Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-05-31
She lifted her beautiful eyes to bis

She lifted her beautiful eyes TO bis
face.
Power! Did you ever hear OF men
being asked whether other souls should
have power or not? 1t is born In them.
You may dam up the fountain Of water
and make II n stagnant marsh, or you
may let It run free and do Its work.
but you cannot say whether II shall be
there. 1t Is there. And it will act, IL
not openly for good, then covertly for
evil, but IT will act. If Goethe had
been stolen away child and reared in
a robber horde in the depths Of Ger
man forest, do you think the world
would have had Faust and Iphe-
genie? But lie would have been Goethe
still, stronger wiser than his fellows.
At night round their watch fire he
would have chanted wild songs Of
raplne and murder till the dark faces
about him were moved and trembled.
His songs would have echoed on from
father to son and nerved the heart and
| arm-for evil.
"Do you think II Napoleon had been
born n woman that he would have been
contented to give small tea parties and
talk small scandal? He would have
risen. But the world would not have
heard Of him as 1t hears of him now
man great and kingly, with all his
sins He would have left one Of those
names that stain the leaf OF every
history. the names Of women who, hay
Iania1 fla ri rlt
to exercise Il openly. rule I'm the dark,
coveltIy C. by stealth. through the
men whose passions they feed on and
by whom they climb.
Power she said suddenly, shifting
her LITTLE hand upon the rail. Yes, We
have power. and. since we are not to
expend it IN tunneling mountains nor
healing diseases nor making laws nor
money nor on any eXtraneous object.
we expcad 1t Oh you. You are our
goods. our merchandise. our material
for operating on. We buy you, we sell
you. we make fools of you, we act the
willy old Jew with you. we keep six
Of you crawling to our little feet and
praying only for a touch Of our little
hand. and they say truly there was
never an ache or n pain or n broken
heart but Il woman was at the bottom
OF IT, We are not to study law nor
science nor art, so we study you. There
Is never q nerve or fiber in your mans
nature but we know It, We keep six
of you dancing In the palm of one lit
tie hand" she said. balancing her out
stretched arm gracefully. as though
tiny beings disportcd themselves in its
palm. 'There-we throw you away.
and you sink to the devil" she said,
folding her arms composedly. There
was never man who said one word
for woman but he said two fCA man
and three for the whole human race.
She watched the bird pecliing up
the last yellow grains, but Waldo look.
cd only at her.
When she spoke again, 1t was very
measuredly.
"They bring weighty arguments
against us when we ask for the per
feet freedom of women" she said.
"but when you come to the objections
they are like pumpkin devils with can
dies Inside. hollow, and can't bite
They say that women do not wish for
the sphere and freedom we ask for
them and would not use It.
'If the bird does like It's cage and
does like its sugar and will not leave
II, why keep the door so very carefully
shut? Why not open it, only little?
Do they know there is many a bird
viii not break It's wings against the
bars. but would ly If the doors were
openY' She knit her forehead and lean
cd farther over the bars.
"Then they say, IT the women have
the liberty you ask for, they will be
found In positions for which they are
not ittedr If two men climb one lad
der. did you ever see the weakest any
where but at the foot? The surcst
sign OF fitness is success. The weakest
never wins but wl,rrc there IS handi-
capping. Nature left TO herself will as
beautifully apportion n mans work to
his capacities ms long ages ago she
graduated the colors on the birds
brenst. If we are not tit, you give Us
to no purpose the right to labor. The
work will fall out Of our hands into
those that are wiser"
She talked more rapidly as she went
on, AS one talks Of that over which one
has brooded long and which lies near
ones heart.
Waldo watched her intently.
"They say women have one great
and noble work left them, and they do
1t ILL., That Is true. They do 1t execra-
bly,. 1t Is the worl: that demands the
broadcast culture, and they have not
even the narrowest. The lawyer may
see no deeper than his lawbooks and
the chemist see no farther than the
windows Of his laboratory, and they
may do their work well. But the wo-
man who does Womnn's work needs
many sided, multiform culture. The
heights and depths of human life must
not be beyond the reach OF her vision.
She must have knowledge Of men and
things In many states, wide catholic
ity Of sympathy, the strength that
springs from knowledge and the mag
nanimlty that springs from strength.
We bear the world and we make IT,
The souls Of little children are mar
vclously delicate and tender things and
keep forever the shadow that first falls
on them, and that Is the mother's or
at best, n woman's. There was never
n great man who had not grent moth
or. 1t Is hardly an cxaggeration. The
first six years of our life make us. All
that Is added later is veneer. And yet
some say If n woman can cook din
ner or dress herself well she has cul-
turc enough.
"The mightiest and noblest Of human
work is given to us ana we do 1t ILL.,
Send n NAVY to work into an artists
studio and see what you VIII find
therel And yet thank God, we have
this work." she added quickly. 1T IS
the one window through which we see
into the great world OF earnest labor.
The mcancst girl who dances and
dresses becomes something higher
when her children look up into her
face and ask her questions. 1t is the
! only education we have and which
! they cannot take from u.s."
She suu,d lightly. "They say that
| we compia.I Of womnns being com
| PEELED to look upon marriage as n pro-
| fcssion. but that she Is free TO enter
! upon It or leave 1t, ms she pleases.
| Yes. and cat set aGoat I'm pond
| IL free to SIT In the tub till It dies there.
! 1t Is under no obligation 10 wet It's
! feet. And drowning man may catch
ut straw or not, just as he likes. II
| I f.