The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-07-25
What Is Man That Woman Should
Care Fer Him.
The Baltimore Sun SAYS:

" Miss Ella Hepworth Dixon. in an
article in the Humanitarian on the
Increasing number of women who
refuse to marry, says some severe
things about men that out to bring
them to their senses, if they have
any, and cause them to lead new
and better lives. According to Miss
Dixon. women are ceasing to marry
and for the very good and sufficient
reason that they have discovered
what trIfIug and worthless creature
the male human animal is. Ia the
language of the London Speaker
paraphrasing Mss Dixon's state
ment Of the case: "Msn has been
found out. In the middle Victorian
period women adOred him. She was
expected to take him on trust, to
worship his imperfections, TO regard
marriage to him as the only idesL
She knows better now. Her atti-
tude toward him IS purely critical.
In the intervening years woman has
developed her sense of humor, and
what little humor man ever had has
stood still. She continues 10 give
him tea and ind kind Of sport in his
society, for after all, he makes an
agreeable butt. Woman no longer
lifts adoring eyes, waiting for her lord
to indicate his pleasure that she shall
be his welded wife. Her eyes dance
with satrical mirth, and if man were
not deluded by his colossal conceit,
he would know that his entire rela
tion toward this charming creature
had changed and that she is a wholly
independent power, conscious she is
superior in wit and in all that per
tains to Philosophical happiness"
The average suitors" posses "cer-
tain Of the least endearlng qualities
OF the Anglia Saxon race, those qua
tiles, it may be whispered which,
though eminen'ly suitable for the
making of empire. are not always
entirely appreciated on the domestic
hearth
In word, the woman of the pres
ent day has discovered that the av-
ersge man, is a shallow, conceited,
selfish fellow, puffed up with rid
icuous idea Of his own Importance,
disposed to treat his matrimonial
partner as a military conqueror lords
It over an annexed district, and last,
but not least, with no more sense OF
humor than strutting turkey cock
If this indictment is true, woman is
entirely justified in declining to link
her fate with that of such an inferior
animal, and she is not only justfie d
in refusing to marry him, but, &C
cording to Miss Dixon, is actually
doing 50. Doubtless she ought to do
so on Miss Dizon's statements of
facts, but we fear that the statistics
do not sustain the allegation that the
sex to which she belongs is adopting
this heroic method Of educating man
up to a higher standard. II may be
admitted that the average msn is un-
worthy 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 asso-
ciatlon, and, above all, develop that
deep and subtitle sense of humor so
requisite to martial happiness. A
sort of matrimonial examination,
conducted by boards of female re-
formers, might be established, be-
fore which all male candidates for
marriage might be required to ap-
pear and produce evidence Of the
possession of a proper amount of in
tellect, docility and appreciation of
the superiority Of the being to whom
he desired to be united. This would
unquestionably work reform in
the average man and 10 induce him
not only to be better, but more hu-
morous, but for the distressing 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, alas, there are
many million traitors in the camp
millions who every day desert to the
enemy, or openly declare them
selves 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 ceasing to marry are those
who have not been asked. But al
lowing that Miss Dixon's noble army
of superior women, whom man de.
lights not any longer, are actuated
by the highest motives and the stern
est sense OF duty, Of what possible
avail will be their critical and ofish
attitude if the great majority of the
sex continue to make man believe
that he is of some account by mar
rying him3 Logically they ought
sternly to do what Miss Dixon says
they are doing, but in point OF fact
they persist in marrying him and
treating him just as if Miss Dixon
and the other advanced ladies had
not found him out and did not know
him for the poor specimen OF hu
manity that he is.
AS the speaker points out, Miss
Dixon punctures her own case when
she admits that "widows like wild
overs, usually show an extraordi'
nary eagerness to resume the letters
of the welded state" This is de.
plorable enough, but more remains
behind. Statistics, it seems, show
that "whereas a man Of 40 remains
a widower for two years only"