Twice-a-week telegraph. (Macon, Ga.) 1899-19??, March 08, 1907, Image 8

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l o 6 ! i r » i i | immmSmm life IcSte M&stcrspBv ^rdsoh O jr newspaper women who have won real distinction most are Americans, and no two write along the same lines. In Eng land the most admired and influential of those whom the humor lacking Briton calls “lady journalists’' is Mrs. Thomas Power O’Connor, wife of the Irish lender and member of parliament. T. P. O'Connor, a brilliant young Irish patriot and writer, came to America with Charles Stewart Parnell, to whom he was devoted. During Parnell’s Amer ican tour O’Connor met in Washington Miss Paschal, a beautiful youns Ameri can actress, the daughter of Judge Pas chal of Texas. O’Connor and Miss Pas chal met, loved, were wed, have stayed wed and have apparently continued to Jove. X X Mrs. *T. P. O’Connor gave up her American career and went to London with her husband. She wrote various things for publication and continued at intervals to appear on the stage. By and by T. P. founded the famous peri odical, ”M. A. P.”—Mainly About Peo ple. It was devoted chiefly to sparkling personalities and good natured com ment on well known Individuals. Mrs. T. P. became a leading contributor to its pages In order to “help” her hus band. By and by Mrs. T. P. became the main show of the new paper, though few knew It or know it to this day. She wrote scintillating paragraphs. She was animated and delightful in society, con sequently everybody wanted her and invited her to entertainments. In the literary, musical and artistic social cir cle of London, probably the mcst de-’ lightful of that kind in the world, Mrs. T. P. became a leading light. She kept her eyes open. She is a keen as well as philosophical observer, seeing through the surface of things. Her observations and comment she puts into print in her own peculiarly attractive English. She could not be dull If she tried, neither ill tempered. Good nature and kindliness, besides her undoubted genius, have paved the way for her in every circle she has desired to enter. X X This gifted woman is also a success ful playwright. Her best known play is “The Lady From Texas.” She was in America recently with her husband, and everybody was glad to see her. Keeping, as always, her eyes open on matters and things, she discovered a fact that American women themselves are mostly ignorant of. She found that the supposed superiority of Europe as a shopping field for women is mostly humbug. She found, and said so In pi a In English, that American stockings for women are cheaper and far better made than tnose of Great Britain, while as to shapeliness of these articles there is no comparison, so far inferior is the ugly, baglike hosiery—same size at an kle as .at knee—of the British article. The same is tfue of American shoes, Mrs. O'Connor iirids.^ They are infinite ly superior in shape! - being trim and graceful in comparison tt’lth a British shoe, which is clumsy and Hi. fitting. And the American shoe is cheaper in price than the English one too. in the matter of ready made underwear for women, likewise tailor made costumes and outer garments, America is ’way ahead of England again, Mrs. O'Connor discovers, and she tells American wom en so. X X One of the most versatile journalists— without the despicable qualifying ad jective “feminine,” mind you—is Doro thy Dix (Mrs. Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer) of New York, Now Orleans and all over, wherever work is to do for the newspapers of whose staff she is a member. She declares she has no aspi ration beyond the journalistic field, in which she has made a success as bril liant as that of any living writer. “No books or plays for me,” . says Dorothy Dix in a New York Herald in terview. “I am a newspaper woman first, last and all the time.” X X Now, this is fine indeed. Many women who write for newspapers speak as though it were beneath their dignity and literary gift to do so. ignorant in their stupidity and conceit that the journalist's field is the world, that the work of the contributor to the daily press reaches fresh and.redhot a thou sand readers where that of the mere book writer reaches ten. There certain ly can be no worthier aspiration than to be a really worthy newspaper writer, saying nothing that one does not be lieve, nothing that one is ashamed of. X x»- . Dorothy Dix would be a humorist ex cept that she sees the serious side of things at least half the time and so falls to sympathizing with people and giving them excellent advice. But she is jour nalist all through. If any noted law case or some event of large importance on its psychological side is to be writ ten about, there Dorothy Dix is on the scene to describe the affair. To wit and rare power of clear seeing and describ ing Mrs. Gilmer adds tender sympathy and the hardest kind of sound common sense. She is the best sort of new wo man. She says women have been an gels about four centuries tod long. It is ( time for them to come down now to ‘hard pan and be sensible, useful