The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-01-15

M tlat DOdrUlnS mouse are AL
III from country village" said
Miss WantreIl, the city wo-
man. ''They don't talk anything but
personalities, and they make fun of one
another constantly behind backs. it
makes ne think of Flipton, where
used to teach school. There We're vo-
men in that town whN knew every
movement of their acquaintance ana
twisted the most innocent acts into
something to be criticised or rdiculed
sThey watched the postotiice 10 see how
often people got letters. They peeked
out behind their closed blinds to study
their nt4ighbors' clotheslines. If patch
ed garments were displayed. these
gossips did everything but publish the
fact in the village newspaper. IT i
man, married or single, called at a
house Of an evening. the town knew Of
it next day. and motives were imputed
to the man which he in his widest
moments could hardly have dreamed
of"
but are country people worse Cos
sips than city folk:' l asked.
"Indeed they are, In the city there
is always somewhere to go and some
excitement to occupy the thought. The
city woman who undertook to keep
track of her next door neighborS would
be driven into nervous prostratiOn."
Now, is what Miss Wantrell said
true? Is the air of country villages
full of poisonous gossip, the microbes
from which ferment in the souls of the
women who live there and wither up
and kill all sis erly tolerance, all noble,
broadening growth and aspiration!
Flatly, | do not believe it.
OF old humility was considered the
virtue of women and slaves.
No new woman is ever found in an
old woman's home.
If men, law and custom do not stop
discriminating against and prosecuting
the feminine sex for being wives and
mothers. the feminine sex will in time
cease to be either. Men may as we'll
know now that this is the ultimate of
that financial independence for wom-
en- which is coming as fast as time
can bring it. Normal woman naturally
likes man, but now that she is able to
earn her own living it will have to be
a tolerably fine man who can WOO and
win her. She more and more looks at
the man himself, not at the support"
Let the man. take notice accordingly.
Isn't it about time some women
learned to mind their own business?
Do not glory in weakness and cow
ardice. Glory in courage and strength.
That noble organization, the National
Council of Jewish Women, has now
more than 1000 members. Its presi-
dent, Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon, favors
an international gathering of Hebrew
women at the st. Louis exposition.
Pathetic is the story that grand
daughter of Patrick Henry. Mrs. Fir-
ginia Henry Beasley, aged, penniless
and friendless, is now waiting to die
in charity home at Ithaca, n Y. She
is eighty-seven years old, but apparent
~ as able to earn her own living as
she was at twenty, for she says: My
father was son of Patrick Henry.
He owned a great plantation on which
there We're 1000 slaves. The war
wrecked my fathers fortune Mrs.
Beasley was brought up in the old
helpless, useless way to do nothing.
That was her greatest misfortune.
The .southern woman of the new school
is bravely earning her living.
U %
A to do is made over the fact that
there is now living in Kentucky a wo-
man eighty-two years old whose grand
mether-in-laW once refused to marry
George Washington. Well. what of it.?
Two ablebodied widows, mother and
SlduSutef, au8eFuSes Ill IL Long 9lSld1iu
paper for husbands. one apiece, to take
care of them. Those two ablebodied
widows will find themselves much bet
ter eff if they hustle and take care Of
themselves. Men in these days are
not marrying women to take care OF
them.
b ga
The writer Of a letter printed in the
Philadelphia North American says she
is widow, eighty-seven years old.
that she reads without glasses AID
does her. own houseWork That is the
right sort OF widow Let US have more
of them.
Women's clubs, especially woman
suffrage clabs. should have each heb.
u an impressive ceiehration o. the
birthday Of Abraham Lincoln, the man
who believed in giving the ballot to
all. 'by no means excluding females. .
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