LADIES' COLUMN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 159, 23 February 1871, Page 7

LADIES' COLUMN.

FALLACIES IIKSPKCTOG WOMEN.

The cultivation of res,. t-ct an 1 courtesy towards our fair betrayers is to be most highly commended «.nd enforced, but we claim in thin article to assault certain feeble prejudices in favour of women which have their foundation upon romantic rigmarole. For instance, where is there a greater fallacy than in the beliei that women weigh nothing? Yet in romance, even of this modern day, we read constantly of heroes magnanimously rushiuffog with fainting maidens from blazing houses, or more feloniously " carting " them on to their shoulders for purposes of revengeful abduction. Let any one out of training, or under six feet of height, and with proportionate strength, attempt to run aw.iy with a fairly well-composed girl of eighteen or twenty, and gi»e us his opinion of the prowess of these vaunted knights. A \Nouian weighing one hundred and forty pounds, and every ounce dead weight, is not" to be chucked over one's arm and carried oft' in the smoke ; and a hundred aud forty pounds weight of kicking womanhood is not fo be carried at all. Even a slight girl will weigh up to a hundred pounds, and Rudolph or Horatio will stagger under her lovely but cumbersome figure if he bivak out of a staccato wa k. There are plenty of buxom girls who weigh up to a hundred and seventy pounds, and it is not given to every man to " hurry off"' with such a baggage. When the victimized Squalliua faints on the stage, tho robust baritone lakes good care fiat the evanouissevi"nt shall be accomplished as close to the wing as possible. Ho knows what La iSquallina weighs by the sad experience of rehearsals. Let any of our readers carry his sister (he will probably prefer his cousin) up three fii'ghls i.f ft.iirs without stopping, and i'oiwarl to us his sentiments on the occasion. Women weigh a good many po.uids nowadays, and their airiness of fabrication i* a fallacy.

Another popular belief is that women (Mt nothing. It is, of course, conceded that they sustain life by the consumption of some article of nourishment, but eating in the wholesale acceptation of the word is supposed to be foreign to female nature. This fallacy is founded and susi-iinod by women themselves, who, during the affected period of their lives, cultivate small appetites as being comma il fa lit and a sign of somi-angelic construction. When this pernicious nonsense is conscientiously carried ouc, the results upon the would-be angels are squalor, red noses, certain Joss of vigour, general limpness, and some other unpleasant sequelce. But as a rule, the smallest appetites at the fashionables tables are exhibited by those shrowd girls whose natural and healthy wants have been thoroughly appeased by secret stuffing. Need we refer our readers to the historical poem concerning Violaute in the Pantry, gnawing of a mutton bone, or remind them how she gnawed it, how she clawed it, when she found herself alone? All this is a d ; rect deceit, however, practised upon unsophisticated bachelors, who, when they have made the dainty creatures theirs, find out by the butcher's book and the ocular proof what sturdyjjrencher- women they have married. W'alch a healthy girl at supper, during the intervals of dancing; she consumes by instalments four tim?s as much as her partner during the evening's entertainment, and seems, and is, none the worse for it. We have touched on woman's capacity in this direction in a ormer article, and may therefore dismiss its discussion here brisfly by the statement that women eat in proportion to their weight, as much as men, and are no more fairies in this respect than in the matter of weight. Other fallacies regarding women are, that they must always have the front seat ; that they may strike a man brutally without retaliation in kind ; that a man must ride outside a vehicle in drenching rain to " oblige " her, she being a robust hardy fabric, and he perchance, a consumptive, cold-catching subject ; that she may cheat at cards and not be turned out of a game, that she may lose her bets and never be expected to pay, that she may bo maliciously rude to the opposite sex without having her ears soundly boxed for it, that she°may put questions to them regarding private and special matters without being considered impertinent ; iv brief that she may enjoy all the privileges of men without incurring the attendant responsibilities All that is monstrous, and we protest on behalf of our own sex against it. The whole question resolves itself into this proposition, that strength must not be made subservient to weakness. The so-called chivalry of the Dark and the Middle Ages degraded woman by elevating her into a doll, a puppet, who doled oui. a miserable blue ribbon for noodes to knock each other about for. The Greeks and Romans elevated their women by respecting their functions, wo hare lowered our women by letting them dedicate to us from a position of nonentity. It is a mistake to believe that the Female Reformers, who are at this day struggling for equality of rights with man, seek to combat v,*ith the opposite sex. They ask for equality only, and do not desire to tyrannise, by aspiring to conquer men by asserting the privileges of weakness. " Men arc good-humouredly contented to endure

gross injustice from woman, because they are aware that they have brought the punis'inv-nt upon themselves by permitling a i-titude to feebleness; weakness in iui^ed becomes a bully and a tyrant, and i:s the face of this universally acknowlc-dgod fact, some of us are content to be over-ridden by butterflies and crushed by pigmies. It is pleasant enough to pet a pretty woman, and to fetch and carry for her wiriiin aii-erect bounds ; but these should not expose manhood to contempt. Systematically to upset right, justice and kindliness, because a woman is the as'cer. is altogether unendurable. In these limitd we ran only briefly touch upon a great social question, concerning which an important essay might be written. — "Court Circular."'