human beings. She doesn’t go in for the sub missive, martyr role for her sex. In stead of that, let them shake them selves up and get busy at something practical. Instead of the "suffer and grow strong” act it is time now for women to be- strong without suffering, if they can, thinks splendid, merry Dorothy Dix. X X Very different is Anna Steese Rich ardson, who is said to earn more mon ey than any other newspaper woman. She is western and used to keep board ers in a Colorado mining town. She felt within her the power to write, and ‘she had indomitable grit and perse verance, likewise commercial shrewd ness. She had also good luck. There is undoubtedly such a thing as luck. Anna Steese Richardson went to New York city six years ago with three chil dren and $57. Now she conducts a newspaper syndicate of her own and has an office full'of clerks and stenog raphers. Mrs. Richardson is business through and through. Her advice on how to earn a living is valuable to girls. Of herself she remarks: "I am frank to confess I did not go into newspaper work for my health, but for all the dollars and dimes that are in it for me.” X X Quite different is Miss Dorothy Rich ardson, of the same name, but no rela tive of Mrs. Steese Richardson. Doro thy Richardson has been attached for a number of years to the staff of a lead ing New York paper. When she was sixteen her father died, and on her girl shoulders at once fell part of the bur den of supporting a good sized family I Hard work Dorothy Richardson has known from the start. If she has not known actual poverty it has only been I because her brave hands and bra if; I have warded it off. She earns an excel- | lent income, but her rough path up the hill has given her infinite sympathy with the toilers of her own sex. The working girl, from the sweatshop vic tim through all grades of toil, has if Dorothy Richardson a champion and helper now known to the world- She it the author of- the famous working wo man’s story, “The Long Day.” The faintest tinge of sadness colors some 01 Dorothy Richardson’s writing and is ai times visible in her delicate blond face It is because she knows the sorrows and hardships of the underpaid work ing woman. But better, far better, that than the purse proud arrogance of wo men who do not know and never can learn. * a Different again from all the rest is strong, dashing, sparkling Kate Master- son, who interviewed General Weyler during the Cuban war. She added the expression “matinee girl" to the Eng lish language by signing that as a per. name to a series of contributions to a New York dramatic paper. She is a na tive of Newburg. N. Y. She lias dons some remarkable work in the way ol getting “scoops”-on news stories at va rious times,obtaining through her nerve and ingenuity information that ne'.OTil man nor,woman had been able to pro cure. At one time she went to Denvet to write the true story of Francis Schlatter, the healer, and if possible ti find whether he was fakir or prophet. Another occasion found her away up among the starving fishermen of St. John, N. B. Anon she was following President Cleveland up and down Ches apeake bay in a tug, telling all the world where he was when he had' triec to get away from reporters on a ducl< hunt, he hunting ducks, reporters hunt ing him. Mrs. Masterson is a dark .eyed, hand some woman with an expressive, actu ally sparkling face. She works and ■ laughs. She has written a famous hum orous book, "The Dobleys.” With hei work is the cure for all ills of the mind. In 1900 she won a prize of $100 for writ ing a poem in answer to Edwin Mark ham’s “Man With the Hoe.” She called it the “Song of Work,” and in that sin sings: Work! Let the anvils clang! Work! Let us sew the seam! Let us bind the girth of the mighty earti With the glory of our theme. Sing as the wheel spins round. Laugh at the red sparks' flight. And life will flash from the sledges’ clast Till all the world is light! LILLIAN GRAY. THE NEW WOMAN AND THE OLD ONE ^ ■ ■■■>• KJ T HERE Is a lot of talk just now about the way women are changing. Some writers de plore it and wail for the old fashioned woman, while others pretend to see a future of development for the sex. No one can deny there is a great dif ference, but alone for it. Does no one stop to real ize that the men. too, have changed? From the stern Puritan husband and father who took himself mighty seri ously (and didn’t he have to?) down to the present day specimen of American manhood is a far call. No offense to either type; only they are vastly different. The principal change is that the pres ent day’ man has a sense of humor which is with him all the time, even at certain hours when perhaps it shouldn’t ' ' * ROSE PASTOR PHELPS-STOKES. Rose Pastor, a brilliant young Jewish newspaper woman, who started in life as a cigarmaker, met in New York city the millionaire slum settlement worker J. G. Phelps-Stokes. They were attracted to each other by mutuality of tastes and were married more than a year and a half ago. Both continued to work among the poor of New York’s east side. Their experience in that work