The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-15

ciation)
1t is the fashion in these days to talk
very grandly and much about the equal
rights OF women with men, their equal
capacity for nearly all occupations, Of
fees and honors and above all their
right to regulate and control their own
affairs, whether political, financial so
cial or domestic. L. as a woman, stand
up stoutly for my own sex; 1 dc most
firmly believe them to be in all but
brute strength the equal OF man, and
in spiritual and moral strength very
frequently his superior | admire wom-
en-. 1 love women, 1 long and work Tor
the advancement of women; but, as
woman not without powers OF ooserva-
ton and a wide experience of the world,
] cannot but see a certain side of the
truth not often brought forward by
women and not at all understood by
men. and this is the inherent helpless
ness of woman in struggle Win
man
Possibly this helplessness is largely
due TO to hereditary prejudice on the
part of man. hereditary self-distrust on
the part Of woman, but it is also large
" due to the inherent natures Oh the
two sexes. Every virile man has vein
of brutality in his composition more or
less deftly buried beneath the surface
of his civilization. and every woman is
at heart timid of encountering this bru-
tality-that is to say, every wOmanly
woman is.
Almost any man brought into bust
ness relations with a woman not his
employee meets her propositions or ar
guments with either an air OF good
natured tolerance, or disquieted con-
tempt of skeptical scrutiny. or of mag
unanimous acceptance, perhaps harder
TO bear than any other of the demon
STATIONS of his superiority
Let a woman try to argue polucal
point or point of statecraft or poliu-
caI economy with a man, and she usually
receives some such answer as the IA
NOUS insult offered by Gladstone. think
10 some titled woman who earnestly i'm
plored him to advocate some measure
Listening with an amused smile TO all
she had to say. he simply CALCULATED at
the end. "Oh. you darling and passed
on as carelessly good humOred as if he
had been listening to the prattle of a
pretty child or. if the man is not as
benevolent as Gladstone, he may reply
in the spirit Of Napoleon, who assured
Nine de Stael that The most valuable
woman in his empire was the one who
has borne most sons for France, or
again. after the manner of Henry VIII
of England. who babe the nuns who
tried to argue for their right to live their
own lives in their own way: eco spin,
you jades; go SPIN
HH..rsst rf4rtc
women In general are to men in general
either "darlings." or mothers of chill
dren, or household and domestic ma
chimes Within these limits woman re-
ceives admiration, protection and a GER
tain amount of appreciation from every
grade of men. but let her step outside
these limits. let her try to meet man
upon his own intellectual or authoritative
platform, and her disadvantage is at
once made apparent and her helpless
ness TO overcome it stares her in the face.
No man ever meets her and cOnverses
upon momentous subjects precisely as
ne does with another man. and until this
is the case there are no true equal rights
FOR the woman The woman seeks an in
terView with her business man or lawyer:
she wishes certain things done and done
at once: the business man or the lawyer
assures her with an air of indulgent pa
thence that what she suggests cannot be
done, at least not in her way and 1t her
time; that TO sell. or to buy or to invest
or TO do whatever it is she wishes to do
IS not possible, or if possible not desr-
able. and she had better leave it all in
his hands and rest secure that he will do
what is for the best. Now just here
comes in the helplessness Of which 1
speak The woman feels confident that
the thing she wishes could be done and
he hot . h.
done, but she lacks the habit of com
mand, the self-cOnddence the weight Of
will, that would enable her TO hold her
OWN without agitation or struggle
A woman can no more hold her own
against the well-trained masculine mind
In matters of business, the law or poll
tics, than she can against the we'll
trained masculine muscle in a pugilistic
encounter, and this is what / mean by
the inherent heIplessness of woman
She may be better informed than the
man, she may have a deep rooted con-
viction that she is right. but she does
not dare TO take the thing into her own
hands and manage il in a manner con-
trary to that advised by the man who
claims to know that she is wrong.
Another point Of a woman's inherent
helplessness is her sensitiveness. The
mans sheer, or his half yelled contempt
for her opinion, or his exaggerated DO
likeness and Difference, all tell upon her
blows Of a fist or the singing cuts of
a whip. She feels wounded hurt
ashamed even. while remaining sure
that she is in the right. She withdraws
from the contest apparently defeated
but, like Calico, secretly murmuring
But nevertheless it does move
In fact, Calico is a conspicuous illus
tration Of my theory. He had quicker
perceptions and a keener insight more
courageous theories and more faith In
his own intuitiOns than the whole col
lege OF cardinals with the pontiff in
cluded, but when he propounded these
theories he found himself opposed to
the solid phalanx of the ages i'm the
form Of a governing class, who intended
70 remain governors. He was defeated
by frOwns and sneers and smiles and
Jeers, behind which lay the power of life
and death. Beaten down and over
whelmed, he signed the recantation of
his profession Of truth, made humble
apology for having been brighter than
his masters and went away muttering
the REORGANIZATION which we have
quoted. / wonder how many women
have walked out Of the office, the study,
the back parlOr, the vestry when they
have held an interview with some male
arbiters Of their destinies, their heads
upright, their cheeks glowing their
eyes bright with anger and unshed tears,
their hearts hot with defeat and. humili-
alton, muttering To themselves I'm one
form or another, But for all that it
does mover
Another element is wornan's helpless
ness in her relations with man in her
love Of being loved and this desire I'm
frs various DEVELOPMENTS is perhaps the