The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-11

OF to-day IL is usually d man, anu IN
makes a sweeping Indictment of the gen
tier sex, comparing them unfavoraoy
with the women of his mothers and
erapdnother's times. He insists that wo-
men are degenerating. morally ana phys
icalIy. ana his complaint is usually some
thing like this:
'eThe woman of to-day is not like her
mother or her Grandmother he says
she is losing her modesty, shirks me
cares Of the household and she spends her
time ether in the streets on bicycle OF
gadding about the department stores OF
else gossiping with her friends. she Is
Idle and hippant and eXtravagant she is
not the same kind of woman that her
grandmother and mother were. / wonder
what the women are coming to-
Each generation of women, says Jane
Howard in the Times, has been supject
10 the same complaint and have been UNI
favorably compared with their ancestors
There Is nothing new in such charges
Sweeping arrangements of the same SORT
have been made against women as lar
back as there is any record and the truth
is that there has been more reason In the
past than there is now.
There are no names In the list of Amer
lean women that are regarded with more
reverence than those of the mother and
wife of George Washington. They have
been constantly held up as types of pure
and noble womanhood They were good
women. but many of their virtues are
apocryphal and owe their fancbed exist
-off he
teacher Weems, who, to spice his piogra-
phies. made out of whole cloth such anec-
dotes as that of little George and the
cherry tree, and of Francis Marion and
the sweet potatoes.
Various letters and memoirs that are
extant show that the first President was
not entirely satisfied with either his wife
or his mother He frequently reproved his
mother for her foolish extravaganza and
shiftless way of keeping house. She had
a way of borrowing from the neighbors
which Washington thought was wrong,
and once he had to rebuke her for coming
into a room en- deshabille in the presence
of strangers. She was quarrelsome, and
it was her temper that led him TO declare
that he would never have two women liv-
ing In the same house while he was there
himself. He also complained that she was
frivolous and given to gossip.
George himself had a hot temper which
he had great difficulty to control, and, as
Martha his wife, was also not sweet
tempered. he often had difficulty in avoid
ing tits with her She was the wealthiest
woman in Virginia and somewhat older
than he, but she was great belle before
her marriage and rather frivolous. Wash
ington himself was not very well educated,
but his wife was an ignoramus. She could
not spell at all, and Washington was so
ashamed of her photography that he made
it point to destroy all of her letters.
Most of her letters which are in existence
were written by Washington and copied
by her, much as many of Washlngton's
state papers, including even the farewell
address, were of other peoples authorship.
Mrs. Martha Washington's ignorance was
so appalling that jefferson, Hamilton
Madison and all who came In contact with
her were impressed.
On, yes, but she was a good housekeep-
er. That would be the remark of the critic
OF the women of to-day, and the defender
OF those of the past She was not a good
housekeeper. She was a poor one and she
knew ii so well that she was greatly
pleased when her husband engaged a wo-
man to keep house. She herself was ex-
tAofeSHA4Nt anu W washington laQ TO enforce
upon her the duty she owed in observing
simple and economical habits in the house
hold for the sake of the needed example
to other women and to the country.
The government has just publlsed a
chart showing the number of Unmarried
men and unmarried women throughout the
= country, which will come as a revelation
to the great majority of people, 1t has
long been taken for granted that the I'M
married women outnum bered the unmar-
ried men. especially in the Eastern states
AS matter of fact, not only is this not
true of the country as a whole. but II ,s
even untrue in each state and territory.
According to this table there are in the,
whole United States 5,427 767 unmarried
men and only 224494 unmarried women.
aged from 20 years up. This Is about
10000 more unmarried men above %
years of age than women in the same cir
cumstances; this is an excess of 6S per
cent Of bachelors over spinsters.
Al first thought this statement Of fig
ures seems to point to an enormous ma
Jorlty OF men in the population of the
country, but it must be remembered that
the sum of all the unmarried men and
women together, something less than
100000 persons, is but a small fraction of
the total population, the great bulk OF the
people being paired off in marriage So
the general proportion of the sexes is
nearer equal than a casual considerat ton
of the figures of this government chart
suggests.
Although Ambassador John HAY is now
conspicuously before the public that fact
has not caused any extra demand for
his writings al the libraries. This is con-
uary to the usual experience of the libra
rians, and is doubly curious from the
fact that he wrote book on Spain.
1t is a long time since there was anv
demand at the Allegheny Carnegie Ii
brary for his pike County Ballads " VET
to the student who tries to fathom the
character of the man from his writings
the poems in this little volume are most
interesting.
When he sings of love he is as torrid
as Ella Wheeler Wilcox herself Perbaps
the prettiest bit of all is the poem. address
ed TO the girl whom he kissed against
her will. In answer to her scorn, he tells
her How 1t Happened" and closes win