The sun., 1897-12-19
THE NEW WOMAN.
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Waats TOT

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Whitehead read . paper claiming tri.
umphantly wos1an's right to be ugly il
she wants To- The address was protest
against the average shallow, flippant
notions concerning woman's personal
appearance. Perhaps a short, comfort
able, cleanly rainy day dress does moi
look we'll in the eyes Of the average
man. What then: Woman has the right
| to wear it until his unframed eyes gel
used to it, when he will think it as beau
tiful as he now considers the long, dirty
skirt, with its tight laced, painful waist.
am glad Mrs. Whitehead has taken ur
this subject. The ordinary mans idea
Of beauty in a woman's dress is wholly
conventional and as lacking in the sense
Of true proportions or lines Of art as a
! baby's or baboon's | have heard men
praise in extrayagant terms the bicycle
I costume of woman when her waisl
was laced SO tight that she could by nc
possibility have climbed even the small.
est hill or ridden so much as go miles
and could not have wslked two miles to
save her life because her feet were
/ pinched to- death in vulgar little sharp
pointed shoes So much for a man s idea
of woman's beauty. What is it worth:
Mrs. Whitehead spoke very truly Of the
belittling effect Oh woman's S work OF Al
ways considering first what she has Oh
and how she looks and what she does
afterward Suppose Abraham Lincoln
had been judged in that way There is
/ infinite wisdom in these words used by
Mrs. Whitehead: LET woman devise a
dress that will not hinder her from be-
coming strong, wise, grand and good,
and let it be ever SO much Of Beast at
first Beauty will finally marry it, and
they will live happily ever after. !"
There is profound meaning in this new
reading of an old allegory. Why should
a woman's dress or personal appearance
have anything to do with her work or
her speech at all when that work or
that speech alone is supposed to be con.
sidered? The time has come when wom-
ans dress and appearance should be
passed without notice one way or the
other. A lot Of men may come together,
baldheaded, handy legged, toothless and
hideous. and it excites no sensation in
the reportorial brain. but let it be a
meeting composed largely Of ladies'!
Each woman present is raked fore and
aft. II the ladies present are middle
aged or not noted for beauty, the report.
er pounces upon them with fiendish glee.
He has made q find and cackles 1t is
time to insist on woman's right to be
ugly.
Mrs p D. Leslie has been for the
second time elected clerk of Brown
county, Kan, state in which women
cannot vote for county, state or nation.
al officers They may, however. hold
any office within the state.
That they can fill official places we'll
Mrs. Leslie proved during her first
term, and her constituents approved her
capable and honest administration to
the extent Of re-electing her. 1t was a
hot campaign, and Mrs. Leslie often
rode 20 miles on horseback to secure
farmers vote. She got it too.
a youth of my acquaintance has just
gone to college. 1t is not Yale or
Harvard, but college in which he will
not be snubbed because he is poor lad
His mother was left widow with two
little boys years ago. 1t was in a coun.
try neighborhood where nobody was
rich and there was little that woman
could do to earn money, but this heroic
mother went out washing, scrubbing,
housecleaning and nursing wherever
rough work could be had The older
boy she left at neighbor's, the younger
one she took with her She rented two
poor rooms and III these at night when
her hard tasks were done she and her
boys were at home The years went on
till at length the older lad was large
.GoEsl 20 81 cut to W8ih for far!ucra
He earned his living and got his own
clothes in this way after time. Still
the heroic mother toiled on. She did
came able to earn more money than he
required. She bade him lay it up for
himself to pay for his schooling and she
still went out washing and houseclean.
ing. She does SO yet, and now the older
boy being at college the second one is
able to begin earning little. When did
woman ever have less opportunity than
this one! Yet see what she has done.
If there is one thing that tickles tho
sense of humor more than another it is
to read in the newspaper of half dozen
election fights, hair pullings and killings
among men who were disputing over
politics and then to read learned mag.
azine essay by some man against letting
women take part in government and
elections because Of the danger of ad.
mitting into politics an element of wild,
unreasoning. uncalculating, hysterical
emotion y
The time is coming when woman
will consider a mans physical grace,
health, purity, beauty, neatness and
perfection as carefully before she accepts
him for husband as men now make
note OF the same qualities in young
woman When that time comes, a beau.
titul race Of beings will be developed
Remember that a woman can under.
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