Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-07-24

THE UNQUIET SEX. BY Helen water
son Moody. Published by Charles Scrlp-
ner's Sons. New York. For sale by the
George NJ. West Company. Price, sl.zo'
This prettily-bound little volume, which
is composed of five splendidly-written es-
SAYS. is dedicated to men, women, and
the .UnouIet Sex" BY the latter ex-
pression the authoress presumably means
to refer to those restless. busy women
of this age who are Giving at the tops OF
their voices" and ever protesting against
the martyrdom of their sex. The essays,
which, by the way, employ the pest ana
brightest of English, contain wnole
chunks of common-sense and good al
vice. 1t is fortunate indeed that such
sound ideas emanate from woman, Tor
the authoress mainly directs her remarks
to her sisters, and coming from man
they might not be taken in such good
faith. The subjects discussed are: The
Woman Collegian. Women's Clubs, Wo-
men and Reforms, The Evolution OF "Wo-
man." and the Case Of Maria. The latter
deals with the servant problem. but the
others, taken as a whole, are a strong ar
gument against that sex consciousness,
which at present appears 10 be running
riot among females. In short, we gather
from the essays that women are taxing
life too seriously and trying TO run
race with men, whereas the latter are
more or less unconscious that such a
contest is being waged. We cannot but
smile at the truth of the authoress' re-
marks on the subject OF clubs. Men de-
fine the word as follows: "A club is
something you join in order that you
may stay away from II when you ike.
-. Ia Dc
IAN association for the purposes Of mu-
tual helpfulness and self-improvement,"
and they are fined IL they stay away.
Man can give them cards and spades
when II comes to enjoying himself
The gist of the whole may be gathered
from the following:
1T is easy TO recall the national illus
tration of this Il. e., sex-consciousness,
etc. at the time of the Worlds Fair,
when quite ignoring the fact that the
Worlds Fair was an exhibition not or
workers, but OF work and OF its results,
the women of the country rapturously
segregated their exhibits in building de-
signed by woman, built by a woman,
decorated by women and matronized b.
lady managers Now, il the work OF
women. judged by the standards of work
alone, was OF sufficient dignity and
gravity to entitle' 1t to recognition in
representative exhibition like this then.
by all means, 1t should have been put in
its proper place, alongside the work OF
men, TO win acknowledgment on its merits
alone. The fact that il was the work OF
a woman had no more real significance
than the color of the hair or the shape
OF the face of the woman who did the
work. To make a separate exhibit or
womens work does no honor to women.
no matter how good the work may be,
for II seems TO make a marvel or what
is no marvel at all-nameiy, that women
are as capable as men in most things,
more capable than men In many things.
and utterly incapable In few things that
men do very we'll Since, therefore,
clever woman is hardly TO be regarded as
a precocity or monstrosity. like a trained
monkey or a dog walking on his hind
legs the fact that she has painted a re-
markable picture. or embroidered a won
derful tapestry. or invented a churn ope-
rated by electricity or chiselled a piece
OF marble into poetic form, offers no
warrant for segregation on the part OF
women workers such as this exhibition
displayed"
The authoress wisely says In another
essay: First, woman is by nature the
home founder and the home maker. This
Is not intended as an assertion OF per-
sonal belief. but as a statement OF scien-
tihc fact" Let our fair friends ever bear
this In mind.
We commend THE Unquiet Sex" to the
reading public. II Is clever. sensible. well
written. and refreshing. and the very
book Itself is q speaking proof OF what
woman may accomplish in this age.
THE GREAT POLAR CURRENT. Polar
Papers. De Long. hansen. Peary By
Henry Melton Prentiss. New York:
Frederick A. Stokes Company. lS3
pages.
This is a collection of letters and papers