Show Dorothy Dix WHAT I CANT CAN'T UNDERSTAND WAILS A PUZZLED MAN IS THE THE PECULIAR FEMININE CODE OF ETHICS WHICH HAS NO RULES FOR RIGHT OR WRONG BUT MAKES DECENT CONDUCT DEPEND ON TIME PLACE MOOD OF MOMENT I THE thIng that I cant can't understand about women said a 8 man Is I the peculiar femInIne code of o ethics Women omen are the the the self elected conscience keepers of the world They make the moral law laws As AI Asa a 8 sex they are better than men and yet Ive I've seen seer ij one of these very patterns of o feminine virtue doI I IgI things that no decent man would do And she did It without a single one of her angel feathers because according to the queer feminine logic whether a thing Is right orS or S wrong honest or dishonest true or false depends z- z zon on the time the place and the season and the mood she happens to be In in There are no hard and fast fastI w rules among women in regard to what Is decent In conduct as there are among men S 'S 14 Take the matter of modesty In droll dress et which J It Is purely regulated by fashion Now S Sten ten years ago a woman would have blushed blushed'S S 'S r herself td t J death duth If she he had been boen caught on the public street In a dress that was sheered cheered bi off of at her knees that th t was wa minus sleeves and spinal column Now the most mod sedate and Victorian mid-Victorian lady l dy practically don does doe the Lady Godiva act every day without turning a hair THEN S LiEN HEN observe the strange attitude that women take on the ques question tion of o chaIl chasity They are particularly strong on this point yet they condone In men what they damn in jn their own sex They draw their skirts away from the woman sinner and InvIte her male taale partner In sin to dinner More than that the tho very best belt of women and the ones who are the leaders In the crusade for society purity will marry their Innocent young daughters off to men whom they know to be disputable CAN AN you beat that for tor Inconsistency Is Immorality Immoral only when It gets In the feminine gender gentler Is there a sex distinction in virtue I wont won't even en speak of the matter of white lies tor for the mere masculine Intellect reels and totters when It considers the number of apparently unnecessary falsehoods that a perfectly truthful woman consIders It proper to tell A mm man Is a liar or he Is not A woman Is la both a liar and truthful and she considers herself a model of veracity If she tells the truth on big occasions occasion Such little matters as 58 saying she Is not at home homo when she tha I Is that she Is 35 when she Is past 50 that she had a delightful time at a party when she was bored to death that a certain woman Is a dear when ahe she thinks her a cat that her gown is an Im Ini Imported ported one ono when she made It herself and so on the she con con ciders alders none of the recording angels angel's business and she he will get the surprise of her life when she the finds out that these false falsehoods hoods are set down on the heavenly record under the gen gert general eral oral list of Lies THE average woman only hits the truth in high places All women A this and take each others other's statements with about a barrel of salt and yet how hurt their little feelings would be If It anyone any one should accuse them of being liars One of the main reasons cannot deal Intelligently wIth women is that they are never prepared for the whoppers that truthful truth truthful ful Jane hands them Take note also as an example of the lopsided way In which women's moral principles work of the feminine peti position position petition tion on the vies vice of gambling Virtually all good women are violently opposed to unless gambling gambling unless their men folks are lucky I T 1 ONCE knew a 8 very ery pious lady who ho had much to say against card cardI cardA I playing and horse racing and was violent In her denunciations ot o poolrooms and all games of ot chance Finally some one told her that her son was a professional proCessIonal gam gam- gambler gambler bler bier and that the money money she lived on came across a poker table They they asked her why she didn't let reform like charity begin at home Oh she said but Edward always wins And there you are For For the Justification of gambling or orthe orthe orthe the sin of It to most women is determined by whether you win or lose THEN 1 HEN who can explaIn the nIce dividing line that women draw between honesty and dishonesty When It comes to a Question of money women are tar more honest than men If It a woman owes you you money she will Ul pay It If It she possibly can speaking for the sex ser by and large If It you OU trust her with money she will be faithful In handling it That Is la the reason why hy women cashiers are supersedIng men cashiers In so many business houses It Is very seldom that the trusty female tampers with the cash drawer But the very woman who handles thousands thousand of dollars without a cent sticking to her hep fingers finger will look blandly out of the car cap window while th the conductor passes pastes by asking for forfar far fares or will soak a us used d postage stamp off an envelope and try to pass It again and return articles she has used u ed to a shop as not satisfactory WOMEN MOMEN who are respectable and well oft off and who would sue for tor Yg libel It if you called them dishonest will wilt steal hotel towels toels and spoons from restaurants and perjure themselves to smuggle In a few trinkets from abroad And Instead of ot having any sense of shame about these things they brag ot of o them Certainly the feminine conscience work works In a oui ous oua way Its wonders to perform and no man can guess be beforehand forehand at what tangent It is I going off For FOP myself I lave Java the most profound reverence for fop It but I regard It as one of the great unsolvable mysteries of creation DOROTHY DIX Copyright by Public Ledger |