Wichita eagle., 1890-01-11

proposed sail 81 cannot think Of ANYBODY. y
says one Of the maidenk 'aThsre il only
Aunt Ellen replied the other; ssbut you
know she always has to go below whom the
wind fresheasn Whereupon both the yachts
men exclaim, eagerly Take herI"
SNOW that the mayor of New York has
made up his mind to keep two ladies On the
school board of that city, it is worth con-
Sidering whether tho remonstrances said 70
have bean received from many women teach
ers against such appointments may not have
been based partly on this class of considera-
tons This is not the only post Of super
vision, it appears, in which women officials
are liable to the same criticism. The New
York custom house, it is said, has Just dis
charged twelve Of its women inspectors On
the express ground that women travelling on
ocean steamships have recently made il very
plain that they preferred to have their bag
gage examined by men" One can easily
understand this performance on the part Of
many of those fair travellers. So, no doubt,
in the treasury department at Washington
where the fingers of women are found more
skllfUl than those of men IN detecting and
sorting out counterfeit currency, the coun-
terfeiters greatly disapprove of this selection
of officials, and would much prefer that
their wares should be examined by men. A
male inspector, who perhaps does not know
diamonds from paste, and cannot distinguish
lace costing half dollar yard from an
article worth $500, would seem the ideal OH
cial to every woman who wishes her trunk
not to be investigated too closely. On every
other conceivable ground, one would think,
woman would prefer to have her supply Of
clothing turned over by one Of her own sex.
The mere ground that ''men see so much
Less does not quite seem in this case an hon
orable solution.
The old play Of "Women Beware Women"
conveys the moral readily suggested by all
these avoidances a man in q school room,
as every one who has served on a school
board knows, is fettered by a thousand pro-
prieties and complaissnces. There are ques-
tons he cannot ask, doubts he cannot solve;
an acute or designing woman has him at q
great advantage, while a shy and timid enc
sometimes does herself no justice before him.
Ii one of this last kind is placed at dissd-
vantage, she would sometimes gladly appeal
from him to his wife, if she could, as the
hunted witches In the old days of witchcraft
used sometimes to implore to have their case
referred to the wives of the clergy. But the
deceitful or unscrupulous-and there may be
Becky Sharps even in the schcolroom-would
rather have man to deal with, nine times
out of ten; for they know that pair of
bright eyes or a persuasive voice may appeal
TO him, whereas school committee woman
would brush all such beguilements aside ike
cobwebs. Women beware women is the
safest OF all policies where there is anything
to conceal
Another ground of objection by women to
the inspection of women lies, no doubt. In
the habit of subordination long Impressed on
every subject class. In the early regiments
recruited from the freed slaves of the south
ern states, nothing was at first greater OBJ
stacle than the unwillingness of the ignorant
blacks TO be subjected to one another. Not
only had the commissioned officers at first 10
be taken from the white race, but In some
cases the sergeants were similarly appointed,
and it was only very gradually that the col
ored soldiers could be brought to obey any
one of their own race. x don't want him to
play the white man ODER me, was the fire.
quent protest. By degrees they came &C IN
derstand that they were not to obey their Off
GERS by reason of color, but because they were
officers; aud then they gradually learned to
take pride IN having sergeants and corporals
of their own hue. In the case Of women, il
is not a matter of color but of sex; but no
one who has ever attended aeeacheFs' conven-
ton, and seen the nleeknes with which q
roomful of intelligent women will SIT silent
and hear school matters discussed by a hand
full Of masters" who are perhaps their in
feriors in general attainments, will doubt Of
the Differences thus acquired for what the old
French grammars called ''the noble sexn-le
sexe noble.
A little suspicion rests ON every unwilling
ness of women to be under the supervision Of
their own sex, whether it be their Trunks or
their school rooms which are to be Inspected
1t must be remembered, On the other hand,
In justice to the teachers themselves, that
women are generally new to tho business Of
supervision. and may err from want Of tact
as men from ignorance. l remember that
once in a certain town, where women had
been for the first time put ON tine school COM
mietee, one of the very best teachers IN the
town, and one who at all times welcomed
close inspection. expressed TO me the greatest
with the minute questions
asked her about home affairs cutxide the
schoolroom by one Of the newly appointed
ladies' ''She asked me Questions about fam
ily matters" she said, (which were none Of
her business, aad which NO man would have
dared to asked; indeed, she claimed 20 ap-
proach me with her sympathy as a woman
For my part, I wish never 20 have TO do !
again with one of my own sex on the CON-
nittee." afterwsrd Satisfied myself that |
It was a mere want Of Judgment, proceeding |
from the best intentions. The only inference /
IS that skill and good judgment are not al
ways to be had for the ASKING, but that when |
hey are found We should make the most Of |
hem, whether In women orin nsen.-T. W. |
r. In Harper's Bazaar.