The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-23
Dorothy Dir
Raps Mannish Women
Women Are Invihcible in Their Own Field, But They Make Poor Showing When They Invade
 Mans Sacred Sphere

stinctive that makes both an effemi- nate man and a mannish woman re- pulsive to us.
 Men have enough sense to see this, and it is not very often that you see youth dolled up in pink chiffon with ftlet of roses in his hair, sallying forth in society, thinking to make a hit with the girls by dressing as they do. Nor do you see men sitting around embroidering monograms on doilies because that is favorite feminine pastime. and they want to understudy the diversions of women as much as possible.
 But the grotesque spectacle of women dressed up in mems colthes is so common that we have almost ceased to notice it, though. goodness knows, a man in decollete ball gown is no funnier looking than a woman In pants. There are thousands upon thousands of young women who have wrecked their health for life by broad jumps, and flat jumps, and huE- de jumps. and other strenuous ath- letic stunts in which they have sought to emulate the achievements of men.
 Now the pity of the thing is that when woman tries to make an imi- tation man of herself she falls be- tween the stools. She neither pleases men nor herself. When she puts on pair of knick rboclSers instead of a lovely soft, clinging dress, she does violence to her own inherited in- stipcts. which bid her clothe herself in silkeh raiment and enhance her beauty by the aid of harmonious col ors. And she doesn't make a hit with the men, who see nothing to admire in their own tubular garments, and who invariably fall for the frills that custom does not permit them to wear.
 IL is equally disastrous for women to try to c/ltend with men in theit sports, for men are bored to death with the woman who Is duffer at game, and they loathe the woman who can beat them at it.
 Hence, the woman who knows what's what sits on the side lines and applauds her hero's exploits. She doesn't cramp his style by tagging along poor second. and she never, never. never lets him see that she is better man than he Is by winning the blue ribbon.
 Women are invincible in their own field, but they make a poor showing when they invade mans sacred sphere. Women, for instance, have a stand-up fight the men would knock the women out in the first round. But if a survey could be taken of all of the husbands and wives In the country, you would find more husbands afraid of their wives than wives who are afraid of their husbands. Also it is matter of common knowledge that in nine homes out of ten it Is the hen who rules the roost.
 But these ladies did not achieve their victory by using masculine methods, On the contrary. they em- ployed the tactics that their grand mothers, and their great grand mothers. and their great-great- mothers have used through the cen turies. They used ffnesse and tact. and blarney, the woman's weapons against which man has no defense.
 And, Just as no woman can manage her husband by brute force, so no woman can convince her husband aad bring him around to her point of view by argument. She may have all the facts on her side. and plead her case with the logic of Portia and the eloquence of spellbinder. Nothing doing. But when she weeps on the second button of his waistcoat, and he pats her on the back and sayt, There, there." her case is won.
 The women who have got what they wanted are not the women who have talked about the rights of wife; they are the women who have wept for them. For there is some alchemy in woman's tears that melts down a mans resistance as an icicle melts in the sun.
 Foolish are the women who think that they endear themselves to men by understudying them. If man wanted a companion who dressed like himself, and acted like himself, and talked like himself, he wouln't bother with women, whose mascu- line achieve/ents are, after all, as pr. Johnson said. those of the danc- ing dog-the marvel of which is not that he dances so well, but that he dances at all. They would hunt up masculine society to begin with.
 Man is attracted to woman because she is different. And the more woman emphasizes this difference, the greater her attraction. She will al- ways come nearer hitting the bulls eye of mans heart with glance from her eye than she will with a repeating rifle; her most effective powder will be that she carries in