81
OMAHA HIT IT JUST RIGHT
The Condemnation Passed Upon an Indecent Song in "Aladdin" Drives It Out.
San Francisco Compels the Discontinuance of "Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back."
A Warfare on This Tough Production, Begun by Mrs. Peattie, Results in a California Uprising.
When Dave Henderson's glittering extravaganza appeared in Omaha, a few weeks ago, Miss Boyd, the plump and pleasing prima donna, sang a song, "Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back." She half chanted this ballad, which recited the exploits of a maiden from the rural districts, who met and drank with a stranger, who supposed her to be unsophisticated, but who found, upon leaving her, that he had been despoiled of his valuables. The song was full of disgusting insinuations, and was felt by many who listened to it to be of the sort that could appropriately be sung only in one place. However, the gallery whistled the decent young men in the dress circle blushed, the young women looked absolutely bewildered, and certain positive-minded members of the Woman's club were with difficulty restrained from hissing.
MRS. PEATTIE BEGAN IT.
The World-Herald had a half column article by Mrs. Peattie upon the impropriety singing such a song in the presence of respectable and pure minded ladies and gentlemen. This started conversation concerning the matter, and it was quite generally agreed in certain circles, that if the song was attempted here again, the manager would be requested to eliminate it from his program.
This is exactly what has been done in San Francisco "Aladdin Jr." was presented at the Baldwin theater in that city, and the women, who formed 80 percent of the audience, were shocked, and a deputation waited on the manager and asked him to have the ballad cut of the program.
Miss Boyd was very much astonished and said "I didn't see anything improper in the song, but I was told some of the society ladies of San Francisco thought it was broad and so I was glad to stop it. It really seems to me, though, a case of 'to the pure all things are pure' I expect to sing the song when we go east again, but if San Francisco thinks it is improper I'm sure I don't want to appear in a wrong light before anyone"
OMAHA WOMEN WERE AROUSED.
This statement of Miss Boyd's was shown Mrs. Peattie yesterday.
"Miss Boyd," said this lady, "is mistaken as to the beginning of opposition to the song. Had 'Aladdin Jr' remained a day longer in Omaha the same opposition would have been offered her. Miss Boyd will search in vain for any person so pure that a ballad of street flirtation, drinking and theft, with all attendant insinuations, can be made to seem innocent.
"The dramatic critics do not, as a general thing, object to such songs, because the audiences appear to be entirely acquiescence, and the critics have no warrant for saying that these vicious ballads are offensive to the public. As they may or may not be offensive to the dramatic, critics, comment is usually avoided.
"I see that in San Francisco the critics seem to have kept clear of the discussion, but the men about town are clamoring to have the song restored."
Mr. Henderson is confident that the east will not object to the song. He says "When we go back to Philadelphia, Boston, and New York we will put on that song again. There will be no complaint there. I know those cities well enough to predict that. The truth of the matter is San Francisco has too many restaurants which tolerate improprieties and too many back rooms to the saloons. So some of the people see impropriety where none is intended."
MR. HENDERSON'S IDEAS
"Mr. Henderson," said Mrs. Peattie, in relation to this, "seems to think that where there are no back rooms to saloons, theft and the drinking together of men and women unacquainted with each other would not be regarded as an impropriety. Perhaps not. He might try the song at Tabor, Ia. for example, where there are not and never had been any saloons, and see how it is regarded there. The brilliant tout ensemble of the modern spectacle hangs on the ragged edge of indecency at any time-the magnificent scenery, aesthetic costumes, charming hodge podge of music and clever specialties making an alluring background for these artistic and moral pyrotechnics. But in the opinion of most 'Her Golden Hair Is Hanging Down Her Back' did not linger for one moment on the ragged edge of decency. It bounded over with magnificent bravado, and was thoroughly indecent --and glad of it."
82
FAREWELL TO MRS. PEATTIE
Large Reception Tendered Her at the Commercial Club Last Evening.
Friends in the Sundown and Woman's Club Present Her With a Very Elegant Present.
W. H. Alexander makes the Presentation Speech --Nearly Five Hundred People Present- Decorations Graceful and Pretty.
The reception given Mrs. Peattie last evening at the Commercial club rooms by the old Sundown and the Woman's clubs fell not short of being an ovation.
