The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-06-04


"This admirable woman, by her shift
lessness and incapacity, makes matters
worse than they need be; by her ignor-
ance, fails to provide assistance for her
helpless little ones; by her baseless pride.
refuses it when it offers; and then keeps
herself comfortable thru 1t all by this
sublime spirit Of seeing good where there
is none-a sort of mild chronic ecstasia.
1--WE find her pasting paper on broken
window on a freezing winter morning,
while the children are pinned in bed
clothes by the stove, and her elbows are
sticking out of her sleeves. AS she is
unable to find work outside at this
period, might not Mrs. Wigs have
found time to paper the window before
and to mend the sleeves?
"Cold weather cannot be helped, but
some things can.
"she is so hospitable as to water the
children's soup and stint not only her
self but her overworked eldest, to feed
two visitors who are represented as
| having had their dinner.
| "She let her boy-a boy of 15-already
i'll and half starved, take job to sleep
| or watch in a market-wagon-outo of doors
| from to a. m, when she should have
taken him to a hospital. She lets him
| die Of exposure and starvation, when she
|
a woman might be shiftless enough, ig
norant enough, stupid enough, to do all
this Is quite conceivable, but why do we
admire her for it? ...
| what is the secret of the fascination
Of this book-why is it so successful? For
| a twofold reason; one in essence but
seen douby. g4rt.E .@sr5 #.
This book gives pleasure to the heart
Of the reader because it tends to assuage
! one of the widest griefs Of our time.
mo evil Of to-day is SO general as pow
erty. No evil has such terrible results to
| health, to happiness, to morals. Book
after book has been written by the far
seeing, the sensitive the sympathetic;
and works Of investigation and protest
which prick and drive us to do something
to lift this horror from the world.
"Then comes this MAMMA Mrs. Wigs,
this gentle emollient, to ease our pain.
"And it does so in two ways; first, we
are shown this noble spirit the strong
| brave, CHEEKY, unselfsh soul, shedding
sunshine all around her; and we heave
! a great sigh of relief and say to our
selves: Poverty can't be SO bad after
all, If it develops woman like that
If these grumbling, dangerous poor
. people would only look at it like Mrs
' Wigs, it would be all right Ant
, then-owing to the Grass ignorance ant
carelessness OF the good woman he
: slovenly, shiftless habits, her neglect o
: opportunity to find help, or pride tina
+ would not ask it,-then we heave an
other sigh Of relief and say: After all
+ it was largely her own fault.
And this, Mrs. Gilman believes con
! tains a very dangerous morality, and W.
e are strongly inclined to adopt her view.
g THE WOODSMAN.
q There's a breath Of pine
r And a breeze like wine,
While above the eagles soar.
And hear the lap
OF the waves white cap
On the rocky island shore.
The bitterns scream,
The white stars CLEAN
Ger my home in the forest free.
3 There's and air
And
For the wild wood creatures and me.
g by Laura Wilmington in The Outlook.
. A book by Rev. w. H. Geistweit, D. D
: the editor of the Baptist Union, is an
), nounced, under the title of Heart Talks
(Winona Publishing Co., Chicago). 1t con
a sists Of practical, close and helpful dis
i
g DR.. Geistweit was formerly Minneap
y oils pastor.
#
Jiu-jitsu for women is the latest {
y H. Irving Hancock's books on physics
IS training. The book bears the title Phys
S cal Training for Women. But it is afte
n Japanese methods and that means jiu
y jitsu. The author says the Japanes
h women are "the strongest and most cheer
8 full members Of their sex to be found any
where on EARTH and as in the case of tn
IS men Of Japan he attributes this physics
9 superiority to jiu-jitsu. BE strong" h
e says, there is neither grace nor beauty
weakness. Nor is there, when woma
e possesses very ordinary strength, any ex
j; cuses for her being SICK This is show
$ among the Japanese. The Japanes
women, it seems, when they feel out {
t sorts, take jiu-jitsu. American womer
: many of them at least, take patent med
icine, The Uneasy Chair.