The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-11
By
A
CLUB
WOMAN
G. A 5 u AL
CO NJ NJ f N Il

his wife farmers boy. with scarcely
district school education. b. went West in
the time of the Pixies Peak excitement, en-
tered the army when the war broke out and
rose to high command by sheer force Of ma
tive genius After the war he settled in one
of the far Western Territories. became
highly successful business man. then Gov
ernor, when the Territory became a State,
then United States senator During the
years when his business and his young fam
lily were growing up together. and the pio-
neer conditions of life made IL impossible
for his wife TO get any help in her onerous
tasks. after she had labored all day at
housework and caring for the children, when
they were got to sleep I'm the evening, she
betook herself to her sewing. and toiled on
little frocks till midnight. The future sena-
tor sat with her through the vigil and read
to her. He had the intellect to perceive that
the best Shorthand method for remedying
the defects of his early education lay in a
course of standard novels. So he read 10 her
Dickens and Thackeray. Walter Scott and
Victor Hugo. What the man got from this
course of reading was a knowledge OF the
world and Of society, OF history and OF Gus
toms, Of science and of literature-in short.
a fund of general information that made
him able to think, appear and converse like
an educated man. But what his wife got
out of it-well. she was
"A perfect woman, nobly planned
To warn, to comfort. TO command"
but she was one of those persons without
the power of literary perception. What she
got out of it was the pleasure of her hus-
bands companionship and the temporary
interest OF finding out what happened next
to hero heroine. She said in later life,
that of all the books she knew, the one she
liked best was The Children OF the Abbey
that eighteenth century compound Of dia-
bolical plotting enemies. impossibly heroic
lover and always-fainting-away heroine.
The women OF the Social Economics Club
certainly showed good strategy when they
invited the Rev. w. B. Leach. Of Chicago.
to address them.
Mr.. Leach's Idea and so got him
of Clubwomen. where he was
obliged TO answer
Questions. When proof OF his outrageous
statements that women's clubs are places
for drinking, smoking and gambling was de-
manded. he first tried TO escape by offering
compliments to the club there present. When
the women insisted on his showing some
proof, on his naming at least one club guilty
of the practices he had denounced, the
slanderer backed down from one evasion to
another, until he was finally forced TO ad-
nit he did not know of a single one. His
story of the husband who came TO him and
thanked him for the sermon, because IL had
induced his wife to withdraw from her club,
doubtless had the same imaginary founda-
| tion as his other tales. 1t is incredible that
| any woman who belonged TO a club could be
| silly enough to believe his statements, and
/ if there is a husband so ungenerous as to
grudge his wife reasonable amount of the
mental stimulus and social life to be got
| from club, never heard of him.
| 1t is possible that some OF that class Of the
unco rich, who seem to be troubled to think
up enough disgraceful things TO do. may
profit by Mr.. Leach's suggestion, and start
a womans club for drinking and gambling.
but surely there is none in existence now.
When the bride begins her lifelong course
of study in the sometimes provoking. but al
ways interesting peculiarities of the species
man. variety hus-
| The Helplessness band, one of the
Of Husbands. things that surprises
her is his inability
to wait on himself IN little things. We ara
often told that women regard their hus-
| bands with something of a maternal feel
| ing; they have cause to, for the man per-
sists in playing infant.
If the farmer breaks the reaper and must
get ready to go to town to get II mended.
mother must leave her ironing or pre-
serving at the very crisis OF fate, and hand
| him his clean shirt, or he cannot dress Nor
| is his city brother a whit more able to help
| himself.
Really. Jack" laughingly protested the
young wife, as she paused in the midst OF
the baby's bath, TO wipe her wet hands and
| take a clean collar out of the drawer for
him. you must have taken out your own
clean collars before you were married. for
know you never kept a valet"
But put them away myself then, so I
knew where to find them"
But they are always in the right-hand
end of the second drawer, as I've told you
| fifty times"
WELL 1 looked there, and they were i'm
visible to the naked ear"
Il believe that's the trouble-you look for
them with your ears instead OF your eyes -
We'll, anyhow, you can just as well give
it to me-that's what 1 keep you for"
In fact it probably is the mere fun OF
having her wait on him, the pleasure OF
keeping her around where he is. with her
attention concentrated on him, instead Of on
those bothering children that uninterest-
ing Homework or sewing, that is at the bot
tom of his helplessness. And IL he does leave
his things lying around for her TO pick up.
he does not like disorder a little bit; for
while men are not particular women
about cleanliness and can see no necessity
| for the miseries of DEMONSTRATING. they are
even more annoyed by disorder than women
are.
ratified. At o'clockewith seven hours Of