The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-05-24
"THE MIGHTY BRAIN OF WOMAN.
It is PithiIy Discussed From a Wo-
mans Point of View.

IL must be admitted that in intellectual
pursuits more men have made themselves
famous than women. Were the sexes on
an equal footing this fact would in itself
be proof of the superiority as the mascu-
have been it proves nothing:
Until recently girl did not receive the
educational advantages enjoyed by boys,
therefore we should not expect of the
woman of the past as much intellectual
power as of the man of the same period,
but since the time that educational priv
ileges have been more nearly equalized
the progress that woman has made has
been sufficient at least, 1t seems, to set
the Lords OF Creation" agog lest some
one encroach on their fancied superiority.
And it is no wonder when the female ac-
countant, teacher, lawyer, doctor and
hordes of others who are crowding the
professions, the result of one generation
of culture. are pushing them from the
high places.
Go into any mixed school you may Sc
lect who are the bright pupils? Who
takes class honors and that-the highest
average standing for four years-is a fair
test in our High School and academies
In nine cases out of ten, the girls. And
the per cent. would be even larger were it
not for physical inability. / have never
attended, taught or visited a school where
the girls did not surpass the boys in in
tellectual attainments.
The majority of women marry, aud
once married a woman's field of intellec-
tual work is confined within much mar
rover limits than a mans. A smart man
may make himself famous all over the
country as politician, for example. His
equally smart wife, who, were IL possible
for her to go out into the world aud make
herself all that she could be, as he has
done, might stand as high as he. is so
hampered by her responsibilities as wife
and mother as to be effectually barred out
from doing that work by which she could
raise herself to eminence. His abilities
are given scope Hers are cramped and
diverted from the course of their fullest
developments, and in consequence manv
women, possessed Of much intellectual
power, pass for ordinary personages, while
a man, no smarter but more fortunate,
is recognized as brainy, and his sex
plumes itself on its superiority.
True, q woman who has it in her to be
a great scientist, perhaps. may throw off
her ties and follow her natural bent, butt
as was said, "a woman is more benevo-
lent than man." so is she more consci-
entious and more apt to follow duty than
inclination.
l do not dispute that woman's happi-
est life is in presiding over her home;
that there is her allotted field of action,
insist that her home duties fetter her and
prevent her gaining recognition. A man
who can handle n million dollars and in
vest it judiclously is great financier
What do you call a woman who runs
household on so "a week and feeds
renf
Regarding the question OF dress. there
is much to be condemned on both sides.
The training skirt is graceful and almost
universally becoming, but 1t Is not
adapted to the street and as an article Of
st rect wear / shall not attempt to defend
IL. But oh! that the wearers II the plug
hat" the collar that saws the ears and
prevents turning the head, the skin
tight neither garments OF a few years ago,
that rendered bending an impossibility or
the later extreme which Is equally bad
that they should make war on the pulled
sleeve! They say we have taken their
shirt-bosoms and ties. Well, they wore
our sashes and they parted their hair in
the middle too, some OF them, and they
followed our lead in reviving the cape.
1t is libel on the nineteenth century
girl to represent woman as bound up in
the subject of dress, without a thought
beyond the cut of her skirt or the shape of
her hat. The time when that was true of
woman Is past. The girl OF the period Is
careful of her personal appearance. as she
should be, and desirous of looking we'll
land she succeeds in the majority of
cases., but her life is not devoted to her
wardrobe, and she is quite as practical
and sensible as her brothers.
Women are not angels, nor do they pose
as such, but neither are they intellectual
nonentities and they do not care To be so
represented. We only ask fair chance,
fair trial and fair judge.
We are not naturally self assertive, but
when masculine conceit aud masculine
Injustice combine in so unmerited and
uncalled for an attack we feel bound to
defend ourselves
Fortunately for our faith in the sex
there are some men Jess prejudiced who
estimate woman at more nearly her true
value, and we shake hands across the in
tervening years with the poet who said:
His prentice han He tried on man.