The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-10-08
Just Like a Woman
By ADA PATTERSON

Yesterday evening. on the deck of
ferryboat. sat a woman who was re-
turning to her suburban home from a
day of shopping in the city. She
ages she carried. arranging them on
either side of her and when other
passengers crowded a,ose and frowned.
gathered the parcels upon her lap. 1t
wasn't much OF a lap. was In fact more
like an inclined plane. for She was
of short stature. Then, VIXEN her eyes
wandered from the figure which marks
Enlightening the World" to the Ig-
ure that signifies the going in at Staten
Island. Robbins Reef Lighthouse. her
ages. one by one. slipped off the in
clined plane and were scattered upon
the deck. Such accidents often befall
small person. 1t was what she said
getically about. she said to no one in
particular:
Just likeNa woman"
I maintain that that was a treason
able utteranoe. that the little woman
is q traitor to her sex. Just like a
woman" indeed Who hasn't seen a
man fight losing battle with an arm
full of paper wrapped bundles? Let
eggs or apples burst from the fraiI
paper bag by which he swung them
or burn a hideous hole in waistcoat. or
an embarrassing hole in trousers, with
a spark from his careless cigar! But
heard him exclaim: Just like MANI
Men are more royal to their sex. or
cherish more pride In 1T. Instead of
blaming themselves or cursing their
stupidity. they dismiss 1t as common
place. that might have happened to
any one"
There are ihreadbare phrases so
shabby. so outworn and senseless that
they rasp our nerves One of these is
Just like woman" and l am sorry
to say we hear ii quite as often from
women as from our natural critics
men.
what sort of a woman? Nine. Stein
he'll. whom fellow patrician named
charged with numbering her husband
and stepmother of Clara Barton, who
had led armies of nurses under the
healing standard of the Red Cross to
bind the wounds. and bury the dead
that man made war had made?
Like tickle Princess Chimay or
faithful Evangeline, portrait painted
by Longfellow from the life of an
Acadian peasant girl? Like Gaby Des-
lys. thought to have turned a weak
head and so overturned Il weak throne
or Joan of Arc. who set throne up
right and placed King upon 1t? Like
thousands of dollars day for actual
necessarics of life" or Sister Rose
Gertrude. who thought of herself not
at At all LANE and gnve her ito to nursing
with hard eyes and desperate face who
walks the streets at dusk. or the angel
policewoman," Alice Smith, the proba-
ton officer of the High Court for Wo-
mon. who seeks her out and tries to
save her, who has saved hundreds OF
her kind? Like the women who hang
upon the necks and souls OF men and
drag them to destruction. or like Mrs.
Blackton. who. seeing stranger drown
Ing. sprang of her husbands yacht and
saved his life?
There are many sorts OF women as
there are many sorts of mon. We sell
dom hear any ono say. That's Just like
a man. but IL you're ever moved to
say 1t, consider what sort Of man
You mean. George washington or Jesse
Pomeroy? Abraham Lincoln or Cool
gosz7 William q. MaeAdoo or tho lat
est Of the bomb throwers?
Briefly, don't generalize in this age
of individuallsm. 1t is unfair, II you
say. Just like woman" you may
mean tho mother who is living sacri-
fee for your we'll being or ono OF the
friends in human guise who within tho
year have siatn their own babies. TO
use words loosclY !s proof Of sIovon.
IL thinking