111
A WORD WITH THE WOMEN
(By Elia W. Peattie)
Miss Marey Thomas, dean on Bryn Mawr, has been nominated for one of the alumni trustees of Cornell university to be elected in June. This is the first time in the history of the leading American universities that a woman has been named for trustee.
Thirty-one out of forty-one graduates from the State Normal school were women.
The system of kindergarten recently established on some of the Indian reservations has proved so successful that it will probably be continued and extended. Under this insidious instruction -- if such a term may be employed-- the children lose their native shyness, and become friendly and playful. It greatly assists them, too, in acquiring the dexterity which is needed for the present conditions of their life, which is, indeed, different from the dexterity required by their fathers and inherited by them.
It is very common to remark upon the disadvantages under which the educated male Indian labors, but they are really no greater than those encountered by the Indian girl, who is sent to the agency or mission school, given a fair education in books, taught sewing, cooking, housekeeping and such civilized occupations and then permitted to return to the lodge of her fathers, where, after a few months of futile effort to sustain herself in the civilization she has arduously acquired, she sinks back into her condition of savagery, marries an Indian becomes a prisoner on the reservation, and sinks into disheartened apathy. She is a failure both as a civilized and as a savage woman. It may be sad that she suffers the inconveniences and disadvantages of both civilization and savagery and enjoys the pleasures and liberties of neither. She may be fitted by her education for teaching school, sewing or domestic work, but it is seldom that she can obtain a position where she can show her capabilities in any of these directions, or where she can in any way secure independence.
Under such conditions the work of the Indian department seems little more than a waste and the efforts of the missionaries to establish new standards is little more than a cruelty, unintentional though it is. Between the destruction of the natural state of the Indian and the failure to supply anything that is really a substitute, the Indian man or woman degenerates into a melancholy, vicious, irresponsible and sullen creature. It may well be questioned if the Indian woman was not a much happier being when she was undisturbed by book learning and was left to choose her savage lord and to adore him in her own wild fashion to await his homecoming with her naked babies playing about her tepee to skin his slain beasts for him, and serve him in proud humility. Now her old ideals are gone, and no new ones of a nature consistent with her environment have been provided.
The commonplace respectability to which the Anglo-Saxon race in America and out of it reduces or attempts to reduce inferior races is one of the most disheartening things in the world. Its arrogant method of destruction, its ruthless disregard for any traditions gave its own, its indifference to any originality on the par of these primeval races, its contempt for primeval religions its lack of sympathy with the simple amusements of such people, convict it of being an obstinate race, which may break, destroy, crush and obliterate aboriginal peoples but which will fail when it attempts to preserve, develop or rain them.
The Indian girl docile, quiet, shy and obedient is today a pathetic figure. She is [?] about by the shuttlecock of circumstance and prevented from forming her life along consistent lines.
112
A WORD WITH THE WOMEN
(By Elia W Peattie)
The Open Door has recently been given a buggy, a horse, a fly net and a whip. Unfortunately, all of these things are useless without a harness. If there should chance to be any one with an unused harness, who would like to bestow it where it would "fit it" so remarkably well, the gift would be appreciated.
The record of the best sprinter of the State Normal school was given the other day in this paper as 100 years in 10 3/4 seconds. For the credit of the school one ventures to make a correction. The record was 9 3/4 seconds, 100 years, standing start. Not bad, eh? With Iowa ahead of the eastern colleges on runners, the west is making headway in athletics. Yale's trainer actually insulted Mr. Crim the Iowa representative, in the hour of his victory and the intercollegiate sports. He accused him of not having told his right name and of not being a college man. The reason in which he founded his suspicions were merely that the Iowa boy had beaten Yale. It's not only insufferably bad manners for Yale, but it shows a stupidity. The strength and activity of western men is known to everyone---except, apparently, the trainer of Yale. Lest some one should object that this is not a woman's subject and does not belong in this column, one hastens to remark that it is a subject which interests a woman very much.
The subject of athletics is always interesting to women. They are not, in spite of the futile attempts of the nineteenth century to supplant physical standards with intellectual ones, much changed from the women of Greece or of Rome. They like a stalwart sons, and perhaps even the American woman has few happier moments than when she looks upon the perfectly developed body of her baby son, and notes a breadth of shoulder, swelling of the chest, a film setting of the neck, and a free swing to the dimpled arms and legs. She likes to test this baby strength in all sorts of curious ways, to let him hang by his pretty arms, suspended like the prehensile any of the African forest, she loves to gently thump the little chest, to roll and toss the pink body, to tug with him playfully, to see how hard he can pull. Primitive man was born strong of muscle and firm of body, and the love for this form of power lies deep in the heart and can never be eradicated. A strong man is the acme of power. He appeals to the imagination more than anything else in the world, as a force. It has always been the women who have not most applauded our college athletes. They appreciate the need that the world has of strong men. They view the question more or less objectively, and attach even more importance to it than do men. It is a great pity that they do not themselves strive more for physical development. The last few years, it is true, have seen a marked improvement in this direction, especially among the women of the upper classes. Women who raise their sons and daughters conscientiously put their daughters in the gymnasium or in the hands of a physical culture instructor. Moreover, the standard of beauty has changed. When Heine wrote, and Thackeray, the favorite type was undeniably delicate. These writers confounded fragility with femininity. But such maudlin standards are fortunately passed. Health, power, vitality and vivadly are now admired in women. And these attributes are so practical, as well as so engaging, that the present standard is apt to endure long.
