The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-30
EVENING CHAT
BY RUTH CAMERON.

III RUTH CAMERON.
A man who signs himself "a Bach i
elor'' has just written to ask me to
settle wager which friend has
| made with him. to the effect that I
am man.
Just think OF it,
My little letters have received the
| highest compliment possible from a
sufficient intelligence to have been
written by one of his own sex.
As "A Bachelor" puts Tiny friend
insists that the writings which appear
above your signature, on account of
their wisdom must emanate from a
masculine mind
suppose ought to be very CRATE
full, but I'm not.
| On the contrary 1 think that is
just the kind of compliment that a
woman should resent-the kind that
aatters her personality at the expense
| of her sex.
I heard a man and woman arguing
1 the subject of womans suffrage the
other day.
| The man said, "I haven't a doubt
you could vote as intelligently as any
man. But you are an exception. There
are not many women with your brains
| and commonsense."
And the woman said, 81 suppose you
| think that I will be pleased by that
| fiattery, but am not. You can't buy
me off with a bit of fattery to let you
diSparage my SEX
I wanted to say, "Hurrahi"
I think that is exactly the attitude
that every woman ought to take.
sex unchallenged, no matter how
much personal f1attery he may use to
sugar coat his disparagement with.
1t isn't loyal
One great reason why men have
kept the position of masters, econom-
ically and socially, which they have
so long held. is that they have always
stood by each other.
Do you know one reason why wom-
en- have begun to realize what ter
rible menace immortality is to their
home life and to demand single
standard of morality for both sexes :?
women physicians who are explaining
these things to their sex.
In by-gone days when all physicians
were men, they stood by their sex
and covered up and CLOSED over the
sin of their brothers, even where it
was wrecking homes. When wom-
. an was made an invalid simply be-
|, cause her husband had "sowed his
wild oats" she was kept in entire fg-
, norance of the cause of her suffering,
and perhaps her own daughter was
| exposed to the same danger. These
| things are beginning to be different
: now and think there will be an even
greater change in the next few genera
| lions.
OF course that is a case where 10y
atty was unjustihable, but 1t shows
. | what loyalty can do.
No woman should be contented even
If she herself is mentally and social
! ly and economically her old masters
: | EQUAL unless she believes that her
/ whole sex is on the high road TO De-
coming the same.
And no woman should be pleased
| when a man, no matter how highly
he processes to reverence her. adopts
a sighting attitude toward her sex.
And now Mr.. "a bachelor, after
| that little talk, have you any further
} doubt to which sex I belong?
, 4
II Did you ever get in front of mir
ror with real strong light and see
, every one of your imperfections Sc
plainly that it made you fairly sick
, at heart, and think to yourself, NOW
Il that's what 1 look like to other peo-
ple.'
If you have, cheer up.
) For it isn't so at all.
As q matter of fact, when you look
at yourself in a mirror you see an
; entirely different parsonage from the
one your friends see.
ri In the first place your expression
i when you are self consciously scrutin-
t izing yourself in q mirror is quite
/ different from what it is under ordin-
' airy conditions. I have noticed my
: self that people when they look IN
wrinkles in their foreheads, and beau
$ ty doctors tell me that too much sell
5 scrutinizing does j great deal of harm
in this way.
j In the second place you are look
ing for wrinkles and pores and line:
2 and pal1or and you see them, where
as your friends are looking at YOl
and they see YOU.
And in the third place I am told
that many mirrors distort to a. sur
prising degree, and thus make imper
a | fections more painfully evident.
Perhaps there are some among m.
readers who do not need this reassur
ance, who are always entirely conten
i with the image their mirrors Civ
8 back to them.
e But I am writing for the AVERAGE
3 WOMAN (and when I can conven
/ iently arrange it, for the average NAL
n too of course) and I think that mos
: of her once in awhile looks in the mir
t, ror and wonders, as heard a foolish
$. little girl the other day.
'0I How can anyone like me when
d am so homely?"
g And 1t is for her that write the re
l. assurance. And I want to add an
II other one to 1t.
II 1 think it is often the same wa,
with the mirror of self analysis.
81 Perhaps with most of us our casua
3 chances at our mental and mora
e equipment is fairly satisfactory.
le And then comes a day when some
how or other we happen to get
= good strong light on the mirror of GU
self analysis, and all the little mean
nesses and self1shnesses stand out 1
cannot Sc