Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-03
SOCIETY GIRL IS
DECLARED An
ORNAMENT
M Place for BIase in Worthwhile
Work of Suffrage, Declares
Mrs. EIsas.
" MRS. BENJAMIN ELSAS.

4 By MRS. BENJAM1N ELSAS.
want to explain, by way of in
reduction, that what l have to say
has been induced by my observa-
tion that it is most always the wo-
s,nan of leisure-she of few duties and
+ mary pleasures-who is the first to
answer in the negative when APP
5nroached as to equal suffrage.
And let me explain further, that
4vben speak Of the woman who
works. it is with no idea of mini
Smizing the Importance of work done
in the home. | believe there is no
better or more dignif1ed work than
that which good home-making i'm
plies.
And I also believe that there is
no more unwholesome influence than
the mad pursuit of pleasure that be-
|cornes such hard work as to crowd
out ali other kind.
Edward S. Martin, n an article,
written for The Atlantic Monthly,
saws: "Feminists make the mistake of
thinking of man as the master of
women, whereas the master Of both
man and woman Is necessity"
A Moral Obligation.
This appeals TO me as a very vital
statement
1t is necessity that has made equal
suffrage a moral obligation, rather
than a privilege to be determined by
the individual. With modern inge-
4 nuity minimizing the time duties
Of the housewife, we have developed
an army of women with nothing to
do Relieved of these duties of
Ehousewifery, there has been nothing
4 in their education or training to fit
them with other work.
And so we have the woman Of lei
sure And in this enforced leisure
we find the cause of the absurd ex-
tremes our pleasures take on. We get
the keynote to the unrest that begets
an unreasonable and unreaSoning de-
mand to be diverted.
The influence of such example up
on women who must work is another
story We are concerned, for the
time, with the woman who can work
and think, but won't, and must be
made to do so. And it is equal suf-
frage-With its equal responsibilities
that will replace our society duties
with social duties, and be the means
Of making US helpmates. instead OF
mere playmates.
The Woman of Tomorrow.
Let US consider the woman of to-
morrow, who is to grow out of our
efforts of to-day. Her education is
provided with the thought that she
shall be specifically useful, rather
than generally ornamental. The so
ciety girl is as obsolete as the feu-
dial gentleman, and in her place we
have the vocational woman, the So
cial thinker and worker. With some
thing real to do, emotionalism gives
place to the repose that comes with
all serious purposes. We have no
young women waiting to fall in love,
nor-Worse still-waiting to marry in
order that material provision be made
for her She is sustaining and
busy. She has no need to marry to
be fed and clothed and housed, and
her healthy, busy frame of mind pre-
Guides waiting for that something to
MI the emptiness of a purposeless
life
Instead, love will come as some
thing real, grown out of the necessity
OF two people for one another. And
the woman who has worked and
thought and voted before marriage,
brings into her home a practical
sense Of values that could have
oeen acquired in no other way. She
mas learned to conduct her affairs in
ousinesslike way, ito live on TWEEN
ly-four hours a day." to use her hab-
L Of concentration to meet all her
Woman's duties-be they in or out of
her own home-with an ability and
precision that disposes of them to thu
advantage of all concerned.
A Real Woman.
She isn't keyed to a constant ex-
pectation of pleasure. Her clothes
are means of comfort and adorn-
ment, not an end to which the means
are often reprehensible.
g. She hasn't destroyed her sense of
mes proportions by having known
only one side of it.
who
Wants world with homes for all
the race,
FOR every babe that's born a happy
place,
ana equal opportunity to be
All that BELTS high humanity"