The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-05-09

little about, the New Woman. She is i
rara avis in the backward, unprOgreS-
sive and tardy southland, thank the
good Lord, and may she long remain 4
curiosity. Our women receive their
clothes and fashions and furnishings,
their books and customs from the north,
and a. few Of the Smart Set may be led
away into new fields of thought and
action, but the great majority have that
old-time innateness, the love of home
and husband and family, and the culti-
walton Of the graces and the inexpres-
slble charm of WomanlineSs. Some go
in for club life, but not extraVa gantly
or exclusively; some may piddle about
in a dilettante manner with cigarettes
and cocktails and less serious fads, but
the great majority are the same dear
girls as =irlS used to be.
The late meeting of the Woman's Sui
Trage association, held in New Orleans,
gave emphasis to the conservatism Of
southern women In selecting the place
of meeting the leaders of the movement
believed they were doing what Bryan
calls invading tn enemys country.
They depended on physical adjacency
to destroy the crust of reserve that en-
cases southern women. but in this they
were mistaken. The meeting was what
the votaries OK the sack and buckskin
call "a frost Instead of extending an
influence beneficial 20 the organizatio
they aroused antagonism and evoked
unfavorable comment. Nothing in the
collation. s1read had SAVIOR for our
women. When they saw what it was
they discovered that they did not
want il.
We have a few woman suffragists in the
south, but the blessed crea lures do not
mean it. With them it is a fad or a toy
or a. mission or, may be freak, like wear
ing heavy furs in July or serving ice cream
and chill con carne in the same course.
Occasionally a woman is found who in her
pride of intellect fancieS she could order
given control, but she does not believe
thar other women could do so, and size
joins all other women in the belief that
men, collectively, know what is best for
women and that women collectively do not
know what is best for women and she
would rather trust mans chiva1rv ami
sense of justice than to trust women with
their clashing vanities. The idea of go
/ ing to the polls on election day and vot-
/ conventions conferences and other as
semblngs of practical politics: the idea of
with all kinds and conditions and coIors
of men and women will never be pleasing
subject of contemplation to southern wo-
men.
The restless sex must conhne It's activi-
ties to sections of our country where the
climate is more insalubrious and unconge-
| NAL and permit the women of the lotus
! land to slumber in their delightful old
ways They are satisfied and thew satisfy
| the men. who are content to serve them
/ slavishly and adore them devotedly. In
| whatever of bondage they are, they are
| customed to their chains and their prisons
/ have grown dear to them. They do not
yearn for emancipation. nor ARE their lives
| a continual and vociferous protest against
/ Gods alleged injustice for not having
made them men, They are not clamorine
to change their gowns for the galligasl1ins
They prefer to remain custodians of mans
conscience. repositories of the virtues the
repertoFium of the loves and graceS and
the reservoir of sweetness and light II
they are selfish. men made them so II
they are tvrannical men made them 81 ].
they are afflicted with faults and fanata-
sizes ard ambitions. and egomania NOR
made them so, and men would not have
them otherwise