Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-02-20
WEAKER SEX is
THE STRONGER SEX

w Omen-IOT years bctii
regarded as the weaker sex.
! The whole structure of modern soci-
ETY. is buiIded upon this assumption.
| Now somebody comes forward with
the statement that women are stronger
than men. And that somebody is wo-
man-Mrs. Arthur H. Merritt of Dor
chester, who declares that she beheld
sights in foreign countries which lead
her to believe that women have phys
zeal strength equal to men and endur-
ance superior to them.
Did you ever see man yoked with
an OK to a pillow. tilling the fields? In
Germany Mrs. Merritt saw from the
banks Of the Rhine a woman harnessed
to the pillow that her husband drove.
In Switzerland waiter in one of the
hotels told her with pride that his wife
made practice of carrying n 60-pound
load up the mountain ON her back each
day.
4 believe that women are equal to
men in physical strength, and that il is
only the constructions Of dress and in
judicious living that make the present
day American woman appear weaker
than man" Little Mrs. Merritt sur
prised me with this statement as she
sat before a very businesslike roll-top
desk in her cosey sitting room, admin
istering her affairs.
Il mean she went on In her brisk
way, II mean trat for generations we
American women have had such con-
filming tasks that we have not breathed
enough fresh air. Fifty, even 20 years
ago, we used to sleep with our windows
shut tight. We worked in the house, but
we old little hard muscular work that
could compare with the athletic pur-
suits of the girls Of today.
And think OF the clothes we wore
then" she continued. crossing one little
sllppered foot over the other Every
woman who couldn't squeeze her waist
line into Is inches was considered dis
graced. The tight fitting waists we
wore prevented our breathing properly
Years ago. beck in the old cave DAYS
and in the earliest ages of civilization.
1t was the woman who did the heaviest
work. while the men were busy pre-
pairing for war OF hunting. They titled
the fields, garnered in the grain. and
ground 1t into meal with the rudeSt of
implements and in the most laborious
way
In addition to all Of this. and the
management of the household, there
was the making of clothes, the dressing
or skins, and not least, bearing and
! raising the children. And todav in
Europe, many ot the peasant women
who work out in the open. and don't
wear corsets are as strong as the men
If not stronger. 1t is civilization which
has robbed us of our natural heritage"
DO you think that this great influx
of women into the world of business is
going to make women less contented
to marry and settle down to making
the home attractive, and bringing I'm
chldren?"
Perhaps my voice was n bit anxious
Anyway, my hostess assured me that
such would not be the case" You see "
she explained. many women who are
in business are tired of being nj the
beck and call of some one else ard
they will gladly leave the businaes
world to have home to manage In
which they are their own bosses.
Then there are the sort of women
whose tastes do not lie in the diraction
OF housework. cooking. sewing and ali
that sort of thing. Such women do
| well to hire that work done for them
and to expend their own enerp;es II,
some gainful work
You know, all women are not hor,,
housekeepers, any more than mon aro
carpenters, or fighters. or anv ono o,h
er thing. And the strong point about
the modern situation. is that 4. 81
every woman an opportunity to do tho
thing that interests her tho th;r -
WHICH OF all Others she is best fitted"