The house and home committee of the Woman's club had in charge the decoration of the rooms which was graceful and ostentatious Palms and ferns arranged to form a background to punch tables, at which were seated the women of the committee. The line of receiving ladies was formed of ex-presidents and vice presidents of the club. Mrs. Peattie was received in a simple white gown and was very pretty, with a red rose in her hair. With her were Mrs. Towne, Mrs. A. B. Somers, Mrs. F. F. Ford, and assisting about the rooms were Mesdames Draper Smith, Hoobler, E. E. Bryson, F. F. Porter, B. F. Weaver, C. E. Squires, Frank Marsh, Wagner, Robson, J. J. Dickey, Alexander, Tukey, Keyser, Lyle Dickey, Mary Fairbrother and Summer.
MR. ALEXANDER'S REMARKS.
Before 9 o'clock the rooms were completely filled and nearly 500 people were present. At this time there was a lull in the small talk and Mr. W. H. Alexander in the following graceful speech presented Mrs. Peattie with an oak chest, gold mounted, of sliver for the table.
There are some good bys, from the sadness of which the heart never recovers. There are others weighted for the moment with sorrow, because of the ties they are breaking, which, spoken at the threshold of happier scenes, are really God-speeds in disguise.
When the anxious disciples were met on the Mount of Ascension, fearful of losing their Lord, they were cheered by the promise that his going away would bring them the comforter. These friends who are gathered about you tonight, and for whom I am speaking are prone to believe that you are standing on your Mount of Ascension, that your future is budded and waiting to blossom, and that some time soon we shall catch the fragrance of the opened flowers and rejoice in your new exaltation it does not seem very long since you first came amongst us and began, without ostentation, to impress upon this community a unique and delightful personality.
Gifted beyond most women, with conspicuous intellectual graces, you have awakened the interest and challenged the approval of the brightest minds in the country. You have done more than this, forgetful of personal convenience, you have ever been ready for service in the church, in the school, in the club room, wherever your voice and your pen could be useful to others they have both been employed. It will give you some pleasure, we are sure, when you stand on the heights of the future and turn your thoughts back to your Omaha home and your Omaha friends to know that for all of this service they were grateful. You are going away tomorrow, but the poet says that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the earnest wish and prayer of your friends here will be that tie, that hoary old knight of the glass and the sickle, will deal gently with you and with yours.
And, now, Mrs. Peattie as an evidence, but in no sense a measure of esteem, we have something to give to you.
On behalf of the Woman's club of Omaha, that splendid institution whose 600 members in honoring you with its presidency, equally honored themselves, on behalf of the Sundown club, which your husband had the honor of starting, on behalf of the personal friends who have added their mite to the occasion, and on behalf of the legion of others who would wish me to bid you Godspeed. I am pleased to present for your acceptance this beautiful token of regard, and may God add his blessing to ours.
MRS PEATTIE'S REPLY.
At its close Mrs. Peattie said:
"You cannot expect me, Mr. Alexander and ladies of the club and members of the Sundown club, to speak I cannot tell in words how your presence here tonight ahs affected me more than this beautiful gift--and it is beautiful. It is the prettiest thing that I have. I shall feel when I leave Omaha, like a barnacle rubbed off a ship."
Among the many who filled the rooms these prominent people were noticed.
