The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-11-15


have been confronted by the mountain
OF error built by the Ignorance Of the
years which went before.
One very distinct reason for these fall
lacies is that man has been prone all
alcng to accept as true what was so re-
earded by his father without stopping to
chailange a statement or shink an opinion
cut for himself.
But this is the age OF Investigation:
this is the era Of upheaval, and We are
daily seeing the hitherto-considered I'm
pregnable rock OF "what-1ve-thought-all-
N.Y. life. blasted into atoms by me dy-
manic force of what is." Therefore,
Lold in the consciousness OF truth, and in
the same spirit which actuated Coperni-
Gus and Columbus and Luther In their
noble efforts to widen the skirts Of
light" an attempt Will here be made to
correct some time-honored. but mistaken
IDEAS which have obtained In regard to
women.
TO begin at the very beginning, tace
our mother Eve, rather, take the most
conspicuous act OF her life. the giving
OF the apple to Adam. OF the many
dozen OF reasons assigned to her for this
oct there has probably never been one
to her credit. And yet her motive was
pralseworthy and apparent.
To prove this only one proposition. an
incontrovertible one. need be laid down.
No sensible woman wishes 10 be cleverer
than her husband. When Eve had eaten
tie apple this terrible thought confronted
her. she was wiser than Adaml 1t
spoiled even paradise for her.
Immediately and nstinctively. there
fore. she proceeded to raise her husband
u her own intellectual level. which. hap
lilly for her. she was able to do BY CIV
inc him the apple Hundreds OF years
afterwards there came along man
named Shakespeare. who said: Let noble
minds keep ever with their likes but
the very first woman who ever lived
knew that and said so, not, indeed. IN
words, but In 1.-The sublime eloQuence OF
an act"
Women can't argue. you know" is
another statement which has been heard
unchallenged, so long that 1t has come 10
be accepted as a fact. "a logical wo-
man Is a contradiction OF terms. says
wise speaker.
What is argument7 "A clever defin.-
ton Is that argument Is method BY
which one arrives at result called
proof. AS every one Is willing to con-
cede that result Is the thing aimed at
and method simply means to an END,
and as everyone Is compelled to acknoW-
ledge that women are capable OF proving
their point, the deduction Is so obvious
II ADMITS not even Of statement.
Two men OF power and brains, host
and his guest, were arguing clevery
enough upon certain occasion the
somewhat hackneyed, but prolific point
OF the power Of environment against that
OF heredity.
tits all in environment" cried the
host. Take any child at his birth, train
him carefully and persistently and this
training will counteract any amount OF
Inherited evil
The guest was hotly contestins this
statement when the hostess entered the
room and the matter was laughingly
submitted to her.
"Oh, I'm not up on these modern terms.
and, being a woman. OF course can't ar.
que" che said smiling. as she Strengthened
the table cover. which the combatants
had disturbed In their fray. But
know have to tell Johnnie every day
that he must not hang his hat up on
my bureau and I know (turning to her
husband) I've been trying to break you
OF that habit for twenty years"
'eWomen are such changeable creatures!
They never know their own minds!" has
been accepted MS true for so long that
1t has passed from proposition into
an axiom. Even Virgil. who drew with
such beautiful pathos and tender sent-
ment that touching picture Of wo-
man faithful unto the self-inf1icted death
which this very faithfulness had caused.
cried out, IA variable and q fckle thing
is woman!"
And yet, is It 80? woman changes
often, indeed. but not from caprice, but
because she is open to conviction. and
as often AS she finds herself wrong. 40
often will she change. "Pahaw! cries
the world, "a woman is a perfect wealth
e s And II so; what more nee
essary. what more reliable. what more
Indicative? And what were the value
OF a weathervane; which obstinately
pointed In the same direction. no matter
which way the wind blew
''Women ask 80 many foolish questions"
sighed n newly-made benedict recently.
That depends upon the point from which
you view the matter. It is true that
woman often asks questions about things
which men, because they arc men, were
born knowing. But II trouble is taken to
ferret out the reason OF a woman's cues
ton, 1t will usually appear that she want
, ed to kno wsomethng. and certainly TASK
ling for information" was the primary
| and original significance OF the lnterrcga-
ton point.
Apropos:
! Mr.. A. Creading morning paper): All
Brown is suing for divorce"
Mrs A.: "whnt? From his Wife,"
Mr.. A.: "The paper doesn't say
Next morning
Mrs "A. (reading paper): "The funeral
OF Mr.. Russell Turner will take place at
II O'clock
Mr. A.: what? Russell Turner dead"
Mrs, A.. "The paper doesn't say"
Along this line OF thought. the foolish
questions of women. some light might be
thrown by the suggestion that women
sometimes ask questions simply to give
men the opportunity to impart Informal
ton, a'process which always produces In
them that pleasnrable ton classified
by young friend as "chesty,'
However. in such serious discussion as
| this, any suggestion OF that nature would
appear too flippant and II produced at all.
should he relegated to foot-note or to
the treatres: "Slde Lights On Women
To return, "a woman is always Inn
practical" agrees mankind. a few years
ago, at the Nashville Exposition, build
!, Ing set apart for Inventions had In 1t a
room assigned especially for "womens
Inventions" A patented cherry seeder,
| new IDEA in churns, q bright suggestion