Yes, decidedly, athletics interest women.
113
A WORD WITH THE WOMEN
(By Elia W. Peattie)
It is a gratification to know that Edouard and Jean de Reszke, the famous singers, have ordered the plans for a villa to be built in Poland of an Amerian architect, J Sidney Villere of Chicago. It is to be a picturesque affair, called the "Cottage Americaine," and is to stand on a hill among woods, approached by centenary cedars. Pillars of porphyry granite will guard the portal, which is to be of bronze; the balustrade of the porch is also to be of porphyry granite, with pots for tropical plants. Following is a description of some of the rooms.
The first room is exceedingly ornate. Three steps from the first landing there is a monumental mantel, with side window and a seat, and then the starting of the grand staircase. All the decorations here will be old bibelots of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. On the right is the parlor, done in the choicest white birds eye male, polished and waxed. It resembles a square pavilion, the antique conceits in the hall being repeated with the addition of large panels of ancient tapestry and all manner of rare furniture to harmonize. Cream white forms the background, lacquered in two shades, with a few delicate touched of dulled gold.
These two masters will banquet their guests in a great feastroom, trimmed in red pine. Here the wainscoting and panels are heavily carved and molded, as is also the wooden cornice of the ceiling, with the rich work in Sevres blue. Personal friends of the brush are to contribute four hunting scenes for the walls showing the chases of the bear, wolf, board and reindeer.
The entire villa is composed of curious rooms and passages, conspicuous among which is the "hunters' den". This is en-entered by an archivolte in the dining room, passing through a gallery, from a porch and private vestibule. This "piece intime" has a spacious fireplace, where, Mr. de Reszke writes, he will burn nothing but logs of applewood. There is also a sideboard and a duke's table in the center for luncheons and the like. Around all sides of the den are voluptuous divans for lounging as the sportsmen tell stories of the days in the woods. All the walls here are covered with stamped Russia leather.
Edouard and Jean both have suites on the third floor, and down the halls are ten more elaborte apartments, with quarters for retinues of servants. All the appliances and inventions which make the Amerian living rooms the most comfortable in the world are lavishly applied.
Wide acres surround the villa, with bridges and brooks, all adding to the originally picturesque outline of the structure itself. The entire scheme results from years of extensive travel and the De Reszkes really congratulate Chicago that its architectural ideas surpass those of all the rest of the modern world.
There is no subject in which women are most interested than in that of houses. Indeed, the pastime of many women is to imagine or design houses in which they would like to live, although they may not have the least expectation of ever having any other place of abode than the unsatisfactory one which they are occupying It is very seldom that a woman has a house which is in all respects as she would have it. Personally I never saw but one house I wanted. It stood on a noble plain beyond a great river, and the approach to it was through mighty elms. The house itself was in the style of the Parthenon. Its white marble pillars supported the portico with a strong serenity. It was chaste, white and still. Nothing earthly ever brought such a sense of rest as that abode. It was seen but once and for only a few moments, but it will never be forgotten. The de Reszkes are to be congratulated on the possession of such a little palace, embodying the ideas which please them best.
114
A WORD WITH THE WOMEN
(Elia W. Peattie)
The next best thing to going away in the summer is the making of a cool place in one's own house. It is surprising to see how dusty and worn, faded and frowsy a house can look when the revealing spring sunshine appears, illuminating dark corners and the house is thrown in shabby contrast by the exquisite cleanliness and freshness of nature out of door. House cleaning to the women with some sense of poetry does not mean a mere cleaning of windows and whipping of carpets. It means a regeneration and redecoration in keeping with the season. It means a putting aside of the dull and heavy draperies and a hanging up of cool, fresh, airy stuffs which give suggestion of summer and its delights. It means bare polished floors, or clean canvass, wicker chairs instead of upholstered ones. Japanese portiers in the place of woolen or silken ones and an abundance of blooming plants. Omaha is sometimes as hot as the tropics. It is a city in which the extreme of heat is reached. Not very many years ago people who could afford to consult comfort thought it impossible to remain in Omaha during the hot months. Since the dust has been allayed by the paving and watering of streets and the heat mitigated by the growth of trees the excellence of the water service and all the conveniences of the city, this is not the case. But it is still necessary, if one would enjoy the summer here, to adapt life to the conditions to a marked degree. The house should be provided with shades which will exclude the glare. These should be supplemented by awnings. Hammocks should be hung in the shadiest places, sleeping apartments rearranged with special thought of the southern breeez, and the method of daily living should be much more leisurely than in the winter time. To arise early, sleep during a part of the day and remain up late in the cool of the evening is the comfortable way to get through an Omaha summer. Even the business men could do this, if they would only think so as they do in the semi-tropical cities of the United States. But if they will not, at least the women may.
