The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-11-28

Run the Risk VI Reasoning.
The rapidity with which woman 10 push.
ing TO the front IN tho various lines of sc.
Tious cndcavor IL, TO tho average mascu-
line mind, marvellous and incompreheus;.
ble That she should attain anything
more than moderate success in business
pursuits is altogether incompatible with
our conception Of the female capacity. We
of the opposite sex have been wont 10 lool
upon woman az n physical and intellectual
weakling, rs n being incapable OF moro
than scmi-intercst in the Gtcrner quee
tions of life and as one who, even in the
mildcr and seemingly more appropriate
spheres of art, is usually satisfied With
the merest dilcttantcism. We have been
told time and again, and told by those
who ought 10 know. that the sex il prac-
tically devoid Of tho reasoning faculty and
consequently ia adapted only TO those gen
tier Offices which mako demand not &c
much upon the intellect us upon the patu
raj instincts.
How comes IL then that woman, lacking
this great essential, threatens topush man
to the wall in almost all the occupations,
TO deprive him of what he has always con.
sdcred his prerogatives and TO laugh In
dcrision at his boasted superiority. Can
IL be thnt ratiocination is not such very
necessary factor in business success after
all, or Is IL that woman possesses some
subtle and superior substituteg Undoubt-
edly the latter. For our slow going reason
she has her quick going intuition. facul
ty almost exclusively her own, and In
comparison with which mans poor proc
ess is but rs the creeping messenger boy {,
the lightning telegraph.
Being frequently brought into contact
with women in various business callings
requiring quick and decisive action, am
often absolutely astounded nt the won.
derful operations Of this feminine endow.
ment Where her masculine coworker
with united and perspiring brows proceed
laboriously TO weigh and measure pros
and cons / have seen her decide instantly
and calmly the proper course to pursue,
and rarely, SO far rs my observations have
gone have her intuitions been at fault.
She seems to
Strike each point with native force of mind,
While puzzled logic blunders far behind.
The most obvious characteristics of the
feminine intellect, says Roscoe, are deli
cacy of peNeptive power and rnpidity OF
movement He asserts that woman sees
and that she is quicker sighted even phys
ically; moreover, that women differ from
men in having far more varied, subtle
and numerous inlets to knowledge, upon
which they rely, without trying to remem.
Der and reason from previous experience
as man does. The female intellect "walks
directly and unconsciously by more deli.
cate insight and more refined and more
foI Il .o1
minds grope carefully and ploddingly
along" And Hazlitt aflirns that women
have more of what is called good sense
than men--being less implicated in theo-
ries and Judging of objects more from
their immediate and involuntary impres-
sion on the mind, and therefore, he con
tends, Judging moro truly and naturally.
"They cannot reason wrong, for they dc
not reason at ALL"
A French proverb bids us take the first
advice of woman and not tho second
This proverb Archbishop Trench deemed
one OF great wisdom. Said he, the second
counsels, against which we arc warned,
would spring from her reasoning, and in
this she is much inferior to man, but in
intuitions, "in moral intuitions, above oil,
women surpass us far, having what Mon
taigne ascribes 10 her "pesprit prime-sau-
tier" the leopard's spring, which takes
its prey, IL 1t be to take it mt all, at the
first bound.
1t may be said in general way that in
vocations demanding quickness and de-
cisiveness OF thought and action woman,
with her improved opportunities, must
soon overcome the prejudice against her
and stand on an equality with II not out
rival her male competitor, while in large
enterprises, demanding deep and earnest
thought and pure ratiocination, she must
inevitably fall short of the required capac-
ity.
Woman is adapted TO business life only
in SO far as her intuitive faculty may be
molded to business requirements. Nor
does this fact set a mean limit TO her aspi-
rations. One OF the most valuable quail
fications one can possess in the worka
day world il the ability to read instantly
the character of those with whom we are
brought into contact, and this is one of
the finest operations Of the feminine en-
dowment
Hazlitt insists on the prc-emineuce OF
women in tact and insight into character
--on .hcir being quicker than men TO find
out pcdnn., n pretendcr, n brocthead.
The explanation ho offers il that they
trust more to first impressions and natural
indications OF things without troubling
themselves with n learned theory of them;
whereas men, affecting greater gravity
and thinking that they arc bound TO justi-
fy their opinions, arc afraid 90 form any
judgment mt all without tho formality OF
proofs and definitions. He calls women
natural physiognomists and men phrenol-
ogists-thc former judging by sensations,
the latter by rules. Rousseau again dc.
clares presence of mind. penetration, sub
tlety OF insight, 10 DC distinctively la sci
cnce des fcmmcs.
One of the greatest difficulties woman
has had TO struggle against in business
life Is what Hartley Coleridgc terms mans
prcsumptuous reliance on rntiocinative
his stupid unbelief in ths
value of her intuitions.
81 shall take your advice" said Cole
ridge to lady upon whose judgment,
from constant experience Of its rectitudc.
he could rely almost as on an oracle. 81
shall act upon your opinion, for | am sure
you are in the right. But as 60 your fors
and becauses kindly leave them to me 10
.t..s