The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-06-29
WON ANS ABILITY.
The Arguments OF Many Writers on thu
subject Disproved by Facts.

The Arguments OF Many Writers OH the
subject Disproved by Facts.
1t has not been 50 very long since q
woman. who had gained some influence
In the world of letters. sent out the
rather startling and altogether de-
pressing declaration that women pos
scssed no business qualifications, that
they can not be expected to either man.
age affairs of finance or make any but
sorry clerks. Yet every village could
produce its widow erlning better liv-
ing for herself and little ones than
many man was doing, and the wife
who had supported an idle and disso-
lutte husband. Women have amassed
fortunes. One has been made president
of a railroad, and another, because she
managed her own SO well. chosen to
oversee the vested landed interests of
others. We remember the wonderful
Bon Marche of Paris and its head, Mad
anne Boucicant; and the extensive pub
fishing interests under the supervision
of Mrs. Frank Leslie, and know that
each of the instances given is not an
exception, but the representative of a
class.
interpretations of women are multi
plying, and business companies with
the prefix, "Woman's,' seem to be an
order Of the day As to their value as
employees, perhaps their knowledge of
their Increasing presence in the treas
ury and other departments at Washing
ton, and their appreciated services in
the tabulation of the late census, may
be taken as sufficient truth of trust
worthiness and accuracy.
And now writer, woman, too,
strangely enough, treats in a recent
Critic of the Absence of the Creative
Faculty o. Women" mo woman" she
says. "has ever done anything in the
intellectual world which has had the
germ of Immortality" And there are
given as proofs the facts that only
about forty lines remain to us Of the
work CT Sappho, and that the writings
of Jane Austen are not universally ap.
preciated.
But amount does not make quality
nor does either the fame or immortality
OF any writer depend on the extent OF
his writings Pindar was the only
Greek lyric poet worthy to be compared
to Sappho, and his more numerous
pieces are neither more read nor ad.
mired than the one complete poem and
the various fragments of the latter
She gave name to a stanza-the Sap.
phic-which may last as long as does
literature. And the surviving poem is
characterized by an eminent authority
on the classics, as, 1.-The one precious
whole production spared TO us by time
and chance from the genius of Sappho.
The same writer expresses the belle
that the loss of her poems is probably
the greatest loss that the literature o
mankind ever suffered
From Sappho-living $500 years ago
and holding her place with the few
Grecl, poets we are pleased to call i'm
mortal-we turn to Jane Austen anC
wonder if, because her productions arr
not commonly known and delighted in
/ she had no genius. If this were true
| but few who are called great are reall.
so, because the masses know or else car
nothing about their writings. Again
if this test is certain there is no bool
| better able to endure it than one writ
ten by n women-''Uncle Toms Cabin
Quite as many persons know abou
the Mrs. Poyser who always kept he
| clock little fast that she might kee'
her work along, and get to church i
time. as any character Of Thackeray's
The Waverly novels of Scott are as
whole named the peerless in historical
fiction; yet George Eliot's "Romola
is one of the three considered equal I
the best of them.
Robert Browning will scarcely be d.
MED the place of master, yet poem
of Mrs. Browning are as worthy as an
of his. and nc has less power to max
himself universally understood, whic
our critic of the Critic chooses to d,
nominate the mark of genius
Will it be that other hymns shall liv,
and Just as | am without one plea
bv Charlotte Elliott, Nearer. my &c
] to Thee" by Mrs. Adams, and Phet