Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1910-08-25
THE SINGLE STAN.
DARD OF MORALITY
Views of a WoII-KnOwn
Writer.
(By Ruth Cameron. J

(By Ruth Cameron.
The single standard of morality
for both sexes you keep talking about
IS absolutely impossible and absurd, :"
man wrote to me the other day,
and | wish you would write on moro
sensible subjects. Tell women to stay
at home and darn their husbands
stockings and leave the things they
don't understand alone, and you will
be doing more good in the world"
There is a familiar ring about that
injunction to the ladies to attend to
their darning.
Some years ago, as newspaper
woman, / accompanied half a dozen
suffragists who were making a tour
through the state. speaking on wo-
mans suffrage, and trying to get
signatures for giant suffrage petition
In order to get incidents for my story
myself took the petition one day
and went about in d mill town where
there was an unusually ignorant class
of people. When the men refused to
sign, | always asked them why they
did not believe in woman's suffrage,
and in four cases out of five I got
slight variations of one answer:
Il want my wife to stay at home anG
darn my stockings
But that is merely by the way.
What | started to speak about was
my friends assertion that a single
standard of morality for both men and
women is an absolute impo8sibility.
If this man had lived fifty or hun
dred years ago today he would I'M
doubtedly have said that it was an i'm
possibility that women should enter
colleges OR succeed in business.
If women will make up their minds
that they want a single standard of
morality, just as they did that they
wanted to go into business, they viii
have it,
If girls will decide that they want
husbands with as clean records as
they themselves have, just as they de-
cided that they wanted college educa-
tions, they will get them.
The only reason we are not nearer
the attainment of this ideal is that
women have been content with condi-
tons as they are in this respect, and
haven't made up their minds to o.
mand better things.
In British East India it is the GUS
tom that a woman will not marry
man until he goes to some netghborin2
tribe and brings back three heads as
proof of his prowess. The men are
not a bloodthirsty lot They don't
kill for the dove of killing. They sim
ply get tJose three heads because
that is what the women have decided
that they want.
The editor of we'll known wo
mans magazine comments on this GUS
tom:
1T lis gruesome, yet; but all the
In a thousand ways-most of them
more pleasant than this-this sort Of
thing goes on the world over; what
women decide becomes custom and
law.
The moral of this to Mr.. Box is, THAI
since this is SO, since woman Ltas
ca orao4 on IN a,,ouoo rs,a ,,,~l,4 - l. .
content and not ask the right to help
make laws
With all due respect to Mr. Box, ;
am going TO make bold to read a diff
ferent lesson, and that is that since
woman has so great an influence ana
can Lave whatever she wants, this sin
gle standard of morality is not an inn
possibility, if only women will want
it enough.
I admit they don't want 1t enough
today.
But the success of a play like, -
Mans World" proves that they have,
at least begun to think upon this
subject.
And with that step taken l think
the rest is sure to come.
Not soon, by any means. don't
mean that.
But maybe when old HaHey's comet
comes ON his next rip he will see as
great change III this respect all he
LAS seen in others since his visit OF
three-quarters of century ago.
Who knows?