Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-10-12

Editorial Work That Is Misapplted and
 Unappreciated In This Era of EnIighten-
 ment and Universal Reading-The Con-
 ventionaI woman's Page.
 The estimate of the editor of the average "woman's page" in the newspaper is, upon the whole, not fiattering to the intelligence of the sex. They have, first of all one inn portant fact to learn, and that is that women nowadays, with few exceptions, read the entire paper-news, specials, edi- torisl page and all. The woman of ordi- nary brains may not wade through long congressional debates, but in this respect she differs little from the generality of men. She does, however, read the Wash ington dispatches and is generally found to have pretty good idea of the attitude of the leading political parties upon all leading questions. This is true not only of the city woman, the club woman and the teacher, but it is equally or still more true of farmers wives and the women of the country towns and villages.
 It has been my good fortune to know women we'll in nearly every walk of life women who work with their hands, who sew and scrub and wash; women on the farms and in the schools and colleges, both as teachers and students, with many oth- CTS in the professions-artists, writers, sing CTS and actors I have had the privilege of hearing them talk and in talking with | them upon those topics in which they are most interested. An eminent English writer once said that he gauged the intelli- gence of a people by the proportion of gen 1 eralities to personalities in their conversa- ] tion. It is safe test, and, moreover, one | of those rules that work both ways. With knowledge of women in the course of profession where there are few distinctions made, l have also had unusual l opportunity to talk with men under some 1 what unusual circumstances, in their of fees, in the excitement of political cam paigns, in their places of business where weighty matters of partisan interest or statesmanship were being discussed, and am ready to affirm that it was difficult to decide in whose conversation, that of men or women, personalities most abound.
 Many years ago. while connected with a country paper, went one day in the week l to the courthouse to collect news relating to the appointment of guardians and ad- ministratOrs and similarinformafion. re call vividly that upon these rounds I ire quently gathered up more town gossip than ever heard at all the church socials and tea drinkings l managed to attend between times. "They say was quite as mysterious and authoritative within the stronghold of justice as it was in he parlors of my wom- en friends.
 If a wife left her husband, if a husband deserted his wife, if there were irregulari- ties in the conduct of any man or woman in the town-particularly of any woman it was known to the clerks and lawyers in that courthouse for some time before it be came a common topic for feminine gossip
 do not intend by this statement to re fleet upon either men or women, but to show what I have always believed, because it has been so unvaryingly demonstrated that is, that there is a vast deal of human nature in both men and women. Taking into account the difference of their train
 ing Ga vital matter alwaysl, men and wOm en are interested in about the same things
 It is also to be borne in mind that within the past 20 years the public schools have done an immense deal toward broadening women's minds, enlightening them and giving them capacity for the intelligent consideration of questions beyond dress and personalities l do not mean that they have lost their interest in either of these the woman who has no regard for personal app, arance is less than half a woman-but they are interested quite as deeply in mucl
 besides.
 For this reason the conventional page, ir
 nine cases out of ten, is an insult to bott
 head and heart. Conspicuous in its columns
 are hideous caricatures of fashion, womeI
 with wasp waists, attenuated arms ant | faces ns exnressinnleSs a niece of IrapHr With these edifying illustrations are ar ticles dealing with the insincerity of wom
 ems character, with their uncharitablenes, and cruelty toward each other; their feg lures, their stupid and senseless blunderS with dissertations upon their lack of hon
 esty, interspersed with others on some sucl
 edifying theme as Why Are WomeI , Afraid of Mice?"
 Mrs. Lynn Lynton is favorite criti
 I II l against her own sex only prove a natur . war d and soured and therefore incapabl , of making just estimate of anything per , taining to women. Marion Harland, wh , has almost equaled Mrs. Lynton in her st
 veritv, is another contributor to the aver
 age womans page. Still other contribu
 tions, regret to say are from the pens o younger women, who in abusing and be littling their sister women, whom they d
 not know and whose friendship they hay z never sought or valued, imagine that the 1 are proving their own mental superiorit h and hope thus tu curry favor with the crit | ics of the other sex.
 If these beginners had the confidence ( D women which their own diSloyalty and he. t tility forbds they would learn that a goo
 deal of the common sense = this world e the heritage of women who possibly mak l. no great professions to culture or menti
 
 F., discusses the silver question and the tari
 with her husband. Working women al
 interested in educational and philanthrop 1T questions, and it is upon these theme 'l quite as muct as upon personal topics an |, matters pertaining to the toilet, that the l. read and talk. It would be we'll for tho. ;. who undertake to cater intellectually f,
 the women of the country 10 cultivate the if acquaintance individually and collectivel Mary II. krout in Chicago Inter Ocean. An Oppressive Butler.
 T. Many funny stories have been told of u S- kIaneuvers practical by women of fashiC q and position to capture real English bu
 Ter, and if he happened to be the caste 70 servant of noble family their satisfactiC II was supreme. This mania has been devt "a optl in Boston To some extent, so wac m - surprised to hear that the scion of a fam D prominent in Revolutionary annals had oll e stripped all her sisters and taken into h e service butler who had formerly been er e ployed by real, live earl Still, her u t umph was but short lived, and her histor