The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1895-08-08
AN ENEMY TO Her SEX.
That's What Mary II. Krout says of the
Edition Of The Saturday Review.


In the good time that Is coming-of
equal suffrage and Of equal rights in all
the avoeations of life, the time that
shall mark the abolition Of discrimina-
pon because of sex-The Saturday Re
view WI be remembered rs one of the
chief opponents Of liberality and jus
tlcr Whenever or wherever it can utter
a slur upon women, the falsehood and
the insult have gone forth Unfortn-
nately its chief mouthpieee Is Il woman
a woman SO sour and hard that one
wonders much at the fate and expert
ence that could so have imbittered her
Judgment that she is incapable Of being
even fair upon the simplest question
where the interests Of other women are
involved. The world Of working women
has in her "a pronounced enemy, for she
believes that all women should remain
at home and he protected, whether they
have a home or not, and even where
there is no one willing to assume the
burden Of the protection The latest
diatrihe from The Saturday Review
against the hated sex Is charge that
women are incapable of friendship or
even good Will toward each other; that
they will betray confidence without re-
greet, break faith with impunitv and
quarrel over a pirated bonnet or an
alienated lover,
1t goes for nothing that history can
give many noble examples of lasting
friendships between women and that
thee are other illustrious examples to
be studied III our OWL times, while
there Is no one who cannot recall in his
or her 6Wn immediate circle women who
have been faithful friends for years, be
tween whom the cloud Of suspicion has
never risen and whom SORROW and ad-
versity or that still greater test, fortune
and prosperity, could never separate
There Is no so called self made woman
who cannot name some faithful woman
friend who held out the helping hand
Just at the right moment who opened
her doors and received her into the hos
pitality of her own home; who sent the
timely check that made possible the
priceless opportunity which turned the
tide of fortune.
men whose poverty is common bond
could they be known would revive one S
faith III human nature and its POSSIBLE
ties of divinity. They divide their all
the crowded room, the lean purse the
unwonted luxury, the few possessions
and with self abnegation so complete
that one can we'll believe that life itself
ii 10. ral
The real truth is that women who
satirize and misrepresent their own sex
know nothing of women. They have
proved themselves hostile and treacher-
Gus, and from such traitors good women
turn away instinctiyely. They know
that they have nothing to hope for at
their hands.
1t is difficult to understand what
could be the motive of writer's Of Mrs.
Lynn Lynton's type. Do they seek Il
curry favor with men? Is it a method
of proelaiming their own superiority
over a sex which they have endeayored
to prove are SO manifestly inferior, NOR
ally, intellectually and physically? NJ
one can tell, not even themselves, if
they We're pressed for an explanation OF
their motives. They should learn one
thing, however, and that is that, how
ever their power may be limited in 9th
er directions, women are social arbiters.
The edict has gone forth that there is NJ
breach of good breeding more heinou>
than the detraction AID misrepresenta-
ton of one woman at the hands of an
other. So if conscience and generosity
are no restraint rigorous rules of Ell
quette may be. The woman who is a
woman S worst enemy is no longer the
fashion. As a type she Is destined to
become as obsolete as Lydia Languisll
or Clarissa Harlowe Mary H. Krout
in Chicago Inter Ocean.