The Yale expositor., 1911-11-02

what her sisters are doing, may al
most be considered as in the past
tense. | venture to say that where
there used to be hundreds OF women
Lying face down in the pillows blub-
bering and having terrible times over
just nothing at all there are not ten
now. Why, it used to be just as much
a custom with some women to devote
half an hour a day, usually in the
afternoon, to half-forced crying as 1t
was for them to get up in the morn
ing.
With some there was what may be
called a morbidly joyous search for
that which would give them an occa-
sion for grabbing the handkerchief
and entering upon = sobful session.
With others they simply hurried other
duties along so as to be sure that
nothing would interfere with the
just trusted to luck that the day
would not be made wholly unbearable
by the absence of some trivial Incl
dent suggestive of woe.
Tears in those days were quite as
contagious as the measles. The period
of incubation was very brief. Neigh
bors hung out clothes in the back
yards and then leaning over the fence
would recall some doleful incident OF
twenty years back, in which neither
had any direct interest. and there
upon the pickets they would mingle
their tears until household duties
called them away.
Some Cause for Their Grief.
"Now, it may be that there was
some excuse in small percentage OF
these cases, but only in a few. 1t
should have been quite as easy for a
woman to look at the world sensibly
then as it is now. But they didn't
keep more to themselves than they do
now. They used to sit and think
about themselves and magnify small
things into large ones and try to carry
all the worlds woe on their shoulders.
and then, knowing full we'll that they
were in for it, they would seek relief
in the easy way.
when woman began to get grasp
of herself and to find that she was in
the world to do something besides
none and moan and sob and sigh the
situation began to change The status
Of woman in the household had much
to do with making her a weeper, just
as her new status has made her the
happy, smiling woman we see around
us now.
Man used to be the unit in the
household and the wife obviously be-
came the cipher. The unit would take
his place at the head OF the table
and between mouthfuls deliver mon
ologues on the state of the nation and
society, to which the cipher would be
patient although generally not an
interested listener.
Man the Supreme Monarch.
"He expressed all the opinions for
the domestic establishment, made its
laws, interpreted them like a high
court and administered them. Being
the silent member the wife found no
other way to relieve herself than to
get away in some dark corner with
a camphor bottle and boo-hoo until
she had pain in the stomach and
her eyes frightfully red. Then she
would draw one final sigh, broken up
into half dozen sections, and hurry
to the kitchen to resume her inter
rupted duties.
she sniveled through the long win
ters, sobbed when the birds were
singing in the spring, wept from
planting time until after harvest in
the fall, and were it not for her gen
orally good constitution she would
have been under the weeping willows
before she was thirty.
when woman of that period went
out to do little shopping it was GUS
tomary for the husband to go along
and of course carry the wallet. She
would timidly buy 16 cents worth OF
needles and thread. and he, with
flourish. would slowly unwind the
strap from the pocketbook and count
out the change, take the package and
hand it to her. and she in turn would
sigh her thanks for this evidence OF
generosity and love.
1T is a true picture that | have un-
dertaken to draw-true every word of
it. No wonder that women went
around with granulated eyelids and
fluttered a sigh with every tenth
breath.
Old Order of Things Changed.
"Of course, 1t was inevitable that
women would get away from this con
dition of oltentimes self-imposed de.
preston. They just had to wake up.
The old order of things had to pass.
The great sisterhood of American
women has stepped out OF the
shadows into the sunlight and it is
getting something real and good out
of life now.
1T would be inaccurate TO say that
women have given up crying alto.
gether, but they have progressed to
point where they no longer have
nerves forever on edge and tears for.
ever on tap.
Now will tell you how | think It
came about. Mental stimulus has
done 1t. Just so soon as woman
ceases to imagine that she Is the most
nv,h