New-York tribune., 1869-05-11
VOMAY IN THE LYCEUM."

"WOMAN IN THE LYCEUM"
In the pretty theater of the Union League
Club last night, Miss Kate Field has her bright
excuse for bcing-fOr being q lecturer, we
mean 1t seemed to us Sign of the Times
that very fashionable audience, in very
fashionable clothes, filled this most fashionable
of assemby-rooms to hear woman speak
For, though Mrs. Lucy Stone instructs COnven-
tons, and Miss Anna Dickinson delights mass
meetings feminine Oratory Is still mentioned
with condesccnson, and the feminine orator has
not, in these latter days, been considered the
ching" We say, in these latter days, for our
most conservative tourist is confronted at
Padua by the statue of Elena CornarO, lecturer
on philology and professor OF six Ian
guages in the unrivaled University OF her tlme
Clotilda Zambroni was almost as appalling
vet her age endured her with philosophy And
no hint comes down to us that Deborah
was counted strong minded by her neighbOrs,
though she judged the people, and wrote
history. in America, where the logical result
of our national formula OF equal rights Is the
perfect freedom of woman, as OF man, to do
any work to achieve any success which natural
endowments make possible, it seems an odd
thing that women have not long ago settled
beyond dispute their claim that ability decides
the question of fitness. That il is by no means
settled is proved by the discussion everywhere
provoked-in newspapers, in magazines, in leg
isatures. in pulpts. Nay, the lecture OF last
night was a protest against the prevailing
sentiment in respect to women's work.
The one poisoned shaft which has been flung
at all women who asserted that noble work
for mana
work nor woman's work, but human work,
thing higher than either, is the epithet, an
f" feminine" 1t is what the subtle professor
calls a polarised word, which has come to rep
resent certain things which in no wise
belong to it. Now, if hel could de-
polarize the word, We should have
some hope of testing the thing it misrepresents
TO be feminine is to be gentle, modest, truth
full pure, intuitive. 1t is not to be idle, ex-
travagant, silly, vain thoughtless, snowy,
empty. Now let us question the OCCASION A
lecturer asks us to hear some thoughts which
seem TO her to have q certain social signif-
capce. we go, paying our dollar at tho door.
"a va should pay it 10 hear the full-thrOated
Parepa. So far, nothing unfeminine. The
lady enters quietly, as she would enter her
own dawing-room, appearing, with exquisite
breeding, on tho very stroke of the clock.
Certain famous orators and singers might pom
der to advantage this leaf of her behavior
book Her audience il pleased to see her, and
she looks pleased that she gives pleasure
Seated at her table she opens her manuscript.
Unless floating robes, and soft ribbons, and
tho breath of flowers, and ease, and grace.
are unfeminine she has not yet offended.
In low, thoroughly trained voice, she reads
her essay. But it is such reading rs we do
not often hear The airy, conversational tone;
the pure enunciation the absolute, and, alas
unusual justice meted out to worthy, but too
often unacknOwedged vowels; the entire alb
sence of preaching on the one hand and of
flippancy Oh the Other-are these unfemnnef
The reader says, in effect, that since the plat
form offers room and pay to women, and since
Nature, however mistakingly, seems very posi-
lively to have bestowed on women special ora
torical gifts, it appears to her waste OF forces
that the Lyceum should not be as unquestioned
field for women as for men. And she sup
ports her theory with arguments, scrptural,
logical, economical, and social. st. Paul and
Adam Smith amiaby push on the car of her
triumph, literature and history are tributary 60
her, and small elves of wit and imagination
cover with fantastic Rariands those heavy
weights, and make oven ST. Paul less conyin-
cling than Artemus Ward
We confess that Mt the end of an hour and
quarter we had not been shocked, alarmed.
nor narrowed up. The landmarks of our
fathers seemed to us reasonably secure No
vision rOf hundreds of thousands of women
rushing madly TO the platform, to the State
House, to the Editorial Room, to push us from
our stools, appalled, u.s. We did not even feel
that the country was done for On the other
hand, We did wonder why We were surprised
at the success Of the lecturer and the satis-
faction of the audience.
Has it not been, in part, the fault Of tho
pioneers of this Reform, that the Reform has
suffered unnecessary oblOquyH There are
names among those Of women specially known
as Woman's Rights Women which represent
a courage like Joan Of Arcs, a steadfast en-
durance like Mary Patterns. But many of the
Representative Women seem to us to have
committed tho very otfenses they most Ve-
hemently 'denounce. Man was o tyrant, exact
ing, ungenerous, fierce, cruel, determined. And
in speech most exacting, ungenerous, fierce,
cruel, and determined, they demanded
his overthrow, A conservative world. which did