The Climax-Madisonian. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1914-1917, 1915-10-13
Woman's
Charging
Sphere.

At twenty-five a man used to begin
to live, but woman was on the shelf.
Up to a.few decades ago the woman Of
twenty-five, married or single, was
usually passee. If married she for
swore romance and spent her days in
dull aud commendable faithfulness to
kinder, kirche, kueche;' If unmarried
and minus an independent income,
heaven help her! She passed gently
into the maiden aunt stage-household
helper in general to any married sister,
brother, cousin that ever wanted her;
subject to call when there was illness,
dire need, a new baby or bustling prep
arations for some important event; to
take errors and omissions meekly and
without complaint. Sometimes she
persisted in being young even at twen-
ty-seven and curled her hair and
sQueaked her voice to a childish treble
and trained in a set of kittenish man
ners for social purposes. She hated
to give up the thought Of ever being
married.
And here's her twentieth century
substitute who is an undeveloped child
under twenty-five. She is perfectly
willing to marry, but she has plenty Of
interests to occupy her II she doesn't
Moreover. she has plenty of interests
in addition to home and family when
she does marry.
For there is one thing that business
and professional interests have done
for the modern woman which makes
them beyond price-that have protract-
ed youth and deferred recognition of
old age indefinitely. Business and pro-
fessional life do for women what they
have done for men. 1t takes a man
about ten years to put a business on
the level of substantial success. Some
times it takes more, occasionally less.
The well planned business life of the
average man makes the years between
twenty and thirty hard plugging. AT
thirty he begins to have a secure foot
ing, and If he has really lived, If he
has the rich human experience that
falls to the average normal individual,
he is a well rounded personality and in
the prime of life at forty.
Interesting occupation has showed
ahead woman's prime of life similarly
The young bud of nineteen or twenty
Is only pleasant to look at or to play
with for a little while. From twenty
to thirty. if she is actively engaged in
| doing something worth while, she is
| developing continually. She is enrich
| ing her mind and personality by actual
contact with life, more real than that
| viewed from the safe walls of a com
| Portable home. She is building hei
business life, facing conflict daily
learning self reliance. Her soul goes
unshielded through the fires of expert
| ence. At thirty she is in the prime Of
| life, rich in interest and human sympa
thy and understanding. For it is no
alone the patting of baby curls that de
velops womanly sympathy. but work
ing in the world and seeing and expert
encing what other men and women en-
dure.
WOman's life used to be mainly retro
spective. Before thirty she was al
ready engaged in the gentle occupation
of reiterating again and again he
youthful experiences and conquests
| The modern woman with an occupa
ton looks ahead. The past is to he
only a foundation, and her days ar
filed with planning for next month
next year and ten years ahead.