The farmer and mechanic., 1911-10-03
OPPORTUNITIES OF
AMERICAN WOMEN
Revelation of a Truth that
Enables Her to See
Better than a Man
fRY LUCILLE ERSKINE.l


woman dramatist why shouldn't 1t
be she and not he who will crystallze
in dramatic form the present CULVER
ings In the air, and all these CULVER
ings now take their start from the
woman movement; if being woman
has been q disadvantage in the past,
it is the very best vantage point for
the dramatist of the future. Take,
for example, the old Civil War drama,
in which sex played it's part in the
love Of the Southern girl for the
Northern soldier and running counter
to patriotism produced the cOnnlct;
but in the woman's movement, and no
significant drama of the future will be
written that does not take in one o.
it's phases, sex is the very core ITSELF
the integral part around which the
rest Of the drama forms as leaves
around about the calyx. It IS no
longer love versus country. but love
pitted against Woman's own individ-
uality. She is not merely one ele-
ment in the production Of the con-
hict. she is the conflict herself: it is
not waged about her, but fought
within her own self.
"And this new strife of woman di-
vided between love Of her own lnGi-
viduality and love itself reveals
truth that the woman dramatist will
see more clearly than the man; for it
concerns the possibility of the intel
1ectual superiority of woman over
man. Men will keep their eyes shut to
this new order of things for long
time to come. I have in mind such
situation in a play. A husband and
wife. both sculptors. are seemingly
happily united, bound together in the
love of their child and their common
nc vi ftv T1T
rather the illusion Of it. for she be
lieves him genius and allows herself
only talent; but as they go on in their
art. she develops more creative pow
er and originality than he, and SO
forges ahead. He loved her while she
was the lesser artist: now he begins
to hate her-his master. She sees
the whole situation clearly. and the
knowledge Of her own power is sweet
to her, and she longs to go on even
at the cost of his love though it's de-
privation would sadden her joy in
creation. She knows now that she
has genius and he merely talent, but
there is barrier-the child-not
standing between husband and wife
but between the mother and her art
And watching it, the woman comes to
the realization Of .he great truth. that
creation Of her body must be consid-
cred before the creations Of her mind.
but the mother. She locks the door
Of her studio, becomes the lesser be-
Ing again, retains the husbands love.
because the child must first view the
harmonious structure that true life is.
from the ground plan of an undisrup-
tea nome. l believe, as I said before.
that tho woman dramatist will seize
upon this great truth before the man.
Hltnerto he has exalted woman NOR
any andaromantically but never intel
lectuaIly. and yet we see similar con-
nicts daily In the lives of our friends.
But this does not mean that the
woman dramatist can succeed without
the mans workmanship; she must
nave that first; then with her keenar
VISION for the strange ouirks of the
woman movement, she can easily sail
anead: but she must have his dispas
slonate eye, his balance and sense OF
proportion and rid herself absolutely
% Wnat 1n'nk Is a very just criticism
against Womans plays: that we are
prone to fill them with a lot OF IN
baked sentiment
But will she ever put the humor
into it that he does?''
ny not? Humor is after all an
a.,stIc. not sexual quality 1t is
nothing but an exquisite sense of pro
portion. of feeling the necessity for
relief and reaction
In addition to the drama Of tho
Iuture lying wholly within the ran~e
or Women's activities, / believe tim ,1st
oe essentially prose-hard and corn
1nonpiace-as is adaptable to the
practlcal minded American people
me Celtic mind is naturally poetic
as ours Is prosaic. You cannot change
our national mental calibre any more
anan you can alter the topography OF
our country, it's there: we have to
work with what is
'lhe poetic drama is for the poetic
niinoed who rarely have the $500 fol
lssion. play to succeed today
either artistically or financially mus,
sreeate mind. Mist and Moonshine is
appear to the aggregate heart and ag.
not going to move them, even though