The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-05-01
"THEY WOULD DO MORE"

THEY WOULD DO MORE"
The Progress Women Are Making-The
Encouragement They Receive.
Editor WomGR'S Column, Morning Call /:
For ages glaciers pushed down Alpine
slopes and no one ever questioned that they
were not fixed bodies like the rocks. The
crown on Mont Blanc, with its pendents
struggling down the mountain, was sup
posed TO be Interchangeable, eternal, and
naught but deriSion greeted those who first
| suggested that glaciers are also subjected to
the law OF progression. But science hrst
sus ected, then proved, that the great ice
| rivers have their garments, the center NOV
| ing faster than the shore portion; that they
are constantly fed at the source from the
| fat kline of Apollo and that as constantly
| the plowshare of ice at the base melts
away, leaving nOraines OF rock. sometlm es
as powders, often as pulveriZed soil; for
| to-day as always the glacier is natures great
| gang pillow, pulyeriZlng the earth to fertility,
| also her common carrier transferring the
! Arctic mountain top TO. the fertile plains.
| Glaciers were not made for spectacular dis
! play, but for benefcent service, aud what
ever ignorance may assert the fact is they
/ do move.
The recent Pacific Coast Women's Press
| Association Convention in San Francisco Is
a stake marking decided advance for women,
| shown by
THE PRESS OF THE STATE
Marks an era 1t is a concession that
| woman may decide for herself, to a certain
| extent, what she may do; that il she can
| break the Gordon around journalism and
| work herself in, she may do so; that it is
| proper Tor her to undertake personally to
| influence the public without having her
heaven born intuitions" first strained
| through the brain of some man who is good
/ enough to become her mouthplece as scribe;
/ that 1t is all right for her TO take an occa-
! sional outing at convention, for we hear
no anxiety expressed for the DO or huS band
/ and children, who were absent from that
| gathering, and that women may hold a
! three days meeting entirely in their own
| interest without any conscious thought of
| benetiting men, only as men are helped by
whatever helps women. The last stake
marks the center of the current 1t has
been conceded for long time that it is en-
! tirely proper for women to attend meetings
| in the interest of men-as church services
| of all kinds, political meetings, If their
| presence is desired, philanthropic associa-
ti0ns, in which the work is hard and unre-
warded, temperance meetings to save men,
but on no account were women to take time
from home cares TO plot tor their own
ENLARGEMENT AND PLEASURE.
But behold a change, the WOman's Press
Association meets for no other purpose than
TO promote acquaintance and advance the
| interests Of press women, aud the world
| accepts the fact as matter of course. The
| papers were good, covering wide range of
| thought, showing that WOmea are thinking
! to purpose, and every one concerned sub
| jects not pertaining TO w0man's sphere, so
! calied-tranlnG children, dress, houSekeep-
1 ing were not mentioned, though we know
! that many OF those women are adopts in all
! w0manly omplishmentS; simply the meet
| ing was a recognition Of the larger self in
! women, which will not stay bindfolded to,
| all but personal interests, but feels that it is
| part of all that is right just and of good
| Tepute." 1t was not necessary to meetOn
| the sly; logic was as much respected as
| poetry; no one whispered ';blue stocking, 3"
| and by the way husbands came in the even
| ing we think there were 10 curtain lectures;
| progress is marked in the fact that large
| hall was well hlled for three days, and that
/ the programme did not nag, Society also
| did homage to the association; its members
| were welcome guests in many cultured
/ homes. The whole association was one day
| the guest of Mrs. Bruner of the ElSmere,
| and had they been mere pleasure-seekerS
| they could not have been more
GRACIoUsLY RECEIVED
Another day Mr.. Adolph Sutro invited the
whole association to Sutro Heights 20 break
fast and the lovely inclosuTe, the grand
| view, the unOStentati0uS courtesy aud the
| kindly atmosphere were all most pleasant
| to the tired, hRrd-wofking women who con-
| StituJed that company. After the breakfast
was another breakfast, true feast of rea-
! son. Poems were Tected and t0aSts and re-
! spOnSes most creditable to the brains Of the
company were given. But what marks the
| drift of WOmaBho0d came later and not from
! press-wOmen. At the close, in reply, Mr..
| SutrO hOnOred these women by talking to-
| them as sensible beings with an interest in
! important things, the truest compliment
| that can be paid to women. He spoke of
| the condition of the country, and of the
| labor question, with Intelligent sympathy
Of the dangers that menace us from igne-
rant voters and very strongly of the
need and justice of woman suffrage-of
lis need both TO the nation and to woman's
development, and Of the safety Of Justice;
Every woman felt that this sensible talk,
assuming that She is capable of comprehend
ing his best thought, was more 20 her than the
flowers, tie yiands, the courtesy; il was a
recognition Of her BRAIN. OF her equality
before God ana
IN THE MINDS OF ABLE MEN
No higher honor can be conferred upon
woman than to be trusted with mans best
thought. We trust that Mr.. Sutro has in
augurated an era, the end of the tatfy
regime in mans social intercourse with
woman, and the beginning of common sense
and common justice il both play and work.
Certainly he could not have treated the
picked statesmen of the earth with more
dignity and sense, and the press-women
enjoyed 1t quite as well as statesmen
would. How it Toasted their self-respeetl
There were other signs OF progress. Nearly
every woman signed a memorial to the
Assembly asking favorable action on the
Equal Suffrage Bill then pending before that
body, and by resolution they declared "tlieir
intelligent interest in what Arnold of Rugby
calls that vital thing, politics, and desire
to share the government OF themselves.
Flowers and sentiment were secondary, but
each paper was treated in an earnest man.
ner, often with a faneiIul setting, but the
purpose was the prime object. In these
! journalistic experiences they have learned
| to sift Facts and fancies, to discriminate be-
tween pretensions and the substance of
truth. Mrs. Eyster. the President, kept
every enc comfortable and in order, making
genial, cordial atmosphere, as did the city
members. Country members viii never
| forget their graciousness, and those who
met as strangers parted as friends, sure that
| the glacier of conservatism does move.
Gitroy, Aprtt IS, 1891. S. NJ SEVERANCE.