Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-01-04
The Woman Question.
From the st. I.ouia DemocraA.

The Woman Question.
From the st. Louis Democrat.
Within year past, an eminent nat.
uralist of New England has made a dis
covery which we think; rightly inter-
preted, may tie Of great help in leading
to nh understanding of tho phenomena
at the foundation of the so-called-but
mis- callel-woman's rights movement,
which has been the social and political
sensation of this and other countries
for few years. A careful study of the
nature, history and habits of that fam
lly OF tue crnstaceN known is the craw.
fish affords indisputable proof of what
the philosophers call the dimorphous
tendency. The dimorphous tendency
may be explained as the disposition
toward sexual cncroachment--a desire
OH the part of the male to assume the
form, manifestations and functions II
tho female, and of tho female to ap-
preach us near rs nature will allow her,
the properties and offices OF the male:
1t this be true, it robs the Stantons,
Woodhulls and Tiltons OF our human
race of MI claim to originality. and rel.
cgates them to the order of copyists,
which is ut the best a poor one. II
would seem thatnot only are there now
but there have been from the earliest
period in animate nature, crustacean
Tiltons with long hair and erus-
tacean Woodl,ulls with short
hal, weak-minded male crawfish and
strong female crawfish.
Whether they betook themselves to the
rostrum, and published a Il :Golde,l
Agc anti'a Rcroiution, is fact in the
internal economy of this interesting
subdivision of the animal kingdom
which has not yet been revealed.
We have not the least doubt that the
philosopher Of a hundred years hence
| will attribute the attempt of the present
day in the direction of disturbance
OF the social and domestic relations to
dimorphism on the part of the leaders
and champions of the movement; that
he will say that on or about the year
1865, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Miss Susan 3. Anthony and Mrs. Vic
tofia Woodruff, hrving given the mat
ter serious consideration, resolved in
their own minds that change of sez
would benefit heircondition and that
Mr.. Theodore Tilton, Mr.. Stephen P.
Andrews, and q few others of presump-
tive masculinity, determined about the
same time that life, liberty and the
pursuit Of happiness would be most
attainable to them in the female organ
ism. Hence the determination of the
discontented of the two sexes-each
meeting each on the plan of q mutual
grumble, and regrettine, apparently.
that they could not effect for them
selves that physical transformation
which they SO earnestly desired. It
was condition of mutual envy which
yearned for barter of the functional
relations.
Physical dimorphism being impossi-
bic except as N aspiration, the move.
ment resolved itself into its intellect
ual counterpart, and in that respect has
developed into its present proportions
The intellectual attributes of the race
as to the sex are more susceptible of
Of change and modification than the
physical: and it is perhaps o consola-
ton to know if the weak-minded man
may not experience the perils and joys
of maternity, he may at least clothe his
thoughts in petticoats and utter them
with an epicine whine; and if the
strong minded woman is denied the Or
namentation of beard and the best
adaptation for pantaloons, she can con-
jure up ideas and hurl them down the
aisle of distant ages from the platform
and the rostrum.
As with all "reforms so with
this. The original r0is0n d'etre is not
strictly adhered to land converts. act
uated by widely different motives, aock
in to swell tile number of adherents.
Thus it is that the "woman's rights
movement of to-day is q sort of an
asylum for the disconnected of both
sexes, inspired by that we'll known
principle of human nature which makes
misery lover of company The wo-
man who has been unfortunate in her
selection of husband, and the man
who has been unfortunate in the selec-
ton of q wife, the involuntary virgin of
forty and the reluctant bachelor of fifty
are Ill there to join in chorus of lam
entation at the folly of Provid-
encc, and on equally loud lau-
dation of their own wisdom, and
to tell the world that it's nineteen
centuries of Christian history are but
nineteen centuries of mistake. If fact
were coextensive with assertion, they
would long since have made out q con-
vincing case, and if the exceptional fe-
| male scold were at the same time q
social philosopher the world would long
| since have been converted. But as
neither of these contingencies exists
in spite Of short-haired ladies, maiden
and otherwise, vast majority of the
women in America-wives in esse and
wives IN 13osse-still believe in the hus-
band as a domestic institution of great
value and in spite of the long-haired
gentlemen, vast majority of the men
of America still cherish tender fond.
ness for the wife as good thing when
of the bosom. One swallow doesn't
make summer, and q dozen stricken
! snowbirds all chirping in sorrowful UNI
son will not suffice for the heralding of
| of general social and domestic win
| ter.
The cause Of the sudden, and we may
add, unexpected decline of the woman
movement" is subject worthy of elu-
cidation, but We cannot hope to do
justice to it in the photographic remains
Of this article. As originally set forth
and advocated, there was in it much
that was good, mingled with much
more that was evil. The new apostles
mad neither the moral character nor the
intellectual ability to separate these
two elements; they rather fostered
them in. such marked disproportion
that the good was soon entirely over
Swallowed by the evil, until to day the
whole thing has resolved itself into an
attempted relapse into barbarism, un-
der cover of pretended advance to q
higher civilization. The result is that
the public conscience has revolted
against it. and it enjoys an unenviable
choice between smile of derision and
and n frown of contempt. Why this is
the case, and how it has been brought
about, we shall leave for future subjects
of discussion.
An Onondaga Romance.
A case of romantic interest in the
town OF Marcelius, Onondaga County.
is brought to the notice of the public
through the columns of the Syracuse
Journal. As the story runs, in: 1853 q
young girl about seven years old.
named Sarah Jane Kelly, was stolen
from her home in New Rochelle, West.
chester County, by woman named
Margaret Cunningham, q neighbor of
the child's mother. No motive for the
abduction is given other than the
strong attachment which the Cunning