Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-01-04
THE sUsJUGATloN OF WOMAN.

sNot long ago." writes a lady, 81
heard one man discuss with another
how he might best bring q woman to
his feet as he metaphorically express
ed himself Without at all admitting
that that is proper place for any
woman to be, let me submit few time
honored recipes gathered from classic
fiction, deduced from reading between
the lines of current news, and inferred
from circumstantial evidence In those
lives which it has been voucbsafed to
me to observe with more or less care.
"a man can bring almost any woman
TO his feet by the simple and inexpens-
I've device of pretending that she is too
good for him. Why a woman Is willing
to accept a hatterIng estimate of her
character from q man whom she has
the best possible reasons ia know is no
connoisseur of character at all. it would
be difficult to say. 1t would also be
curious to know why a woman who has
never made goodness the end and aim
of her existence should be gratItied at
the idea that she has accidentally
achieved it; but the fact remains that
nothing will make q woman SO entirely
manageable as for a man to insist, IN
face of direct evidence to the contrary,
that she Is an angel whose perfections
he vainly tries to emulate.
"lf the man is dissatisfied with the
degree of subsection obtained by pre-
tending that a woman is too good for
him, let Linn follow it up-after she is
at his feet-by turning round and pre-
tending that he is too good for her.
This will produce any desired degree of
moral and temperamental limpness, but
he must take great care not to try this
method first, as 1t doesn't do to begin
with.
Another very successful masculine
wile-I beg pardon, l mean method
is to pretend that woman is wise be-
yond the average OF her sex, her mind
approaching in its virility even the
masculine standard. With some women
the good comrade' fiction may be used
with profit. They will be better pleased
to be told that they are worthy to be
met on plane of equal friendship with
the other sex, than with any amount of
the chivalrous but patronizing devo-
ton which they might claim as
right.
"There is one way in which the maj.
may bring Il woman to his feet, but L
almost hesitate to mention it, as it in
wolves SO much time, trouble, self
sacrifice, and expense that the game is
hardly worth the candle
"He may enter upon consistent
course of promoting the welfare and
happiness of the woman whom he wants
to subjugate. He may study her tastes
and try to crafty them. He may
bring her such offerings aud testimon-
ials of his regard as sconventionality and
his purse may permit; TO tell the truth,
she may not he offended if he sore-
times goes the merest tride beyond
the limits of both. He may lay every.
thing he has at her feet. offering
In this fashion just price for bring
ing her to his feet. There are just
two objections to this way-the
first is that, as I nave said, it seems to
cost more than it comes to, and the
other that--so curious and past finding
out is the nature of woman-It is as
likely as not to fail.
"Ihen there is the exactly opposite
plan of consistent abuse which, woman
being an illogical animal, is pretty
likely to succeed if some disinterested
person does not interfere. The worst
Of it is that though all women may be
reduced to subJection by judicious
abuse, 1t often takes so much of it in
refractory cases that the law, or the
wOman's male relatives, or 3ome other
meddlesome element, enters into the
case and prevents such complete and
satisfactory experiments as might have
been desired. Systematic abuse is by
far the surest way tor the man, only he
must be careful that the particular
woman on whom he tries it has no one
specially interested In her welfare.
~ do not offer myself as the advocate
or defendant of any of these ways of
bringing a woman to the feet of per-
son of the opposite sex. / simply
| submit them as the ways which have
been used with tolerable success from
the beginning of time, and which are
not likely to fail until some radical
changes take place IN human nature.
''lf the man had asked how to win a
woman's self-respectIng love he would
have been told to offer her the fair ex-
change of life of affectlonate care for
one of loving devotion, to give her as
much sympathy and appreciation as he
was capable of, to promise her an
equal share in the anxieties, response
biiIties, and rewards of his life, and to
I'm no more than an equal share in
Use of her own. But | beg the mans
pardonl L am showing goods he never
asked to see."