Mr. Z. T. Lindsey and Miss Lindsey, Judge Wakely, Miss Wakely, Judge and Mrs. Ferguson, Rev. John Williams Colonel Chase, Miss Fannie Butterfield, Miss Julia Knight, Rev. Mary Andrews, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Charlton, Mrs. M. H Kincaid, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Carter, Mr. and Mrs. G. M. Hitchcock, Miss Lydia Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. George Marples, Miss Suzanne Walker, Dr. Cascaden, Miss Minnie WIlson, Miss Mary Fairbrother, Mr. and Mrs. William J. Connell, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Alexander, Mr. W. H. Wilbur, Mrs. Joseph R. Clarkson, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Ringwalt, Mrs. S. D. Harkalow, Mr. and Mrs. Short, Mr. and Mrs. George Clubaugh, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Haller, Miss E. S. Dundy, Mr. and Mrs. C. S. Potter, Mrs. Henry Jaynes, Miss Herberta Jaynes, Mr. and Mrs. F. Woodbridge, Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Dale, Rev. and Mrs. John Gordon, Miss Littlefield, Dr and Mrs. Rosewater, Mr. and Mrs. Neeley, Mr. and Mrs. Boss, Mrs. Hervey, Mrs. J. F. Wagner, Mr. and Mrs. Kilpatrick, Mrs. Alee, Mrs. J. Stewart White, Mrs. W. H. Roberson, Mrs. C. W. Allen, Mrs. E. T. Baldwin, Miss Alexander, Miss Livesey, Mrs. Henry Drexel, Mrs. M. Maul, Mrs. Henry Jordan, Miss Hawley, Mrs. S. E. Howell, Mrs. C. R. Howell, Mrs. Frank Emerson, Miss Misner, Mrs. Misner, Mrs. J. Northrup, Mrs. Wood, Mrs. George Patterson, Miss McCauge, Mr. and Mrs. McGilton, Herbert Mann, Mrs. Garrett, Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Gibson, Mrs. L. A. Harmon, Mrs. J. J. Lownes, Mr. and Mrs. James B. Melkle, Mrs. C. D. Delamare, Mr. Robert Douglas, Dr. and Mrs. Gifford Madam Powell, Mr and Mrs. Archibald Powell, Miss Millard, Miss Anna Millard, Mr. Gahm, Mr. and Mrs. C. Clay, Mr. and Mrs. Nott, Mrs. George Kelley, Mr. and Mrs. Sudborough, Mr. and Mrs. McKelvey, Miss Hamilton, Mr. Victor Rosewater, Mayor Broatch, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Harmon, Mrs. and Miss Stone, Mrs. Clinton Powell.
83
ONE MORE HOPEFUL LETTER
Mr. Peattie's Course Is Not Entirely Through Lands of Destination and Woe.
He Finds' Some Sections Where the People Are Able to Take Care of Their Own Poor.
The Lesson of the Futility of Trying to Farm on Stock Ranges Taught—Irrigation Means Prosperity.
(Still another letter filled with hope and chronicling good cheer is the seventh of Mr. Peattie s communications. Mrs. Peattie writes from Cheyenne and Kimball counties, where things are in happy contrast to the situation elsewhere)
Sidney, Cheyenne County, Neb, Dec 19—This county has but one person in the poor house, and is taking care of six families, by issuing warrants to them for $4 or $5 per month, But few have left the county within the past year, as the vote of November showed about the same number as was cast at the previous election. The relief work already done among the farmers and reachers who needed it has been distributed largely by the Rev. Mr. Albin, the Lutheran minister, who was made a relief agent here by Chairman Ludden He was greatly assisted by the ladies of Sidney, principally members of the Ladies' guild, the Good Samaritans, on the Woman's Relief corps, Mr. Albin said
"I have received no supplies from Mr. Ludden yet, but I am advised that they have been shipped. We are taking care of about fifteen families. They have received some clothing a little provisions and so forth, and, I believe are fairly comfortable There is really not much distress in Cheyenne county and I have no doubt that we will be able to amply take care of our poor."
NOT SO BADLY FIXED
The Rev. George A Bcecher of the Episcopal church, who has just returned from one of his extended tours as far north as the Burlington road and as far west as Gering, in Scotts Bluffs county, reports that the settlers in the region he traversed appear not to be as bad off as they were a year ago.
Mr Atkins, one of the county commissioners, said
"But few applications have been made for aid to the board We are giving from $4 to $5 per month, instead of putting them into the poor house, which would be a very expensive thing for the county We have been allowing some relief, principally previsions, to some others But ranching is so extensively practiced in Cheyenne county that there is not so much destitution as there would be if we had more farmers. Of course up on the Belmont ditch farming is done on a large scale. Splendid crops have been raised on the land under the ditch and all other irrigating plants up there. The divide which is unavailable for successful farming purposes is good grazing ground and between the two we count ourselves fortunate. Of course we have some isolated cases of destitution, and pretty bad ones, too, but there is no general distress.
SEED IS ALL THAT S NEEDED
Cheyenne county is in good financial condition. and if sed is furnished in the spring it is probable that no other relief need come from the state.
