The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-04-02

how covered and lined with cretonnA,
and Intended as an ornamental recepA
| tacie for such things as pubberA
shoes, slippers, brushes, etc., which
are apt to lie around in an unpoy ana
announcement manner. One may gather
comprehensive notion Of what Is to
he worn during the next six months
bv merely turning over the pages on
this useful publication
Madam Patti, Respondent in a gown
~ de,icate gray and a toque of pink
tulle. shading her happy face with .
big white parasol, was the nlos' aunilL
! al Azure on the Pinclo, says a. foreign
letter. A year ago she and her pet
doc drove about San Reno snnothered
| in ,7rurntng crepe for Nicohnis
Anronos of the woman suffrage cues
tion which has agitated the breasts
Of a good many women the past week.
Harper's Bazaar. which is not by any
means entirely frivolous, even II it does
deal largely in new hats and frocHs'
speaks a. word or two which should be
widely circulated on account OF their
sterling good sense. 1t Is anent voc
servant question, which may xalrly
enough be taken as showing tne iogl-
cal effect Of woman's mind on society
since domestic service is the lnstllu-
ton with which man is least olrecuy
concerned, TO quote the Bazaar:
when presumably capable women
give I'D housekeeping and betaks them
selves to boarding because they can
not get servants or manage them; when
rnistresses are palpably afraid OK their
cooks, and unable to prevent waste ana
even dishonesty in the Kitchens winch
they hesitate to enter although they
are their own; when half the references
given are not truthful, or at least mis-
| leading; when intelligence offices are
the last places where an Intelligent Wo-
man expects to get satisfactory SER
wants; when wages grow higher while
work grows ever more grudglns ana
careless. and when SIX months Is the
average limit Of a servants stay IN
one household SO that an "old family
servant is practically as obsolete as
the mastodon-when all these signs
show an utterly disorganiEed state OF
affairs in woman'S especial realm, II
certainly does appeal to ones sense OF
humor to hear the suffragists assert
that the feminine vote would straight
en- out all the perplexities into which
mans inability to cope with govern
mental problems has plunged the ma
toni
IF a woman cannot rule one SER
want, or two, or ten, how can she WISE
ly rule a city? If she cannot formu~
late with her sisterhood Of mistresses
a working system of graded wages and
reliable references, and reform pres
ent conditions in the kitchens Of Amer
lea, how Is she going to reform the pub
lie serVice2 If this one question over
whelms her so that she sometimes
breaks down with nervous exhaustion
how is she going to lift all mans bur
dens and smooth the nations pathway?
Since the earliest syllable Of recorded
time. she has been struggling with SER
wants, and the 10th century finds her
helpless,
"There are only two alternatives
either the servant question rs bigger
than any question which man grappleS
with. or woman is less fitted to grapple
with difficult questions than man.
hardly think that even the most daring
suffragist would choose the first of
these as a tenet of faith: yet the other
horn Of the dilemma certainly Is not
calculated to convince America that
equal suffrage is, as its supporters
claim. the solution of all problems and
the remedy for all ills!'
!
'I must protest against your words
of March 80, when you say. Look at
the Worcester Woman's Club. for ex-
ample. A few years ago the suffragists
dominated the organization and had
everything their own way, etc,
writes a correspondent. both The Spy
and the Gazette have given what seems
to me utterly erroneous impressions
with regard to the opportunities afford
ed those opposing the movement to APP
pear before the club. In the first place,
the suf1ragists' have never dominated
the club, that Is, certainly not as suf-
fragists. If they have CHANGED to be
the women who possessed intellectual
force or power of any kind that made
them strong, it was that which made
them influential,
although the women who first real
lied the necessity Of such an educa-
tional institution as the Woman's Club
were interested in suffrage, the state
/, naent that at first a suffrage club was
thought Of, had not before heard II
was certainly never mentioned during
the first ten years, except once, when
the opinions of eminent men on the sub
ject were read one afternoon.
"A member from the beginning, the
subject of suffrage I have never heard
mentioned until two years ago, when
Miss Hersey addressed us upon the side
Of anti-suffrage. The calendar reveals
the fact that some years ago Mr.. Gar
rison also addressed the club on the
other side. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe,
who gave an address on suffrage before
the Suffrage Club, in Unity Church,
addressed us in the afternoon on some
literary subject, I believe.
Personally, I say give us neither
suffrage nor anti-suffrage in the Wor-
oester Womans Club, but In the name
of Justice, please throw the balance of
opportunity on the side where It be-
longs. 1t is not difficult to perceive on
which side is the weight of influence,
when club can vote to hear one side
of question and refuse to hear the
other side at the same time. It Is tho
first time that we can be accused OF
partially unfairness, if not cowardice.
The whole subject of the past ana
present attitude of the Womans Cluo
is an interesting one to those who FOL
low the trend of affairs in the CLUB.
Doubtless there are other members be-
side the author of this letter who be-
liave that the wishes of the suffragistS
in the club were not treated with sufil-
cient respect If any one does think So,
or if any one has anything to say On
either side of the question, the columns
Of The Spy are open to them,
The German Evening Club met Fri
day evening with Miss Elizabeth White,
121 Pleasant street. and finished the
reading of "Egmont." The club will
meet with Mr.. James Green, 81 Elm
street, on the evening of the 14th. It
is proposed to take UP the study Of
Goethe's "Goetz Won Berlichingen,"