Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1893-06-01
THEORY AND APPLICATION

the Training she Needs.
In discussing the part that women
have taken in public affairs within the
past few years gentleman recently
objected on the ground of their lack OF
experience. lie did not explain how
experience was to be had except by
actual work in the field, whatever and
wherever IL may be.
When the unframed girl starts out TO
find employment she knows very little
1t is rare thing that she has been
taught or has the opportunity of learn
ing the requirements of her chosen call
ing in her own home. II she intends
10 be stenographer or book-keeper
she goes to a business college II she
wishes to be a teacher she goes TO school
and then completes her course at some
university or normal school But even
then she admits that she has acquired
the theory only, and that theory and
practice differ most amazingly and UNI
expectedly. To obviate this difficulty
there are in all the best institutions for
the training Of teachers-the last in
struction given-what is called train
ing school. Here the woman who has
mastered arithmetic and algebra, sci
ence and literature, must learn how 10
instruct and discipline. Were she to go
on acquiring theories for twenty years
and fail TO apply them she would prob
ably be a total failure. Knowledge that
falls short Of application is productive
of little good.
II is frankly admitted that in their
clubs and societies and conventions
women do make some absurd blunders.
But there is no quicker method OF learn
Ing how to do the right thing than TO
blunder in the face of an audience that
will not fail to observe and comment.
1t is like child putting its hand in the
fre-painful, but sure to prevent a
repetition of the fault
Women have morbid horror Of be-
ing ridiculous, and when they misapply
the principles of parliamentary rule
and see the mistake graphically de-
scribed in the morning paper, whatever
they may do, or whatever offense they
may commit il will not again be just
that particular one They learn more
In one session OF a convention than they
could acquire by two years porting over
Roberts Rules of Order" and, in fact,
It is the only way in which they can
learn.
The same is true of clubs Observe
any club of several years experience,
how much more dignified have the pro-
ceedings become, how much more com.
prehensivc is the programme, the
themes selected and their manner OF
treatment How thing really appears
ha q ala .
ted to the disinterested. Our friends,
our relatives are not competent to pass
an unbiased opinion upon either our
speech or deed. Their affection blinds
them and their Partially warps their
| judgment The stranger has no such
sentimental scruples. lie sees, hears
and knows the stern reality. The OBJ
| lection urged against women in CON
ventions and societies was also pro.
nounced upon the woman in journalism.
1t was charged that she had had no dis
cipline, that she had never been trained
TO think, to observe judge judiciously
and dispassionately; hence she should
not be permitted TO write of anything
but the chance and change of fashion,
and how TO make home happy. But II
she is not turned loose to stand or fall
by her own efforts she will never be
able TO think, to see or to decide. She
will have TO make mistakes, take sharp
reproofs, suffer humiliating defeats, bu,
this discipline is necessary, and IL is
possible only in the actual pursuance OF
her profession, most assuredly not in
the coy library of the special, or in the
classroom of any school of journal.
ism" When she has violated the pol.
icy Of her paper once or twice, failed
of the commission, forgotten the as
signment, and received her reproof OF
discharge she will have learned more
than she could acquire in a lifetime al
home or in an eternity at school OF
journalism. The learning lies in doing
the work over and over again--proft.
ing by the failures and blunders as
much as by the success and the reward.
And the woman who is to be shut up in
the four walls OF home and never &c
outside them will never learn and is
doomed TO hopeless ignorance.
II is said of an eminent oculist that
he spoiled n hatful Of eyes in learning
how TO perform the operation for re
moving cataract II is sad to think OF
! the scores that suffered that thousands
might be benefited, but the knowledge
could be obtained in no other way.
There is one fact that might as well
be faced and accepted by conservative
DIRECTORS, and that is, that the age in
which women remained secluded in
their houses, thinking and knowing
nothing of the world around them, has
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