Mr. F. C. Condon of Omaha, who is associated with G I Hunt and John A McShane in the celebrated Belmont ditch, passed through here Sunday on his way to the property. He said
"The Belmont ditch is one of the most successful example of irrigation in the west. It is about forty miles long and irrigates about 40,000 acres. Some wonders in the way of the production of vegetables and grain were accomplished this year, and the products brought the highest prices Large quantities of hay were ground, and the country along the ditch produced the only crops this county had. There are some smaller ditches, and the land under them also produces good crops Irrigation is the only salvation of Western Nebraska and the sooner this fact is recognized the better."
STOCK IS THEIR SALVATION.
Kimball county does not appear to be in danger of immediate distress. Its financial condition is good, but it has no funds which the law allows it to distribute to destitute persons. But of these there appears to be no great number in spite of the fact that about three fair crops in nine years is the record. The people are poor—poor to a degree hardly equaled in Omaha, but they have this in their favor—they each have a little stock which can be exchanged for money or provisions. Five only have applied for aid. The Danes of Kimball, Banner and Cheyenne received a carload of goods from their fellow-countrymen near Fremont, containing among other things a large quantity of four and provisions, and about ninety bundles of clothing. The Dances of Kimball county got about half of this relief.
Kimball county has suffered dreadfully in the last few years as regards crops, and were it not for its excellence as a grazing country, it would now be of little worth Some patches of land, especially In the northeastern corner and the adjoining corner of Banner county produced splendid crops this year. The soil is a black loam and the region enjoyed several local rains during the growing season. Corn produced there brings 60 cents of the farmers and wheat the same figure and 10 cents more at the stores. The stores of Kimball are doing well, and in the face of the hard times a splendid stone building, the lower floor of which is to be occupied as a general store, has been erected during the past season by one of Kimball's merchants.
HELPED BY A GOOD MAN
The Bank of Kimball in the hands of a man who has grown up with the place for the last ten years, and who is a practical cattleman and farmer, has been a potent factor in holding the community from the depression which has seized the state.
In my haste to get to the extreme southwest counties I did not go either to Banner or Scotts Bluffs The former will need some relief, but every one tells me that the latter is one of the most prosperous in the state, owing to the extent of the irrigation practiced there A traveling man return from Gering says it is a sight for sore eyes to see the difference between that and other sections of Western Nebraska. I saw pictures of potato and cabbage fields under cultivation last summer, and for extent and vigor of growth they resembled the best California vegetable gardens Every one out West gives Scotts Bluffs county a great reputation for its achievements by irrigation, and it undoubtedly deserves all the good things which are said of it
IRRIGATION MEANS PROSPERITY
The people are gradually admitting that with irrigation this country can be made to yield regular and abundant crops of everything which grows in the temperate zone, and that those portions which cannot be irrigated should be abandoned for farming and given over to stock raising, for which they are pre-eminently fitted. More economical farming methods will undoubtedly prevail in the future, for the producers have been taught a terrible lesson of late years, and it is not improbable that even the character of the men engaged in agricultural pursuits will itself be changed for the better
R. B. PEATTIE.
84
DISAGREES WITH MRS. PEATTIE.
