The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1900-02-08
left off. I never get any further. am
weary Of them"

weary VI tueIu.
Like an old hen that sits on it's eggs
month after month and they never
come outr" she said quickly. II am so
pressed in upon by new things that.
lest they should trip one another up. !
have to keep forcing them back. My
head swings sometimes. But this one
thought stands, never goes-if l might
but be one Of those born in the future;
then perhaps to be born a woman will
not be to be born branded"
Waldo looked at her. 1t was hard to
say whether she were in earnest or
hooking.
81 know it Is foolish. Wisdom never
kicks at the iron walls it can't bring
down." she said. But we are cursed,
Waldo, born cursed from the time our
mothers bring us into the world till
the shrouds are put on us. Do not look
ut me as though I were, talking non
sense. Everything has two sides-the
outside that is ridiculous, and the in
side that is solemn"
II am not laughing" said the boy
sedately enough. "But what curses
yo:Y
He thought she would not reply to
him, she waited so long.
'It is not what is done to sis, but
what is made of u.s." she said at last,
''that wrongs us. No man can be real
ly injured but by what modifies him
self. We all enter the world little
plastic beings, with so much natural
force perhaps, but for the rest-blank,
and the world tells us what we are to
be and shapes us by the ends it sets be-
fore us. To you it says-work, and to
us it says-seem! To you it says, AS
you approximate to mans highest
ideal of God, as your arm is strong and
your knowledge great, and the power
to labor is with you, so you shall gain
all that human heart desires. To us it
says: Strength shall not help you. nor
nor labor. You shall gain
what men gain, but by other means.
And so the world makes men and wo-
men.
Look at this little chin, of mine,
Waldo. with the dimple in it. 1t is but
a small part Of my person, but though
I had knowledge of all things under
the sun and the wisdom to use it and
the deep, loving heart Of an angel, it
would not stand me through life like
this little chin. l can win money with
it, can win love; l can win power
with it, l can win fame. What would
help me? The less a wom-
an has in her head the lighter she is
for climbing. l once heard an old man
say that he never saw intellect help
woman so much as pretty ankle, and
it was the truth. They begin to shape
us to our cursed end" she said, with
her lips drawn in to look as though
they smiled. when we are tiny things
in shoes and socks. We sit with our
little feet drawn up under us in the
window and look out at the boys in
their happy play. We want to go.
Then a loving hand is laid on us.
Little one, you cannot CO. they say,
your little face will burn and your
nice white dress be spoiled We feel
it must be for our good, it is so loving
ly said, but we cannot understand, and
we kneel still with one little cheek
wistfully pressed against the pane.
Afterward we go and thread blue
beads and make string for our neck,
and we go and stand before the glass.
We see the complexion we were not to
spoil and the white frock, and we look
nj
curse begins to act on us. 1t finishes
it's work when we are grown women,
who no more look out wistfully at a
more healthy life-we are contented.
We fit our sphere as a Chinese wom-
ans foot fits her shoe, exactly, as
though God had made both-and yet he
knows nothing Of either. In some Of
us the shaping to our end has been
quite completed. The parts we are not
to use have been quite atrophied and
have even dropped off, but in others,
and we are not less to be pitied, they
have been weakened and left. We wear
the bandages, but our limbs have not
grown to them; we know that we are
and chafe against them.
"But what does it help? A little bit
terness, little longing when we are
young, a little futile searching for
work, little passionate striving for
room for the exercise of our powers,
and then we go with the drove. A wo-
man must march with her regiment
In the end she must be trodden down
or 90 with it, and if she is wise she
goes.
II see in your great eyes what you
are thinking" she said, glancing at
him. II always know what the per-
son l am talking to is thinking of.
How is this woman who makes such
fuss worse off than I? will show you
by very little example. We stand
here at this gate this morning, both
poor, both young, both friendless.
There is not much to choose between
us. Let us turn away just as we are,
to make our way in life. This evening
you will come to farmers house.
The farmer, albeit you come alone and
on foot, will give you pipe Of tobacco
and a cup Of coffee and bed. If he
has no dam to build and no child to
teach, tomorrow you can so on your
way with a friendly greeting Of the
hand. I, II I come to the same place
tonight, will have the strange Ques-
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