The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-05-03
COMMONPLACE WOMEN.
Miss Anna G. Lyle'S Paper Before the
WOmen'S Congress.
No Restrictions Upon Women in
America Except Such as Are
Imposed by Nature.

| Miss Anna G. Lyle was the sensation
of the day, during the Women's Con
gress, when she read her paper on The
| Commonplace Women" which was as
| follows:
! 1 met man the other day who did
not seem to approve of my addressing
| the Woman's Congress. Tell them
from me-" he said, that if you women
will persist in clerking, typewriting,
ltelegraphing, telephoning and doctoring,
| supplanting men in the field of bread
winning, you will bring about a con-
dition of things that existed in savage
! ry, where woman was the beast of
burden, the newer of wood and the
drawer of Water'-Where man was idle
and expected to be supported. If you
wish to resume the load civilization
| has lifted from your shoulders go
ahead 1 think we men would rather
like the change"
THE FORCE OF NECESSITY
But there are very few women who
clerk, typewrite telegraph, telephone
or doctor for the love of doing these
things Death, bad investments, loss
|
ness of the family purse, some bread
and butter necessity, together with the
changes brought about by the wonder
| full material progress of the century,
have made women feel keenly the in
security of life-the uncertainty of sup
port Necessity has made them p
oneers, forced them to put their Shout
ders to all kinds of wheels whereby
!
ed hand directed by trained mind,
the pleasure of a broadening horizon,
until they have given the impetus to
the many women who now seek wisdom
for wisdom's sake.
With all that can be said pro and
con of the movement that has swept
woman in the direction of higher edu-
cation and independence, with all the
absurdities and attendant follies, the
movement that will give us broad
| minded trained women is essentially
sound and healthy and in the right
direction. In it lies no menace to men,
| there is no barbarian horde of women
| prepared TO descend upon the Holy
| Roman Empire of positions which men
should occupy. The great bulk of wo
men will not be breadwinners, but
mothers. Whatever influence the work
aday women will have will be an equal
/ iZing one 1t is a better condition OF
| affairs where 100 men are employed
at ST a day than where fifty men are
| working for 81 day. When necessity
adds women to the number of provid-
ers, she adds them to both equations,
| and the fact remains the same. L do
not mean to say all women who are
| occupied are impelled by sheer ne
! cessity. Some women there are who,
| having been trained, find they are hap
| pier in the employment of their facul-
| ties.
TIRED OF THE TALKING WOMAN.
But there is too much said about wo
men. 1 think the woman question has
| been discussed ad nauseam. AS l have
said before, the great bulk of women
will not be bread-wiuners, but mothers,
and any system of education that fails
to emphasize this as an end of educa
tional means swells the number of wo
men freaks. Any system of education
| that does not put a halo about the
name of home and mother defeats it
| self, takes away life's meaning, takes
away the power of knowing the truth
| 1iAd VI SCCiAlS liiihSS as bilcy
| We are tired of the women who talk
for talks sake; we are weary of the
woman who uses the woman question
as a means of rushing herself into
prominence that she has not earned
and does not merit, one who has no
right to an opinion or the expression
of it,
! There are practically no restrictions
/
itations nature has imposed upon her.
| Unquestionably she has the opportuni
ty of getting all the training she wants,
| all the education she can carry The
| few universities who are trying to be
unique in carrying conservatism into,
! the twentieth century will open their
| doors when superior trained women ask
admittance, and coeducation will
| eventually become universal. 1t will
take the women who wear frizzes and
| false hair, who consult mediums, who
buy stocks and lottery tickets and
| clamor for their rights longer to ac
complish anything than for a bloomer
| brigade to build the Panama Canal.
| Nobody feels kindly toward the man
who whistles one tune necessarily. If
this We're a common practice among
| men the great body of lawmakers
would have a seance or two and there
would appear a notice alongside the
anti-expectoration notices-there would
| even be posters on the fences against
| the man who whisted continuously
The Huckleberry Coon II Want Yer
Honey" or any other such specimen of
| musical literature.
MERIT VS.. SEX.
| l never could see the sense in hav-
| ing woman's building at the Worlds
/ Fair If a woman be painter let her
hang her pictures in the art building,
not the woman's building. If a woman
do any piece of work let it be put into
| competition with other work of the
same kind and stand or fall by reason
of it's own merit. and not put a pre-
MUM on it because it has been done
| by the fair hand of a woman The
| fact that a woman made a certain
| broom would not recommend it to any
| body buying a broom if it were not a
| well-made broom; and this fact holds
good in the brain markets of the world.
/ have not time to speak of higher
education to-day. l believe in it if the
price be not too high. A man pays
| too high price for an education when
he sacrifices his mothers, his fathers