The Washington times. (Washington, D.C.) 1894-1895, 1895-06-19
WOMEN PAY FOR PUBLICITY.
Only Men Can Afford TO Be Indiffer-
ent TO the Worlds Tnnone

ent TO the Worlds Tongue.
Woman pays higher price than men for
! publicity in any form. Men can afford 10
| be more Indifferent TO the worlds tongue. -
! says Middleton in the Queen, land. be-
Sides, no one dreams OF tormenting then
( with theimpertineut questioning to which n
/ woman in similar circumstances is sub
/ lected.' One of the most formida BILE foes
public woman has to combat. and one
( against which her shield OF natural reserve
Is often an Intellectual weapon, is ahe i'll -bred
though possibly wel-meant curiosity OF the
world at large into her private life
feopie call II taking an interest" To
take an interest in public women and their
characteristics snaturaIenoagh, but to wish
TO pTy into the inner recesseS of their priyat,
lives, TO dig into the past, TO ru JhIessly
ORA W aside the curtain hey W ouId wish kent
closed, is surely cruel act and is far TOO
common III world which teens with
kindness.
Directly a new feminine name comes to
Tue Tore in any public bTanch-say in liter
ature-the questions at once arise: Who is
she? What is she? Can you tell me any
thing about her? The one who can tell
anything about her is listened to eagerly
SO eagerly that the temptation to draw on
tue imagination and lend little local color
is Irresistible. Whispering tongues can
poison TRUTH" and in this manner good
names ard regulations are gossiped away
every day.
Why should woman, because she has
by hef own industry and talent, made
name for herself, be worried with useless
ana IDLE questions by people who only meet
ner TOT lew hours in society, and will
probably never meet her again? People
20 not mean to be unkind but they let
their curiosity get the better of them
haT "a INN rrI..r
want IN byways they go TO the fountain
head itself, and probe in a roundabout
FASHION until the public woman is plagued
10 death by their questions. She NAV
not choose 10 tell much, and probably makes
up her mind beforehand to tell nothing
at all, but TO refuse to reply to certain
questions gives rise to suspicion. and
leaVes the Impression that there is Some
thing in the background Therefore the
hapless victim Especially if there is some
thing in the background) VIRTUES beneath
the torture, and, if she is a nervous,
sensitive woman, suffers untold agonies.
a literary woman gives the world. in
her books, as much of herself as she cares
TO give. She throws down no challenge
invites no comment but literally criticism,
and why she should be vivisected to satisfy
the curiosity of the world at large is an omen
question. Why should the peculiaritias
OF public women, their love affairs, their
places of abode, their Dress their do
nestle arrangements. in short every de-
tail of their private affairs, be trumpeted
forth TO the world? Kingsley says: 1.-THE
past is our own-no fiend can take that
from u.s." Our present and our future
are ours, too, and ours alone. One wo-
man holding a public position lately
thought right to change her religion.
This act, which one would have though a
purely personal affair, evoked SO much
criticism and involved her in so many dis
agreeable interviews that, although not
actually led to the stake, she has prac-
tieally suffered a martyrdom.
1t has been often said that all women
love notoriety. This is not So Too often
y Is thrust upon them by the necessity to
earn, and wien such is the case sureIv If Ia
not an unreasonable request when the pub.
lie woman asks to be allowed to cherish
her one ewelamb-the sacredness of her
private life