Every year the summer fabrics grow in beauty and delicacy, and they are so exceedingly inexpensive that there is really no excuse of any ingenious women to go unprovided with fresh wash gowns. Seventy-five cents will actually buy a dainty summer dress, and, if home made, is obtainable by almost anybody. These ought to be put on May 1 and worn until the last of October. Woolen gowns will not do in Omaha and the woman who attempts to wear them is bound to be uncomfortable. It has been noticeable the last few years that there is a growing disinclination to the wearing of gloves. This is distinctly the work of that sensible and charming creature who, under the name of the 'new woman' has awakened terror in masculine breasts and contempt among the conservative of her own sex. But the new woman---if the silly name must be used--prefers comfort to conventionality. She will not do up her hands in hot kid gloves on a sweltering day, when all the rest of her body is clothed in light and cool materials. Instead she will manicure and perfume her hands, and go with them uncovered, no matter whether she goes to market or the theater. It really is more appropriate to go with uncovered hands when one is wearing a summer costume than to dress oneself in light materials and then enclose the hands in air tight gloves.
This year most women of moderate means who live in Omaha must stay here. They cannot afford to go away. The way, therefore to enjoy themselves is to prepare their houses and their wardrobes for the reason, make a study of summer menus and then possess their spirits in peace. I'm after all, a peaceful spirit is the thing that keeps the body most comfortable in heat or in cold.
115
A WORD WITH THE WOMEN
(Elia W Peattie)
The members of the Rev Mr. Savldge's church take much interest in the Rescue Home and recently visited the institution provided with the necessary and luxurious thing of life. Religious services were held, and a feeling of cordiality established between the inmates and the church people This is the sort of work that Mr. Savldge believes in, and the sort he encourages his people to do.
Those who wish to present the names of friends for membership for the Women's club must do so immediately. It will be necessary that the names of applicants be read Monday April 29 in order for membership to be attained by the annual meeting with which the club year begins May 27, and at which officers are elected.
The present fashion of wearing [gay?] silk waists with dark skirts is immensely convenient, and recommends itself to the economical woman, who can get up a theater costume, a dinner gown, a street dress and a dancing flick with the game skirt, and a judicious provision of appropriate waists. In short, it is possible at present to dress the really stylish on very little money. But the question which Rudyard Kipling put so pertinently, 'It is clever, but is it art?' arises to annoy the wearer of silk waists. Every woman who had studied the subject knows that she looks really dressed. To determine whether or not her attire is artistic she will do well to ask herself the question if she dressed as she would like to be if her portrait were to be painted. A portrait painter, she knows very well, would consider her style, her complexion, and manner in connection with her garments. He would desire her to present a symphonic effect. In order to attain this he would have the figures robed in one harmonious color from head to foot. He would not think of painting a portrait thus dividing the body. If he introduced two colors it would be by having them fall side by side in the drapery as an open coat might reveal a gown harmonious with it in color, or a court train might fall over a gown of contrasting tint, or a bright hat give accent to a somber costume. But two cut the figure sharply in two at the waist, or the point which fashionable somen have chosen to consider the waist, is certainly not artistic.
For two seasons now the waists have been threatening to go out of mode. They have not yet done so. On the contrary ladies send to the great modistes for designs dressmakers heap laces, flower ribbon and even jewels upon these pretty things, trifles they cannot be called since they frequently involve the expenditure of [$?0] to $100 and require six yards of material without the decoration. Chiffon, lace silk, satin magnificent broadages, bullion passementary and French flowers are lavished upon these devices. The waist has assumed the proportion of a fine art--and art is not only song, but large in this case as the sleeves will attest. There are as many ways of making the modern fancy waist as here are of painting a picture But these waists cannot be said to express the individuality of the wearer to any extent They express rather the fantasy of the dressmaker. The dressmaker in fact, is becoming a creature of imagination. She may almost be said to have a right to associate herself with the article if not with poets. The silk waist has lifted her out of the realm of artisans.