Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1891-11-26
IN WOMAlI'S BEHALF.
STILL ADVANCING
Women Rapidly Taking More fndepend-
ant Ilnnn with Ian nfcinl Rnaillfa.


Women Rapidly Taking More fndcpend-
ent Place with Beneficial Results,
Among the crowds that entered Okla
homa when pistol shot proclaimed
that the new lands were open to settle-
ment, were twenty-one-y -year'old girl
who had walked fifteen miles to the
border, negro woman who had walked
twenty miles with baby in her arms
and led six-year-old child, three wom-
en- on horseback with children strapped
behind them, and woman sixty'tive
years old on horseb back. This Okla
homa incident is only one indication of
the steady advance woman is making
toward an independent position in the
life and work of the world. She con-
quered the professions long ago and
woman lawyers, physicians, preachers,
and editors are no longer rarity. Her
right to have as good an education as
her brother is also conceded, and that
she is taking advantage of it is seen in
the constantly increasing classes at
girls normal schools and female col
leges. One OF the latter in Massachu-
setts has an entering class Of 24l, where
sixteen years ago the class numbered
only twelve. Probably every female
college and seminary can show SINH
lar growth in It's classes. The demand
for increased educational facilities for
women is not peculiar to this country
1t is seen in England and France as
well as here. The encouraging fact in
this latter advance of woman is that it
is directed more toward the practical
and not so much toward the theoreti-
cal. The demand for the ballot is no
longer the one avenue along which
women are directing their greatest ef-
forts for place ano position They have
found other ways. If woman can prove
her fitness and inclination to make her
own living in the world, she will gain
new independency in making a mat
rimonial choice, and more women will
contemplate with serenity the chance
they have of marrying as estimated by
an English statistician in the following
table:
Per cent
Between the ages OF IS and 20 years.. IAN
Between the ages OF 20 and 25 years."..-- b
Between the ages ofe5 and so years.. Is
Between the ages OF 80 and 35 years..... bh
Between the ages OF 8j und A years. 81
Between the ages OF 40 and As years.. 2M
Bet ween the ages OF Is and 10 years.. u OF
Between the nges OF 80 and 60 years..""..A OF
Marriage will be looked upon as less
of necessity, there will be more de-
liberateness in choosing conse'
quently fewer unhappy marriages will
result. There is no advance which
woman can make which will benefit
herself and society at large so much as
greater independence in marriage
And, whether she gains this independ
ence by making horse-shoes, as Mist
Aide Wilder has done in the suburbs
of Brooklyn, or by taking the post o.
engineer on the boat of which her hus
band is captain on the lower Mississip
pi, or by managing horse railroad al
Miss Dow did in Dover, N. H., or BY
presiding over the best arranged hote
on the Jersey Beach, or by joining thu
Oklahoma boomers-the great majority
of men will applaud, provided, O.
course, that these occupations de- no
lessen the chief charms of female onar
acter No one would wish to see tina
result, and natural laws may be trusted
to prevent it. it.-Philadelphia Press