The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-11-13
LoNboN. Nov. -.

"HD case for the new woman.
1t least q conceived by its
worthy and responsible ex-
ponents. Ii concerned with two
ideals: the idea that women should
have . larger degree Of liberty
than has been permitted in the
past and the idea that women
should haYe a larger share in the
labors and professions which are
specially the occupation of men in
. modern society. After reading
with great interest and sympathy
the present DISCUSSION. and many
similar discussions. 1t has begun
to dawn on me that there Is sup
posed to be some sort Of connec-
ton between these two ideas
In attempting to conjecture what
this connection can be. I will he
gin By allowing for . certain no
mantle association which 10 real In
the sense that romance u always
real. Everything has it, ideal a.
pect; and there may be people who
viii idealise anything.
Let W take for tho sake OF ar
gumsnt. the concrete csse OF
GIRL who became ~ omnibus con-
ductor. It is possible In the alb
stract that she thought there would
b sort Of artistic freedom OF
gesture about conducting an omni.
bus, a. about conducting an or
chestra. It Ii even conceivable
that she may hays been under
the generous illusion that the ON
nibus conductor. conducts the ON
nibus.
She may conceivably have
thought that she could load 1t
into fresh woods and pastures new;
that when she dreamed Of the dark
elfland Of Burnham Reeches. 1t
would 30 to Burnham Beeches;
that whom she was In the mood
for the river. 1t would stray amid
the green and silver of tho low
meadows Of the Thames. ' But
whether or no she herself had this
Illusion Of liberty. We can DO under
no illusion. ] fear, about the FEEL
ings of the company Of clerks and
stock brokers who had got into q
Bayswater omnibus. and found
themselves tipped out Of It into q
field in Hertfordshire or q village
in South Bucks. And even this
fancy will be Of service to w II 1t
induces us to face fact And
the fact IL that freedom IL not one
Of the many virtues Of an omnibus;
and freedom In not by any means
one of the virtues Of that modern
industrial society. which very much
resembles an omnibus.
There Ia even something verb
ally symbolic In conceivinR II a.
an omnibus. for we are all travel
ing in 1t. whether we like 1t or no.
But we obviously need some con-
sideration of the definition of free
dom. before we agree that q WON.
an standing still all day. In a house
that is moving. IL necessarily any
more free than Q woman moving
about all day in q house that II
standing still.
SLAVERY.
will continue this concrete H.
fustration before passing on to
general principles, because It does
happen to dispose Of . great many
Of the first and most obvious
faIlacies.
First Of all. al normal men
know quite we'll why they did
respect q girl who was an omnibus
conductor. It was certainly not
because she was seeking liberty,
and II was quite self-evident that
she was not finding It. 1t would
be truer to Say 1t was because sho
was enduring slavery. but in the
same honorable sense In which all
soldiers have to endure slavery.
In other words, she was doing her
duty At . dreadful crisis In her
oountry's history, she was releasing
Q man to do his duty in a still
moro dreadful fashion. And 80 far
from our respect proving that the
work suited her, the truth Is that
the less II suited her the more We
should respect her.
Just as in such a crisis we
should admire a cripple more for
fighting when he was not fit to
fight. 80 we should admire a wom-
an moro for her industry because
she IL not fitted for industrialism.
Now. this astonishingly simple
truth makes nonsense Of nine,
tenths of the argument about wom-
an and the war. II IL not an
argument. in any case. very agree
able to those who happen to have
q tradition of respect for the
woman. When lady remarks.
IN this column, that the war proved
that women were cnpable OF serv-