OMAHA, May 14.-- [To the Editor of the WORLD-HERALD.]--I read in your Sunday's paper of May 6 an article under the head of "Brain and Heart Broken" with very mixed feelings. First, admiration of Mrs. Peattie's skillful manner of "putting things," sorrow at the pitiful picture drawn by the wronged and suffering girl, and lastly, indignation, mingled with amusement, at the tirade against the "ignorant mothers" who are held accountable for such a terrible condition of affairs. The poor mothers. It has often occurred to me in reading Mrs. Peattie's articles that she has a very low opinion of mothers. May I be allowed to lift my feeble voice in behalf of the long suffering women who are passing sleepless nights in the effort to rear their sons and daughters in what appears to them the best way? In the first place I must ask Mrs. Peattie if, with her knowledge of girls and human nature, she honestly believes that the victim in her story, a girl working in a restaurant, was totally ignorant of the laws of nature, that she was innocent as a young child who has been carefully watched and guarded, that no suspicion of evil should reach her? Does she believe it possible that a girl who goes out to service can escape contact with other working girls, all more or less enlightened as to their physical beings and the consequences of transgression from the path of virtue and chastity? I do not for one instant. No, it is there too much than too little knowledge that has proved her ruin. Cheap literature and talks with other girls on subjects which had better been let alone, have intamed her imagination and led her on to harm. It may be that your able writer has not known much of girls during her girlhood, perhaps she never was inside of a public school. If she had been she would have discovered that a girl's strongest characteristic is unfortunately her curiosity, and that girls learn so much from one another that there would be little left for the mother to impart if she did her duty as Mrs. Peattie so earnestly desires. Very few if any can plead innocence or ignorance at the ages of 12 or 13, if they could I should consider it a cause for thankfulness, as I am either so "shy" or so "foolish" that I think innocence a most desirable state for a young girl and firmly believe that there is a natural sense of decency and modesty innate in every respectably born girl which is her best protection. Any girl whose natural instincts are so blunt that she does not realize when a man is taking improper liberties with her would scarcely be saved by any amount of information administered by parents. I have always believed that the reason our creator has furnished us with these instincts of delicacy and modesty was partially for our protection against evil suggestions or improper advances, but Mrs. Peattie evidently does not admit this, if, then, she thinks that a disposition toward wrong rather than right is so deeply implanted in the bodies of our children, will any amount of enlightenment as to the consequences of transgression prevent them from indulging these desires? Were it not much wiser to shield our children, as far as possible; keep them from contact with those who are evil-minded and from bad literature, and luculcate principles of modesty and chastity? It does seem to the positively indecent to take a pure-minded girl or boy, one who has not been contaminated by the heroing in a mixed school, and explain to them all you know of the fundamental law of life, the process of birth, which can never be made other than hideous by the most carefully chosen words- to lay bare to their childish minds in the horrors which may result from too much intimacy with the opposite sex. Imagine picturing to their imaginations all the mysteries of love, marriage and child bearing, which are more than grown persons with matured minds can readily graso. Such revelations to unformed and hitherto childishly innocent minds would be revolting, and instead of the frank freedom which girls and boys would ordinarily enjoy together a disagreeable self-consciousness would be likely to result.
I cannot believe that it would have the slightest effect as far as the prevention of seduction is concerned. Where animalism prevents to such a degree evil must in many cases result, if the girl is forced to leave her home and seek her living in the world among strangers. I know many kind women in Omaha who watch carefully and solicitously over the girls doing service in their houses, and help to keep them from temptation and harm, but at the same time they would hesitate, and very properly, I think, to tell their little girls of the evils in the world, to which, with any sort of careful training, they need never be subjected. When the sons and daughters leave home, when their minds and their bodies are developed, it is quite time in my humble opinion to inform them on "the most vital points of life". There need be no fear that girls brought in close contact with numbers of others and whose lives have been passed away from the shelter of a home and mothers' care, need information on these points. When they trangress they know what will be the result, and can scarcely plead innocence in palliation weakness of course must be their great excuse, and that all flesh is heir to unhappily. The weakness of womankind in condoning in men a sin which they loudly condemn in women is most shameful. Let us hope and pray that the day is near when both will be judged alike here, as they most surely will be above.
A MOTHER.
85
IN DEFENSE OF HER OWN SEX
Mrs. Peattie Writes a Reply to the Communication of A.M.M. She Maintains That Women Are Not Light Minded, but Are Frequently the Family Strength.
Some Sharp Arrows Which Are Shot Without Rancor in This Joust Over the "New Woman."
A.M.M. has a bitter and somewhat excited article in the Public Pulse columns of a recent issue of this journal concerning women's rights as she is fair enough to let them. One does not of course know what should have caused A.M.M. to write so earnestly upon a question which at the present time appears to be abeyance. Very likely it was some private discussion which stirred her and impelled her to give voice in public to the personal indignation which she fell. At any rate as her ideas represent those of a large class of women and as they are set forth with the most evident sincerity they are entitled to the consideration of women who are willing to bear with some pride the epithets heaped upon them by those of shallow wit-epithets which were intended to be opprobrious. As 'Yankee' was a term of contempt, yet came to be born with honest pride by those of whom it was applied, so 'the new woman' which was meant to a slur, has come to be a shibbok h, and the women who work in science, in art, in the professions, in the trades, in the home, the church and the school have come to accept with dignity that appreciation and to fraternize under it.
