The Washington herald., 1912-02-06
BN DOROTHY DIX.

The great trouble with men, and the
source Of all of their injustice toward
women, is that they have never realized
that the two sexes are of the same flesh
and flavor and that what is sauce for the
goose is sauce for the gander. They act
as if women were animals of some pecu-
liar and foreign breed, and were only mt
for the human palate when served up IN
a sweetish sauce la feminine, instead
Of as just plain, rare humanity.
This is a great mistake. Barring the
accident that dooms half OF humanity 10
wear skirts. and exalts the other hat 10
trousers, there is mighty little dinerence
between men and women. Just as men
are sons of women. so are women daugh-
tiers OF men, and just as men inherit from
their mothers so women inherit from their
fathers and the general result strikes
pretty much the same average OF intelh-
Eence and Stiffness, of goodness ana
badness.
Men and women hunger alike; are cold
alike: they are moved by the same pas
sions: they are made sad and glad alike:
they are subject to the same sickness and
die the same deaths. Nature makes them
equal, for il it gives to man the greater
strength il gives to woman the greater
endurance; il it gives to man more initia-
tive il gives to woman the greater pa
tience; if it gives man the broader out
look, it gives woman the subtler percep-
tion.
why, Indeed!
Why, then, should woman be set apart
as an alien in the bigger affairs of life?
Why should she not come into her share
Of the inheritance Of the ages? Why isn't
the sauce for the gander sauce for the
goose?
If a girl mas enough intelligence to take
a good education, why shouldn't she be
given one? Education has been a pretty
good thing for men. Men have found
education a good tool to work with. They
have even been hOnored and respected
because of their learning.
But it has taken generations of as
bitter a fight as the world has ever
known to open college doors to women
and even yet some of them are shut-and
Il is still a positive reflection on a girls
character to have a speaking acquaint-
ance with Latin and Greek. OF course
we are getting a little acclima:ed to the
college girl now, and aren't quite as much
afraid of her as We used TO be; but 20
call woman strong is still a
term of repTOaCh, just as much as It
would be to call a man 'feeble-minded.'
Why arc brains sauce the proper thing
TO serve with a gander. and not with A
goose? This is particularly unanswCrable
that men get their sense from their
mothers, and that history shows us that
every great man has had a mother who
was a woman Of superior strength and
intelligence.
should Follow Her Talent.
Then there is the question of follow
ing ones talent. We think that a man
who doesn't follow his bent and develop
his God-given ability in any line is little
less than a criminal fool. Nobody dreams
Of suggesting that the boy who is born
with 4 genius for writing should spend
his life plowinG because he happens TO be
born on farm. or that a great fnancier
should stay a soda water clerk because
his first work was washing glasses be-
hind a counter, or that a sculptor should
remain a blacksmith because he was
brought up at a forge.
But no matter what talent a woman
has people cry shame on her il she wants
to so out into the world and develop her
self and achieve success by the exercise
of her art. She's gotten out of her sacred
sphere. She should have stayed at home
and washed and scrubbed and cooked
and baby-tended.
Now, why is the home every woman S
sphere any more than the farm or the
carpenter shop every mans? Why should
the goose be always stewed in the do
nestle sauce any more than the gander?
Then there is the question of money
Why should men be so keen about finan-
riaI independence for themselves, and
50 opposed to it for women? There isn't
an able-bodied man, with a grain Of in
dependence in his entire system, that
wouldn't rather die than go TO the most
generous and indulgent father in tht
world, or to the most open-handed wife
and ask for every dime he had for cigars
and car fare. But the very man who is
nauseated at the thought Of doing this
himself will compel his wife to come tC
him as a mendicant for every penny she
has. And this in the face of the fact
that every wife and mother puts in about
eighteen hours of work day, as against
her husbands eight-hour labor schedule
OF course, men think that womer