finally convinced first Mrs. Stokes, then her husband, that all they could do was no more than a drop in the ocean toward remedying the ills of poverty and Ignorance. They resolved to attack the system which, in their judgment, produces poverty and ignorance. Mr. and Mrs. Stokes have therefore become Socialists and have proclaimed themselves such. be, while his ancestor had little or none. Indeed It must have been doleful living for both men and women in those old days when sermons were four hours long and the lightest topics of interest would put a modern drawing room to sleep. Men and women struggled - hard to keep their skins from the- Indians in this world and their souls from the devil in the next. Between these two occupations there was mighty little time for anything else, and as for thea ters and other gayeties—oh, me; oh, my! . If our ancestresses could have seen in visions the fun to be provided for their de scendants with out a doubt it would have gone straight to their heads. Then came the intermediate stage in the de velopment of this country. We began to amuse our selves. Talk with any good old grand mother, and she Keep :g their skins from the Indians. rep resentations” and the literary societies. These were palmy days for literary people. Just at present, let me confess to you, they are going out of style just a trifle. There were waves of editorial com ment which “stirred the nation.” Peo ple actually read editorials in those days and to be an "editor”—mercy upon us! That was akin to godliness! X X Women looked up to their husbands and wondered at their mighty achieve ments. "Business” began, and, as no woman of that age had a head for it, it seemed correspondingly wonderful to them all. As for the stock exchange, it was mighty near black magic as far as they were concerned. Women raised large families, em broidered a great deal and read and committed to memory large quantities of sentimental poetry. For a light even ing’s recreation they would go to see "Hamlet” and think they were tremen dously dissipated. X X One woman told me—poor, dear soul— that for four years, while her two first children were young, she only went out of an evening once and that was to see ’’Macbeth,” with some great actress in the title role! To be sure even in those benighted days there were musical shows in their infancy, but considered very devilish. I dare say they would make us yawn our heads off now. The husbands usually went to these alone tir in bunches and kept the fact dark. Most of the women belonging to that era can quote poetry by the yard. How many of your acquaintances can do that now, although most of them can probably play bridge and originate fancy figures for the cotillon? X X "Other times, other manners.” There is more fun in life for a woman now than there ever was, and can you blame her for wanting to have her share of it? Housekeeping and cooking may have been all' engrossing to our grandmoth ers, but we can think of something more thrilling than making jellies, and we had rather be out in the open skat ing, playing golf and hockey or riding horseback than embroidering in a close room. X X As regards the management of chil dren also we have changed for the bet ter. Yes, I say it—for the better. The American child is not the terror it used to be. It receives less indiscriminate maternal spoiling and a more scientific bringing up. Mothers have found out that it only breeds trouble for them to coddle infants so much and that makes nervous wrecks of them to be tied to the house; hence a nurse takes care of baby and the mother keeps her youthful appearance and her interest in life by mingling in the world about her. I don’t mean by this that she neglects the baby. That is as stupid as giving It too much attention. No, indeed. She Commuted poetry to memory. r sees that it has the best of food, cloth ing and care and, above all, that its hours are regular. But she is first of all a bright, intelli gent, capable, attractive woman in stead of being first of all the baby’s mother. X X The number of women who under stand business is legion. The number of those who "do well at it” is very great. I don’t find anything to condemn in that when you consider the number of foolish specimens of womanhood who have allowed themselves to be robbed right and left by those brighter than they were. I think it admirable in wo man to be restless, if restlessness means a reaching out for development, bodily and mental. I like the phrase "a strong woman,” and, I confess the truth, I have neither respect nor even patience with limp, inept specimens whether “old fashion ed" or otherwise. So much for the subject. The world changes, and so must we. X X .Have you seen the new “freak” dishes designed to go with different vegetables and salads? The plates have humorous figures and verses. For in stance, the cheese dish has the old fable of the fox and the crow illustrat ed. The crow holds in his mouth a round cheese labeled “Camembert.” Strawberry sets made of clusters of the berries set on a back ground of green leaves are very pretty, and 