Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-08-10
CAN WOMEN THINK?
One Of Thorn Argues Oh the Negative Side
of the Question.

The most striking paper in recent issue
of the UniUerSdl RcrietC is entitled, son
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
dc plume Of George Fleming. The problem
proposed in this paper is Have women
capacity for serious thinking:"-a question
of which the writer plainly cspouses the
negative side. Aud the one great reason
for their failure, she alleges, is one so full
of force, of unerring insight and Of actual
truth that it is impossible to deny 1.-THE
reason that women are practically never
alone. I'm the present writer's eyes," she
says, ''that disability consists almost entire
ly in the feminine ilcapacity or radical dis
inclination (the word matters littlc) for Sc
rious concentrated and continued thought.
And this again derives Ill 4 great measure
from the crowded life, the Grcgarious hab-
its, the shccplike falling and hating CT
educated women. Whether it is imposed
on them or accepted by them, the result, SO
far as art and morals arc concerned, re-
mains the same" There is a depth Of sig
niicancc in this. To woman in what is
conventlOnally known as good society tho
love Of solitude IS utterly unknown. She is
chapcroned 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, tax that becomes a serious
burden materially as well as a constant clog
mentally. A man may bctakc himself TO
any place or resort he plcases, be a spocta-
tor of its life, and yet retains, if he likes, the
TopcOrn1 cnlit1lIn Of 11ri-~a~-p--n1 y4ila1..
ness; but if q woman would go to the
mountains, to the sea, to the cIty--anywhcrc
she wiil-shc must have at least d woman
companion with her in the gui5c of u chapcr-
one, friend or maid.
Otherwise she viii require at best
reputation for c"centricity, and, at worst,
something even less desirable. And thus
she never tastes the sweets of solitude
She never knows the silence of her inspira-
tons. "Therc is scarcely one man in
thousand says Miss Fletcher, ''who, at
some time in his life, has not felt and in
dulgcd the impulse to step out from the
rank and file of his famiIiarS and his con-
temporarics, and cnvlsagc his own nature
stripped of its forms and surroundings; not
q man worthy of the name but has searched
for and found himself, has hcwn out his
conviction and wrcstled, like Jacob,
through the long nlglt1 of his youth, with
tho Stern-broWed angel of some rcvCl2-
ton. And all this implies voluntary soil
tude; it implies an impa3sioncd interest in
the impcrsOnal 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 1t is hardly an extravaganza to say that
this denial of individual freedom is the
most inimlcal influence to womcn's intel
lcctual achievements. To q woman living
without members of hcr own family this
unwrltten law becomes n severe financial
tax. In at least half the affairs of her Inc
she must duplicate her expenses. When
ever she takes her walks abroad so 70
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; a thing pliable to
fashion, at once rcigning over and de-
pendent upon tho idiest whims of the
day.