The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-11-07
Place Asked
for Women
in BarrOOnnS
UGH Environment Is
Deemed Likely to Widen
Range Of Conversation.
BY EVELYN SEELEY
Tines special Writer


DLEASE. Irwin Cobb. let US stay
/ in the barroom. Don't send US
back 10 our dismal hen-party pur-
gatory.
We viii be lost forever II your
nars- for-men-only crusade wins. We
know you can get along fine with
ont Us, that In the good old-fash-
ioned bars for which you are so
homesick you may be better of.
But have a heart-What would We
90 without your In your presence
perhaps we viii sparkle and be slim
ulated into bright and intelligent
conversation. Left 10 ourselves We
VIII sink % the level OF curtains and
cosmetics and maids and personal
gossip.
You said. Mr.. Cobb. as you waxed
50 amusingly nostalgia az a CO.
educational cocktail party the other
night.
"Barrooms used 70 smell like men;
they smellcd Of stale saWdust, spit
icons. old cigar butts, state beer.
Now Gas you shifted disgustedly)
they smell OF perfume and gar
denlas and all those things you
women put on your faces TO make
you look what you aren't.
FIRST 10 was the smoking car you
encroached on. Then the barber
shop. and now the bar. It's a hell
o. a note"
Charles Driscon piped up: And
YOU spoil al the storiesl You women
have a sense OF sin about a story.
You can take a clean joke and make
it sound perfectly filthy. You're a
menace"
I'VE men can sit around in our
clubs and never miss you women"
LIr. Cobb continued ruthlesSly. We
never think about you except hoping
70 God you'll not come where we
are. You women sit around BY your
selves and keep one ear open all the
time for the telephone to ring say
ing some man is on his way"
Brands Talk Too Personal
St. and think about the hen
rar. -lu have attended. What
din ak about? First you talked
about .unnie's new hat; then you
talked about James new apartment:
then you got into an involved and
devastating conversation about
He!en's affair with Mary's husband,
leaving Helen not a shred of in
tegrity. When Polly got going on
a discussion of the A. & p. grocery
situation jane yanked the CONVEX
sation right back TO her dealings
with her corner grocer.
Women left TO themselves are too
subjective and are Intellectually lazy.
Disliking argument, and too unso-
cial-minded TO project a subject be-
yond themselves, they pull a poten-
italy interesting discussion right
back home into personal channels.
They drop into discussion of i'm
mediate and superficial common in
terests because it is so easy. And
If it is also unspeakably dull and
boring it does not matter. They
save their mental exertiOn until
they can challenge the men.
II isn't altogether their fault. If
women have been exploited, indus
trially. to depreSs the wage scale,
they have also been exploited, senti-
mentally, TO depress the scale of
conversation. Men have over-em-
phasized their romantic values as
wives and mothers at the expense
OF their intellects.
Limited to Four Topics
Charm School" Margery Wilson
gave a conversation test to 10000
women and found them limited,
c5nversationally. TO four subjects
makeup. movies. boys and school.
Lord knows 1 hate to agree with
Margery Wilson, whose charm
school" gives me a pain, but her
findings about 10000 women are sig
nihcent. would say they have an
other subject or two, and would
also exempt certain wOmen-Such
as my own colleagues-who talk
shop and thereby are lifted automa-
tlCGlly out of their limitations.
Anyway. Miss Wilson's charm
school" won't cure us. A more ac-
tive interest in life outside Of our
apartment walls. a better sense OF
proportion and a stronger sense Of
humor viii help. And if you men
az your bars went help US acquire
these qualities who viii?
We don't want 10 so back to the
kitchen and the hen parties it con-
notes. We want 70 stay in the bar
room If you give us a little help
with the left elbow We can pull our
selves up by our mental bootstraps
until. cOnversationally. we're chin
to-chin with you and you'll be glad
We came.