Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-08-11
Women as Imitators of Men.

woman; the beauty and energy and keen
mother wit which, as Americans be-
heve set her apart from the women of
other nations and make her unique, as
was once the huntress Diana among the
gods.
She never tires of counting over her
recent successes. from the marvellous cos
tunes that she wears to her achieve
ments in biology, in cookery or i'll found
ing new religions. The woman of the
last generation walked in II narrow
path; in her life, as in a Chinese sony,
there were but three notes-loye mar
riage and motherhood.
But this queen of the present hour
has Il thousand parts TO play. You new
er know where to find her. She may be
driving Il four-in-hand in Broadway or
looking for the North pole in the Arctic
seas or nursing some poor beggar in the
Slums, or, most likely of ali, she may
be settling herself comfortably for life
as duchess or princess III some old Eng
lish or Italian family.
We all look on with pride, and wonder
complacently what she will do next.
The chief difference between her and
her grandmother-an it is very Gu
rious differences that the older woman
regarded herself simply as part of the
human race. The man was its head, its
spokesman. She thought of herself as
his child, his wife or his mother.
The woman of today is not only his
equal but his antagonist. She talks not
of humanity, but womanity.
Every village has its club Of WOMB II
who urge each other into new profess
sions, work or studies which have hith-
erto been considered the business of men
only.
Every newspaper has a woman's de-
partmcnt in which the successes of the
sex in Wrestling trades and handicrafts
from their brothers and husbands are
daily noted.
| saw today the announcement that a
woman was now filling a place as brake
man on a Western railway. This fact is
told with a hystericai sob of triumph, as
though when this energetic young person
laid her hand on the brake She had dealt
Il fatal blow ut the foe of her sex and
had made for herself long stride up
ward in the scale of being
In our national exhibitions. too. there
Is always womans department where
STATUES. pictures, soaps, confectionery
etc. made by our sex are exhibited apart
- prove that women are as skillful with
,itr myers as men.
confess ! do not understand this
beiigerent attitude in the modern woman
nor her vanity Is she not human, like
the man? Has she not the same fin.
gers eyes and tongue? She is not a
monkey nor freak that her cleverness
abnormal in the public eye
y man when he invents Il new pillow
or paints picture does not shout out:
a mana man has done this! Not
woman See how superior the male of
the race is to the femae"'
But we American women Of late years
never weary of Boosting of the doings
of our sex, and especially on the ground
that they are so much like the doings Of
men!
1t is true that at the close Of the
Civil war our women were forced to
compete with men for work and wages
i'll every part of the field of labor. They
had to make a place for themselves then
as Wage-earners or starve. 1t was no
wonder that they We're aggressive and
sharp during that time.
But why squabble and fight now? The
whole field is open to them. All of the
fences are down. There is not now /
believe, single honest occupation by
which Il living can be earned which is
not open to Il capable. decent woman to
try for it, Men give her fair field and
much favor. Whether she chooses TO
drive a garbage cart or write a historic
novel, they invariably are kinder to her
endeavorS, and applaud her more loudly
than if she wer a man.
Why, then, this incessant, defiant as
sertion Of woman's achievements and
possibilities?
This constant noisy hoasting seems to
be AKIN to the loud cackling in the BARN
yard Of hen over each new-laid egg. as
II an egg never had been laid before.
Another mistake, it seems to me. is
made by my energetic young sister when
she thinks that her chief GRAND into life
is the work which she does to keep her
self alive. She sings such energetic
paeans over herself as a doctor or china
painter or WOman-she is natural
~ IN her need OF money so thankful 10
have work TO do and so glad that she
can do it-that she begins 10 think that
when she was sent into the world so
work was to be her highest occupation.
1t IS not true There is not Gher in
her bodT nor an impulse in her nature
which does not show that the real pri-
mary business in lie rs To be home
maker. the comrade Of a man and tire
mother Of his childrex.
God IN his wisdom may have denied
her that highest and best work. Int
whatever else she may do. she knows
IN her heart thar it is the highest and
best.
Southern woman" the other day
rated her sisters of the South sharply
because they took it for granted that
no woman Is a wage-earner except from
necessity, and that when the necessity
is removed she would gladly return to
her old yocation-that Of the lily Of the
field"
And why not:
Tho vocation Of the lily Of the field
is to he fair and sweet. to make one
little place on Gods earth brighter aud
filter for his sight and 10 reproduce its
kind 10 do the same work when il is
dead.
The woman who makes her home
center Of help and intelligence and high
endeavor. who brings forth children and
fits them in that home for their future
life has done enough She does not
need to earn single dollar in any way
10 Justify her right to lve.-Reheeoa
Harding Davis in Nov Orleans pea
yune.
-ILe Dun-n convention La. do n