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Newspaper Page Text
HER SEVEN SELVES! SHADOW OF HER IDEAL SELF WALKS BESIDE EVERY WOMAN BY WINONA WILCOX By the side of every woman walks a shadow her ideal self. Man fancies that woman believes her ideal state to be one of equality and comradeship with himself. Her insistence on getting the ballot con vinces him of this. But man is wrong. It is not as man's equal that woman hopes to Br p5 I 1 j yVS "WOMEN WOULD "BEL. I I PRrE make her dreams come true it is in independence of his will. For the ghost that -travels by the side of the average woman is the shade of a free woman, a human being with a right to herself, regard less of sex. Woman has made many experi ments in. seeking for personal liberty. Parasitism always has been and probably will remain a favorite form. The woman who is provided with luxuries regards herself as an inde pendent creature. Yet women are never more completely slaves than when they depend entirely on men for food, clothing and amusement. "When the wife, loaded with jew els, reposes among cushions," says an old Roman author, "all things go downward and the state decays." The parasite is on a level with the woman of the harem. Her children, if she have any, are unfit ,The opposite condition, that of economical independence, attracts woman today. But it is not leading her out of captivity. So far she has only succeeded in making herself one more handy cog in the wheel of man's industries. The children of the woman who works for wages outside of the home are often weaklings. Thus the wom an who is employed and the woman who does nothing at all both fail as mothers in the same degree, al though for quite different reasons. But as a rule,-more talking than thinking is done on this subject And much of the talking amounts to the same things as cutting water with a knife. Real freedom can come to woman only through her universal, her nor mal experience. Free womanhood means free motherhood. The ideal woman will be able to choose how many chil dren she will have and when she will have them. This means a new spir itual relation with man. It is a mat ter of ideal love, not one of dollars, and cents, not one of parasitism 01' of economical independence. o o What! Gen. Pershing to marry a New York widow? Gee! hasn't the man had enough of punitive expeditions?. MiMtittaflatitftittMtfaaMfliMMMMMHi