The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-10
WIEN p. won.S WOW, well. q

1 To tie Editor Of the Eagle-
I lave crow TO pick with you You
have been saying too much on the subject
I of woman dress recently touching effect.
/ without noticing cause. Do ron not
( know, sir, representing az you do, the
greatest heights of American wisdom,
i that lovely woman always puts forth her
1 best efforts 10 please man, and in nothing
I more 50 than in he matter ~ rairnent2
/ The fashionable woman of today wears
narrow dress skirts, and underskirts con-
! spicuous for their absence because she
/ knows that mea admire physical more
+ than mental development IN her pretty
self Indeed, am not too certain 1t is not
1 we'll understood by the would-be lords OF
! creation, and used as a scheme TO entice
/ her away from intellectual pursuits. in
/ the fear that she may, II not interfered
| with, eclipse their sex in intellectual at
| tainments. But be that as it may. If
men viii only proclaim TO the world that
they admire and care more for spiritua.
AID mental beauty in woman than they do
for physical and animal attractions, and
then with their boasted superiority for in
yention, devise some method by which she
can stamp herself with his favorite char
acter, he viii see her adopt it at once.
though it required that she array her form
divine IN gunnysack that reached from
her shoulders TO her toes without even
cotton string tied about the waist.
when lovely woman stoops to folly"
a man behind the throne is always the
cause. This sounds like shouldering the
original sin back on man. | know, but be-
tween you and me, Mr.. EAGLE, | believe
nut &c N,sha hol |
take the liberty OF further believing that
had the history of the fall been written by
women it woald have been told that way.
Now. please, Mr. Bird of America, be-
fore you find any more fault with US for
what you seem TO think an understandable
display of muscular beauty. ask some OF
your gentleman friends who are great adj
mirers of feminine loneliness, and see if
you do not find am correct.
There is one other thought I want to call
attention To. / notice many men, both
speakers and,writers, are in agony over the
fear that the higher education of women
will, sooner or later leave the world with
out mothers, claiming that a woman's
place is in her home, and nowhere else,
and she should give herself wholly to her
family and nothing else, graciously allow
ing man to run all the outside world for
| her, Now Will some of these poor fright
ened heroes? please tell me If giving her
life to her family and nothing else" does
not mean simply that she must give it to
her husband aud sons, and no one else?
Where is the need of giving her precious
strength to her daughters, since they are
expected to grow up and spend their lives
just as she has done, and no more?
A thought like this sometimes occurs to
me here. Suppose one half of the world
did give its life and strength to the other
half in quiet unostentatious manner,
such as women are taught is most be-
coming in them, great indeed
would be the wonder, aye and
pity also. il the other half did not sue
coed in accomplishing something worthy
of such heroic effort and noble self-sacri-
fee. But If the ''one" half should learn
at last, in spite of oppression and slavery,
that they had right to let their light
shine straight on TO the world at large in.
stead of through reflectors, that they had
been designed for something more than
playing the part of nurse, laundress and
cook exclusively, existing the while In
state of chronic amazement aud wonder
that they were permitted to live and wOr
ship such noble and exalted beings as
men, and having discovered this, proved
themselves equal, not only without the
encouragement and assistance from men
that they bad SO long extended TO them,
but against fierce and bitter opposition, to
the task of successfully contesting the
=
putei possession of for so long. why
should not the result be to her honor and
10 the everlasting shame of those who
would retard her progress? II man be su-
perior, as he claims, why can he not hold
his position with equal advantages, and
not ask, in addition to his own, all OF wo-
mems life beside? Then, why can not an
educated woman care for her own health
and that of those about her better than an
ignorant one? Why can not an educated
woman preside over her home as pleasant
ly and intelligently as one ignorant
of the laws that govern the world
inside as we'll as outside the homer No
need to fear that education will destroy
the instinct Of motherhood in women.
Thet is one of the laws that would apply
so both sexes, if true. Rather let it be
known that il anything could have that
effect on woman, 1t would be tyranny, in
fidelity and characterization, aud not the
ennobling influence Of education.
The whole matter resolves itself into
this, that all broad minded and generous
men will, and do encourage the advance
meut of woman TO every place she can III
satisfactorily, while only those who realize
they are not strong enough 70 hold their
own unaided against poor, weak( , woman
hood allow their envious objections to
stamp them with the plain term-jealousy.
IsA. Snow.
1t is entirely unnecessary for the editor
of the EAGLE to call on any gentleman
friend for any such purpose. He does not
know OF one TO whom he couldn't readily
give pointers on feminine loneliness Isa
Snow totally misinterprets the spirit Of
our recent articles. Barring the Grecian
costume, pure and simple, no dress fashion
of all history was ever half so pretty as the
present one, which discovers the entire
woman but makes no vulgar disclosures.
We are as much opposed to robbiug the
bridal couch of its treasures for making
sensual display as Isa can be-ED. EAGLE !
THE MUsIS CONCERT