The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-12-09
IN WOMAN'S BEHALF.
SPEAKING IN PUBLIC.
The Great Differences sBetween Womanli-
ness and Sentimentality.


womanliness and sentimentality. They
seem to be under the impression tina.
real womanliness INDUCES publicly in
lavish use of terms of endearment- and
in that outward display of affection
which the world will always regard
coldly or sneerngly. Those qualities
which radically distinguish women
from men are qualities of character, Ct
minds, of soul They are matters ci
inheritance, very frequently, and in any
event are traits improved by cultiva-
ton, by self-contrOl, and by the unceas-
ing vigilance and discipline of life Al
lection, with its tender manifestations,
its own peculiar vernacular. is some
thing so sacred that it should be forever
guarded from the eyes OF the soothing
and censorious multitude. Il is no
more intended for the platform. for the
routine of the public meeting. for inter
pclation in the minutes of the session of
a convention, than the silks and jewels
of festal array are meant 10 be dragged
through the dust of the highways. worn
in the ordinary avocctions and in the
garish light OF noon The private in
dividual and the public official are two
separate and distinct individuals The
woman who stands upon the platform.
or who speaks from the floor of a con-
vention. is the representative of prin-
eiple or an idea. and she IS nothing
more. It Is of paramount Importance
to her audience and to the presiding
officer that her enunciatiOn should be
distinct; that her views should be
strongly, clearly and concisely present
ed; that her rhetoric and her grammar
should attain the highest stan dard OF
established usage. But her private
idiOsyncracies, her physical infirmities.
her tending to emotion or hvsteria- bear
no rightful place or consideration in
any phase of the proceedings of delib-
erative body. It is not worth while 10
resort to spectacular effects or melo-
dramatic methods for the purpose of
emphasizing and making apparent dis
tinctions of sex. No well-bred. we'll
dressed woman who speaks and con-
ducts herself with dignity and modesty
will ever be mistaken for other than
she is
What the average woman most needs
in her public capacity is eomposure and
dignity. However amiable and affec-
tionate it may seem between friends
and kindred. my dear is not proper
appellation to use in a convention or in
q mass-meeting. Nothing is gained by
it in any way, and it undeniably gives
an expression Of weakness and ineffi-
cheney.
Where convention is in session for
DAYS together, where all the business IS
transacted intelligently and methOdi-
cally, where there is displayed pro-
found knowledge of parliamentary law.
and where the debate is all that it
should be. sentimentalizing rings like
false note. out OF keeping and out of
harmony with all that is admirable and
praisewOrthy. This small bit OF censure
will be permitted. for. in view OF the
rapid advance that has been made By
women in their ability to consider pub
lie questions and transact public bust
ness. there IS 10 doubt that this slight
fault viii be amended, and that degree
of perfection attained which can be
reached with no loss of kindiiness or
friendship.
There are many things which women
do not approve in men, as there are
doubtless many faults in the moral and
mental composition Of women which
are distasteful to men.
The violence and abusiveness, the
/ lack of dignity. and even those personal
differences which are emphasized with
blows it would be painful to see intro
duced into IN aSsemblage of women.
=
other extreme Of excessive amiability
should be aimed at, with the caressing
and petting that have their proper and
only place within the four walls and
the strict seclusion of home. II Is far
CRY from the masculine turbulence of a
political primary to the excessive sweet
ness of the too ''wOmanly" convention,
but there lies between the two a golden
mean. where courtesy and refinement
and unceasing regard for the feelings
of others are perfectly compatible with
official dignity and refreshing good
sense.
Women have two pernicious, precon-
ceived ideas against which they must
contend; one is that extreme where
they have been idealized by poets and
romance writers into something akin to
the divine, the other Is the misrepresen-
tation which stamps every woman who
crosses the threshold OF her house as
bold. unsexed creature, at war with the
unalterable conditions of nature and
of society One is as false as the other.
The woman who Yields the gavel or
addresses Madam President IS not apt
- IN, at anal or
She has very probably, on the other
hand, only just temporarily laid aside
her thimbie, and after attending TO the
wants of her family has given herself
little refreshing Whit of the air of the
| outside world. She IS IN one capacity
no less womanly than in the other. In
both alike she retains her virtues and
her faults, seeking constantly TO
strengthen the one and overcome the
other II will be borne in mind that 1t
is not the real mothers who must keep
in the drawing-room the forever unfn-
ished bit of an infants wardrobe,
whereby TO advertise the capacity Of
her maternity. That sort Of humbug
is left to women of the stamp discussed
and made typical by the pen OF Thaek-
cray.
There is, 70 go back little, a very
great deal that we may learn of men
with profit, and one is, when they
choose TO exercise il, professional and
official dignity. II Is OF immense adj
vantage. giving weight to opinions and
soberness TO Judgment There IS no
reason, really. why women should con-
duct their public meetings and gauge
their behavior in public by any lower
standard Inter Oeeau