The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-10-31
Superiority of Woman

,dAIOAIEN have at least one sense
wv which men do not possess, -
says Professor Otis t. Mason
might be called the mirror sense, in
asmuch as it enables them to see them
selves, without a looking glass, and
even gives them a sort of consciousness
of what is behind them. Beyond this,
they have a kind of vision in their fin
ger tips, as one might say, the sense of
touch being to them almost a form Of
sight.
Women are constantly working
small miracles. Take, for example, the
tying of a knot iii a thread with the
finger of one hand. A woman does it
offhand and as q matter of course.
That there should be any difficulty
about it never occurs TO her until some
man comments with astOnishment upon
the feat which she5so uncOnsciousIy eX-
ecutes. Then she in her turn, ex-
presses surprise at learning that ne
cannot do the same thing himself.
Why, ii is nothing. She cannot remem-
Der the time when she could not tie a
knot With one hand. The thing to her
is mere instinct.
Instinct means inherited experience.
and women have a lot of it. The young
woman who threads with such wonder
full ease the needle which has no eye
that you can find is exercising a faculty
which has been handed down TO her
through hundreds of generations. She
Is not merely her mothers daughter.
but the child of long line Of grand
mothers, running back to the age OF
stone and beyond.
This same girl can beat raw eggs
in a bowl for an hour without firing
her in the least. You offer TO relieve
her, and in five minutes it is almost i'm
possible to continue the task. OF course.
lacking practice. you waste energy,
but the chief disadvantage under which
you labor is that the muscles Of your
arm are not adapted properly for WELD
ing a spoon in that fashion. The young
Woman's forbears on the dfstaff side
have been cooks for at least 100000
years. and therefore il is that she is
anatomically modified, so TO speak, for
beating eggs.
"A woman may almost be said to
see with her hands. To the dry goods
clerk she says: Let me see that piece
of goods. but when it is placed before
her she feels il with her fingers. hardly
looking at it. she puts up her back
hair smoothly and beautifully without
seeing il at although when il is An
ished she contemplates the results in
a looking glass. No mere man could
accomplish such a feat. which may be
said to illustrate the possession by the
female OF our species of d peculiar fac
uity--a faculty that might appropriate
~ be called a mirror sense. TO a GER
tain extent, apparently, woman can
ha,.oat+ ,r-;+
ITO man the whole arr of pinning
things is a mystery. Apparently there
can be nothing 10 it beyond the inser-
ti2n of the pin and the passing of it
i'm and out or the pieces of fabric. which
are to be temporarily and mutually at
tached. Any fool can do that, and it is
noticeable that the male person does
the job in a careful and even scientific
fashion, which ought to represent the
highest degree OF effectiveness. But
somehow IL doesn't. The pin comes
out and 'cuss words are liable to fol-
low. oh. John, let me, says the mans
wife. she taxes the same pin, and,
without making any apparent use of
the divine gift Of reason, inserts it,.
She does not even begin a the natural
place or beginning, but executes a sort
Of overland movement, takes a species
of double hitch and with a wriggly
thrust the thing is done 1t holds as
if it were sewed.
he hairpin, of course, is only a
modified pin made double AS every
one knows it is a woman's favorite
utensil-a whole tool chest, in fact. 1t
rs 10 her a master key in all mechan-
zeal problems. She buttons her shoes
with it, trims lamps. opens letters
but the list of its capabilities is too
long for ready recital. II is the univer-
sal feminine implement, and is made
to serve even for cleaning the tobacco
pipe of the inadequately appreciative
husband or brother.
1t is an admirable tool, but where is
the man who is able to use it? In his
hands il is as valueless as a sewing
machine in the possession of a naked
savage.
10 him even the art OF pinning hair
with it is puzzle. Let him try. if his
lady love is willing to submit to the
foolish experiment. and see what d
failure he makes of it. Though he may
dc his best, with an unlimited number
of hairpins, scarce two locks viii hold
together.
How is it that woman is able to
tie ribbon bow and that man can
not? He can make a bow out OF rib
bon. of course. but il is an altogether
different article-a product essentially
masculine. She gives the ribbon a
couple of twists With her fingers adds