New-York tribune., 1869-06-28
oTHE GEL OF TIE PERIOD."

HOW lar WOMAN viii plOhti p'AoohiiJ "i'N
socially, by that discussion OF her true relation
to the race which has become 50 common, can
not at present be accurately determined. We
are living in day of provokngly loose dia-
lectics; there arc even those who appear 10
think that bad logic is irrcfragible, II only IL
comes from a woman's mouth, and that she Is
safer in trusting herself to the guidance oil
notions which she has received from others
than TO those pure utuitiOns which have mere
tofore been her safeguard and ornament. lhat
woman's place. even in the highest forms OF
ciyilization-a place which has been occupied
for centuries without prOtest--is the result
of mere accident, OF of the superior physical
strength of man, we shall believe, when we
can believe also that human affairs are gov
erned by no immutable law, and that material
force is the motive power Of human progress.
Nor are we yet able quite to discard certain
opinions concerning the predcstinate duties of
maternity-the bearing the nurture, and the
education Of chdren-which thousands OF
noble womanly natures have heretofore found
sufficient to save them from ennui and from
friyolity. We may surely be pardoned if we
perceive something more than chance some
thing more effective than masculine despotsm,
something fixed from the beginning, in the rel
ative constitution of the sexes, and with which
legislation cannot mcddlc without producing
moumful and disastrous confusion.
In the beginning, we may venture to point
out how extremely difficult, how almost I'M
possible, il seems TO be 20 discuss these ques-
tions with continuous gravity, aud without
occasional touches Of satire and ridicule. Mr.
Stuart Mil, it we are not mistaken, il the only
Grst-rate thinker who brings 10 the champion
ship of "Womans Rights n serious and CO.
herent mind; yet even he commits In the
beginning the capital error of regarding the
duties of wife and mother as simply E" an
occupation" Against definition so thor
ougbly mechanical rs this, every human heart
in n normal condition will Indignantly revolt.
But though the opinions of Mr.. Mill are cnt-
tied, whether he may be right or wrong, to
the most respectful consideration, it may bo
safely said that majority of those who are
loudest in their demands for what they call
the Emancipation of Woman are also shallow
in their reasoning, tritling in their Illus
tratOns, and crooked in their philosophy. We
take the liberty Of declaring that with n
few notable and praiseworthy exceptions, the
female orators who are engaged in promoting
one of the greatest of all possible social Tevo-
lutions do not seem to us TO be in earnest.
There is too much jesting. There is too much
scoldng, pure and simple. There is too much
loose generalization. There is altogether too
free an assumption of premises, and even from
these the conclusions are drawn with an un-
steady hand. There are too many freaks of
costume and there are too many frisks OF
speech; and too often upon the platforms the
least acute observer detects rather a love of
nOtoriety than a passion for genuine and per-
manent reform of social errors. To strengthen
their position, and TO make mp for deficient
reasoning, by presenting in their own persons
concrete argument in support of substantial
sexual identity, women, thus far, have too
often shown Il disposition to initiate the worst
masculine pecuiarities, and to astonish society
into acauiescence, even if they cannot convince.
The inevitable result of this is to give a
ridiculous air to the whole proceeding, and to
encourage the gibcs Of the mocking and the
irreverent. Men truly are not to blame If the
boisterous dsagrcements of Female Conyen-
tions lead them TO refuse TO attach to the pro-
ceedings of such assemblages more than
moderate degree of Importance.
As evidence Of tho truth of what we have
Just asserted, we might point to a new maga-
zine which has recently been set on foot in
England, and which is entitled The Girl OF the
Period This is a slang ttle-a translation,
we believe, from the French-which has been
of late good deal in the mouths of English
men and women, and the exact purport Of
which we have never been able TO determine.
Even the journal before us is not particularly
felicItous in its definition. "The Girl of the
Period" it says, "is natural outgrowth of
circumstances She is an involuntary Pro-
"test. She is the masculine Giggle of the Hour.
"She is the Irony of the Situation" What
this means. we cannot undertake to determine;