The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-12-26
(By c ERSKINE.)

ouSIOu1S ol y
(By LUCILLE ERSKINE.)
There is n thing the d
woman does not read, and that is his
tory said Ida Tarbell. author Of
Life of Napoleon and Madame
Roland" "or she wouldn't make her
self ridiculous by her boast Of being
more highly developed tina women
in the past. The woman Of today
pictures herself at h head Of a pro-
cession Of women Of all time. She
thinks she has discovered the North
Pole OF Women's Progress, and when
she gets the vote will be at the very
apex. AS for those Of her sex who
have gone before her-poOr slaves
why read about HEMP"
But no suffragette today ever held
an audience more s~pellpound with her
~elOquence, logic and wisdom, thar did
that Roman HortenSia, who used to
go down into the forum and debate
with men. In ancient Egypt women
went into the most abstruse sciences,
were astronomers and physicians on
an infinitely more arnlcable and equal
footing with men than they have sue
ceeded in wrestling II these PROBES
sions today. Can we point TO any
ID L VI IL VI ia ~
our time who have the capacity and
power to mould nations and make
eraS as the De Medici women of
Italy? Take them out Of the great
art of the Renaissance and it crnm-
bles to dust. The militant suMrag-
cite becomes the puniest bit Of in
effectuality beside those ancient
Amazons, who won in battle against
men, because of their superior ply
steal strength and more efficient or
ganization, though the men in those
days slapped back. Then it was not
etiquette for a member Of Parliament
to raise his hat to his opponent, after
she had Saluted him with a rock Of
perilouSly straight aim"
In our W country, h pioneer
woman and her daughter in the even
darker days of the rebellion were
intelligence than We a point to n
this day of discomfort an1 ciallor.
They said less, but did more. In
my studies of the American Wnnaa
I found a number Of feminine editors
in the forties who succeeded in in
moulding h minds Of the yosing, IS
no woman writer is doing today.
Mrs. Hale, editor Of the Lady
Cooley" and author Of MARY Had A
Little Lamb" was one Of thec1. i"lty
we're never a you would call f.
mus, because then talking aad doing
were more clearly dif1eren Jared in
the public mind. Now, publicity is
the short cut to Distinctions; at that
time solid work and actual achieve
ment were thought the final goal
you think women are de-
teriorating instead of advancing?"
Not the mass-for general euuca-
ton has raised the level, but We are
not producing the great, effective
women that the past did with lis
simpler life, larger families and in
sistent domesticity. Thos women
were humber; they did not ask any
thing for themselves, but everything
for the cause they served, the people
they ruled or the measure they con-
trolled. Being Of greater mental and
people. That they could not vote,
was no barrier; their power because
of that was the more unlimited.
W have in America today hordes
CT non-prOductiye ONE such as
no period of the worlds history shows
lovely deadweights that have to
be held up by the weary arms Of
excessive toll. II women did nothing
else in the decadent days Of Rome,
they had at least taste and nourished
art as We do not. They kept Beauty
ir their lives. Our modern parasitic
woman doesn't even know what that
means. She hasn't culture enough to
be aware Of hat great lack IN her
life"
ITO what do you attribute the IN
effectuality of the women of today?"
ITO our ~frightful eutburst Of ma
terialism. Never in the history OF the
world was money SO all-encompasslne