The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-12-30
THE NEW WOMAN.
Has She the Right 60 Re Ugly n She
Wants To?

club in New York city Mrs. Celia b.
Whitehead read paper claiming tri-
nm phantly woman's right to be ugly II
she wants 10. The address was protest
against the average shallow, flippant
notions concerning woInan's personal
appearance. Perhaps a short, comfort
able, clearly rainy day dress does not
| look we'll in the eyes of the average
man. What then? Woman has the right
| to wear it until his unframed eyes get
used 10 il, 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 up
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
baby's or a baboon's S. / have heard men
praise in extravagant terms the bicycle
costume Of "a woman when her waist
was laced so tight that she could by no
possibility have climbed even the small
est hill or ridden so much as 20 miles
and could not have walked two miles TO
save her life because her feet were
pinched to death in vulgar little sharp
pointed shoes. So much for man S sdea
of woman's beauty. What is it worth?
Mrs Whitehead spoke very truly Of the
belittling effect on woman S work Of al
ways considering first what she has on
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-
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,
handy legged, toothless and
hideous. and 1t excites no sensation in
the reportorial brain, but let it be a
meeting composed largely of ladiesl
Each woman present israked fore and
aft If the ladies present are middle
aged or not noted for beauty, the report
er pounces upon them with fiendish glee.
He has made a find and cackles 1t is
ti,na ~ ipcicf IN, xuo,pa,,So r;ubt to ha
ugly.
Mrs. p. d. Leslie has been for the
second time elected clerk of Brown
county, Kan, a 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 well
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 O
hot campaign, and Mrs Leslie often
rode 20 miles ON horseback to secure a
farmer vote. She got it too.
A youth of my acquaintance has just
gone TO a 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 coun-
try neighborhood where nobody was
rich and there was little that woman
could do to earn money, but this heroic
m nf har ont NyaShinot hl,inO
and nursing wherever
rough work could be had The older
boy she left at a neighbours, the younger
one she took with her. She rented two
poor rooms and in 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
enough to go out to work for farmers
He earned his living and got his own
clothes i'll this way after time. Still
the heroic mother toiled on. She did
not cease her efforts as the elder son be-
came able to earn more money than he
required. She babe him lay it up for
himself to pay for his schooling and she
still went out washing and houseclean-
ng She does so yet, and now the older
BOY being at college the second one is
able to begin earning little. When did
ever have less opportunity than
this one? Yet see what she has done.
II there is one thing that tickles the
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 a learned mag
,zine essay by some man against letting
take part in government and
elections because of the danger of adj
hitting into politics an element Of Wild,
matchmaking. hysterical
The time il coming when q woman
will consider a mans physical grace,
health. purity, beauty, neatness, and
perfection as carefully before she accepts
him for a husband as men now make
note of the same qualities In . young
woman. When that time comes, bean.
tiful race Of beings will be developed.