Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-07-12

upon women in new light?
There is, according to the testimony
adduced from talesmen in the Nan
Patterson case, ana a most chiyalrous
man he is, with most unromantic
point of view.
In selecting the jury which was to
try the title "Florodora" chorus girl
charged with having killed "Cae +"
Young, the bookmaker, in a alb.
scores of mer were examined a. to
their fitness, and everyone of them,
amost without exception, declared on
oath that the sex of the accused
woldd judge a woman exactly as he
void a man under similar conditions.
This statement is enough to send a
shud1er through the breast OF every
womaL in the land, for if an epoch has
been reached in the evolution, not to
say revolution. of sex sentiment
where men can look upon woman as
a brother instead Of a sweetheart,
then, indeed, is gallantry dead
Fortunately, however, for women,
this is not the case. Men may n
estly believe it to be true, and they
may swear until they arr black in the
not include him to mercr, and that he
face that they can look upon wo-
mans acts exactly as IL they had
been committed by a man but when
the critical moment arrives they per-
jure themselves like gentlemen.
No man ever judges a woman as he
r1 10 bur car
upon her, and sometimes be is more
leuient, but he never looks upon her
mistakes. her weaknesses, her faults
or her crimes as he does upon those
Of a man
We see this illustrated in thou
sand ways all about US every day.
Take the matter of intelligence, Tor
instance. II man does cot at least
keep himself informed of the every
day happenings of the world other
men iespise him as an ignoramus AMI
a fool but when a man meets with
pretty, fluffy-haired girl who is more
ignorant than the very shoeblacks on
the street, he doesn't have contempt
for her because size is a Ounce.
On the contrary, he thinks it per.
fectly cute and fascinating when he
finjs out that she is under the inn
preston that Togo is the name of
new breakfast food, and that the
Panama canal is located somewhere in
the Maine woods.
The same thing IS true Ct the minor
morallties When a woman speaks
an untruth men excuse it as fbbing,
whereas they would brand it as
a cheating at cards, when they
would osractze a man for doing the
identical same thing, but when II
comes to the weightier matters Of the
law, the pelulum swings far over to
the other side.
No man locks upon a woman's crops
of wild oats with the same indulgence
as he does upon a mans.
This inability OF men to look upon
men and women alike is even more
apparent when woman becomes a
lawbreaker This brings about a
curious situation. Men are more
shocked and Mortified at the woman
criminal than they are at the man
criminal but they holi her less re
spousible for he deed, ana punish her
less for it.
# is easy enough to say that there
is no sex i'm crime, ana that the man
theft AMI the woman thief, and the
woman murderer ana the man muir
lerer ought to have exactly the same
Judgment metei cut to them No one
will deny IT, The trouble is 10 find
d jury that has nerve enough 10 do It,
Amy ore who is at all familiar with
murder trial. knows that it takes at
least twice as much evidence to con
vict woman rs It does man DC
casionally it is ione. bus only after
the most overwhelming and con
elusive proof has been offered that the
womdu's hands are red with blood.
aul even then the jury viii let her
off it there is q single extenuating cir
cumstanCe.
This is not Justice. Il is even TO
jeploreJ in some ways, because un-
doubtelly woman's immunity from
paying the penalty of her crimes
makes her more reckless about com
hitting them. but Il is the fact that
no sqon can Judge a woman as he does
another man with which we have "a
reckon.
ChvalTy, tenderness. the PITY 8
protection Of the strong and weak
the memory Of the mother who Dor,
him. Of The sisters he loves. CT the wife
ne chershtT, AMI the daugtels be Is
trying to stield from the wintry blasts
OF fate-all these rise un in a man.
mini and make him mo,a mercifuI
less quick TO condemn t.e Nomai
criminal than the man.
More than this, the;e is a rougl
sense of Justice in most men thai
makes them realize that life itself is
hard on woman. Nature and society
have not fitted her To tight her bat
ties in the open, and SO sometimes 4
she breaks the laws she had no voice
In making or takes dishonesty wha
she ccGld not get fairly. or som times
even kills, they are disposed To judS,
hoE as hardly they would a nan VIII,
was equipped for the race. and chos,
Tor un it crooked instead Of straight
And SO while the men who swea
thar they can judge a woman exactl!
as they would a man. and fail to 10 1t
mag be a trifle inconsistent, they ar,
giving a very good exhibition Of som.
of The star human virtues.