The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-12-11
WOMEN HAVE RIGHT TO LIVE THEIR OWN LIVES
Art Bears No Relation to Personality in the Worlds
Judgment-The Egotism of Bachelors and
the Compacence of Spnsters.
/ often hear 1t said of feminine

You often hear 1t said of feminine
celebrities:
But above all. beyond all. she
placed the duties Of wife and mother.
She never forgot the sacred trust in
her charge. Her art was made sub
servient When il came to a ques-
ton between art and motherhood and
wifehood-the latter triumphed."
Or to such effsct.
This is the most nauseating sort of
drivel that can be pOsthumously
tagged to talent-to be Alternative
or to a producer in the arts.
Why, in heavens name, don't you
hear it said of some masculine
genius
But above all, beyond all. he
placed the duties of husband and
father. He never forgot the sacred
trust in his charge. When ii came
to a question between his art and
husbandhood and fatherhood-the
latter triumphed.'
Did you ever hear that last?
Not SO you could notice it, to lapse
into the vernacular.
BY the way, while "wifehood" is
a familiar word-this is the first
time the writer ever saw Husband
hood in print. If it's new, it can
be regarded as having been coined
on the instant. If it isn't new, then
why does it have an awkward sound
as of something whose hinges
creak with rust?
The truth is there is good deal
of what is termed "bally rot" as the
English say, floating around on the
printed page and on the platform
about the duties" of women.
But it emanates, originates from
the other side of the chasm-where
dwells Man in mighty majesty-sit.
ting in judgment on Woman.
For a bottomless chasm divides the
sexes.
1t narrows at times and hands are
stretched across and clasped, but it
has never been bridged and never
will be.
Men and women walk along its Op'
posite edges in the same direction
and most of them think they're to-
gether.
But it's an illusion.
From his incompatible vantage
of natural isolation man regards
woman severely.
If she doesn't perform those ce'e-
brated duties Of wife and mother
he puts a brand on her.
A woman who isn't married-even
in this day of comparative freedom
has to endure a certain contumely.
She must, perforce, be put into an
apologize position toward society
a sort of defiant attitude.
She must endure the ridicule, the
sneers, the coarse jokes, not Of the
uncou, but of her friends and rela.
tives. If the latter were to be told
that their attitude toward marriage
was, in this manner, shown to be
tnexpressibly debased. they would
rise up and do double moral dido.
But it is inexcusably and deteSt-
ably vulgar and in their hearts they
know 1t!
But it arises from the innate and
deep-seated impulse of the human an
ima1 to torment and bait and harry
one of his own defenseless kind and
the artificial impulse of society to
point the finger of scorn at the wom-
an who hasn't done herduty as wife
and mother"
"All women should marry" says
the bachelor lat the club, lounging
back in his padded chair and reach
ing for nearby tray upon which
which reposes a tall glass of irri
descent charm and tinkling ice.
Its her sacred duty to rear a
family he murmurs, as the brides
dence bubbles down his throat
"a spinster is disgrace to soci
ETY.. She is an anomaly Immature,
he goes on. ''She has no place in ou1
economic scheme. She is a parasite
she encumbers the earth-she-'
why don't you marry Sal?" asked
| the married man with his heels or
| the table.
What. me-" cries the bachelor in
| dignantly, if ungrammatically.
Sure" replied the married man