Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-09
AMONG TIE BOOKS
What Women Want

...rv foninists of today know far less
~, r,bat they want than Beatrice Hale
\. her book entitled What Women
r1yant" frederick Stokes Company. New
vor0. Many feel vague impulses toward
a,or, from the ancient sex slavery, but
~. ,,nice these sentiments so well as Mrs.
~ Her book is born not from the pas
-. of a propaganda, but from the
sl,,,ai processes of a well-balanced
lid she champions cause too great
~ ,,e sex alone, a cause which needs
~ ~ anereies of man and woman. Her
sss,s az the gentle words of Edward Car
ncnter, who says;
Ths trio perfect: the man. the woman, and the
Ana herein all creation.
Experienced in an absolutely normal life
~ wife and mother, along with her artis-
,Io training as an actress, writer and a
sneaker. Mrs. Hale Is so normal In her
ontlook on the whole unrest of woman
and of man--that it is hard to imagine
haT IDEAS as being questioned by even the
most rabid antl-feminist. She speaks the
language that every thinking lay woman
must understand, untechnlcal and unset
entIac and sees deep into the future lives
of men and women
"Tt is time that man and women to-
sother bent their efforts to building UP
ne instead of wealth. IL is time that
our sense Of values changed. so that the
child may become more important than
machine and q garden more necessary
than slSyscraper. 1t is time that the
worlds greatest regard should be given
N him who serves best, not TO him who
most successfully completes.
"I do not pretend that the infusion of
,ronoen into the worlds affairs will in
SANITY have this result. There are plenty
of selfish and light women, many who
arc grasping and greedy; there are no
virtues in women superior to those found
in men.
such words come from person who
believes in humanity, In men, women,
children, science, art and economies
and not in the one-sided cure-all of any
Of these activities. Such a person dreams,
INF not unreasonably; hopes, but not
without foundation.
one of the most satisfying portions of
the book is that in which she devotes time
and thought to the New Man." An
eager reader, believing in the necessity
tor the sexes to work together, may read
much into the book, but no one can fail
"a see that in Mrs. Hales mind there
n a conception of a New Man" as well
an a New Woman" The latter does
not gain everything at the expense of
the man-but for his ultimate good as
well. IL only he so wished.
"IiikO a SeCOnQ AudIIls ilS ldCeu WIN
the presence of a newly created being,
and with the problem of how to deal
with her While the old-fashioned
man continues to obtain from woman
the superficial Eraces he demands, the
new man gives the highest, asks the
highest in return and wins 1t"
Like the greatest champion OF the
ChIldren's Age, Ellen Key, Mrs. Hale
beieves that from the new woman will
come the new child-not only physically
improved by the new status of woman,
which looks upon motherhood as great
And natural process instead of sentiment
TAI disgrace, but mentally as well, be-
cause of the wider horizon of women.
Instructive motherhood is not necessarily
universal, and II a mother finds herself
without it, she is not ashamed. Indi-
vidual talents are found in the world OF
motherhood as we'll as in the other pro-
fessions, and 1t is rot to imagine that all
women make good cooks, good mothers,
or even good wives. Feminism must
allow for these talents, but
"s underneath these surface huc-
tuations the deep racial needs of women
remain the same. They are three. A few
women need only one; some need two
but the great mass need all three-love,
children and work"
Such thoughts as these are rare In cur
rent literature And decidedly Character
istic of the whole book is this apprecia-
ton of the growth of humanity through
the growth of women. Bigger women
mean bigger men, children, homes pur-
poses.