The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-04-20
Facts ofs.Intere.st
To Women Readers.
Symposium of Information, Partly Grave,
Partly Cosby and Partly Gay.

thinks,- however, that the argument be-
fore the senate judiciary committee. at
Albany, recently, afforded the pub
lie an excellent opportunity to learn
how little truth there was in the con-
tention. A hearing was then granted
to a committee of women from New
York city who desired to argue against
extending the franchise. Mrs. Fran
els M. Scott, wife of the corporation
counsel of New York, made the open
ing and in fact the principal speech
against, and II there was anything in
her argument to indicate that her in
telligence was not of a. very high order.
1t Is not found in the published re-
ports of what she said. Mrs Scotts ar
guments were that majority of wo-
men did not want to vote; that it would
cripple their influence "philanthropic
work of all kinds to divert that in
fiuence to other fields; that 1t would de-
crease still more the numbers of homes
which is not now any too large. What
she demanded, speaking, she said, for
her silent sisters was every proper
educational advantage. "Since the first
development of seX," she said. "has
specialization Of the male and female
types gone. on. Men have grown more
manly, women more womanly. Are
we alone, of all nature, to forcibly de-
atr6y the work of untold ages, and,
thrusting' men and women together,
demand that the work that each is be-
ginning to be. perfect in shall be indif-
ferently done by both?' The great point
gained by the appearance of these wo-
ha s,;c
gave to the fact that the women who
are taking no part in the controversy
are in the main opposed to suffrage.
Like Mrs. Scott they eXclaim: "Build
up the wall of the law about us, seek
ing and accepting our counsel; mean
while protect the homes, which we
women alone can make for you; open
to us every door for our education
and advancement, but do not put
upon the shoulders of women the mus
kets they are too weak to carry, nor
the burden of the government which
was constituted to protect them; do
not force them to undertake an undue
share of the worlds work.
In the opinion of Rev. DR.. Par..hurst,
the greatest thing a woman can do is
TODD the thing that she was specifically
endowed and ordained to do, and that Is
to bear children and train them for the
uses and service of the world they are
born into, and only such women as are
orally or intellectually incompetent
% appreciate the full denotement of
This, or Who have greater ambition for
aggresslveness or conspicuity than they
have for ftr1R11iru that, lA
inclined to resent this statement of the
case as an indignity. / have yet to be
convinced that any very considerable
number of the sex are disposed to re-
sist Natures fntsstttons rur them, but
the actuating impulse of those who do
IS doubtless a passion for some sort
of celebrity. and an impatience at the
seclusion and the restraints which fem
ininity, so construed, imposes upon
them. They are not content to be
known only in their children, and that
is one great reason why their children
are so little known. If Jochebed had
had herr head full of theories about an
enlarged sphere for women, and had
gone about Egypt stumping for female
enfrahchisement, the little hero of the
bulrushes would probablyAhave shared
the fate of the other male children of
the period, and the law-giver of Israel
never have been heard of. So If Han
nah, instead of devoting herself to the
'Tstle incipient prophet, had been plot
ingte make great world for Hannah,
samuel 1t is natural to suppose, would
never have heard the voice of the Lord,
or have initiated the prophetic period
of Israel. What the world admires in
the princess of women, the Virgin
Mary, Is. simply that she made possible
the infant of Bethlehem and the man of
Galilee. Any woman who calls it in
trusive limitation to be held to the
paths of these three mothers in Israel
lacks the true genius of her sex and is
a feminine mistake. Woman's mis-
sion, as thus defined, gives opportunity
for everything in the shape of personal
discipline and genius that she is in con-
dition to bring to it. There is no oc-
casion for her seeking a wider sphere
on any such grounds as that the sphere
Of maternity does not afford scope for
all the equipment she has at her com
mand. What her sons and daughters
will become need be limited only by her
own. personal being and development.
? 1t is her character and discipline of
mind and heart that will set the key
In which, almost certainly. the music
of, their lives will be played"
80 ss -H t"~
~ A physician thus writes to the New
York Tribune concerning the splitting
$bpedal hog "Expectoration of to-
bacco juice on the floors of cars and
upon the sidewalks is quite as offen-
two md 49,. Al.
smoking, and should be as actively op-
posed and crushed. To put an end to
the nuisance, 1t Is not necessary to
furnish spittoons. The habit Of chew
ing without expectoration can be ac-
Fquiraaa by most men, while the front
plal m is at the service of those who
MT spit. Let the board of health de-
mand floors free from tobacco juice Of
every car company, and the latter can
find means to compel the abatement of
this nuisance. The board has pro-
hibited cushions, in cars, and requires
straw to be daily removed and filth to
be daily cleaned out. But during the
entire day men are permitted to pour
streams of saliva to the floor. Can
there be any more unsanitary article
than skirt dragged through accumu-
latfons of the expectorations of men of
all grades of health or lack of health?
But far more effective than prohibitory
enactments and penalties would be the
development Of a correct sentiment on
the subject. Did every man appreciate
the dangerous and disgusting nature
OF the practice, not only our cars would
be clean and inviting, but our side
walks would be dry. Such work OF
education can be done with perfect
proprlety by our new women in their
struggles for reform, and by no others
as successfully, -e