0 j there are also peach and wa termelon sets and grape sets. Little pitchers made out of a single huge fruit go with these for the cream. Nowadays the tendency in table deco ration seems to be to have everything odd, and this fancy for freakish designs will be especially seen at smart country houses this summer. X X Talk about the perversion of Justice nowadays! Here is the latest, told the other evening by a prominent lawyer at a dinner: A certain man was arrested for as sault and battery. He had merely tried to gouge out another man’s eye among other things. Quickly he sent In distress to his dis trict leader. That worthy went straight to the “boss,” and the great man sent a note to the judge before whom the case was to be tried the next morning. “Hum!” said the judge, peering over his glasses at the messenger after he had read the note: “Assault and bat tery is a serious offense, but—ahem!— I’ll see .what can be done!” Came the next morning. His honor arrived brisk and earl}’ and called the first case, that of our friend. The com plainant was in the antechamber, where he had gone for a second, and this is run from the other end of the long room. “Your honor, I”— “Lower your voice, sir! How dare you interrupt the court like this?” “But, your honor, I am th'e complain ant. I”— “Too late. Case decided! What do him away. Ah, ugh!” His honor cou;:l:s and looks properly indignant as the poor man is led struggling from th' room. And yet, my dear friends, they say woman is too easily swayed to act irp partially in matters legal or politic. New York. KATE CLYDE QUEEN WILHELMINA IN DUTCH COSTUME. how it was done. Imagine his honor talking at lightning speed: “Ah, hem—case John Jones—h’m—as sault and battery. Where’s complain ant. Not here! Case dismissed! Next!” The picture shows gentle Queen Wilhelmina of Holland standing beside the not over good looking, over refined or over good tempered Duke H ,nry Fred erick of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, whom she married six years ago. Wilhelmina here wears the national costume of the Holland women. She is a good ruler and since her reign began nine years ago considerable progress has been mad* toward removing the legal disabilities of women in Holland. The queen ha* no children, which is a matter of great regret to her loyal subjects. Her father the late king of Holland, died when Wilhelmina was ten. Her mother, Queer Emma, a wise woman of strong character, was regent during Wilhelmina's childhood. WHAT WOMEN ARE THINKING, DOING AND SAYING. The North American Review says it does not believe in woman suffrage as a right but declares editorially that the time has come when the woman's vote is needed. The designing of shades for lamps and candies and electric bulbs is work that requires skill, good taste, ideas in numerable and an unusual sense of col ors and their value. The designer for a large manufacturing concern that sup- flies quantities of effective shades is a little woman who has made such a suc cess of her profession that her work is known all over the country. Miss Georgia A. Burns of Oklahoma, although only twenty-five years of age, owns and manages a ranch of 11,000 acres. She has also leased for ninety- nine years 100.000 acres of oil and min eral lands. She spends much time in the saddle and can shoot and rope cat tle with the skill of an expert cowboy. Adelaide Reynolds Haldemane is the editor and Mary C. C. Bradford asso ciate editor of the Modern World, pub lished at Denver. It is said of homemade troubles that they are very like homemade clothes— they never fit well, and they generally last longer than others. Do not there fore create imaginary ills, for they are not easily removed. Turkey offers facilities for the mar riage of infants. It is only necessary I for the bride and bridegroom to toddle from the cradle to the altar and under stand something of the meaning of the ceremony. “Because a man is a king or a woman a queen is no reason why they should marry for any other reason than love,” says Carmen Sylva (the queen of Rou- mania). “Royalty does not destroy the natural emotions. I consider it if any thing more important that the ruler should be happily married than his subjects.” An industrious mechanic pinched himself in personal expenditure in or der to purchase a piano for his two daughters. He was asked how his chil dren appreciated the gift. “Well.” he replied, “I hardly know. They appear ed to be pleased enough, but the first piece they learned was ‘Everybody Works but Father!’ ” Queen Alexandra possesses a cross which is supposed always to bring good J luck to its owner. It was formerly the j property of the late king of Denmark. Lady Angela Burdett-Coutts, coming I into a vast fortune when twenty-three so filled her ninety-three years witt wise charities that she alone in all his tory was created peeress thn Agh he own merit. An ideal is often sought in others buL neglected in our own lives. Women’s Progress, a magazine, Iii published in London and edited bj. Lady Frances Balfour and Noil Wynne. - | INDISTINCT PRINT I 1'