The arguments which A.M.M. advances against the political enfranchisements of women are very old. Though really that is nothing against them. Almost all good things are old as well as most had things. Nothing is older than injustice. Things are older than sophistication and without injustice we should not have had the heroic triumphs of justice. Without sophistry we could not have had the background over against which in place the fair figure of truth. One does not mind that what A. M. M. says is very old and inking in originality one could hardly expect, indeed that a member of the light anything but a plagiarist. How could a creature so object create anything--save children like any other mammal? It is A.M.M. who after talking about all for which the creator intended us says that we are light minded frivolous and foolish. Perhaps she knows. But indeed could she look in the hearts of most of us she would have to admit that however foolish we may be however frivolous we might have been long we are not like minded! Perhaps if we could be for a while the world might not seem very gay and wonderful to some of us. No really believe me. A.M.M. We are not light minded. We cannot conduct homes with all the find miles necessary we cannot children with all the hopes and prayers and all plant upon that we cannot mix in a world with injustice and sorrow and be like minded. Perhaps you are, dear A.M.M. But there are many many of us who are not and who never can be again, though we may have been so once when we were little girls and ran over the meadows of youth where the butterflies were. But that was such a very long time ago.
We cannot even retain our lightmindedness A.M.M. and contemplate the awful errors made by our wisest men of whom you speak with such object reverence that it reminds me of the Japenese gravel with which good. Mr. Gilbert had the subjects of the mikado approach his most illuminated majesty. You are indeed under the thrall of sex I congratulate you upon your masculine acquaintance I have known many fairly good men and two remarkably good ones I have enjoyed the acquaintance of hundreds of interesting men and thousands of comparatively inoffensive ones. But the wisdom of which I speak I have not seen neither in the men with whom I have enjoyed personal acquaintanceship nor in the men with whom I have been permitted to shake hands at public levees--such as Mr. Cleveland, for instance. I have seen men as heroic as the most successful fall because of another trick of fate. And as for wisdom-- merciful heavens' is not this country bewildered by the errors of men? Is not this state in object trepidation - are not men regarding one another with pitiable eves conscious past words of their own fallibility and of the wreck in which they have precipitated themselves? Have you not seen many and many a time families dragged to ruin by the mistaken judgement of good men and the selfish vices of bad ones? Have you not observed pretenders everywhere? Have you not learned it is often green which triumphs coarseness which succeeds tyranny which wins respect and does not the whole world bow before a shining yellow metal. Which will make the possessor a snow white swan in the eves of those who erstwhile, before they came into possession of that metal. thought him or her a goose? The wisdom 'of men.' Truely they are as wise as women-- but what a little thing is that. And do not women know how weak these men are - how the best of them must be cared for petted cajoled, encouraged. The world is a very cruel place, and there never was a man yet who did not now and then falter before the strife of it and shrink from it, hurt and afraid. It is easy to believe that Josephine may have seen Napoleon weep quite easy to think that Martha may have kissed courage into the lips of Washington-- lips which men thought so implacable.
You think, do you madam that a wrangle over 'rights' is unseenly. Why, then, so was the American revolution unseemly, so was the wrangle which secured the manumission of slaves so has been every struggle for liberty unseemly. Do you think that evolution is lady like? Do you think superstitions-- such for instance, as the unquestioning respect for all things masculine which you entertain-- are to be crushed with a cambric needle? Seemly? Is it seemly for the man in the factory to cry out with oaths, that for the pittance for which he works he has sold his life his vote his freedom of thought? Is it seemly for Debs to shout out his words of protest against a new tyranny? Is it seemly for women to starve on even less than men, because, forsooth they have not a vote with which to argue! Seemly madam. There is nothing seemly-- unless it be a 5 o'clock tea or a bread mixing. The world does not move by seemliness. The women who argued and bore calumny for the liberties which you now enjoy, who secured for women the right to the educated of which you have probably availed yourself were not 'seemly.' They were merely [?]. Probably you would therefore not have associated with them. The standard of seemliness which some women entertain is that of profound nullity. To be perfectly respectable one must needs have done nothing at all. A sawdust doll, dear madam is always seemly.
