The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-19

81 amt asayin' that the women amt
all fools God made 'em to match the
men," is the apologize remark of one
of George Eliot's characters. Like so
many of the homely speeches of her
people it is a humorous but vivid
snap shot of a historical and current
truth Women do match the men"
in their folly, as we'll as in their wis
dom, and social institutions, which are
after all but the reflection of human
ity's working ideas, have always be-
trayed the correspondence between the
feminine and masculine ideas. The
Spartan man was first a soldier and
then a citizen; he dreaded defeat more
than death, and never dared to return
from disastrous battlefield. He was
a rugged warrior, but the Spartan wo-
man was his match. She could endure
the hardships of camp life, she laugh
ed at danger and turned with scorn
from the husband or son who WINGED
under pain. She could see her weak or
sickly babe carried away to exposure
and starvation, with stolid indifference
while she rejoiced in the hardihood Of
her stronger children. She was faith
full to the Spartan ideal of woman
hood and despised the graces of the
Athenian woman who, nevertheless,
was as perfect a match for the Athe-
MAN man. The history, poetry and
sculpture of Athens reveal the ideal of
mental, moral and physical symmetry
OF the Greek. Then in the dreary, tran
sitional period of the middle ages
when Christianity was slowly bring
ing together the antagonistic elements
OF Roman and Teuton, when we had to
band together into the colossal system
OF feudalism for protection, when the
national ideal was a mixture of fight
and fanat1cism, and men boosted CT
Drawn and blushed for knoWledge-if
they had any-then, too, the women
were right alongside of them, with ig-
norance as dense, tastes as coarse and
social ideal exactly corresponding to
the political.
The phrase is as applicable to the
brilliant society Of France in the
eighteenth century, in fact, has it's
clearest verification there. The scin-
t1llating wit, the elegance of manner
and the dash of the Frenchmen found
appreciation in the gay salons of the
French women only. These women
are called shallow, but they were not
more shallow than the men liked to
have them, and surely the Frenchman
was not too deep for her She was not
deeply learned; she didn't need to be
to match him. Brilliancy and power
was the Frenchman's ideal, brilliancy.
rank and social influence was hers. To
use Amelia Gere Mason's words, the
world Of draperies and amenities. of
dinners and conversations, of epigrams
eoquetries and sparkling trivialities is
the Frenchwoman's melieu. In youth
she sways by beauty and vivacity; In
age, by social influence, by which she
sways politics through the minds of
men. Her ideal was distinctively
French-and more than that, it was
monarchical, based upon the principle
of privilege and rank What about
American society? Do the women
match the men here as they have done
in all other countries? If they do then
the highest ideal of American society
is not an imitation of English or
French social "birthright," but is =
brain and character right society, and
if they will be truly a match for the
American man they must develop q
democratic aristrocracy, the passport
to which is not title, or wealth, but re-
fnement, culture, character!
CUPID's CONQUEsTs.