The Jersey City news., 1892-04-01

WOMEN AND BOOKS,
The Latter Give the Former
an Excuse for Waiting
Until Somebody
Turns Up.
A PUBLIC LIBRARY AFTERNOON.
Blue Stockings Enraged at the Un-
questioned Reign Of the Fashion
and Story Paper.
A PUBLIC LIBRARY AFTERNOON.
MUSIC AND SOCIETY NOTES.

MUSIC AND SOCIETY NOTES.
/ (Snecially tvritten for the JERSEY city Ne,cs)
Once upon a time not long ago there
| lived a man, rash young man, who
wrote for the North american ReUteto a
couple of articles. one called THE Ruth
| less Sex" the other THE Mannerless
Sex "By both of these he meant women.
| Now, with the sentiments of this hippant
young man the writer has nothing In
| common; the time has passed or not YET
| arrived when such sweeping ep1thets
| may be applied to women with any show
of truth. In fact, the author himself
doesn't believe word he says. The
| writer has direct personal knowledge
| that just after the publication OF his
| articles, Mr.. Oscar Fay Adams attended
a reception at Wellesley College and de-
voted himself to that same rutnless,
mannerless sex IN manner surpri Ing to
| all. So much for theory. Those articles
| were written for mems comfort and con-
| solatiou-tO give Benedict chance TO
| read them aloud to Mrs. BenedlcG, ana
| chuckle as he asks, "what she thinks OF
| that" And what Mrs. B. does think Is
l :
| him. let him enjoy it all he Wants. NO
| one. not even Benedict himself, disputes
| for moment her superiority III courtesy,
tact and good form, and If such writing
| consoles him for his deficiencies. 1t doesn't
| injure her in the least.
Having reached this point, the astute
| reader will recognize that in ABOUT Two
| minutes the ''female sect" is going to get
most numerically hauled over the COATS.
That is just the way people start OUT 70
| show woman her faults-begin with
| fifteen lines of sweetness and light, pull
| up sh ort with "But ---," and set to work
TO fay her alive for column and haif.
And it's generally awoman writer VINO
does This, too.
| However, let us be original or die.
| This article will not politely stab Jersey
I City women in the back,-lt wishes
| merely to call attenti tion to some habits OF
our womankind, viewed from woman's
| standpoint
4 AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
4 First of all there Is The Public Library
! and it's reading room, downtown. 1t Is IL
/ pretty room comfortable, albeit II IS
| always five degrees too warm, aad alto
gether just the place for woman who
loves books aud bookish ways. The
authorities have fenced off little cage
on one SHE Reserved for Women. with
the best of side lights, comfortable chairs
| and tables, and full view of the street.
The writer had just been reading ah
essay by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. and her
mind was full Of the higher mission OF
| womankind, nobility. strength and
beauty, and all that, when she entered
the woman's corner. Behold upon the
first tanle-a catalogue of spring fash
ions. Upon the next, dilto; aud SO on.
And this is how the library authorities
estimate women, is ii? Fashion books,
forsooth. aud nothing else. Here was u
whole sermon on the be!ittling Influence
brought to bear on women By their nat
ural oppressors. Three minutes more
and lHE JERSEY CITY NEWS would have
had red hot communications on the SUB
iect when--enter three young women.
They literally fail upon those catalogues
They ignore the plies of magazines ami
shelves of books. They turn over those
pages and compare notes, not always
sotto Uoce. Enter two more. and yet
another two. Same result. Finish the
last page aud dd capO. And IN the corner
sat a morose young woman, with q SER
mon spuiled, and the firm conviction that
few hundred centuries Of belittling in
fiuences had done its work pretty thor
oughly for some women.
ENTER. A MAN.
But even aimleSs pondering over fash
ion books is better than sitting perfectly
quiet and doing nothing at all. Some
what extended research Kept the writei
in the reading room more than two hours
and during the whole of this time q wei
dressed Young person sat with her hands
| in her lap, looking out of the window
She exhausted the catalogue above men
| toned then called for no book or iiassa
zine-just sat still. Then there entered &
young woman whose name belongs IL
, Jersey City's list OF the hundred pretty
: girls that everybody knows and nobody
dares to print. Sne obtained an art mag
azine and sat down to read. In abouttiy'
. min utes she began to grow restless, aud
. | following her eyes, one could see that ;
young man was approaching He wa
. homely and not over tellectual looking
his clothes didn't tit, and he WAS alto
gether insignificant. Yet that pretty Rir
! grew self-conscious the moment HI
loomed into view. She moved her chair
little and cast a sidelong glance to se
whether her skirt was gr cefuly dis
posed. She really did not think of fiirt
, ing, but the mere entrance Of u man sew
, erai degrees below her iu the scale o
humanity took her thoughts straigh
; away from books and art.
And the cynicsm around my chat
grew SO thick you could cut it with
. knife. s*
Then two girls in my immediate yiciu
/ ity began TO gently hum popular al
soprano and contralto parts. Now |
/. was ever so pretty, but just q riii.. ba
: form don't you know. and not Calculate
> to make their neighbors happier. 3fuei
) they talked about various personal ma;
ters in audible tones. And all this tim
n not whisper had arisen from the thirty
: odd men in the, room except from u par
. 1 eel OF small boys in corner, who beahve
! much AS the eighteen year old youn
women did.
On the whole. there is food for though
in an afternoon at the Public Library
and the least interesting problems 10 L
: solved are those in the books
= By-tbe-way why, oh why do the au
g thorities allow those doors to z
: crash-oang when one shuts them? Yo
I open the door, cutter. Il strong draugh
gets the better of -or-v-bang-everybod
I looks up, and this is the sort of entranc
: you have. Not exactly calculated To ii
i spire confidence in prison at all IL
j clined to timidity, is it?
u
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