A.M.M. appears to think that all women are loved and protected, and she wants to know, why they cannot be content with such felicity. She has again shown herself to be fortunate in her acquaintances. I have myself had the misfortune to know many women who were never offered the love or protection of any man. I have known many who having being offered such love and protection could not accept it because their own hearts would not respond. I have known many who were widowed, and many others who appeared to be born without the wifely or maternal instinct, just as some men are incapable of happy domesticity. Then, too, I have seen women who could not narrow themselves to domesticity. However much they might envy those women who could be happy by a fireside they themselves could not, but were impelled by some great power to immolate themselves for humanity. Some of these have been in convents, some have been in hospitals, some in pulpits, and some in teachers chairs. They felt a "call" to their wide vocation as I suppose Whitfield felt a call to his, and John Brown a call to his. There are isolated and remarkable beings who are thus impelled to the unusual, and since they are disinterested, and even suffer martyrdom for their convictions one cannot afford to disbelieve in the 'call' though one may be commonplace one's self and never have responded to any sort of a call unless it be the dinner bell.
Indeed, A.M.M., I would have been entirely indifferent to all you had to say with those weary old arguments, about the objections to womens rights, if it had not been that you called us light minded, frivolous and foolish. Was your mother so? Some of us have memories of silent patience, of loving forbearance, of courage in poverty, of heroism in suffering and charity to all, of self subduing, of endless sacrifices which makes us wonder and bow the head. Some of us have friends now, young women, who bear shameful burdens imposed upon them by these wise men whom you so admire, and who bear these burdens with a noble dignity, their lips sealed against complaint, their heads held high in loyalty, though their spirits cower in secret shame! With such memories of those who are gone, or past their work with such knowledge of living friends one cannot but protest against the accusation of "light mindedness, frivolity and foolishness." Even Mr. Pope would not have said anything so mean as that, and Walter Scott, you remember very well, though admitting that we might be somewhat uncertain and hard to please in our idle moments was eager to pay tribute to our fidelity and courage when the occasion arose for the exercise of those virtues. Myself, I think if homes are sustained and generations raised by creatures of so little account, it were well if humanity were at an end and "the fever called living" well over the whole of us.
You talk about the modesty of women. My dear madame, that modesty was not protected in this or any other country till women arose and protested that they would have laws protecting women. Modesty! It has been the modesty of women that has kept them from protesting with sufficient effect against the laxity of laws in certain directions and that permits a man like George Morgan to commit his awful crime, suffer the penalty of a brief confinement and come out to crush another innocent victim. It would well befit the modesty of any of us to work to secure in the legislature a penalty for such wretches commensurate with the crime they commit, insteady of having them confined for the same length of time they would be if they had stolen a man's fattened pig or burned his barn. Believe me, modesty is one of those things which vary in the minds of each person. There are women who have never thought it immodest to have an interest in civic affairs or to labor for the betterment of their community. I remember very well listening to a white-headed gentleman not long ago who declared with a great deal of bluster that "women never had any public spirit. They had only prejudices." A few minutes later when one was speaking of a lady in this town who certainly has public spirit--the lady who was the second president of the Woman's club and is now the president of the Woman's Christian association-- he said "Woman were very much better attending to their own affairs." He believed in card clubs, but he didn't see why ladies should meet except to play whist or drink tea." The inconsistency of this old gentleman, which one did not mind, because he seemed to be so very ignorant of what was going on in the world, is very common among persons of this class. They complain of the women for not knowing anything, and much more bitterly complain of them if they endeavor to learn. It is only when women appear to take a similar stand that one feels discouraged. It was the foes who ate at mess with him that filled the soul of Washinton with the great grief that whitened his hair. None of us are Washingtons, and we are not going to grow white-headed over your disinclination to agree with us. There are many hundred thousand women in the world who will go about their tasks with as much patience and courage as if you had not thought them light-hearted, and who will, perhaps, make a home, keep it well and do a deal outside of home too. They will give you cards and spades and beat you then, dear madam. I hope you play cards? They are good things to play when one has very stupid company with whom one cannot sustain a conversation.
