Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-03-28
A Galaxy of Men and Women Whose
Nicely Belonged to a Prehis-
tOric Race.
Some Interesting Facts in Regard 10
WOman's Dress and Appearance
in Public.

( have played in the history of the world
! excepting, in rare instances, a secondary
and supplementary one The physical in
/ feriority which made them yield the first
\ place to man at the beginning Of time. per
hitting him 10 invent and enforce the UNI
equal moral code which has held its own so
I well on the surface of society, and which.
/ at the same time, made woman the woOed
/ instead Of the woOer, naturally developed
/ cOyness, and continuously, thai quality
which we call modesty, and which means
| anything from a high-necked gown TO q
| depreciation of ones superior endowments.
I II is infrequently that a woman proposes
TO a man, and when she does the surprise
and disapprOval she induces may be taken
as a demonstration of the natural reserve
Of her sex And so has her reputation for
m0desty grown thick and solid with the
crust Of the earth: ii were almost a crime
to suggest that, like the earth, it might
possess heart of plastic possibiities-al-
most as cruel as when a beautiful woman of
forty tells her age to an ardent admire.
But IN this age of realism we have
few illusions left Oh bloodess and
meager Jane Austen, Founder and High
Priestess of Littleism! You have fur
nished a gallery with men and women
whose nicely Of architecture belonged
not to the pineteenth century, but 10
some prehistoric race of women too
narrow IN the head or too mishappen
to have learned the power Of woman over
man.
For it is this power that makes woman
defy mans strength, that gives her ease
almost Indifference, in the presence Of
masculine genius, or even royal power,
that If she be beautiful or fascinating wo-
man, so soon annuls that blushing, SIN ink
ing, maldenly respect for man as she
supreme animal The first moment of a
woman S knowledge of her power over
men is the supreme moment of her life
the tons and gallons Of sentiment over the
mother and first born to the country not
withdrawing. This knowledge naturally
develops coquetry, the woman becomes as
much the woOer rs the man; he remain
only the outward and traditional semb.
ance of the knight, and conqueror: if he
has run she has beckoned II is true that
men sometimes run when women do not
beckon, but passive power is often as strong
as active, Conversely women beckon and
men do not run; those women die with
their modesty knit about them even as a
garment.
And when a woman has come into the
knowledge that her power over man is not
through the channels OF his mind, be he
ever so intellectual, or as pincers to the
white flames Of his spirit but is altogether
coloric and anthracite, then does the pur
pie flower of modesty fold its leaves The
woman who technically preserves her vir-
tue, whatever and wherever her munal /
rambhngs, never wholly plucks this March !
violet from its stem, no matter how much !
she may torture it, The woman who mar
ries and is content in the domestic or social !
field, or both, trains her violet to goodly |
proportions, but the woman who joins the
ranks of the lower 10000 forgets its exist |
enCe more surely than the SEX for whose
pleasure and that alone, she has acknowl |
edged she was created.
And so we nave the problem Of Sibyl
tombstone She cannot act she cannot
even suggest the polished, impulsive reCk
less wanton of Dumas's creation. She
owes her notoriety, her success, to the fact
that she dares more, sexually, than any
actress has dared before her. In other
words she has bitten the March violet
from the stem and flung it in the teeth of
her audience. And that she Is proud of
herself, that she takes an impudent
pleasure In the vulgar quality of her sue
cess. as we'll as in the censure Of the wo-
men. young and old, respectable, and COM
mercial who crowded TO see her. cannot
be doubted Is she any worse than the
men who 6ll the Managers pocket and her
OWN is the question | leave for these
who may one day be the gentle sex TO au-
,wer for themselves: far be il from me
to curtaii time honorcd 'prerogahye Be
sides, a far more interesting one presents
it,elf Could any man be found to make
a masculine La of hm-elf2 Is there on
the stage the record Of an actor deliberate
ly appealing 10 the sensuahtv of woman
Il there is an instance / do not know Of
It,. and ( can call more instances than
should care to euumerate of women whose
entire foothght career has been play, IN
glance and pose upon the weakness ofmen
And vet where many men have owed more
than half their success to the natural EN-
thusiasm or reciprocal magnetism of wO-
men, or to the Idlocy of schoolgirls, ] DO
not believe there Is a case on record where
one has been cvnsured for taking vulgar
advantage of bis attractions Montague
the greatest beau OF them alI never forgot
to be "a gentleman and a modest man;
AN. is not bali SO immodest rs Mrs Pot
ter
Why Is it, Us II because women know
that majority OF them hove but one
attraction for man. and that SO potent
one that they may as we'll make the most
0titt And that men, on the contrary,
frequently conquer by indifference, % say
nothing eff the money they are willing o.
spend and ct which they almost invariably
have more than womeu2 OR, IN the
ease Of actors. isit the consciousness
of power thatit for them 10 seek and
choose. not to ogle merely for a vie
tim. the ogling prompted perhaps by u.
uneasy Consciousness of dreSSmlker,
MHs9 or is IL because men, knowing
women better than women k.~ them
selves appreciate lhe ralue Of the unre-
vEaled
The reason lies deeper still I think; us
roots are stuck fas in the old traditional
law OF sex, against which women, and the
third sex known as emancipated women.
have rebened 50 long Modesty cannot
live without self-respect Women lose
salf.resn<tt in jumping tbe grand army OK