The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-15

when overtaken by business disaster have
put a pistol to their heads rather thar brace
up to meet the disaster.
Under similar circumstances | am almost
certain that a thoroughgoiug business
woman would defer having nervous pros
tration or dying till she had steered into
! safe waters again. don't pretend to under
stand why this is 10. In fact, l am at a
loss to comprehend 1t in contrast with the
lack Of physical courage and self possession
women in general show In time Of physical
danger.
AT one time l was living in a hotel where
a business woman I knew also mad rooms,
That woman had worked her way up from
cash girl to the head Of q department and
was one Of the smartest, shrewdest business
women l ever met.
"One night the hotel was threatened with
fire, and the Waterman went around rousing
the guess, who had plenty Of time 10 dress,
even %supposing the fire should make rapid
Roadway. l got into my clothes in a jiffy
and went out in the hall to find the COM
petent, clear headed business woman maxi
ing her way toward the stairs In her night
gown and bare feet, a sealskin jacket hung
over one arm, her watch in her hand.
She hadn't the least idea what she was
doing, and when I insisted that she should
go back to her room and put on a dress
and shoes she obeyed like a child"
Not long g / attended the funeral Of
a woman assistant college superintendent
whose life had been shaped by the lack Of
courage Of her father in facing business
disaster remarked a co llege president
apropos Of the relative moral courage Of
man and woman. Her father was a baker
with a prosperous business, a shop Of his
own, money in the bank, but before his
oldest daughter was quite 10 he failed in
business, his small fortune was swept away,
and he settled down with his head In his
hands, incapable apparently Of making
another move.
He never did make a move which re-
suited in helping to support his family,
His wife took hold and did her best and
at 10 the daughter began to teaoh
and from that time on practically sup
ported the family and educated her younger
brother and sisters, showing an amount OF
pluck at which I often msrvelled.
when I first assumed the duties Of college
president q young woman came to me and
asked for work ss a special instructor.
No. she had not taught before, nor had
she expected to teach, but she must begin
at onoe.
We are poor and getting poorer every
day she said simply.
Thoroughly equipped for the work
she wanted to undertake, before long she
was earning S25 a week, every dollar Of
which was turned over to her mother,
who one day told me this story:
Her husband, through no fault OF his,
lost a position paying something like 5000
a year with a financial concern. The
blow almost killed him, said the wife.
in an aimless. half hearted way he
began to put in bids for other work and for
a little while tried to get a foothold again
in the financial world; but he wanted
to start where he left off and when places
lower than the one he had lost were offered
he refused them.
81 am not going to be a cheap man.
he told his wife over and over again.
Soon he ceased seeking for work at all
and began to haunt the saloons and the
rest may easily be guessed. But for the
bravery of his daughter that family must
lave starved or begged.
Many times I have noticed this fact: A
mother seldom loses courage when she
has children depending on her. She will
put up a brave fight nearly, always for her
offspring. 4 father, on the other hand,
is quite as liable to turn a despairing face
to the wall when he suffers business losses
as is an unmarried man,
There is no question in my mind
thai woman's moral courage is of a higher
order than mans. And, in the case OF
parents, / am not at all convinced that mans
physical courage is higher than woman's.
II believe that the unparalleled advance
made by woman in the last score Of years
in the face OF countless business discour-
agements is due to her persistent, indomi-
table courage-a courage which overtops
that OF man"