The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-04-23
MISTAKES OF WOMEN.
Mrs Kidder's Lecture Before the
Professional Woman League
OF New York.
She Thinks the Greatest Obstacle
to Woman's Progress Is
Woman
Quoting Richter. housseau aud Ruskin
ON the sutJeot- DO Women Talk
400 Muche

In an addrcss upon Tho Mistakes O.
Women, delivered before the Professions
Woman's league Of New York. AIRS. Kid
der said.
Considering the titlc Of my address. you
might infer that 10 would be OF short dum
tion-for lack OF matcrinl-for know W,
al like 70 have 10 thought that we make
no mistakes, OF at least hut few.
Women have the mistaken idea that
men arc opposed 90 their advancement.
Now. really, they ar not In fact, 1 do
not believe they think very much about it.
They just go ON calmly, and We make all
the fuss about It, Women may come out
and expand in the sunlight OF her public
progress but believe she loses just a lit
tie of the perfume Of her womanhood just
~ flowers grow morc gorgeous in the sun,
but lack the delicate perfume of those that
bloom more in the shade. Tho shade fer
woman is in tho path of quiet, intellectual
progrcss
Perhaps the greatest obstacle 10 the prog
rCss of woman IS woman herself Not
that women want 20 be unjust OF ungon-
erous, but they have for so long occupied
been content 20 run along on the sub
merged Intellectual trolley which man laid
out for them years ago that IL is hard
for them TO break nom its restraining
grasp The hest way to prove that we have
our eyes open il 10 De thorough in what
We DO. How can we expect 20 compete
with men unless we can do our work as
well as they? Tho women who do things
in a slap and dash way, any way to-get-
throuCh-it style are the ones who stir up
the sands over which competent workers
often stumble. Another class OF obstruct-
ors are those who appeal 70 the sympathy
Of their employers. We must be content
20 have our work stand or fall on its mcr-
its solely. How little can woman claim
of equality with man when she falls so
far short in every way of fulfilling nobly
her own special privilegesf How little
qualified as "A rule, is she for her highest
and-noblest province-motherhood
People ask, Where are the men and wo-
men Of the futurey / answer, In the era
die Of the present. Does not that appeal
to US TO be thoughtful in this matterf Ev-
cry woman who marries should hope 70 be
mother some day. II 1 had a boy, 1
should want TO vote, for every mother
should DO able to do the things her chill
dren can. lt is a sad spectacle 20 see
children better educated than their par
ents. Il Is double edged knife. There is
an old saying that boys take after their
mothers and girls after their fathers. Per-
haps this is why women know so much.
Another mistake women make is loving
too much. Love is beautiful, divine, when
deserved, but women take too much on
trust. They arc too apt 70 give SO in
change for 81 bill They trust too much
individually and not enough generally.
With men it is the other way.
have three RS, not reading, 'riting
and 'rithmetic, but Richter, Rousseau
and Ruskin, who placed womanhood so
high.
Richter says: 1.-THE mother educates
Men govern and earn the glory, and the
thousand watchful nights and the sacri-
fees by which a mother purchases poet
or a hero for the state are forgotten. not
once counted, for the mothers themselves
do not count them.
Rousseau advises: ''If you would have
men great and virtuous impress upon the
minds of women what greatness and vir-
tue are. Men viii boz what women make
them. Ruskin says: 81 No man ever lived
a great life who has not been chastened by
a woman's love, strengthened by her cour-
age and guarded by hcr discretion. "
The very best way for women TO get any
chance they seem o. lack is 20 go on lust
as they always have done They have
made such good progress I'm this way-bet-
ter than they can over make by trying 20
change their dress and become mannish.
We can't get away from man. and for
one rejoice heartily that such is tho case.
lint W. want 20 stand by his side as his
recognized equal not merely his eqIAl
There is a difference in that. You remem- +
Der Looking Backward. " Edward Bella
my did it-a man Now, Lots wife did
IT, too, and we an know what happened to
her She was transformed into the very
cheapest commodity ia the market. II She
had been turned into sugar, we might have
appreciated the compliment 20 our sex.
But even as it was we can take comfort
In her humiliation In the knowledge that
even In her abascmcnt she was still abso-
lutely indispensable
Women make mistake in not taking
enough rest The memory of duty they al
low 90 murder their sleep. Another mis-
take is not eating as they should, and per
haps the greatest mistake Is In worrying.
They cannot wait for events to shape them
selves. / always think of the old woman
who said, "Yes, dear, had awful lots Of
trouble-but most OF 60 never happened. "
j. IL a mistake that we talk too much2
1t IS said women talk-men act Wen.
men have had the opportunity. when a
woman has happened % drop into history,
she has had TO have her head cut of 10 DO
II. Yet remember that while silence is .
tho mantle of the sago IL is also the asy-
luIn Of the idiot
Woman should cultivate more her sense I
u humor sho makes mistake ia not
being more cheerful Cheerfulucss is as
contagious as yellow fever. I think we
pay very little attention 60 our mental toll .
let ChoCrfulness springs from repoecful
habit Vi the mlnd. To IS not the things
'gc do, but h. is the things we arc anxious
% get at. that 0ivcu nervous prustrution.
We make cad mistake in remembering
past errors. We should cultivate tho art
oi Intelligent forgetting Habit o. pow
lrfu factor iu our lives. / believe that
telling the truth u- much matter at
habit us O m1tter of morals People who
are mentally -iuvcniy are harder 10 deal
with and reform than those who are phys
ically uukcmpt or muNashed
/ used 90 think that 81 ] did what
should 30 made poo difference what my
thoughts wcra lut J -.. the fallury of that
BELIEF NOW. Nr must tliuk good thoughts.
always and always. ono bad mistake we
mako d. o. tako ufcu-,. as wa 90. over lit
tie thing done o. u- hy our own sex We
cherish them and allow them o. ruklc.
Mon are NOT uciriv -u app to u.momhcr
.rid.ur oHDu-D- from ONO - tlemaiyo-.