Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-27
A PLEA FOR THE FAIR.
Bessie Bramble Thinks Western Penn
sylvania Women Are Slow.
THE SEX ABROAD Is AT WORK.
England Will Lead America if Something
Is Not Done at Once.
THE DISPOSITION FOR QUARRELING
WRITTEN FOR THE prsPArcH.1

1
interest In the Worlds Fair than those o
Pittsburg. Everybody here says there j
plenty of time-the Fair does not open fo
a year hence-yet everybody knows how .
year flies away. Hardly have we got tn,
wear and tear Of our Christmas over, thar
another is at hand. That old Roman Stole
Seneca, while declaiming on the brevity o.
life says: "Our lives are spent either in
doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing te
the purpose, or in doing. nothing that we
ought to do. We are always complaining
our days are few, and acting as if there were
no end to them"
That he described the people of to-day a.
well as those of Rome in the days of Nero
requires no proof The sage old proverb,
"Never put off till tomorrow what can be
done to-day" is, indeed, in great danger OF
being reversed into, "Never do to-day what
can be put off until to morrow"
What Allegheny county is doing as to
the great Fair is as yet hardly possible to
know, but it behooves the women to have it
in mind, and let no grass grow under their
feet for the honor Of the county and the
glory of our great State of PENNSYLVANIA.
None OF US want to 90 to Chicago and
Feel Small Over Our Exhibit.
None of us desire to have it said that the
women of Western Pennsylvania are of the
down-foot order. None of us wish to have
it on record that the women of this region
were behind in the matter of brains and
ability. And most surely we do not want
these to be represented by samplers and
ofohx rorty 1ofr g. - IL
Sometimes it comes to mind that the old
Blue Laws have sat down more hardly upon
the women of this region than in other
places; that the old Puritanic intolerance
OF hundred years ago has found less resist
ance hereabout than anywhere; that the
deep cloud of Calvinism, with its dreadful
doom of eternal death, has left less heart to
work for the things of this world in this
region than in other places; that the spirit
which crushes the powers of genius, and
dooms woman with creative faculty as an
artist or writer to cook cabbage and at
tend to the divine drudgery of dishwashing
is more long abiding and prevalent
under Blue Law rule than any other. Only
so short time ago as that when Mrs Swiss
helm wrote, she says she and the other
farmers wives were expected to dig pota-
toes, gather apples, milk all of the cows, in
addition to their housework, while the
'men folks" pitched horseshoes to work off
their surplus vitality. What the fact NAV
be we cannot tell, but the supposition is,
from tales yet told-that the supporting and
defending Of the "divine institution" of
slavery held out longer under the Blue
Laws in Western Pennsylvania than anys
where north of Dixie The man who laid
out, and named Williamsburg in honor of
William Wilkins, held slaves under Divine
law as then laid down by the preachers, and
believed by the people. This not so long
ago; The Blue Laws concerning women
still exist, only for the purpose of giving
weapons to bad men, and to the disgrace Of
the Legislators.
Women Prone to Quarrel
However,.w must get back to the Worlds
Fair. This end Of the State must make
creditable showing, and, to that end, must
when the appointed time comes-must stand
ready, like the wise virgins, with their
lamps we'll filled and burning. "But how
women do fight" says, a beloved brother Gin
the pulpit sense) jeeringly. They no sooner
get into an affair of great importance like
the Worlds Fair, than they fall into the
silly little squabbles with which they en-
iven their small church fairs and strawberry
festivals, when Mrs. A says Mrs. B is the
meanest thing she ever saw, and Mrs. B re-
torts that considering the source, nothing
better could be expected of Mrs. A,
and so on. But, it may be said, it
IS never quite safe for ''the pot to call the
kettle black" 1t may be true that the
,Lirmish between Mrs. Palmer, the Presi-
lent of the Women's Board, and Phoebe
Cousins, the Secretary, showed little angelic
spirit on either side. But how could it,
when women are not angels? Nothing is
more likely than that, in her position as
President, Mrs. Palmer will have deal of
opposition to encounter as full of bitterness
Is that shown by Mrs. Charlotte Smith.
According to the law of compensation,
hose holding position with high honors
must endure its penalties. Mrs. Palmer,
loing her best and utmost for the Fair, will |
encounter fault finders in plenty and op- |
,onents not few. But that is to be ex-
'ected. When was it otherwise that per-
ons in place and power escaped reproach? |
ic for being eminent"
"But how women do fight" They can't |
conduct things in business-like way. They |
ant keep their tempers. Men never fight |
They keep calm and ''composv" at all times |
They are dignifed, and never call names, |
lor do anything of that sort.
Light on the Other Side.
And vet-without going too far back-it is
omewhere recorded that in the halls of |
congress John Adams, first Vice President
# the United States, had his nose pulled |
nd his mouth slapped by Mr.. Jarvis. If
ur history is right John Randolph in the
acred Senate called Daniel Webster "a
'ile slanderer," denounced John Adams as
"a traitor" and Livingston, of New
Iork, he pronounced ''the most
and degraded of beings, whom
10 man ought to touch save with pair of
ongs" Readers of political history will
ecall, too, the fights of Benton and Clay, of
lilly and Graves, which ended in duel OF
ohm Quincy Adams and Henry A. Wise;
f Breckenridge and Cutting, who called
ach other liars on the floor of the House
nth such acrimony as would have ended in
duel, save for the interference of the
President and other friends. Then there
yas the fight in which Charles Sumner was
lmost killed; the free row, when Keitt, of
outh Carolina, called our Galusha A. Grow
a black Republican puppy" and when
verybody-Quakers, Presbyterlans and
scopalians-otherwise eminent states
len, pitched in pell NELL and pounded each
ther right and left.
More melees might be noted among the
ighest representatives, where they were
ardly distinguished for calm dignity and
Dol reason. Then for freedom from dis
ute, absence of acrimony, and presence of
eace we have the General Assembly OF
the General Conference of
le Methodists, and the meetings of all the
big guns" of theology for illustrious ex-
nples. Ha! ha! To say nothing of the
tile meetings where the brethren can
,rdly keep their coats on.
Women will squabble. So will men.
.uman nature is human nature.