Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-11-17
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
Three Groups Of Public. Spirited WON.
en-, Political, Religious and Educa.
tional, the First Well.Dressed,
the Second 1ll.Dressed and
the Third as Whim Dictated
I,y SARAH u. 1,OWR1E

the public spirited women OF this com.
m',unity. ,',nniy. :, but public. spirited along widely
The first group came in contact with
on Election Day and the day. after. They
are the newer sort of political women. the
leaders in party politics. / have said no
much about some of them in this column
lately that my high opinion of their ability
and their cool. rurposcful attitude toward
the opportunities of public lif must be
pretty well known. 1t Is not only my opin.
ion: but it is the growing opinion Of the
political men with whom they have been
in any case Il is beginning to be the opinion
Of the general public and needs no further
emphasis from me.
The second group is the church women's
group: Two all day missionary sessions
were held in this city last week. one Of the
na! Church. | happened TO be ut Holy
Trinity Church for the meetings of the latter
body. To be sure, the addresses there were
by men,. missionary bishops. priests and
lnymen. but the listeners and the organizers
of the sessions were women, the more active
and responsible members of the parishes Of
the diocese: the women who give most and
IN sense give up most for the welfare Of
the Church.
There are some very rich women among
them and some very poor ones. Those of
them that are well known outside Of their
parishes belong TO The conservative and re-
sponsblc families Of the community; some
of them are what outsiders think Of when
they speak of typical Phladclphians''--
not "easy to be cntreatcd" by strangers.
IHIIOSE Of them who arc not city wide in
L their contacts are to their parishes
what the better known ones are to the town
as whole. j. g.. responsible executive
women with belief more or less wholc-
sOulcd that the cure for the evils Of society
Is the religion ns taught in the Church and
lived by the most consistent Of the Chris.
tinnS--the missionaries.
Comparisons may be olous. but they are
also Illuminating. I cannot compare the
political women with the church women by
summing up the spiritual values Of each,
because that is matter that is not for a
surface estimation. In mere outward ap.
pearance. however. there is a very apparent
and complete difference.
The political leaders must be smart in
their new role. must present n simple but
very chic exterior. must know how to carry
off their part with a dcxtcrous authority
OF appearance that will not challenge
laughter or contempt. but will. on the
whole, pass the muster of many critical
eyes.
The reason is that the business Of n
political woman is not only woman's
affair now. but mans and woman's affair,
and dow,lincss is aS much TO be avoided
as thcatricalness.
DUT Bishops and the lesser clergy are not
- so "choosy." At all events. they have
TO get used to looking at and working with
great many women whose manner of dress
and general app"aranc" is the least effective
part Of them. And either because there is
certain pcnance in dowdncss. or n GER
tain lack Of courage among the more worldly
wise. the standard Of charm in outward
al al. nt,.
such as that of last week at the missionary
meeting. Those that possessed it Lad the
air Of discounting it as non essential to the
mnttcr in hand.
To be very chi" at a missionary meeting.
even If it involved 10 particular outlay.
would not. think, have been good form in
that company.
Those present who knew very we'll how to
he casually modish would not have cared to
attempt it there. And to certain extent
their general aspect at such n meeting ms
that would correspond to their general atti-
tudc toward life. 1t is not a paramount
duty for them to please or to conserve
power Their first object is to set n good
example of belief and of behavior. The men
who work VITA Them are dependent on their
support and sympathy. As n result. there
are great many dowdr church women with
rather beautiful spiritual lights shining
through tired and middle aged faces. But
then churches are very unbccoming to con-
e1ercv e''''' ""' e"'''' '''''"s " '"e
@"'e''
-,,, ,... .,
'JNiE 'hird group 'hat lo"hd myself one
L OF last week was that of the educational
reform type of women. Two conventions
We're meeting here and both in the Bellevue.
One was that OF tn" W. &. II. T.. world
wide convention. and the other was the
county meeting Of the Philadelphia branch
OF the League OF Women Voters. 1t was
to the League Of Women Voters that l went.
having been at one time its acting chairman
and from its inception one Of it's members.
So was interested to hear the reports of
its work this year. And it is. therefore.
Of that division Of n" group that I can
say that, likely cnoucL, the women in both
these conventions had certain points in
common which make them unlike either of
the other two. the modern political and the
older church woman types
The viewpoint of the League Of Women
Voters is more critically constructive, In