custom, by recognition and by prefer
ment, Man really comedies this, whatever
his assumption, by engaging her when he
has fallen into difficulty from which he can
not extract himself as his deliverer. Indeed
She is altogether too clever to be a man even
if she could. Cleve1nc:s is her inborn pre-
rogative.- j. II. Browne in Once n Week.