Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1870-04-07
The Woman Question.

4Ao oAcstAOhs
A recent article in DR.: Hsmmond's
journal of Psychological Aedicihe,-
which in view of the diversified mean
iugs which ale packed on the back of the
word psychological" it may not be
amiss to introduce TO our readers as a
leading journal devoted to mental dis
ease,-we find description of the pres.
ent social condition of women, considered
as cause of idiocy and lunscy in their
offspring. 1t is alleged that the prevail
M IDEAS of women are not favorable to
u,hernity; that its occurrence, instead of
being hailed with enthusiasm and secret
Joy, as in the earlier periods of the world,
is generally regretted; that not only ma
ternity, but wifehood, so far as it in.
wolves necessary dependence upon hus-
band for pecuniary support and daily
society, is widely looked upon as one of
the evils of life, the result of woman's
inferior fitness and capacity to win her
own support; aud that women generally
are in a transition, wherein they are
neither content to be dependent nor fit
ted to be self-supporting; that out of this
feverish unrest grows an unhealthy dis
taste for the duties of the family, so that
children, being hostile intruders before
their birth, and neglected afterwards, are
born and reared under all the corceiya-
bls adverse influences which could deyel-
OPP insanity. The desire for display and
high style Of living, sacrifices the health
and happiness of the wife and mother to
the four chief expenses of modern living
rent, servants, dress and furniture
The labors, anxieties and struggles of
both parents are embittered by the race
between their income aud expenses; the
ends and simple realities Of life are sacri-
feed to its secondaries and its trappings;
the self culture, social life, leisure, educa-
aion and amusements of their children,
and the quiet serenity of home life, are
all driven away by the nightmares of rent,
wages, bills. tbree-fourths of which min
istersd to pride only, and have no refer
ence TO genuine comfort; and so, as the
result mainly of the ambitious tastes of
both parents, and especially Of the moth
ers, running ahead of their capacity to
earn money, their children are oftener
the product Of disunIon than of union,
and are born into workshops instead of
homes.
The only lesson derivable from these
views is that the health and sanity of
offspring would be increased if parents
were willing to live more for utility and
comfort and less for show, 1t is a scien-
tific verification of the wise mans saying,
that "Pride goes before destruction, and
u naughty spirit before a fall" Surely,
no destruction can be so complete, no fall
so bitter, as that of the parents who wit
ness their own, perhaps unconscious, err
rors exposed in the hayward tendencies
on bodily diseases of their offspring
For mental disease is traceable not only
in those cases of intellectual but in NOR
al infrmity which daily arise, and inilict
often a more poignant pang, because
they are associated in the common mind
with vice. If q child loses he power to
walk, to see, or to think conuectedly, the
parent is pitied as the subject of provi-
Dental dispensation. If she strays from
the path of virtue, dark night descends
between her and all her ancient associa-
tons. Yet all these cases may alike re-
suit from ante natal defects and mental
diseases, the result of the overburdened
life Of the mother, followed by the defec
tive hygienic as well as moral training of
the child.
If women are on the road to more
general capacity for self-support, and,
consequently. to truer independence in
or out of the married state; If they are
tending moro and more to become work.
ing partners aud aids to their husbands
~ the pursuits Of business, it is easy to
see that these results would increase the
money making power of every family
and lessen the financial difficulties, which
are alluded to by DR.. Holland as chief
source of woman's subsection, unrest and
un6tness for maternity. Already in the
foremost ranks Of literary men and wo-
men We see numerous illustrations of the
happy solution of this problem. Who
can doubt that Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett
Browning and Robert Browning found a
trusr unity in marriage than either could
have attained with partner who was a
cipher? So with the union of William
and Mary Hewitt, of John Stuart and
Harriet Mill, and others that might be
named. Why may not the superiority
OF equalizsd marriages over unequal, in
Z the mere elements Of capacity for mental
activity, be copied into every sphere of
life?T Would not every physician have
his working power increased if his
wife were az educated doctress, who
could either do portion of his work, or,
more usefuIstiIl. study bis cases by the
light Of niuuter reading than ho has