Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-12

VTToMAN'S vanity, woman's self-es-
w TEEN has just been administered
terrible blow. We have been called the
worlds worst failure" and by a wo-
man whose recent writings have shown
her to be one Of the keenest analysts
| of her own sex
DisregardIng the tremendous stride
! that women have taken In tho last DC
years, ignoring all the feminist conten-
| tions of womans right to equality with
man, Rebecca West. writing IN cur
rent issue of the New Republic, hurls
n scathing indictment at us for the pct
tlness of our existence.
We waste on personal ends the vitality
that should he conserved for our work,
she saws. At the cost OF much mental
serenity we drape ourselves In costly
rniment and give over the biggest part
of our time to petty efforts at beautity-
ing ourselves in order to please men. We
live too much on and for our motions
and because of that we are no better
than the veriest drunkard.
In driving home her point. the writer
instances three women-a Pariesenne, n
Chicago girl and herself, Rebecca West.
She secs the French woman-elegant,
perfectlv poised and wonderfully garbed
sitting i'm a hotel dining room. or her
she says;
PERSON VS.. PERSONALITY.
"she struck a note of the highest pos
sible pitch of physical refinement
"As she gat there she made harmony
out of prudent gestures OF whose re-
straint she was without doubt inwardly
an,,s.io,a and proud; one could divine
her thinking, 4 hardly moved my manu-
mn inch that time, yet l Halter inyseil
,be movement could not easily nave neeh
bettered Her little shoes OF soit leathei'
which had bloom on them Hne
neach, stayed quite still under the taote
because they were already IN 'n1 not
tIest position imaginable. She dld Iot
move in her chair because the stra,Snt
stem of her back grew from the loilaS1
of her skirts with a grace that couIu
nor have been surpassed by any ai'er"-
tion. ,,,.,o ,or ,bis
"She had trained like an athlete Tor thls
elegance. and her feats deserved more
than n moments attention. was
strange that in spite of her tremendous
and successful concentration upon her
nerson she aroused no interest in her per-
sonaljtv. one found in her that asso-
citation of vvidness of presence anu ao-
sence of individuality which one mas III
nom Europeans. When one meets tne
Iitbest and most beautiful of Hindus one
sneculates not about his personality but
about the system of which he is mani
testify a part and product
"And even so one forgets the soul that
doubtless inhabited the Frenchwoman'
that doubtless knew ardors and lonell-
ness. in her fitness and conspicuousness
as part of the system of the chic.
1.-The next night 1 found her .coiled In
red plush armchair in the hotel drawing
room, so preoccupied by her misery that
her elegance sat absurdly on her like
smart hat worn on one side. attending
only deaashly to a sallow girl from Chi
cago. And suddenly she began to talk
about love. 1t was not that she was i'll
bred and without reticence. but she was
wandering In the windy corridors that
lead to madness and the cloak of reserve
had been blown from her. When love-
she was telling us soon, 'c'est une catas-
trophe' = She gave us various Illus
trations of her conduct when the worst
for passion. eliminating in an anecdote
about n trunk impetuousy abandoned at
Lyons. 4 can think of nothing but the
beloved. Yes, It is complete Interrupt
ton of my life 1t was obvious that for
long she had lived entirely that her life
might be interrupted. Women are like
that, she said with a certain pride"
The Chicago girl dissents and. according