The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-12-29
EVENING CHAT
BIZ RUTH CAMERON,

Ny cat has two kittens-a little lady
Hger Kitty, and a sturdy little black boy
Usually this brother and sister play to-
gether very happily in their basket by
the 1re, but once in while, ] am dis
turoeo by hearing a most terrible new
most always this-the little tiger kitty has
picked quarrel with the black kitten
Now the black kitten is inclined to be
rather quiet and ultra peaceabIe. but once
ne IS aroused, he fights for all that's III
him, and being larger and sturdier than
ms sister, Is soon punishingg her severely.
Wnereupon little sister promptly shows
the white feather and sets up cater
wauling which she knows will probably
bring the mother kitty or me to her aid
DO you know this illogical and unworthy
custom of my tiger kitty always IMAGES
me think of the equally illogical and IN
worthy custom of some of her superlors
of the same sex?
Surely you know what 1 mean The
lack Of logic, justice, and sense of fair
play shown by the woman who asks to
be put on an equal footing with men. and
then resents it when he treats her as an
equal.
I think the tiger kitty symbolizes the
woman who claims her right to go into
an office to do work, which used to be
done exclusively by men. and then wants
in addition to the rights of a man the
special privileges of a woman.
I think my kitten symbolizes the wo-
man who enters some professional or ar
tistic field as a competitor with men, and
her work judged with lenience. because
she is woman. Agnes Repplier has
very singing essay on this subject, in
which she justly rebukes the woman who
does not expect that her work should be
fairly and squarely compared with mems
work and adjudsed good or bad on this
basis, but is satisfied to have it called
good considering"
And now lest I leave q lOOphole for my
friends, the anti-suhragists, l want to say
what 1 think the kitten does not Symbol
lie.
She does not stand for the woman who
wants the vote, and yet still wants to be
treated chivalrously by men, to have her
physical weakness considered and re-
spected.
mon anti-suffrage arguments that if a
woman gets the vote. she must not expect
to have men give up their seats in the
street car, or in other ways show her
courtesy any longer.
To me this argument seems like the
most absolute balderdash. Woman does
not assume III asking for the vote that
she is mans physical equal She simply
assumes that, insofar as the qualifications
necessary to make her a voter are con-
cerned, she is, or can be educated to be
mans equal. This matter has nothing
whatever to do with her physical qualifi-
cations or her need of chivalry.
A man would rise to give old, sick
or lame man a seat in a street car. And
yet all these men are voters The fact
not deprive them of the privilege of be-
ing treated with kindness and c0nsidera-
ton on account of their physical weak
ness.
In claiming her ability to do the same
work as man, woman places herself on
the same level of competition so far as
that work goes and 1 think should ask
no quarter in the struggle, but 1 do not
see why either the fact. that she conI-
petes with man in her daily work. or the
fact that she wants to help govern her
self should deprive her of mans courtesy
and consideration in other relations of
life.
] am ashamed Of my own sex when It
raises its weakness white feather
and demands special privileges in strug-
gle which it has entered, with the decla-
ra ton that it was willing to fight on equal
terms.
/ am ashamed of the other sex. when
it makes woman's demand for justice.
and her desire to do a mans work, If
that is what she is fitted for, preteNt
to deny her chivalry, courtesy, considera-
ton, and protection, when her physical |
inferiority demand these