Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-06-04

- asm % unopprssnve, % nsnpis psr-
"Oh. dsAs," remarked the mAtron of the
prison, Nrp. welohs, "thsy wouidn't e.
cape fyom this jsii In that dress for thsis
liberty. Without other CLOTHES they neveF
want to got awayr"
~And yet each Of these slaves OF dress had
stolen, or MANNED some one, or had taken
life. George Alfred Townsend (Gath).
Now who and what Is this "new wom-
anr' What h she trying to do. and whore
Ia she to DO foundf Yesterday a vision
burst upon the astonished gaze like mis-
Fhapen insect of monstrous size, with a
woman's figure, but In q mans oap and
baggy brooches, gyrating madly through
the air ON two wheels, chewing gum. Was
that the new womsni The other day ono
heard Of the male head of family oircu-
lating damaging reports about . hard.
working woman and trying to injure her.
Perhaps that was the new womanf II II
certainly not the kind, active unselfish,
uncertain, COY and generous woman OF
soul and story, for that's the woman ona
has always known.
Grant Allen knows about the fictitious
new woman. So do some Of tho other lat
ter day novelists. The Heavenly Aster"
and the yellow Woman and tho "Su-
porfluous Twins" abound In tales of her.
She Is very handsome, terrible" frank,
excruciatingly conscientious and highly
moral. She has come, smoking and talk
ing. Oh, how she does talk She talks
all the time. She talks her rights into
existence and her wrongs out of being;
she talks morality down and a grander,
higher creed, which looks like immortality
and isn't-for she is very, very good-up;
she talks marriage away and free love,
which, beautifully talked and spiritually
and without It's usual uncomfortable con-
comitants, looks lovely-into the houses
she talks religion into bubbles, each OF
which she airily pricks; she talks things
into mems heads which they ought never
have thought and common sense out Of
her own; she talks up and down and
round and In and out of every subject ex-
cept those which grew nearest her thoughts
by nature. Abbott.
Pray, what is the new womanY
"A thing OF shreds and patches woven
In the imagination Of newspaper para
graphers for the momentary entertain
ment Of the casual reader.
She has passed from the hands Of the
newspaper paragrapher to the leader writ
er, from the leader writer to the caricatur-
ist, from the caricaturist to the magazin-
ist. Thus passed from hand to hand, de-
faced and disheveled In the process, she
now appears rs the prey Of the essayist
hard pressed for a topic and the novelist
short Of heroine and will soon find her
last resting place In that mausoleum Of
dead issues the quarterly review.
The new woman Is, repeat, a fgment
of the Imagination, made Of fads, foibles,
crochets, aspirations and tendencies, real
or unreal, all thrown together In a kaleido-
scope and presenting a new combination Of
form and color at every turn of the instru-
ment.
The real new woman as revealed In the
maiden and matron Of the day will be so
much like the woman that we have known
and honored all our lives-the woman glo-
rifled In tradition. In history, in poetry
and In the fine arts and idolized in every
home worthy Of the name-that the aver
age man will never know that she Is no'
the same.
The sweetheart will be as much In fash
ion a century hence as she Is today, and
with the witchery Of her femininity she
will then, as now, first bring man to his
knees and then rejoice to go hand In hand
with him through life.
The wife will continue to be the wife,
loving and beloved, cherished and cherish
Ing forgiving and forgiven, sympathetic,
helpful, faithful unto death, and as rule
entirely too good for the man of her choice
The Madonna will never go out of fash
ion. Motherhood will ever be the crown
most honoring and by all men the most
honored. Cornelia, whose jewels were her
children, will never cease to be an exem-
plar and an inspiration TO her sex.
New woman indeed For my part do
not believe in the current fiction. Let us
be off with the old love before we are on
with the new-and may that day be far
distant Major Moses p. Handy.
The old woman and have been such
good friends that the new woman does not
rouse my enthusiasm to any great or sud
den pitch. Most creatures In petticoats are
perfect, and, as perfection has no superla-
tive, l am unable to sec how the old wom-
an can be improved upon. Yet, II perfec-
tion can be perfected, that, am sure, Is
the new woman's mission. If / may be
pardoned personal illustration, no fewer
than five new women grace the home in
which L am Still or more or less 1mpor-
tance, and my fondest hope for them Is
that they may grow up to be like their
mother.
The new woman will do we'll to go on in
the way she has started, but let us hope
she makes sure of not going too far. The
vine should become stronger, healthier,
more self reliant, with deeper color, more
marked individuality, flrmer roots and
more fragrant blossoms, but 1t should be q
vine still.
The new woman does well to learn really
to think, not merely to think she's think
ing, and am confident the more she does
really think the less she will talk about
what she Is, what she wants to do and to
be as woman distinct and apart from the
remainder of the race.
The new woman does well to ride a
wheel for health and pleasure, and to do
all things else calculated to strengthen her
hOdv and rc1icye her of tho yealt ucseea NO.