The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-04
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN
COLLEGE GIRLS MEET IN JOINT AND
SERIOUS DEBATE.
Some Sage Advice About Treatment
of Dress Well Does
Not Imply Vanity.

Saturday evening several hundred enthu-
siastic young ladies assembled at Welles-
ley College to take part in and listen TO
a joint debate between the students Of that
institution and that of Vassar College, says
the Boston Transcript, The occasion was
notable; the affair was worth while, be-
cause we believe il was the first time that
women's colleges had ever come together
in that relation. What do women talk
about when they retire from the dinner
table to their tea, leaving the men to go
dozy over their wine and politics; or, rath-
er, what did they used to talk about under
such conditions? We don't know, but prob
ably very different things from those To
which the new woman is giving her
thought and interest. Neither furbelows
nor French romances any longer monopo-
lie their mental activities. Their minds
have gone on new exploration tours, and
the wonder of their discoveries have the
delightful zest and charm of novelty.
The young women who boldly ~adventured
upon a new field of interest Saturday night
were thinking of something besides their
clothes. They were attired neatly but sim
ply, as simply as the man who eats his
club dinner in the inevitable evening dress,
or as the man behind him, similarly ar
rayed. who hands him his mutton or pours
his wine as he has need. The contest was
not one of clothes but of intellect and
training, plus the unknown quantity of
which had the better side of the question 10
uphold. But what was the question? Why,
simply this: Resolved, That it would be
advantageous for the United States to sub
GiIi1a hor r,A-oI.-+ III - q
our grandmothers would say. Nay, but it
was really true, and it was debated with
more spirit and we are not sure hut with
more skill than in some of the country's
most ~pretentiOuS forums. The chances 'ot
war are always doubtful. On this occasion
the formal honOrs were carried away by
the New York college, but there was glory
enough for all"
1t makes little difference which side won
except TO those immediately interested. 1t
was the thing itself that was significant.
intercollegiate contests are good things
within limitations, and to Wellesley and
Vassar belong the credit of recognizing
their value in their true order. The intel
lectual contest precedes the athletic con-
test. But that is because young women
are not athletic, may plead their college
brethren. Aren't they, though? Strenuosity
is not peculiar to the new woman. Ath-
letics are as old as the sex. How many
scalpS did the feet-foOted ATLANTA wear
at her belt before Hippomenes entered the
~ ~AAd GAC NOulu nave 0ASNdllGCu Hllil,
as well, had he not meanly hypnotized her
with the trick of the golden apples. And
haven't there been Boadicea and Joan Of
Arc and the Countess Brenhilda and Molly
Pitcher and Carrie Nation, just to mention
a few?
No. here is something new and signif-
cant. 1t is not unmaidenly any longer to
swing dumbbells and row boats and daily
with the fOils and do a hundred other
things requiring activity, muscle and ad-
dress. On the contrary, il is quite the
thing. And fifty years ago society would
have been more surprised and shocked TO
see its girls engaging in a stiff debate upon
an economic topic than il was to see the
sex doing the bareback-riding act in the
sawdust ring or fip-haps ON the flying
trapeze. But these same maidens are
studying economies and they are pro-
foundry interested in the subject. The self
made statesman of the future need have
no fear that he will grow away from the
wife of His youth if he selects her from
ranks like these. On the contrary, he will
find il quite a 'stunt'-as the college girls
say-to keep up with her.