The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-11-13
The Sex.

lhc Sex
The advocates Of what are called women's
rights have been considerably nettled by an
ingenious and novel argument upon the
subject, from the pen of Professor Riehl, OF
Stuttgart. This distinguished writer has
constructed an elaborate rejoindcr to the
plea by which female equality is sought to
be established His fundamental idea is
that sex is differentiated by culture, and that
the attempt to equnlize the sexes is simply
return TO barbarlsm. lie holds that So
cial inequality is law of Nature which
becomes more and more distinct and exact
ing with the progress of civilization. TO
the support OF his position Riehl summons
revelation, history, art, cthnology and pa
thology. We arc indebted to The Nation
for sketch of that part of his Natural
History of the Family" which embraces the
discussion.
Our author holds Tin common with many
| disciples OF IIegel,) that the fall hunanzed
man, that it awokc his slumbering sclf-con-
| sciousness and developed his domestic and
social instincts. He calls attention to the
fact that this event-a calamity which in
volved blessing produced the subordina-
| tion OF the female The first stage OF civili-
zation was the distinguishing of the qualities
and the relations OF scx-the assignment of
the woman to the direction and the loving
guardianship of the man. Among semi
civilized people, like the poorer peasantry,
this relation is obscured. Both sexes dress
alike, in hats and boots and bloomers. They
engage, as in the Tyrol, the Laudes, the
Alps, in the same employments, where it is
matter OF indifference whether it is the
master or mistress of the farm who knits or
ploughs. They resemble each other in size,
strength, coarseness OF feature, and to some
extent in the tone of voice. They live to-
gether rather rs friends than Us lovers. But
among barbarous people the distinction is
weil-niSh obliterated, as in Dahomey, where
the women are esteemed as having more
courage than the men, and are selected as
t9e royal body guard because they make
better soldiers. An American eyewitness
| informed lis that in the disastrous charge
upon Abbcokuta, the women warriors OF Da-
honey approved themselves as the brnycst
| OF the assailants. The classical student will
remember similar accounts of the gallantry
of German, Spanish and British women.
given by the Roman historians.
Professor Riehl also notices the testimony
given by the arts to the continuous difercn-
tlation OF the sexes. Portraits show that
the women, few centuries ago. were what
we would now Gull masculine. Now-a-tlnys
Mary, Queen of Scots, would lose her celeb
rity. The old Madonnas are no longer what
they were intended to bottle types OF yir-
gin lovelincss. Another striking proof ap-
pears in the change that has taken place in
music. The simple melodies of antiquity
have been displaced, not because tho FASH
ion Of singing has changed, but because tho
tones OF human speech have alteredEthe
male tenor sinking more and more into the
bass, and the female alto rising into the So
prano. II is divergence in the tones of
the sexes that has revolutionized music,
developed the chant into the oratorio, the
'recitative OF the ballad into the fugue of
"the sercnata, the solo into the symphony,
land rendered the grand opera with it's
'twenlth OF vocal and orchestral combina
''nations possible" The continental man
ayers are now obliged to repair to Hungary,
ana other outlying scmi-civiiized sections,
IN order to obtain clear high altos. And
finally, attention is called to the fact that
what are called "fcmale diseases" do not
exist below a certain grade of social devel-
opmcnt The barbarian amazon has no
morbid idiosyncracies.
There is a good deal in Rhiel's arguments
which may be urged successfully against
those who would make woman mans rival
and competitor. When these people saw
that woman is delicate, domestic and depen-
dent simply through the force of adverse
circumstances, and not by necessity of
Nature, they forget that these circumstances
are precisely what make up our modern
civilization. 1t is the woman Of antiquity
1t Is Brunehild and Boadicea, and not the
cultivated, accomplished and beautiful wo-
man CT the nineteenth century, whose cause
Miss Anthony and her colleagues are advo-
eating, and whom they, often In person, rep
resent. 4saro
The sagacious advocate OF woman's en-
reimbursement will recognize what is dis
unctiTe in her character and apowers. In
stead OF undoing the work Of centuries OF
Christian civilization, and .endeavorins to
make her mannish, he viii seek to secure
for her protection, liberty and a just support,
In the sphere to which she actually belongs
The Chester Reporter says that Wimbush
the negro senator from Chester County, has