Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-07-10

metaphysics, where she was more
than match for the two Of them.
But the main topic of the evening
got launched when Rodney seized the
advantage of pause to say:
"a series of articles on women, Ell!
What are you going to do to them?"
With that the topic of feminism
was on the carpet and it was never
thereafter abandoned After half an
hour of it Jane turned to Rodney.
But what do you think about it,"
she demanded. you've been grinning
away there all this time without say
ing word Are you for it?"
For what?" Rodney wanted to
know.
For what women want" said Jane.
Economic independence = equality,
easy divorce-all the new stuff"
I'm not against it," Rodney said,
amy more than I'm against tomorrow
being Tuesday. It's going to be Tues
day whether / like it or not. But
that conviction keeps me from crusad-
ing for it very hard. What I'm curl
Gus about Is how it's going to work.
When they get what they want, do
you suppose they're going to want
what they getT'
II knew there was something dead
ly about your grim" said Jane. "What
are you so cantankerous about?"
"Why, the thing" said Rodney,
that sours my naturally sweet dis
position Is this economic independ-
ence. I've been hearing 1t at dinner
tables all winter. When / hear a
woman with five hundred dollars
worth Of clothes on-well, no, not on
her back-and anything you like in
jewelry, talking about economic indie
pendence as If it were something nice
jam on the pantry shelf that we men
were too greedy to let them have a
share of have to put on the brakes
in order to stay on the rails.
eve men have to fight for economic
independence from the time we're TWEEN
ty, more or less, till the time we die.
It's sentence to hard labor for life !;
llldL WlldL CSOhOAllIN l1uCBCAuSAIC lS
How does that woman think she'd set
about it, to make her professional
services worth a hundred dollars a
day-or fifty, or ten? What's she got
that has a market value? What is
there that she can capitalize? She's
got her physical charm, of course,
and there are various professions
where she can make it pay. Well, and
what else"
"She can bear children" said Jane.
"She ought to be paid well for that"
You're only paid WE'LL" Rodney re-
piled, "for something you can do ex-
ceptionaIly well, or for something that
few people can do at all. AS long as
the vast majority of women can bear
children, the only women who could
get well paid for it, would be those
exceptionally qualified, or exception
ally proficient. This is economics,
now, we're talking. Other considera-
lions are left out. No, | tell you,
economic independence, if she really
got 1.-THE kind of woman Eve been
talking about-would make her very
sick"
Shed get over being sick. though,
wouldn't she," said Rose, latter
awhile? And then don't you think
she'd be glad?"
Rodney laughed. ''The sort of wom-
an I've been talking about" he said,
would feel, when all is said, that
she'd got gold brick"
Rose poured his coffee with a
steady hand. They were in the library
now.
eff that's So" she said, "then the
kind of woman you've been talking
about has already got a profession.
AS Doctor Randolph says, she's cashed
in on her ankles. But maybe you're
mistaken in thinking she wouldn't
choose something else if she had a
chance. Maybe she wouldn't have
done 1t, except because her husband
wanted her to and she was in love
with him and tried to please. You
can't always tell"
1t was almost her first contribution
to the talk that evening. She had
asked a few questions and said the
things a hostess has to say. The
other three were manifestly taken by
surprise.
But surprise was not the only eff
feet she produced. Her husband had
never seen her look just like that be-
fore. The flash in her eyes, the splash
of bright color in her cheeks, the ex-
citing timbre of her voice, was new
to him and very alluring.
Barry saved him the necessity of
trying to answer, by taking up the
cudgels himself. Rodney didn't feel
like answering, nor, for the moment,
like listening to Barry. His interest
in the discussion was eclipsed, for the
moment, by the thrill and wonder of
his wife's beauty. For the next half
hour she matched wits with Barry
Lake very prettily.
When Jane declared that they must
go, her husband protested.
Il haven't managed yet to get a
word out of Rodney about any of his
things. want to know how far you've
come along with your book on Actual
Government l want the whole thing.
Now"
I've had my fling" said Rodney,
with sort of embarrassed good HUI
NOR. There are no more intellectual
wild oats for me. Have you forgotten
you're talking to q married MANI"
On learning their determination to
walk downtown, he said he'd go with
them part of the way. Would Rose
60. too? But she thought not.