The times., 1899-08-13
WHAT Is MAN, ANYHOW
And Why Should Women Want II
Marry Him:

What Is man that woman SBould care
for him? That is the question propounded
by Miss Ella Hepworth Dixon. in the
course of an article on the increasing
number of women who refuse TO wed. In
the language of the London Speaker,
paraphrasing Miss Dixon's statement OF
the case: Man has been found out. In
the middle Victorian period women ado1ed
him. She was expected to take him on
trust, to worship his imperfections, TO re-
gard marriage with him as the only ideal.
She knows better now Her attitude to-
ward him is purely critical In the inter-
vening years woman has developed her
sense of humor and what little hufacr
man ever had has stood still. She contin-
ues to give him tea and find kind of sport
in his society, for after all, he makes an
agreeable butt Woman no longer lifts
! adcring eyes, waiting fer her lord TO in
| dicate his pleasure that she shall be his
welded wife. Her eyes dance with satiri-
cal mirth and if man were not deluded
/ by his colossal conceit, he would know that
| his entire relation with this charming
creature had changed and that she is a
wholly independent power, conscious that
she is superior in wit and in all that per-
| tains TO a philosophical happiness" The
! average sGitors" possess certain of the
least endearing qualities cf the Anglo
Saxon race; those qualities, it may be
! whispered, which. though eminently suita-
BILE for the making OF empire, are not al
ways entirely appreciated on the domes-
! tic hearth"
In a word, the woman of the present day
has discovered that TIE average man is
/ largely shallow, conceited, selfish fellow
puifed up with ridiculous idea of his own
4 INN 80 y 4,a;,
/ ial partner as a military conqueror lords ii
| over an annexed district and last, but not
least, with no sense of humor than the
strutting turkey cock. If this Indictment
| is true, woman is entirely justified in re-
/ fusing to link her fate with that of such an
inferior animal. and she is not justified IN
refusing TO marry him, but, according to
| Miss Dixon, is actually doing so. Doubtless
4 she ought TO do so on Miss DiXon's state
men of facts. but we fear that the statistics
do not sustain the allegation that the sex
TO which she belongs is adopting this he
| roic method of educating men up to high
er standard. 1t may be admitted that the
average man is utterly unworthy of woman
and that the best way to improve him
would be by barring him from matrimony
| until he should cultivate intellectual and
moral qualities fit for such an association,
and, above all, develop that deep and sub
tie sense of humor so requisite to marital
happiness.
A sort of matrimonial examination, con-
/ Quoted by boards of female reformers.
| might be established, before which all
male candidates for marriage might be
| required to appear and produce evidence
of the possession of proper amount OF
intellect. dociIity and appreciation Of the
superiority of the being TO whom he de-
sires to be united. This would unques-
tionably work a reform in the average
| man. and induce him not only to be bet
ter, but more humorous, but for the dis
tressing fact that Miss Dixon cannot get
| all her women, superior and critical as
they are to stand together in this great
cause. She asserts that they are ceasing
to marry but, aasi there are many mil
lion traitors in the computations who
, every day desert to the enemy, or openly
declare themselves quite willing to do so
Some bold, bad man. devoid of sense OF
humor, might declare that in the great
majority of cases the women who are ceas-
ing to marry are those who have not beer
J asked But allowing that Miss Dixon's no-
Bile army of superior women, whom mar
| delights not any longer, are actuated bJ
the highest motives and the sternest sense
: of duty. of what possible avail will be theil
2 critical and offish attitude IL the great MA
] jority of the sex continue to make man be
lieve that he is of some account by mar
( rying him? Logically they ought sternll
Y to do what Miss Dixon says they are do
: ing. but in point of fact they persist IL
marrying him and treating him just as !
0 Miss Dixon and the other advanced ladie
had not found him out and did not know
q him for the poor specimen OF hunanit.
| that he is.
e AS the Speaker points out, Miss Dixoi
e punctures her own case when she admit
e that widows, like widowers, usual,
nau n
4 the fetters of the welded state" This
y deplorable enough but more remains be
o hind. Statistics it seems, show tna
whereas a man of forty years remains
widower for two years only, widow un
der thirty-ffve "marries again within TWEEN
ty months" Widows, as the Speaker re
4 marks. are among the most critical as wei
as the most humorous OF women Yet hg
a ures proye that they think the game tman
quite worth hunting and capturing. Thi
being the case, what are Miss Dixon an
o her friends going to do? Denunciation @
g man don't affect the matter at all. Will
y the advanced and superior ladies are tell
a ing men what they think of them and hold
II ing them up to ridicule, other ladies wit
y palmer and more practical ideas are snap
ping them up. 1t is sad, sad conditio
u of affairs, but unless Miss Dixon can &c
u all The women to make common cause wit
L
suitorso will have no difficulty in enjoy
= ing matrimonial happiness.
II may be worth while to remark, in con
:. | ciusion, that Miss Dixon is right in sayin
- that man has been found OUT but 1t
= not an original discovery by the nineteent
', century women. Eve found Adam out be
- fore she had been in the Garden of EIDE
= with him half an hour. She could haV
= - written a magazine article on the subjef
: lust as clever and convincing as that
the Humanitarian" but she was to
smart to put man Oh his guard. She kne
:. more flies are caught with honey tina
p with vinegar, and she handed down to he
- daughters the true secret of managing III
- worst half of creation. Men are necessar
=, evils and the wisest women are those VIII
:, -, while knowing them best, do not allow II
- stubborn and inferior creatures to realii
y, that they have been found out" bu
- while guiding them skillfully, permit the
- to think themselves masters of the situi
~ ton. This is woman's little joke and 81
H. has been playing 1t on man since the b.
a. ginning of time.
- A Novel Time-ki11er.
a. A new and clever card-and-pencil gam
-e, says the Boston Journal" is called ''Tl