The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-08-23
AN ERRONEUs POSITION.


A writer in the London Globe pro-
fesses to have made a notable discovery
in social science. He asserts that wom-
en- are not so popular among men as
they used to be, marriages are not so
numerous in proportion to population,
and he finds the reason for it all in the
higher education of women. 'Tn their
regard for intellectual ambition they
have ceased TO respect the emotional
side Of human nature, and in their de-
mand for free trade in the work Of the
world, for leave to spare in all the spe-
cialties in mans life, they have forgot
ten that part Of their own happiness lies
in administering to his. They have
lost the trait of loving as they used to
love, they have abjured the old virtues
Of patience, modesty, tenderness, self
sacrifice, housekeeping and home-bIess-
ing, and have become cold, hard, and
worldly and self-assertive Instead. They
have ceased to be women in all that
constitutes true womanhoOd, and con-
sequently have ceased to charm men as
aforetime."
This, as a sensible reviewer observes,
is a serious charge. If woman in seek
ing an intellectual equality with man
and n share Of the worlds work is edu-
eating herself away from the sphere
which God and nature so evidently de-
signed for her to fill; if she is becoming
unloving and unlovable; if she is build
ing up wall Of separation between the
sexes, cherishing, as this writer says,
''an odd antagonism to man" it is quite
time she should pause and review the
situation. 1t would be a fearful thing
10 see woman marching on in her intel
leetual pride, scornful of all that relates
to marriage, home and children, while
hapless man is left to eelibacy and but.
tonless discomfort. The masculine hal
of humanity, at least, must contemplate
such a situation with much of the con.
sternation that falls upon the housewife
when Bridget gives warning in tho
midst Of spring cleaning.
But it strikes US that the alarm
sounded by this writer is groundless
We do not believe that woman can edu.
cate herself out Of herself, that she can
lose her feminity by intellectual or bus
mess pursuits, or eradicate the emo
tiOnal side Of her nature. We have no
fear Of her becoming the determined
enemy of man. On the contrary, we
are induced to think that the "antagon-
ism" TO which this writer refers, so far
as it has any existence, is due quite as
much to a feeling of jealousy on the
part Of man as to a cold intellectually
on that Of woman. There is a class OF
men who cannot tolerate intellectual
pretentions on the part of woman, who
wish the superiority of their own sex
to be taken for granted, and shrink with
a sense Of humiliation from a contest
with a quick-witted woman. Such men
look upon a wife rather as a pet or play
thing than as a companion. If they
choose to go into the sulks and remain
single because girls display an ambition
TO understand comic sections and the
differential calculus-an ambition which
never stirred their masculine breasts
why so much the worse for them. But
no sensible man viii entertain the no.
tion that a girl has no heart because
she has given evidence Of possessing q
mind.
1t is not to be denied that self-asser.
tive, worldly-minded women are to be
found, or that among the advocates oI
woman's elevation there are those who
think more Of her rights than her du.
ties, and affect a contempt for the care:
Of mothers and housekeepers. But We
opine that on close Investigation this
state Of mind viii be found to be large.
ly due to the opposition encountered by
woman in her endeavors to enlarge hel
sphere Of action. Antagonism provoke,
antagonism, and when the attempt is
made TO keep woman in subsection by
civil and industrial disabilities, it is not
surprising that, conscious OF her capac-
ity for larger employments, she should
exhibit a spirit Of independence not nat
ural TO her instincts and affections. Let
this opposition cease and the right OF
woman to employ herself in any work
within the range Of her capabilities be
freely accorded, and the antagonism
complained of will disappear, or sink to
those exceptional instances which only
heighten, by contrast, the feminine vir-
tues which have ever made woman the