The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1895-08-30

negative aspect is that she is not
dependent being, no cllnging vine, but
another sturdy oak. / like this woman,
not because she is called a new woman,
but for the better reason that she
seems to be essentially an old-fashioned
| woman in all that Is attractive about
| her character and doings The advent
of a fashion requiring woman to be
able to do something more than cling
and consume must tend to good If IL
| does nothing more than reduce the
number of the helpless creatures. She
| is not new in the world; not new any
where in the world. For, the woman
of all countries and times, the woman
who has breathed her soul into all hui
man progress, the most numerous wO-
man of civilized lands, and especially
of the United States, has been and is II
woman strong, capable, economically
| producer of wealth, and socially equal
to "her man" or any other man of her
environment.
1 cannot think OF more appropriate
way of bringing forward this od-fash
toned builder of civilizations than to
recall here the Introduction to an old
mans will which fell under my eyes
few years ago. 1t filled my eyes with
happy tears then, and the dear tears
come back whenever / remember 1t.
After the formal Introduction, the old
man went on to say that his wife had
worked with him for more than half
q century, that their fortune was as
much the creation of her hands as of
his; and that therefore he set aside
one-half of the estate as rightfully hers
to dispose of as might seem right to
her. The words were plain and sober
homespun from the speech of daily life.
There was no sign In them of feeling
that he was doing anything but sim
ply just act toward a partner in bust
ness But what a recognition was there
of the dignity and rights of that part
nerl He did not leave her half of his,
but all of her own; he did not give be-
cause she had nursed him in sickness
and stroked his hair the right way
when he was excited or angry. He
might have ascribed this action to her
devoted tenderness and faithfulness to
her Wifely dutifulneSs-and in so doing
have Inundated her. How much better
than that did this plain American man
do by saying that the half was her
own, by right OF creation, 10 40 what
she like with.
The new woman of the clubs will
have to work hard to get up abreast of
| this old-fashioned farmers wife. This
plain vigorous, wholesome woman has
mothered and trained our presidents,
our statesmen, our manufacturer5;S our
preachers, and our poets. But she has
also done her full share in all the other
work of creating nation, including all
that lies on the long line beginning
with the accumulation of property and
ending with the endowment Of charity,
| art, and learning And she has been
| to the full an Independent person. Her
| husband never dreamed of "bossing"
| this equal partner in the firm. Their
| investments and undertakings have
been entered upon after free discussion
in which her word has cn1YI n 'rtsro ,,e
@e9 &c iI e Experience, to weigh as much
/ as his, and her vote to be as decisive as
| that of any man partner in a business
There must be exceptions innumerable
| to a rule covering so vast a tract of
matrimonial partnership. In some
cases the man has been brutally coarse;
| in others the woman has had the but
| tertly instincts and incapacities. But
if we divide American society into the
poor, the very rich, and the middle
class, we shall find that in this last
and most numerous section, the sue
cessful man has had as a rule strong
woman partner.-Alice Hilton, in the
Chautauquan for August. Condensed
for Public Opinion.