Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-04-14
THIS is AGE OF
OPPORTUNITY
What Right Has a Father
or a Mother to Deprive a
Girl of the Opportunities
Given to the Boy-a Chance
of Financial independence
and the knowledge From
Childhood That His Work
Is Not Outside of His Life
BY MRS. WILSON WOODROW

"Oh, yes; this is the age of oppor-
tunity for woman, / grant you. But
/ her problem of life still is harder to
solve than mans" | cried.
[ was having an argument with
/ Roger, a lawyer friend of mine. lie
/ had Just been telling me of a case
where his adversary was a woman,
and he was commenting on the abil-
/ ity with which she had conducted
her clients cause.
His approval irritated me. 1t was so
| patronizing. 1t made me think of DR..
i Johnson-it was DR.. Johnson, wasn't
! Iit?-who, when some one told him OF
an eloquent woman preacher, said it
reminded him of n dancing dog. 1t
was not remarkable that the dog
could dance well, but that he could
dance at all.
Now, don't pull any of that sob
sister stuff on me- Roger answered.
| He never allows his cultivation to
check the Vigor or COnciseneSS of his
| expression, and slang, he declares, is
what keeps the language growing.
"Sob-sster fiddlosticks," | retorted.
In the race of life a man gets all
/ the favors from the official handicap
per"
Not if the class is there, to use
your vernacular," he came back at
| met "by which i mean that given
I
Far from it," I insisted. "As a
matter of fact and not of opinion the
/ chances are not even. And that is no
sob-sister wall. 1t is q plain indict-
ment of parents.
"A boy baby is born into the world
endowed with a definite future. A
girl baby's dowry is any old thing
that fate may hand cut to her.
! From his earliest years a boy, I'M
/ less he belongs to the infinitestimal
golden-spoon minority, is made aware
that he has got to earn his living
A girl is free from that obligation
! or any other.
"'What are YOU going to he when
you are a man. is a question that is
asked every little lad dozens of times
| Nobody ever asks that of a girl. 1t is
/ always taken for granted that she
will marry. But that is purely theo-
retical and also problematical.
"A boy looks forward to a, business
| or professional career as an newt
able event in his life. Empires may
totter, dynasties may fall; he has got
to get his education and go to work
| But how many girls are encouraged
/ to believe that the wonderful beauti-
! full future before them is anything but
/ a haphazard. hit-or-miss affair? And
! from the memory of man that is what
! it has proved and is still proving.
| of it. woman is educated to ban an
acceptor, merely taking up the cards
as fate deals them to her. She is
! either the victim of circumstances
/ or the darling of fortune.
| 1T isn't fair; it never has been
fair. We admit that most of our
( theories of training and education are
far from satisfactory. Yet we con-
tinue to muddle along in the same
old rut.
Fond parents of a little girl gaze
upon her enchanting babyhood and
cherish all manner of roseate dreams
for her. They declare fervently and
emphatically that she is always go
ing to have the best of everything
And then in our wasteful sentimental,
American fashion they proceed to de-
prive her of every opportunity for
real growth and development and a
satisfying and secure future.
How many American girls are
taught thrift, are taught self-reliance
are taught to help conserve the fam
lily resources? How many are brought
up with the sustaining knowledge that
If necessary they could support not
only themselves but also those who