The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-16
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN.
THOMAS B. REED ON

THOMAS B. REED ON
 WOMAN SUFFRAGE. The Following is the minority report of the late Thomes B. Reed In 1884 of the House Judiciary Com mittee in favor of a system amend ment enfranchising the women of the United States. This report was signed by Thomas B. Reed. Maine; Ezra B. Taylor. Ohio; Thomas M. Browne, In- diana; Moses A. McCoid. Iowa. and was the keenest, dearest exposition of the absurdity of the objections against wo- man sufarge that has ever been made. and says in part:
 'No reason on earth can be given by those who claim suffarge as right of manhood which does not make 1t the right of womanhood also. If the suffrage is to be given man to protect him in his life, liberty and property. the same reasons urge that 1t be given to woman, for she has the same life. liberty and property to protect If 1t be urged that her interests are so bound up in those of man that they are sure to be protected. the answer is that the same argument was urged as to the merging in the husband of the wife's right of property. and was pronounced by the judgment of mankind fallacious in practice and in principle. If the natures of men and women are so alike that for this reason no harm is done by suppressing women, what harm can be done by elevating them to equality7 If the natures be different. what right can there be in refusing representation to those who might take juster views about many social and political Ques- tions?
 Tt is sometimes asserted that women now have a great influence in politics through their husbands and brothers. This is undoubtedly true. But that is just the kind of influence which is not wholesome for the community, for 1t is influence unaccompanied by respon- sibility People are always ready to recommend to others what they would not do themselves If 1t be true that women cannot be prevented from exer- cising political influence. is not this only another reason why they should be steadied in their political action by that proper sense of responsibility which comes from acting themselvesf
 We conclude, then. that every req son which in this country bestows the ballot upon man Is equally applicable to the proposition to bestow the ballot upon woman, that in our judgment there is no foundation for the fear that women will thereby become unfitted for all the duties she has hitherto per. formed"
 Don't Humor the Children.
 An Exchange.
 Now the nerve specialist comes for. ward with the warning that 1t is dan. gerous to spoil children. He says sickly children especially should not be humored. Their i'll temper becomes chronic. and runs into nervous disor- ders that are extremely difficult to cope with. The mother who offers reward to her child for eating a needful amount of substantial food, for instance, is set- ting dangerous precedent. It Is like- ly to bear fruit later on in hysteria.
 The professional nurse dreads a paN tient of this sort We'll defined neu rasthenia is play compared to the whims of hysteria. In nine cases out of ten the cause is the same--a child spoiled in its tender years. Such pa- tients are absolutely purposepless They can be persuaded to do nothing, and force Is out of the question. In the majority of cases they are young women. for the conflicts of boyhood soon cure the evils of home betting. These young women nearly drive the nurses distracted. Their malady Is nothing or less than selfishness run riot. The symptoms are tnrely dis tinct from dementia. In the frenzy of dementia the patient often is hurt. The hysterical patient may scream and throw furniture about, but she never does the turn better than the most ac- actor
 There is but one cure-a purpose in life requiring the patient to exercise self lf-control. That is better than all the doctors and sanitariums in the world.
 kee
 "Why old MaidsY"
 Dorothy Dix, in a very clever article in the New York Journal on "Why old Maids?" among other things cites 1, 
 Another prolific cause of old maids is hobbies. No man wants a cause as a rival in the affections of his wife, and the girl who gets the reforming bee in her bonnet need never expect to adorn her head with orange blos- soms. A woman may develop the "anti" habit after marriage as a man takes a drink, but before 1t Is hoodoo that no beauty or charm can offset.
 The giggiing mania and the baby pose are also responsible for their share of the old maid crop. Heaven knows why women think men admire laughing hyenas, and idiots, but they do and the average girls idea of mak- ing herself irresistfbly fascinating to a man is by simpering and giggling This Is not because of an sense of humor. but be- cause of a lack of 1t. She doesn't know a joke when she sees it, and so she giggles all the time on the strength of hitting the right place to laugh 
 Now. as a matter of fact. men loathe the giggling girl. She makes them tired and. besides, they are never quite sure she isn't laughing at them. A mans ideal of woman is something sweetly serious and pensive. and not a Punch and Judy show, and there would be more old maids than there are if men didn't have penetration enough to see that most women are not such fools as they look.
 The would-be library woman. who talks books to the man who only knows groceries; the romantic maiden, who is in search of an ideal; the overly par ticular girl, who expects a combina- tion Apollo. Bayard and Booth Tark- ing; the timid and the shy. who, as Methodists used to say, "do not put themselves in the attitude to receive the blessing" all build a wall between thepselves and matri- mony and explain why there are so many old maids.
 No woman need remain single unless she prefers to. Getting a husband is dead easy. Keeping him after you get