El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-01
CHILD Judy
In Its Relation To The Norman Cues
tiOn.

While much of the SO-called child
study" of the present day may be dls-
missed as a fad, yet there is no doubt
that if intelligently prosecuted it may
shed some light on the various So
Geological problems of the age. One
of the most original and successful in
vestigators along this line is Prof.
Earl Barnes. While at the head OF
department of education in Stanford
University he came very near produc-
ing an instruction among California
mothers by his striking PROOF tnat
most children are natural liars All
that kept the walls of the university
intact was that each mother believed
her own children to be the exception
which proved the rule Two years
ago Prof. Barnes went to Cambridge,
England. to do some special Work anu
attracted so much attention by MS
new theories that he was pressed into
service by the university ana per-
manent professorship was offered 10
him. Among his interesting researches
there he had the following question
proposed to the boys and girls in the
public schools who were about twelve
years old:
Would you rather be a man or
woman when you grow up. and why?
OF the 302 boys who returned an
swers only two would be willing to be
much more sense than men" and the
other because the female sex is good
without any trouble. but ii is hard FOR
the male sex to be good About 80
per cent of the girls wanted to be
men. The reasons given by both boys
and girls showed a pathetic observance
of the way in which women are sac
rificed in the home and wronged in
the labor market. Both agreed that
a mans lot is far easier than wo-
mans. Most of the boys would hate
TO be a woman because she has to
cook and sew and take care OF babies
and stay in the house" The girls
want to be men because they have de-
cided that the father has much the
best of life. They pay men better
for work. Women are always cheat
ed out of their money when relation
dies" "A man can have his own way
at home and enjoy himself when his
work is done and have a holiday on
SATURDAY afternoon and Sunday Men
can talk politics and vote" "A man
can belong to trades unions and keep
his job. because nobody will take it.
while plenty of women will take hers.
In fact there are too many women in
the world"
These are some of the answers given
by those discriminating little creatures
A few of the girls wrote: Il would
wish to be woman because 1t is
Gods will" Il would choose to be
woman because nature made me one
and we must be content" Il would
rather be a woman because she has
feeling for other people and men have
Just feeling for themselves. Il want
to be a woman so as to train my child
rem right. Men just hit them
and swear at them and
make them worse" Women have to
suffer and be stong and that is
noble lot"
In this symposium we have an cpl
tome of the woman question. Women
of the present day are censured for
discomfort; it is called the unfortunate
result of new conditions. of education.
of industrial changes. OF greater lib
erty in all directions; but here we have
this same discomfort in embryo. and
where there is a seeming contentment
il is merely submission. From the
cradle these children have observed
the vast difference between the lot
of men and of women. almost wholly
in favor of the former. They have seen
it most conspicuous in the home. but
extending also into the domain of Ia
Dor. politics. travel. ambition. "A
man is more useful than a woman.
A woman cannot be anything valu-
able "A man has many chances of
These are only few of scores of SINH
lar childish opinions. They were not the
result of any agitation, any teaching.
but simply the honest expression o.
the keen, clear-eyed opinions of a
child, which often are preternaturally
acute, They represent in small al
most precisely what would be the re-
suit if the same question should be
propounded to similar number OF
grown people. 1t doubtless would be
impossible to find even two out of 800
men anywhere who would willingly be
women. Whether 60 per cent of the
women would voluntarily remain so
is debatable. After the experience of
the adult had been added to the obsar-
walton of the child il isextremely
doubtful. Those who had been we'll
cared for. relieved of responsibility
not overburdened with collaborating
and allowed a large measure of free
dom, possibly might show even a
greater proportion who were satisfied
to have been born women. But If a
poll were taken of the masses. of the
struggling poor, of the overworked
breadwinners. of those ambitious for
fame. for fortune. for The power 70
help the world, the assertion NAV be
safely made that 80 per cent would |
be found to have an everlasting grudgc |
against the fate which created them |
women instead of men. The other |
one per cent would accept the Divine |
decree sustained by the pious belief |
that women stand a better chanc. |
than men of getting to heaven.-New |
York Sun.
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