Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-04-01
WAR ON UNMANNERLY MEN.

A recent issue of the London Gen
tleWoman contains the following: Now
that the season is practically over /
suggest to my lady readers that before
next season comes around they should
seriously consider whether they will
calmly and patiently go on enduring
what can only call the insulting con-
uuct OF the opposite sex, more espe-
cIally in regard to entertainments.
were l a woman and had sent out cards
4or party with r. S. V. Z. printed up
on them l should not second time re-
ceive those who did not trouble them
selves to reply to my invitation. Men
would very soon come to their senses ii
they found fewer cards 1or dances COM
ing in, fewer invitations nutCerlng
through their leettr boxes. For the
average man loves TO De run alter, as
lie calls 1t. He thinks IL Is que, MS
meter, his profession. he has got IN
10 his head-Which doesn't mold very
much, by the W9y-lnaL he snoulu no
longer be the mighty hunter, but the
mighty hunted,
II rests with the woman TO get that
impossible no Hadays to exact or to eX-
peCL from men the graceful manners OF
Il toImer time, the cCurCnness which
Only few esSayiStS-suCn as the dig
nItea Max BeerD0nIn-ue In or
JEe chivalry which liz 4Jus2r strikes
lie average human beng as apprO-
PIRATE except 10 the novels OF Sir Wal
Ter Scott. Grace, tor the moment, is
dead The ordinary hostess cannot
bring it to life, though prince or
Princess, an emperor or great beauty
might. | do not even aok Ior elamora-
ION OF temper or Tor intensity OF pol
Ism, though | confess That / think So
Getty might well bear with little OF
Guth. But what | do ask tor and do
suggest that all women should demand
with me is decCncy Irom men who call
themselves gentlemen. No doubt some
Oh The men are sulky. They have been
q good deal abused of late. Sex novels
have gone for them and Mrs Sarah
Grand has boxed them first on one ear
and then Oh the other. But the aver
age man has more experience OF adula-
tiOn than of contempt, and so he appar-
emily begins to holQ women IN cLn-
tempt. He treats her invitations with
vulgar silence. He uses her ching
room as an clearinghouse and her buff
fet as bar He refu5 IS TO dance at
her request Or to make things pleas ant
tor his fellow guests.
All he wants to DO is to eat and to
drink as much as possible without pay
ing a penny for it, aid to enjoy himself
TO the utmost limit Of lis capacity with
out being ruL to tie smallest atom CT
trouble. If others are put To inconVeni-
e,Ice does he mind? Not scrap. If
mis- hostess has no idea whether he is
comirg to her dance or whether any
other man is coming-if she prepares
fer hundred men and ten turn up or
pltI ares II fifty and hundred come
at the last mOment-it is nothing to
him, so long as the champagne is dry
and there are hot outlets, greedy slug
gard that he is, empty-headed, con-
ceited and vulgar, all he seeks is his
own advantage. The women who en-
terrain IL London should band them
selves together TO give him a severe
lessen, or, if that is impossible, each
individual should dare to act for her
self. A very little enterprise would put
the average young man in his place and
make entertaining more lively, less
than it is at present.