The morning call., 1891-10-30
woMEN's CLUBS.

Ideas of New York Correspondent in
Relation to Them.
Clubableness has always been considered
a desirable virtue in man, writes a CORE
spondenI from New York TO The CATL.
What is to be said of this characteristic
in a woman?
Everybody is not agreed as to whether
woman has a right TO be clubaOle. And
even those vino might be disposed to admit
that woman has every personal trait i'm
piled by tie designation are not always
ready to admit that she should exercise
these qualities by actually belonging to
club. Certainly a good many men think
woman's clubableneSs need not be brought
into play beyond the circle Of the home,
where the head Of the house will make use
of it rs he may sea fit
But il is characteristic of the modern
woman that while people are worrying
about definitions and casting about in his
tory, sacred and profane, search OF pre-
cedents for this, that and the other PROPOSE
tion con 2eruing the gantler sex, the CENTER
sex is going ahead to DO about ms it pleaSes.
The precision with which the modern
woman does not "stay put where the con-
seTvative places her is always charming.
Just now the startling TACT presented By
New York life is Just this: That the num-
Der of women who belong to clubs is equal,
If not more than equal, to the number OF
men-this, Of course, not including trade
unions.
WHAT DOES-THIS MEAN?
Itmeans that women. while not using the
ballot, are concerning themselves with every
phase of civic and social life-yes, know a
cluO Of women that is up 10 It's ears In John
Fiske'S CIVIL Government in the United
States" These clubs that we encounter at
1 a fanf tf
the sewing circle OF old. Embroidery is
mot in it." These HOmenare studying, de-
batting, petitloHlng. organizing. a good
many of them, alas are what Andrew Lang
has aptly described as Societies for Badger
ing the Poor But the majority of them
might be credited by anybody but cynic
who denied the fundamental proprlety OF
any sort of organization effected by women
with being useful in more than a prophetic
sense.
Sorosis is the most famous woman's s9ci-
ETY. in New York. Socially 1t cuts wide
swath. Ii is picturesQueiy divided into
sets - into literary, musical, dramatic,
church!y and aristOcratlc cllques-but the
sum OF dtsSension is phenOmeually small.
In fact SurOSlS seldom has what you might
call genuine row. For one thing it is ex
tTemely conservative. 1t has avoided about
70 per cent OF the possibility OF row by bau-
ishnG the subie, OF woman suffrage. The
exclusion of this vital tOpi seems anOuHl US
under the circumstances, ana many OF the
nembers think it unjustiha BILE, but prOba-
by experience has dictated this provision.
Aud then. there are so many clubs Of
women in New \ ok that discuss nothing
eisei
Ii SoroSis is conservative there are sutfi-
cheney OF radical clubs. Some OF these
RADICAL CLUBS
Are so very radical that no sane person that
had their welfare at heart would think Of
divulgiug their topics and conclusions. But
their radIcalism will be the conservatism of
the next decade. The world moves.
Women's clubs develop more rapidly than
wCmen's ciu5-hOuses. The club-h0useS do
not seem to be altogether feasible. The
WOhIen's Press CiuO has quarters, and
Otner societies have rooms anu even houses
Of their own. But there are difficulties IN
the path of out and out lighthouses.
l asked a Well-knOTn woman why women
do not have elub-hOuses, man fashion.
Well, l can tell YOU, she said. without
hesitation. When man goes t. his elab
be is in an atmosphere that cODfeTS upon
him the highest degree Of personal liberty
consistent with human cOmpaniOnship. He
can do things at his club that be does not do
in mixed company, things that We cannot
f-asibly do at home. But no club-rOom can
confer similar privileges on woman. What
could we do at a club that we could not do
elsewhere? WHAT could we do at a club,
otter than what we habitually do, without
losing our reputation for prOpriety? We
ecu d not drink wine there. We could not
smoke. We don't play billiards, don't take
particular satisfaction in playing cards by
ourselves and have no hankeTing for putting
our feet ON the mantepiece. You can see
al once that the ralson d'etre for Yomau's
clubhouse Is very slender"