Josiah Allen on the Woman QuestionHolley, Marietta
General
Josiah Allen on the Woman Question
Holley, Marietta
Feminism -- Fiction; Humorous stories; Sex role -- Fiction; Women's rights -- Fiction
And my reason for this course has been twofold. First, as any male
Filosifer and female Researcher knows, that owin' to her weakness of
inteleck and soft nater, a woman's mind gits ruffled up easy, and
that rufflin' up affects her cookin'. And under a too severe strain a
female has sometimes forgot to be promp with her meals, and not notice
seemin'ly that her pies wuz runnin' out, and the cookie jar gittin'
empty. Such things, no matter how strong a man's inteleck is, has a
deleterious effeck on his internal systern, which reacts on his branial
cranium. And I've been afraid of the consequences if I onleashed the
lion in me, and answered and crushed her onholy arguments in cold type.
And my second reason wuz that in spite of her almost blasphemous
doctrine that wimmen are equal to men, I knowed that under them mistook
idees it wuz a lackage of good horse sense and not inherient depravity
that ailed her. I knowed that if Samantha wuz only willin' to settle
down peacefully in the shelter and shade of man's powerful strength and
personality, there never wuz a better woman or a neater, equinomicler
housekeeper on earth than Samantha Smith Allen, and as a maker of cream
biscuit and apple dumplin's, and a frier and briler of spring chickens
never outdone and seldom equalled. I've argued in private life with
her till my jaws ached and my lungs wheezed with incessant labor. Have
experimented in various ways and appeared before her daily for years
as a shinin' sample of man's superiority. But never, never have I been
able to make her own up how inferior her sect is to the more opposite
one. But as I say, as long as I've suffered, I have never before took
my rightful place in literatoor, never took the high peak waitin'
for me to set down on, while I hurled the thunderbolts of convincin'
eloquence down upon the female wimmen squirmin' beneath me.
But I dassent wait a minute longer. I have got to put a stop to the
awful doin's goin' on around me. And if my worst forebodin's are
realized, and I've got to starve it out, I will offer myself a hungry
victim to Duty, and die with my manly principles enfoldin' my gant form
like a halo of glory. But mebby I've waited too long. I tremble to
think on't. I ort to made the move sooner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account