Please let me speak of one thing more. You speak of hirelings. Hirelings is a good word to use in England, or Russia, but in America it doesn't sound well. We are all hirelings here, except a few of us, who make our bread by the sweat of some one's else brow. No doubt your husband is a hireling. I hope so. He probably is if he is honest. We all serve in one way or another. Nor does the wage make us conscienceless. The hirelings who hold our little children, or who help in any other way with the domestic labors, may have hearts as tender as our own. Who has not seen their tears dropping at the illness of the little ones they have cared for, or noticed their sympathy with any other affliction of the family? There are houses where the "hirelings" are the best part of the household--the most healthy, industrious, virtuous and best looking. "Hirelings" is not a word for this nation of shop keepers and road workers and writers and scrubwomen.
It does seem as if there were two or three other things I wanted to say to you, but I have forgotten them.
Oh, yes, I remember you repeated parrot-like that old objection that many respectable women would not want to vote and that the disreputable would. I don't know how you know. But what if they did? What has that to do with the abstract justice of the thing? When we freed the negroes--I say we, though no doubt you and I were born long after our fathers had got through with all the inconvenience of that glorious action-- were we worrying about the attitude of the negro toward enfranchisement? Or about the morals of the negro? Not at all. It is a question of justice, of "right", as you were kind enough to say yourself, though I think you said it inadvertently.
You say women are clinging by nature, I have sometimes amused myself when I have been out at some pleasant social affair in reflecting upon the histories of the women around me, and I have often noticed that a large proportion of the company present was composed of women who had held up, in one way or another, some weak or worthless man. Some of them had cared for their families after being deserted. Some had great terrible histories of betrayal, and suicide and shame and --ah! It is all too dismal to think of! Many of them were simply energetic and sensible women who had kept the household together in spite of prodigality, bad judgment and a large array of small vices on the part of 'the head of the family.' Some had brought to the family name all the credit that ever attached to it. Do not think I belittle the men. I think them no worse than ourselves. But indeed, dear A.M.M., I can think them no better.
I think you said some dreadful fate might be in store for you. If nothing worse befalls you for your utterances than this casual protest of mine, your apprehensions will not be realized. I would not have said a word--for your arguments were not worth bothering with--if you had not called us light minded, frivolous and foolish. Come and see me some time, and we will shake hands over this disagreement while I give you a list of several hundred women who are nothing of the sort. I would let the list reach into the thousands, the millions, if I only knew the names. It is not the women who are lacking to disprove your statement, but my acquaintance with them.
No rancor, A.M.M. One like a joust--and you began! Elia W. Peattie.
Chat of Books and Bookmen. In view of the early coming of a short season of grand opera in Omaha the "Stories of the Wagner Operas," by H. A. Guerber, will prove of more than usual interest to lovers of books and music. The handsome little volume, containing short sketches, which may read in a few moments' time, affords the reader a very clear outline of the great dramatist-composer's work, and is arranged in a manner at once interesting and instructive. There is not a dull line in the book, and it is really one which should be in the hands of every reading and thinking person who desires to familiarize himself with the stories upon which the operas of Richard Wagner are founded. For those who have a knowledge of the great master's work this little tome will prove helpful as a refresher of the memory, while to those who are yet unacquainted with his creations it will be immensely serviceable, giving a clear, concise description of his writings and perhaps be an incentive to further reading on the subject. The volume comprehends eleven operas, is handsomely illustrated and neatly bound Dodd, Mead & Co New York are the Publishers, and the book is on sale at the store of the Megeath Stationary company in this city.
Perhaps no book of the year has caused more comment or been given a wider publicity in both the literary publications and the daily newspapers than those rather resentful reminiscences of Senator John Sherman, which have been read with intense interest and have made everybody mad. This two volume autobiography from the pen of the senior senator from Ohio covers his recollections of forty years in the house, senate and cabinet, and fairly bristles with interest. The work is published by the Werner company of Chicago, and it having an immense sale. A casual notice of this contribution to historical literature would be farcical and will not be attempted here, but I am glad to be able to state to the readers of the World-Herald that it will be reviewed for this paper by a gentleman of national reputation, a student and active participant in national politics, who will consider the work at length and present his views on the subject in the columns of this paper in the near future.
Boys, old and young, will be interested to know that one of those famous tales of Captain Marryat, Mr. Miship-