The Iola register., 1891-01-30
In WOMAN'S BEHALF.
WHY HAVE WOMEN NO TIME.

or absent from II, they are ever occupied.
They always have hundred things to
do: they are never able to finish, before
going to bed. what they have planned
in the morning. Husbands frequently
speak of this without capacity to under
stand it. True, women have far more
to do than men: true, their work can
never be finished. But is it true that
they have no time? And if it be, is not
the fault measurably theirs? As has
often been said. they have all the time
there is. IL the days were forty-eight
hours long would they have any more?
Not particle. Persons who uniformly
feel and say that they have no time, are
predestined never to have any.
Why is II that women have no time?
Chiefly because they are without system:
because they do not take advantage of
odd minutes; thirdly, because they are
always trying TO be polite The fact
that men act very differently may ac-
count for their usually having time to
do what they wish. While women's
time is liable to ceaseless interruption;
while they have no hours, as men, still,
might they not adopt some thing like
system? They generally know, when
they get up in the morning. what their
occupations will be until the hour of GO
ing to bed. They should devote differ
ent periods to different duties, and ad-
here to them as rigidly as they can. In
theory, they often do: in practice they
do not. They obey impulse and the
convenience of the moment. They per-
nit themselves to be turned aside from
the thing in hand to some ing else;
and each interruption involves thrice
the loss of time that the mere interrupt
tion costs.
Their duties become confused. their
intentions tangled. and when the day
has closed they find various things neg
lected which they had fully made up
their mind to perform. The next day.
they think they will not fail of per-
fOrmance; but the same circumstances
intervene, with the same result. And
so it goes from week to week, from
month to month, until the poor women,
constantly struggling constantly resolv-
ing. constantly failing, get very nerv-
Gus. and despair of ever accomplishing
what they undertake. They keep
bravely and actively at work; but the
consciousness of regularly falling be-
hind must ultimately effect their spirits
and weaken their determination. They
are inclined to attempt more than they,
or any one Of their nature. in their cir
cumstances, can possibly achieve. If
they would attempt half as much. and
complete the half, the effect would be
salutary Nothing is much more dis
heartening than the memory of not do
ing what we had purposed- \ series of
such memories will. in season, weaken
the will. and thus impair capacity.
Women are more courageous. morally.
than we are. When we should despond
and lose our hold on life by repeated
failure. they retain their confidence. and
still grasp their aim. They hope against
hope: they are cheerful in the face of
disappointment. They believe after ten
or twenty years of never having had
time to do what they wish. that they
will yet have all the time they crave.
Beautiful faith! Sanguine women.
As an example of want of system, a
woman decides to appropriate two hours
of morning-from 10 to l. o'clOck-to a
certain occupation. She is at it when.
at 1O:3O some ordinary acquaintance
calls. having no right or reason to inter
rupt her Does she ask to be excused,
as a man would? BY no means She
thinks that she ought to see the ac-
Guaintance. presuma bly, feminine. or it
would be pity to send her away after
she has taken the trouble to come, etc,
etc. in the typical manner of wOman's
over-compassion. She secs her: she
consumes an hour or more of valuable
time. and then that engagement must
be deferred. The next day arrives, and
she begins again. At IL o'clock. let
ter from a dear friend is brought in.
1t is delightful to read; but it demands
no answer at any given date. 1t has,
however. touched her heart; she will
reply while her emotions are warm.
She spends two or three hours in that
way, when fifteen minutes would have
sufficed Jhow women waste themselves
in writing superfuously long letters.)
and again the special duty is deferred.
These Interruptions continually occur
they are of great variety, but COM
monty of a more or less social character
and so interfere with routine as to
render it impossible. A man would not
admit of any such encroachments on his
business or duties, and therefore saves
his time for his own use, instead of dis
| tributing it miscellaneously among his
| fellows, who are not at all benefited by
| what is a positive loss to him. The Sc
rious mistake of women is in their effort
| to combine the social and the practical,
! TO be attractive and efficient simulta-
neously. Who has ever known woman
having any relation to society to say to
| a visitor. Il have Just five minutes TO
spare and then | must go?" She may
say, Il am in great hurry: / have an
! important engagement" and at the end
| of an hour. she will be so interested in
the conversation as to be unmindful OF
/ her hurry or engagement. Occasionally
a woman is so energetic, so practical, so
severe as to look at her watch, and dis
continue an interview abruptly. on ac-
count of the warning it gives her. But
| she is regarded by her own sex as un-
| conventional, eccentric, unaccountable.
The majority of them would rather be
behind in any number of obligations
than be guilty of behavior so disagree
able. To be disagreeable. is, in their
| eyes, the deepest OF sins, the most un-
| partlonable of blunders-
| Quick as women are in thought, rapid
as they are in execution. they seldom
know how to profit by the brief inter
walls between various kinds of work.