Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-04-07

sszesssz- ss34ss pi.ell, "oih1H IL
'.4salrrTsaalf3g stead of man-wht
Aii really cannot take il
NJ anew ideat You PRO
pound it TO him, and he laughs in 8
good naturcd, indulgent sort Of way
ard shakes his head, which, Ly the way,
is generally fat and red skinned head,
a little bald on top, and says
Yes, yes, that's your fancy, but
there's nothing in it, you know. It's all
been settled long ago, and pretty well
settled, too-pretty well settled too"
Now, did it ever occur to you that
such man is very fair type of the
world at large? OF course the exterior
varies. In Italy, Spain, France and
other Latin countries the speaker is
lean and dark and melancholy instead
Of jolly. He shrugs his shoulders, and
raises his eyebrows, and throws cut his
hand, with the fingers spreading like
the sticks of a fan, and in his own mu-
steal tongue enunciates the very same
idea with the Anglo-Saxon:
1t is all settled long ago. What has
been will be. There is no room or need
for change. Patienza!'
When a Latin says patienza, it means
that he absolutely won't even thinl;
about doing what you wish to have him
do or even try to listen to your aTgu-
ments in favor of the new course. 1t is
very exasperating, but not quite so much
so as The good natured chuckle, often ac-
companied with the rattle of small cur
rency in the trousers pockets Of the mid
die aged Anglo-Saxon.
Both the enc and the other are simply
voicing the prevailing sentiment Of their
species about many matters, and chief
Of them just now about the proper place
of women in the world.
Long ago, SO says our friend, espe-
cially the middle aged nglo-Saxon,
this was all settled. Woman, lovely
creature, was designed like the daisies
to modestly ornament and embellish the
path of man. She was to love, honor
and obey If she was permitted to marry
him, and she was to serve and obey him
under all circumstances and in every re-
lationship. While she was young and
pretty, man would admire and fatter
her, even going to great lengths of folly
in proving to her how mul h he loved
her SO long as she remained ont of reach.
But once she yielded to his frantic So
licitations and became 1.-The crown OF
his existence, :" the programme changed
entirely. II crown of existence, after
few years it was in the fashion CT an
old hat-soft and pliable, easy to wear
around home, but none too good to be
tossed into corner or chung up in
definitely when its wearer chose to 60
out into the world.
But the world turns over every day,
and in spite of gravitation and cohesion
and various other laws of nature things
do get occasionally turned upside down
and "a little mixed" Certainly it is a
pity-that is, from the masculine point
of view--that Galilei ever arose to in
terfere with the good old order of things
when the solid plane Of earth stood still
and man might know what to expect.
But so it is. There is always some
troublesome creature ready to suggest
things are not what they seem nor what
it has always been convenient to believe
they were.
1T does move nevertheless, re-
marked Galilei as he signed his rccan-
tation Of Just this heretical error, and
woman-nay, let us give her the biggest
capital in the composing box and say
Woman-is just the same sort Of revolu-
zionist as was Galilei. Very calm and
gentle and rather timid, SO that she may
even be coaxed or bullied into signing d
recantation of her frmest convictions,
bnt always sweetly murmuring as she
does SO: Nevertheless it does move"
So, having acquired some new ideas in
the course of this Galileistic revolution
and rebellion, lovely woman began TO
wonder why her sphere was necessarily
very small and monotonous circle,
too much resembling the sphere of a
horse in a cider mill and why it should
not be an ellipse, a rhomboid, a para
bola, an anything in or outside of
geometry, go long as it was something
anu tlC0 anu ll'Ctseals w VII tbl :
sphere! Why not talk of man s sphere
and be always worrying around and
fussiDg and fretting to see that he does
not get out CT it? Mans sphere Is the
sphere of the world-nay, of the uni
verse-so far as he has ability to grasp
it. Then why isn't woman sphere just
the same? Her character and capacities
are very much like those of man, al
though, like him, she as sex ranges
through many grades of capacity and
intelligence. Some women are childish
and silly Some men are fools. Some
women are governed by feeling and by
personal prejudice, but surely more men
are governed by prejudice, with not even
the excuse Of personal grounds, Iui
merely blind and unreasoning. As fot
feeling will acknowledge that few men
are governed by their hearts in worldly
matters, but most Of them are ruled by
their pockets, and perhaps that tribunal
is neither nobler nor safer than the
woman's feelings. Whatever the right
or wrong Of the matter, however, the
iact feLlalAs thae "oiiiah mas idthei
abruptly but very decidedly enlarged
md readjusted her sphere until it Als
become, like that of man, practically
unlimited except by individual capac.
ity.
This position being granted-and
will say, in all courtesy, whether it i:
granted or MOTT becomes essential tt
also readjust some other things before
one can with no faltering voice define
woman's future position in the world.