The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-03-22
HONOR AMONG WOMEN.
Only One Point Scored Against Them, M
That Not Much Of a Point.

4 u
That Not Much of a Point.
Lady Constance Lytton lays dowr
two propositions which will be re
ceived. we think, by her own sex with
something Of surprise. She says WON
en- have no code OF honor, and therefore
when they are not dishonorable are
more deserving of honor. because nc
external pressure compels them, but
only their own goodness Except on
one rather restricted point, we may
venture to doubt whether either propo.
sitiOn is well founded
We fancy women are at least as hon.
orable as men, and that they are kept
honorable by a code at least as severe
as that which presses upon the other
Sex. This is certainly true, and is, we
fancy, admitted by Lady Constance
Lytton to be true, as regards the
welghtier matters of the law. Upon
their own especial point of honor,
women are admitted to be better than
men, and they are kept So not only by
the teaching of ages and religion, but
by a code supported by both sexes
which presses upon them in many
cases with even frightful severity.
They are never forgiven by their OWE
sex for breach of their cardinal law.
and the apparent forgiveness in occa-
sional cases of the other is deeply fla
vored with contempt If they yield,
again, to a temptation which should be
stronger with them than with men.
the temptation to relieve nervous
suffering by drink, they are denounced
with bitterness hardly expended on
any vice, and almost inexplica BILE, ex.
cept upon the theory that men always
associate drink in women with unchas.
tity-a belief which seems to have de-
scended through all the ages The
code in this case has been as rigid as
iron, and except in the lowest classes
of the northern races, it has done its
work SO perfectly that over-indulgence
in drinking may be said throughout the
world, outside Polynesia, to be purely
masculine vice.
AS regards all forms of pecuniary
temptation, except one, the writer
would certainly say that women are
greatly more honora BILE than men. 1t
may be only an individual experience.
but he has found them much more re.
iuctant to borrow: and when they
have borrowed, much more rigid,
though not, it is true, more punctual,
in paying. The trusteeship of two
thousand years has, in fact, drilled
them into an appreciation of the duty
of paying, which the opposite sex can
hardly be said to possess, the absolute
ly upright man usually displaying his
uprightness by an a bstinence even from
requests for loans. The woman who
Is lax in pecnniary affairs is almost in.
variably without any principle at all.
In this case, too, the code presses sharp
~, the woman who borrows and paws
not again being held by her sisters tc |
De an offender with whom it is safest |
TO have as little intercourse as possible. |
The single exception is gaming. The |
writer never knew a female gamester, |
but ne cannot resist the universal testi. |
nony that where she exists at all, the !
woman who games is less likely to paw |
Up than the man; and that the opinion |
II her own sex, though it would not |
,onGone her offense, would be far less |
lard than the judgment of men on men
or the same delinquency. The woman,
n fact, cannot be reasoned out of a con. |
7iction that a game is a game and moth. |
ng else, and that non- payment is rather
breach of social conventions than of |
avs without which society could not |
continue TO exist She does not see, as a |
ma n does, the treachery involved in fail |
ng to pay bet, and therefore. regard. |
ng it is trifie, is trivial in her judg.
nent of its turpitude. In the great ma.
ority of grave cases. however, women
re at least as honorable as men, and |
lelp with all their hearts to maintain
much seyerer code.-London Spectator.