The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-14

intellectually is a good thing for a
woman to possess. Good hard horse
sense is better, but the best thing that
any woman can be endowed with by
nature is woman sense.
Woman sense isn't education nor is
it talent. 1t isn't common sense. 1t
isn't intuition. 1t isn't fascination.
1t is something deeper and broader
and more comprehensive than any of
these-a subtle something, a guiding
force, that always enables a woman
to choose the right path and that
leads her to success in life.
When the good fairy bends above
a girl baby's cradle, the supreme gift
that she leaves in the dimpled hand
is not beauty nor genius nor wealth.
1t is woman sense.
1t is woman sense that teaches a
woman how to make the most of her
womanhood, and to recognize that
there are certain immutable laws of
sex that cannot be altered. Also, that
each sex is most admirable when it
does not transgreSs its own limitation
Therefore, the woman who has wo-
man sense makes a first class woman
of herself instead of trying to be a
second class imitation man.
She wears women clothes, and as
pretty as she can get them, instead of
horSey men clothes. She cultivates
the manners of lady instead of those
of a stable boy. She may be scintil-
lating in conversation, but she does
not consider it necessary to swear nor
to tell vulgar stories to make herself
entertaining, for she's wise enough
to know that woman's greatest and
most potent charm is womanliness
Woman sense teaches a woman that
the masculine woman is just as much
a thing of horror as the effeminate
man.
Woman sense teaches the woman
who has to make a living to do it in
lady-like manner. 1t inspires her
to choose some occupation in which
the hereditary talents of her sex have
full play, and in which she, has the
greatest chance of success, Tor She
perceives that it is the women who
have gone in for making hats and
dresses and keeping boarders and do
ing clerical work who have made real
money, and not the lady longshore-
men who have not the physique to
compete with men.
Having selected her job. the woman
with woman sense goes about it in
decent womanly way. Woman sense
teaches her that she does not nave TO
be I-fellow-well-met with all her
masculine fellow workers, nor is 1t
necessary for her to go about with a
prunes-and-prism expression on her
face as if she expected to be insulted
at every turn.
Woman sense teaches her to be
friendly and polite to the men with
whom she works, and yet to put
barrier of reserve between them.
Above all, it enables her to perceive
that a business office is neither D
o'clock tea nor a wailing place, that
flirtations and goo-goo eyes and tears
and complaints are equally inadmissi-
BILE, and that what she's hired for is
to do good work, and not to try out
her destinations on her employer nor
the head clerks.
Thrice is she armed against the
dangers of commercial life who has
woman sense, for it enables her to
keep sentiment at arms length, and
to appear so very business like that
no man ever talks anything but. bust
ness to her in a business house.
In matrimony an ounce of woman
sense is worth tons and tons of all the
standard virtues, for it is the one thing
that enables a woman to make mar
riage a success. 1t is the iron hand
in the velvet glove that makes it pos
sible for a woman to manage her hus-
band and rule her household without
her despotism even being suspected.
1t is woman sense that makes a
woman realize that all men have GER
| tain childlike vanity that chiefly ex-
hibits itself in desiring to pose as the
head of the house. Therefore, the
| woman who has woman sense never
arrogates that empty honor to herself.
| She never says, Il did so and So" or.
| Il have decided to do this and that"
no matter how much it may be the
case.
On the contrary, she always pre-
faces every remark, especially in her
| husbands hearing, with, John says
so and So" or, John has decided
! this or that" Also, she makes a point
of consulting John about everything
| from the shape of her hats to how
| he ha1 ha
this pleases John and gives her the
right to go on and do as she likes
1t is woman sense that teaches a
woman that the biggest man, and the
cleverest one, and the strongest one, is
La1so the biggest baby, and that he
wants the woman he loves to pet him
and mother him and show him off
! before company. 1t is woman sense
that teaches her that man has 70
be flattered and jollied along, and that
if his wife doesn't do it, he will hunt
Up some other woman who will
1t is woman sense that teaches a
woman that she cannot fight the bat
tie of life as a man does, that her
weapons are not her fists but her
tongue, and that she can gain more by
gentleness and diplomacy than she can
| by force Very few men are ever just
20 women. but very many men are
generous to them. No woman can
trust tc ever getting what's due her
because it is her right, but she can
collect all that is coming to her, and
then some, if she has the woman
sense to do it.
1t is woman sense that makes wom-
en- perceive that women cannot shock
public opinion, nor go against long
established conventions, without hurt
ing themselves. They must take the
way around. It is woman sense that
keeps women sweet and womanly, and
that makes them effective in whatever
| they undertake, and it will take a
woman farther along tie road of sue
cess than any other talent.
~@ &