Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1872-03-07
WOMAN SLANDERERS.

Regarded from an ethical point of view,
the most insignificant creature upon Gods
globe, is the man who traduces woman. If
he does it to crafty desire of revenge, he is
a coward; if gratuitously, he is contemplate.
There is no outlet for escape; it is a clear and
mequivocal proposition: And yet, unhappily,
among men this grave sin is looked upon as
very genial. The effects of its exercise are
accepted in matter-of-fact way; no one ever
bothers to investigate the causes that produce
them. 1t homely subject, and if it pleases
you we shall consider it in familiar way.
Generally, slanders upon women by men,
have their origin in either of three causes, or
in all three combined. Difference of social
station, where the man is inferior, and famil-
lar acquaintance is precluded, almost invari-
ably prompts base nature to emulation of
the fox in the fable, which you may remem-
Der reviled the grapes because they hung out
of reach. The victim may be beyond the
reach of his venom. Another leading cause,
and it is entirely independent of the other. is
jealousy; for we shall not outrage sacred
feeling by calling it love. Let an average
girl reject the advances of an average man,
and it is ten to one that Dame Gossip reminds
her unpleasantly of the fact, however late
afterward: Base natures ieadto revenge rs
naturally as jealousy promptsit. Once re-
jected, your average man abandons the role
mangered dog. To him it is natural meta
morphosis If he may not drink from the
stream itself, he can poison its waters so that
others may, shun it with dread. The last
cause, since we have reduced the subject to
three separate headings, and it is blacker
motive for a dastardly deed than either of its
predecessors, is baffied lust. To the base
mind pure woman is simply an easy victim.
In the togic of such men the purity of q, wo-
relation to each other in direct proportion.
And proportion is disturbed when the woman
proves no victim; the transition of lust to
hate is as inevitable as the transition of the
chrysalis into the glow-worm. Hate, as an
abstraction, recoils upon the hater alone; but
it becomes terrible entity, fatal to its victim
when its weapon is bad mans tongue. Here
we have three active varieties of traducers
and their prompting motives. But there is
one other left-the passive traducer--and he
is measurably as evil as any. He originates
no slanders himself-not he; he is merely an
eager listener and an exaggerative repeater.
He hears word uttered against woman
and his Imagination supplies details, while his
tongue gives them circulation. Albeit not a
responsible agent himself he is heactive We
| hicle of those who are No indignant hus-
band flies to him when his wife is traduced; /;
no enraged parent visits upon his head pun
ishment for daughters tarnishedname. And
yet he is the guiltiest person, because he is the
disseminater who gives vitality TO falsehood,
and sends it, myriad-winged, into the world.
Against all these classes, constantly arrayed
against her-constantly waylaying her foot
steps and springing upon her from unsus-
pected ambuscades--weak-h handed woman
must struggle alone. Let the subtle poison
of falsehood touch her ever so lightly, and
her social damnation is assured. 1t matters
little that father or brother, or lover, deplore.
slander of which she may be avictim-even
| vindicate her honor with blood-t is enough
that the SANDER find utterance, and no power
may restore her to social grace. This may
sound, perhaps, like exaggeration, but let
each reader ponder the proposition as it is
presented in his or her. observations or eXpe-
rience, and its truth will at once be forcibly
recognized. All these classes which we have
briefly indicated are integral parts of society
they are meshes in the social net, and in
steering her course, woman must avoid the
entanglements which they spread about her
with inspired delicacy and strength, for her
fame is as the subtle fragrance of the rose,
and as easy to destroy at single rude brush.
A great many men, Independent of any
volition of their own, are slanderers of wo-
men. They accept credulously the stories
which malignant natures set afioat, and by
incauti ously repeating lend them color and
endorsement. If men only reflected twice
before speaking unkindly once of women,
there would be less gratuitous ISLANDERS in the
world. 1t should be remembered that there
is no antidote against the bane of an evil
tongue. ~ ynt ... ~ ...... ..E