San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-05-23
THE WOMAN N A CASE.


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1t is always the man in the case.
1T always has bed Since cowardly old
Adam put the rden of that apple
transaction on sweet s,'other Eve. 1t
always will be, until new breed of
men arrive, who are capable of UNI
Outstanding the women and doing her
justice. Justice! That is it. Justice,
not favor is what woman needs. Take
off her disabilities and how quickly is
She in front of the procession. She is
challenging the men for place in all
the walks of life where she has gained
a(place to do her work on equal terms
With him, and she is not taking back
jeat at the job, either. She is the CEN
fer of everything that is attractive in
the world of men, manners or morals.
Without the woman in the case there
would be no case at all.
Take the old testament story and
leave out the woman, and what would
it be worth? No Eve, no Miriam, no
Esther, no Ruth, no Bethsheba, no
Jezebel, no Delilah, no Hannah, and
ton of things in the new testament,
only more so for the woman under the
latter dispensation had larger share
in the events that marked that era.
Think of the narrative with no men
ton of Elizabeth or Mary the mother
of Jesus, or Martha or Mary Magda-
len, or the daughter of Herodias, or
Dorcas. The evangelists would have
been lost without woman to write
about. The same is true of Shake
speare and the poets. Think of the
bard of Avon inspired to write with
out woman in his mind! Or Lord
Byron! Or Moore! Or Shelly!
The modern novelist knows that the
woman in the case is all that inspires
interest in his plot. If there is a man
in 1t, it requires the woman to give
him his setting. The woman in the
case Is as indispensable as the case IT.
self. She is the case, for without her
there would be nothing Of real interest
to engage attention and fasten obser-
walton and consideration. While this
is true 1t is equally fact that there
are thousands of grown up men, and
men with brains too, who think that
the woman has no business in the case.
They do not hesitate to put her down
as marplot in nearly all that she
concerns herself with and directs.
So far from this being the case, the
woman in the case Is not only it's CEN
trail figure, but she is the great inspi-
ration of its movement. She is often
the very power behind the throne d.
recting the movements Of the very
men who all unconscious of her work
pride themselves on their self direc-
ton and their independence Of wom-
ans influence. In all the patriotic
work of this country, as we'll as in all
the intrigues of old world diplomacy
and court receptions, the woman in
the case has figured to no inconsider-
able extent, and in many instances
has been the master mind Of the whole
movement. Silent, openly denying
either hand or voice in the operations
that she really set on foot, she has
quietly awaited the unfolding of her
plans in the run of an empire or the
advancement of favorite.
What is particularly noteworthy is
that this role of hers is so frequently
denied. That she is declared to be too
volatile in action, too Illogical in plot
the slave of her feelings to carry out a
deep laid plan successfully. Yet the
whole history of persecution for relig-
.ious opinion, the secret records of the
inquisation, the bloody drama of the
great French revolution, all prove that
it was the woman VINO was the least
passionate in action, least fearful in
danger, most secret under interroga-
ton, most fertile in resources when
the crucial test came. To her was
given the most dangerous posts, and
by her We're the most dangerous en-
terprises most successfully carried out.
In the ranks of the thinkers and the
= writers the woman in the case has held
Il her own. She is winning her spurs
and adding to her laurels on every field
a of patient endeavor in which her ener-
gies are coming into active exercise.
The schools and colleges of this and
all lands are looking to her for inspira-
ton. She is manning the charities Of
lie World. She is in India the real
neer in much that elevates the
men of that land and this despite
a hundred thousand years of de-
Assion and caste have done to put
light under a bushel In scientific
earch and in the academies she is
be called upon for the results Of her
p observation and her unerring