The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-06-05

"a wife, ali. gentle deities, can he
That has a wife e'er feel adversity2
Would men but follow what the sex
advise,
All things would prosper, all the world
grow wise,'
Pope, January and May.
Nothing is more remarkable for its
persistencv than a popular delusion
Born of error and bred by ignorance
it sneaks into life unnoticed and takes
centuries in the killing. One rarely
knows its parentage or date of birth
yet the founding refuses to die. 1t
resembles those animals of which zool.
ogists tell Us that, if chopped into
mincemeat, each particle starts afresh
and becomes a new creature. When
we think We slay we make very much
alive; as we try to destroy we re-
create. Truth is fragile, shortlived I'M
obtrusive, easily obscured, cold, naked,
unpalatable; but lie is tough, peren-
NAL, bold, inextinguishable, fervent,
well vestured, and sweet to the taste.
Suppress it here it will rise there Its
elasticity preserves it under all circum-
stances. Its vitality SCOTS at time and
death.
But of all forms of faIsehood com
mend US to popular decisions. Mr. H.
Smith and his friends may dine thir-
teen together twice week, may re
hearse and practise any number of
farclcaI efforts to exercise these. and
will only be laughed at for their pains.
Or they may, perchance, scotch weak
deluslOn now and then, but they will
never annihilate it.
Nevertheless, though we fail in the
endeavOr, there is one we would at
tack. 1t has come down to US through
the ages from the mists of antiquity
venerated and universally believed
With savage and civilized, orthodox and
heterodox, wise and simple, it is a
worldwide creed in regard to the sexes
that it IS the man who rules Woman
is the inferior, the subordinate, the one
to obey. Man is her lord and master
to whose behests she must submit We
should be sorry to produce rebellion
in any well-regUlated home, or to stir
the meekest Of wives to revolt. but
from a habit of looking popular frauds
IN the face and challenging them to a
searching inspection. we ask. Who
Rules? Who sways the rod of empire
in the Court, the Camp, the Home and
Society? Man or Woman2
Now, we cheerfullv admit that man
-
cious, muscular, generous, ambitious,
courageous, and, when spurred, is cap
able of great effort But he is def
cient in sensibilitv, in tact, penetra-
ton, and patience, and is idle by ma
ture. He dissembles badly. He does
not know how to wait. He regards
the surface of things chiefly. He is
guided by appetite, passion, self-inter-
est, although an excellent reasOner
But long ages of more or less disguised
slavery have sharpened women S wits
She is subtle, quick, observant, a good
dlssembler, patient, profoundly pene-
trative. She scents motive as readily
as a dog scents hare. She IS sensi-
tive to every mood and tense of thought
and feeling in others. She is a born
diplomatls-. Her failingS are those Of
a subordinate class-iealousv and vim
dictiveness. But she has abnndantIv
learned the two great lessons which
qualify for berOism and cOmmand-to
endure and to obey. There is no self
sacrifice Of which she is not capable
when urged by love, no torture too
powerful, no patience too great for her
passive and indomjtable resistance. And
when beauty Is added to ability and