Poor -- New York (State) -- New York; Social settlements
The world of wealth would find itself rejected if it brought with it into
the wage-earning world its moral standards, the rules of conduct are so
simple in this world, the standards so elemental. An aldermanic candidate
who in his own world is not counted ignorant, during the campaign of 1901
conceived the idea, which he had never held before, though this was the
fourth time he had appealed to the suffrages of the people, that the women
were a factor in political success. He decided to call on the wives,
mothers and sisters of the voters in his district. It would be interesting
to know his conclusions after his experience. He must have gained wisdom by
his experiment, and heard some unwelcome truths. He announced to one of his
hostesses that he thought if he called and showed himself they might see in
him something that would persuade them that their husbands, fathers,
brothers, or sons ought to vote for him. It would have been interesting to
have seen his face when more than one hostess assured him that, having seen
him, she felt bound to urge her husband to vote for the other candidate. Or
when he was told by others that he must understand how certain he was of
defeat, or he would not appeal to women. Still more interesting it would
have been to see him when an outraged wife let down the flood-gates of her
wrath because she blamed him for the periodic lapses from industry and
sobriety of which her husband was guilty. The better class of voters of
this candidate's party resented angrily the man calling on their wives. The
root cause of the indignation of the men and women it was found was that
this man dared to call when the husbands were not at home. In the world of
work there is no place for social life in the day-time, and it argues ill
for those who indulge in it. The Metropolitan Opera House in the evening
would so shock the working man and his wife that they would never recover
respect for those who frequent it. A high-necked lace dress with a low
lining, worn in the evening by one from the other world to an East Side
party, brought out this comment: "Oh! yes, she's all right. They all do it,
the women; but isn't it awful?"
The moral standards for men and women in the world of work are the same.
The immoral man is despised and avoided by the women. A woman who should
maintain the smallest degree of friendship or acquaintance with a man known
to be immoral would be avoided by her neighbors; she would be made to
realize at once the cause of her offending.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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