The morning times., 1897-01-24

III a AtilSS DdGksSt- " iLiNil Nl.tlith WIN
interest before my letters. The wrapper
removed, a black book was revealed, across
its face, in sayertype. the words tnas form
the title, Girls Who Answer Personals =
Never having answered a personal, l
could not understand why ] WAS favored
with such present, but opening the first
leaf l saw that it was sent with the com
plinents Of the author. The author is our
own criminologist, Dr. Arthur Macdonald.
why he was after Us women for again,
was curious to know. Bat this book saw
quickly was but a second edition of a pre-
Vi0us book, which he called, Abnormal
woman hut which / had not had the
pleasure Of seeing
I...-t. a., So ing peculiarly unpleasant
in being studied in scientific manner,
and / tuiuk l know why IL is so madden
iDg. Is this not the reason! ] appeal to
woman rather than man, Tor tins IL a wo-
mans reason The methods OF science are
10 gather up data, so-called facts. tabuIate
them and make evidence out Of Geld Incl
dents a woman says, Il hate you The
scientist says, ''Shc hates you AS every
woman knows, il is a thousand times more
likely that she loves And there YOU are
That is why science iTritatcs us. Woman
never looks at an act as proof of anything.
Sne has an Intuition OF the feeling back OF
the act, and she is amazed at the conclu-
sionS OF men which are based on the cold act
- should think you would have known
what / meant she frequently says when
she is misunderstood. A man viii often
reason with his wife by 81 wing What are
sou offended ut: our neghbor has done
nothing out of the way But the women
know how the ordinary things have been
done, and the psychic hurt is just as griev-
Gus between them-the mans argument TO
tire contrary nOtwit hstanding.
involving family troubles. The newspapers
published the evidence and the affidaYits.
4 recent case, in particular, COMES up.
Rave you women not read the testimony
with an entirely different conclusion from
from your husbands, and thought what
fools these lawyers are?' Do affidavits
convince women? Never. They know tie
daStardly uniruth OF words tnaU are safe
from the charge OF perjury.
Well tins il all 10 the point Of showing
wig woman hates the scientific method.
Woman IS psychic; man Is material. Wo-
man in her baSeSt form is psychic she can
not fail 50 low that she lUSes this quality:
while man never seems TO become o rari-
fie1 that ne can lose his envelope Of matter.
and his ratiocinationS always TO come to
Us with fleshy reality. Cant you, can't
you understand?' the woman is forever
iJerating. and the man always laughs a
Statistic laugh. and Ssures her that he can;
tnat she doesn't know herself, ana that is
all the trouble.
Dr. Macdonald has presented the world
in this last book with d set OF documents to
show forth woman. In looking over the
book / saw one strain running through al
these docuIHents-these letters. II is the
psychic impulse OF womaH's nature. Aud
reading along, / also saw how every woman
seemed to expect the man to bc upon the
Same plane, ana to appeal TO him, confident
that he would understand her. To show
woman that man is not psychic, I thought
OF a scheme on the same line. Why not
use the Same method against man? Dr.
Macdonald SayS that a sociological river
is represented 10y the personal column into
which he cast nets to fish for specimens.
Let woman cast nets for man. then, and
get specimens from the same river. Let
US have them side by side, and show up the
difference in the quality.
This Carpug criticism against woman IS
wearying She is not man, certainly.
Nature forbid that she ever become man
nish But by the same argument man is
not woman, and we can L wish hIm 10 be-
But why is woman supposed to bow so
hUnbly before the superior masculine sense
and acumen, particularly in its scent OF
the feminine, as one OF the Doctors speCi-
mems expresses il. We are not obliged to;
We may be amused. But there is some
thing we might well cultivate with good
results for ourselves. That is the poker
face. Men play life like game Of poker,
learning to smile with a pair Of seyenS in
their hand, when the Jack pot is opened.
Life amt in holding a good hand but in
playing a poor hand we'll is their creed.
We have dropped. the wells OF our oriental
grandm0therS. let us veil our eyes with
modesty and our hearts with a smile.
Now, then, look a some OF these letters
with me, aud smile AZ man while he grinS
over woman's foibles.
DR.. Macdonald cast his net thus:
gentleman at Hign social and university
position desires correspondence tacquaint-
ance not necessary with Young, educated
woman OF high social and financial posi-
tion. No agents; no triflerS: must give de-
tailed account Of life, references required
Address Lock Box -.
Inc net cast by the writer was as fol-
lows:
\ woman OF refinement and education
desires correspondence wiJh a gentleman Of
Similar requirements. Object diversion and
mutual improvement.
Dr. Macdonald observes that considering
the use TO which the personal column is
generally put he does not think il wrong
10 make il serve as the means of Socio-
observation-disclosures And he adds that u
woman whoanswersa public advertisement
cannot expect her correspondence with a
total stranger to be of q very confidential
nature. hut that he has Ia ken care not to
reveal the identity Of any of his CORE
spOndeutS, and SO has omitted all names
of persons and places The writer viii
OF course follow him III this wise diScre-
ton.
The scientist has exhibited some fifty
specimens Of answers to this first per-
sUnal The writer could exhibit nearly
as many. but it would be wearis some to do
30 In the first place they are not all
interesting. Many OF them are as color
less a they are vulgar. and, therefore,
NOT worth the trOgble OF reproduction But
shall select from the doctors letters
and select frcm my own. and the reader
shall make the deadly parallel for him
self
DIR. Macdonald VIII say this is not fair
BE VIII say l have selected the best OF
his and the worst Of mine l mean to select
the best OF both. however Here is another
objection which the scientist raised in
person to me. He said that when woman
answereda personal she was merely towing
with the subject. but when she inserted
personal She boldly seized hold of the
subject, and 50 the relations of the CORE
spondents were different Admitted. and
the result cannot be quite so perfect
ThecducatiOn Of man teaches that the male
Is the rover, the aggresSor; that ae is free
70 wing his way from flower to flower;
while woman must stay smiling Oh her stalk
until he cones to her. But woman
may send forth her perfumes like the
flower, and she El3y use her legitimate
powers TO attract.
Ny personal attracted at once Modest
as l made 1t, il seemed TO have the aliur-
Ing quality of concentrated perfume such
as the vulgar hyacinth or musk. | called
at the newspaper office FOR replies on Mon
day. The personal was published Sun
day, but u that short time had had at
tention. For men in the loneliness of their
rooms on Sunday morning had decided that