The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-08-17
The Woman Question.
To the Editor Of the Eagle.


To the Editor OF the Eagle.
That somebody IS to blame for "thc
prominent part which woman Is daily
playing IN the worlds role of business, >"
Mr.. Murdoch in the Eagle seems 10 feel
The blame Is unquestionabie, therefore
the wrong OF womans public life most ap
parent. or TO be mfider. q most vexins
question. for which man Is responsible
according 70 Miss Btsiand in the current
North American Review.
! If woman has ceased 10 be passive
| subject 70 man. submergins her identity
! into that of the Lord Of Crea ton has
ceased TO be content with capricious con-
descersions, has ceased TO be the patient
bearer of numerous unbidden offsprings.
! has ceased to give her whole existence 20
| one sid ed love has ceased 10 develope her
I domestic qualities alone. has ceased 20
! give her husband to her hand maid TO
| produce an heir, has ceased 70 blush Tor
! her female projeny. has ceased TO feel
herself no account generally, It need be
! TO ''vexing question" but the one who IS
! to blame for the change should feel that
| on the great Strengthening out day he
| win have brought back ten talents, for
| the FIVE he received fMr. Murdoch or
Miss Bhsia I'd insists that r Is mani.
There is no such thing as a new woman.
I a.
.ove IN her make up. or, Mr.. Murdoch
specifically defines her. "she Is a woman
Of gold. her liveR is cold and her heart
is gizzard" that the well springs of
10Y" will be less numerous in her house
hold. In spite Of saying that Mr.. Murdoch
does not mean IT, he knows that there
Is no woman rightly born, but today, in
separable from her wTested right OF royal
dover, thrills and bends TO the ,purest
sweetest ties TO Life love and mother
hood
II there is a class so distinct from the
past as to deserve che adjective men, II
has recognized the possibilities OF her sex
those posi- bilities are incredible as yet.
for hitherto she has been the vine, the
play thing. the slave, but mother al
through. The ages are f1ooEed and pan
eled and ceilinged with the names Of he
roes. which might be argument for the old
regime. But wahl
The women OF today IS but planting the
hundreds years hence She is not new in
that She existed since the creation She
was meant 90 be just as free. Just as
active then. but making herself respons-
ible for her lords lost luxuries, she be-
came crest fallen. That is law. Her re-
action came. when 1t was given woman
Ito crush the serpent's head" That re-
ferred to more than one act 1t meant
that into all life and space that human
existence should be projected, woman's
influence should enter. A pure girls choice
of an upright man, or good woman's
home making. A mans life and his chill
dren's future rest upon that, and because
the question of projeny receives recog-
milton is the sheer of congestion from
over production becoming? Why should
pnt ha s1Ix
sure physical and mental advantages?
The best men We have q won't speak
so positively for the women until can
prove it,, the famous men. past and pres
ent, have come in woman's maturer years
or been the younger children in a family.
That might be an argument for the large
family. but instead Is the strongest one
in favor of woman's advancement and
emancipation.
The new husband Is absolute lord. TO
please him his bride will spend hours
over his favorite dish, or cut her best
friend; will fiutter around him as the bee
to the honey, and consecrate every
thought to her idol; cries more the first
year than badly for disappointed fancies
and gives up every vestige of Individual
ism, trying to be what she thinks he
wishes. He is absolutely king. He knows
IL 'Iule eOtS OF that peTlOQ are neat ana
faulty. 1 believe statistics prove the
daughters to be gifted, receiving that
heritage from the father. but the mothers
weakness, or suppressed individuality or
sentimental nothingness, is so strongly
expressed in the son of that period, that
from that effect she has been lead to rea-
son to the cause. Instead Of experiment
ing with a family, and obtaining credit
abb results at the close Qf ever she is
seeking the laws that will not curse her
mistakes.
Us it a vexing qestion? Swear at her IL
you Will. What man nowadays wants
a nonenity to sit at his side to hold his
pens; to blush at the sound of her own
voice; to wear herself out of existence
bearing a family. and give No. a chance
to abuse or duplicate 1t; to hang upon his
of her dinners, and cry her eyes
out II he IS not home by a. m; 10 give
him a monopoly in domestic storms. and
come out of the shade when he shines; TO
give her attention by the thousand insig-
nificant things. rather than to the fresh
ness of her personel. Who? Man himself
by her reforms has been educated above
that clinging, ideal fainting sentimental
class and the tender immature tendril
that breaks at a touch is no longer fac
tor in matrimOny, but is being taught by
her more sensible mother the serious re-
sponsi5llities to come. and the cleverness,
diplomacy, firmness and adroitness needed |
to retain the lover husband. and so form
the perfect integer OF society.
If man is responsible for that kind of
a woman, 1t is another proof of his su-
yet woman primarily is respons- /
Bile for the man, who could be responsible /
for her now.
MRS. F. II. ELLSWORTH.
Wichita, Aug. e.