The herald., 1896-04-05
THE SPOILED MAN
BY EvA B.

It 10 the easiest thing in the world to
spoil q man. This was the outcome Of
my reflections as I sat and mused over
what Susan B. Anthony is stated to
have said at the Friday Morning club
during her latest visit here. All her
statements were the exact truth. They
proved what woman has accomplished
during the last half century. This was
not all. They proved much more.
They demonstrated unintentionally
and unconciously that while woman
has advanced" step by step, man has
been spoiled" ditto.
Susan said: ''There was time, when
! was young, when it WAS considered
lndelicate for q woman to express an
opinion. Girls were to be seen and not
heard. Then 1t came to be said that if
q woman held up her head no man
would marry her. But she held up her
head and she was married all the same.
Next she began to strike out for her.
self and work. Then it was said no
man would marry girl who had her
own money. Now the only ones sure
of getting husbands are those that
ones who can afford the luxury of hus-
bands"
True. Doesn't this show how pro-
gressive females have succeeded in
spelling men. 1t is as good an illus
tration as could have been thought Of.
There was time, long ago, when Susan
and were young. when brothers, hus-
bands and fathers felt dishonored
when through their misfortunes, illness
or old age it devolved upon their wo-
mankind to put the shoulder to the
wheel. That was necessity.
Parallel with these instances came
ths woman who wanted to rise to her
proper sphere" She has risen. She
is in it. She made the change. The
man who disapproved at the beginning
has sons who today are quite used to
having women work, and more than
that, they think it woman's duty to
work. Homes are divided into inde-
pendent factions. and very frequently
it is the woman that is the chief cup
bearer and staff-of-life winner. It
would seem that a certain girl of we'll
to-do parents, whose sisters were Dress
makers. made diplomatic reply when
asked why she did not learn to sew
also. She answered, "If don't know
how, l won't have to do it,"
I wonder where it will end. Man
will not only desire woman to work,
but will feel aggrieved if she does not.
The time is coming when he will feel
lawfully angry" If his wife does not al
low him sufficient pin money. He will
feel slighted il she forgets es en- one time
to slip an extra two-bits into his porte
monnaie when there is particularly
good matinee on, and if she happens
for once to be SO absent-minded as to
forget to give him an additional nickel
to treat his friend and himself to soda
water q cents each, two for 81. he will
be mad and think that she is getting
real mean. Where will it end?
1t is not mans fault. AS sit and
muse over this revised condition of
affairs many thoughts of all kinds fit
about my mind that refuse to take
their proper places. Some touch on
the coming man, and they make me
smile. Others wind themselves in
reveries Of the happy old-fashioned
days gone by; memories sad, and
visions bright and gay weave in and
nr,t ~~.'-.s.Pe OF -iOBIU, auu regardless
of the natural sequences that we'll
regulated thoughts always take in we'll
regulated books.
But more than all they wander to
the long ago, clinging lovingly to hap
py days OF old-fashioned girlhood and
womanhood, and refusing to be- recon-
ciled to the elements that are sweeping
away the old landmarks of contented
and peaceful home life. Childish
days come up with romps in the gar
ret Chose who never played in garrett
can never know what they have
missed), country school days when
everybody took their dinners, ex-
changed pieces of pie and bestowed
"bites" of good things, impartially all
arorAd. The seasons as they came
anf went brought their Maying par
tics, nutting expeditions. shedding,
snowballing, and what not. Later
came decorum, grown up boys and
girls went to :the city" to school.
Then came the fret parties and balls.
Was woman's education neglected?
No! Perhaps in those days her school
ing bad not the ramifications of today,
but her culture was on higher plane.
Scenes again take shape of quiet,
peaceful winter evenings when the |
whole family gathered about the par
lor fire when father and mother sat !
happy in the midst of their young
fock. The daughters busily engaged |
in hemstitching pillow-case, en-
broidering table linen or mending a
weeks batch of stockings took turns |
with their brothers in reading a new |
book or magazine, which was frequent |
ly interrupted with opinions and dis
cussions of the story. In summer
there was tea on the lawn. Can any
thing take its place? At this point of !
my reflections reveries vanish and | |
become prosaic as we'll as RETROSPECT
tive.
When callers came at that hospitsble
hour, did the women talk gardens, dish