Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1895 — “MR AND MRS.” [ARTICLE]

“MR AND MRS.”

Will the New Woman Consent to Change Her Title When Wetl? Boston Globe. It is a in all the discussion of the topic marriage and divorce by the National Council of Womeffin Washington, one item of import to the tVoinen of the future escaped mention. -So much has been said regarding the sex's equality, particularly in the state of matrimony, that it seems a strange oversight not to insist on the abandonment of the distinctive title marking the married and unmarried women. Men do not change the “Mister," given them by courtesy, when taking unto themselves wives, and why should the women ehango their - eou-rtesy title, or why, considering the modern independence of the fair sex, make any distinction at. all? It is suggested That"if the change must, be, it might be tnade by man, who lias for centuries enjoyed that superior prefix “Mr.” Let him on marriage lose that title with the rest of his liberty, and henceforth be simply addressed bv his surname.” Wtiuld not that be a capital turningof the tables, and a clear mark of supremacy in the new order of things? Because a woman has no husband to support shall she be eternally “Miss,” or when divorce sets her free must, she preserve the “Mrs.” from a mere matter of conventional pride? The English custom, abandoned more than two centuries ago, of calling every woman, married or single, “Mrs.,” had its advantages, after all. and by the light of her emancipation it should be reinstated without delay. Five Thousand Passes on One Road. Topeka, Kan., Journal. “I have just written the 4.999 th pass since this Legislature con-1 veued,” said 'General Attorney A. ! A. Hurd, of the Santa Fe, last night. | It is Mr. Hurd who issues nearly all the passes “on account of legisla- j iiop, !< and hp sees That esch mem ber ofjthe Legislature is provided with a pasteboard which allows him to ride ! free on all Santa Fe lines during the J session. The members are aiso given | trip passes for their friends when they wish to travel to and from Topeka purely “for legislative purposes.” Mr. Hurd was- in a happy mood. It was probably because the Legislature was so near ended, “It is strange, very strange," said he, “what excuses members do make to get passes. Often when a pass is applied for and it is not definite for what purpose it is requested, I write to the member and ask him what it is for, and he wili answer ‘legislative purposes.’ “Next year when the Legislature j meets lam preparing- a surprise. 11 have had a talk with the representatives of the other lines, and we have agreed to issue no trip passes whatever for ‘legislative purposes.’ A member will receive a pass for himself ar.d family and that will end it, and his friends will have to pay their fare or stay at home. I think that the number of people who come to Topeka will not be quite so large.”