The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-10-25

Ded the offender member OF Inc oiscoh-
| tented female brigade, But, in truth, MISS
| Faversham was not qualiiled Tor tnSt corps,
| she had no particular faith in the abstract
advantages of the suffrage. For example,
| she knew that mankind was selfish, and that
| no particular class could be trusted to rule
| without some check or supervision from the
| other classes, or else it would get all the
| oysters, and leave its fellow citizens the
| shells, and she therefore thought the system
| good which distributed the power of electing
| lawmakers as equally as possible. But she
| could not understand in what particulars
the interests of English women were antago-
nistic to those of English men; neither did
she believe that there was any lack of honest
desire IN either house to promote the well
fare OF the wives, sweethearts, mothers, sis
tiers and daughters OF the members. She
thought, perhaps enormously, that if women
are at any disadvantage, it is socially, not
politically; and that the unwritten laws
which some ladies think so irksome and gall
ing, are promulgated and maintained by their
own sex.
So that Lucy had not learned the humi-
ating misery of her position as a British fe
male from her aunt, and it was from her
lovers lip. that she knew that men are ty-
rants and women slaves, and that new Or
der of chivalry had arisen for the emancipa-
ton of the oppressed ones.
She entered very readily into his views,
and soon became convinced that she really
was a most prosecuted individual. The
books he recommended her to read were
some of them rather dry, but, as she was a
talented skipper, that did not matter so
much. Besides, it is worth while to be bored
little in the nursing of a grievance; it spurs
the indignation.
But Henry Collinson was a lover as well as
philosopher, and pressed for an early date
to be named for their marriage. Lucy said
that she would be guided by her aunt, who
made no attempt to delay it unreasonably.
''She is no companion to me any longer"
said the eutspoken lady; "perhaps when she
is married she will recover her Senses"
One thing she was obstinate about, and
| that was a religions ceremony, which the
| young man wanted to omit. 1t was odious,
! he said, that one human being should vow to
honor and obey another.
eff Lucy thinks that, she had better pot
marry you at all,' said Miss Faversham;
''that is my opinion; and so you must be
tied up IN the usual manner, by clergyman
of the Church of England, or you shall have
neither the five thousand pounds or break
fast''
Principle is a very fine thing, but money
is-money. So the pair were amalgamated,
and toasted and caked, and white-favored,
and packed abroad for a month, just like ordi
nary couples in the same station oflife.
When they came back, they fixed their
home in a cottage near the wood, within
half an hours omnibus ride of Charing
Cross.
They soon had plenty of society; Henry
CollInson's clique was not large one, but all
the members of it called on his bride, who
presently became absorbed in pursuit which
rivals gambling for fascination; the Matching
of revolution. A mere social revolution, it
was true, lacking the excitement and danger
appertaining to the endeavor to upset the
established government of a country: but by
no means deficient in elements calculated to
set the outer word by the ears, and conse-
quently to fill the breasts of adopts with
most voluptuous feeling of superiority.
The young Mrs. Collinson had superior"
mind as the cant phrase runs. 1 mean that
she was not content to vegetate like a cab
bAge: her intellectual half required to be fed
just like corporeal; so that she could appre-
ciate the leaders of the set in which she now
found herself, land perceive that they undoubt-
eddy were very clever women, and not only
clever, but with great deal of Ego" in them;
quality without which ardent disciples are sci
dom made. Lucy soon became an ardent disci
pie; she knew, without vanity, that she was
moie reasonable being than the majority of
girls she had become intimate with up and
down the world; she also knew, without
false modesty, that her own mental calibre
was far superior to that of Mrs. Noble, Miss
Franks, or Priscilla Sleeps, and the influence
which those ladies exercised over her was
therefore well nigh unlimited, And on their
part they were proud of their recruit; too
many of the ladies who flocked to their stan
dard had only discovered the rotten state of
society after they had fallen under its ban,
and their conversion was consequently rather
suspicious but Lucy was genuine convert.
They also liked her; no man or woman was
yet proof against the aattery of a genuine ad-
miration besides which, she was active and
useful, and was soon admitted into their
most secret counselS.
Henry Colinson was delighted.
Five years elapsed, during which the de-
light of Henry Coliinson subsidized little. In
deed, he wore long face as he ladled the tea
into the teapot one morning, while his three
children made things as uncomfortable as
they could The eldest, boy of military
proclivities, was drilling squad of sugar
plums, and swac wing an odd file at intervals;
the second, girl. was Tubing her doll in the
slop-basin; while the youngest, who was little
more than crawler, kept trying how near it
could go to several kinds of suicide without
an actually fatal result, and bowling because
the experiments proved painful
"Have you copied these letters ?'' his wife
asked as she came hurriedly into the room.
YES" he replied, ''they are all ready for
the post
''Why don't you keep the children quiet?
What a noise they have been making! Take
your doll and be off, Sappho! Let the sugar
alone, Tom. Bless me, there's that bat
r,aring again! What plaques children are
Do ring the bell, Henry, and let us have them
cleared out"
When this was done and breakfast half
over, Collinson came out with what was on
his mind. 'Look here, Lucy said he, ''you
are a sensible woman, and ought not to finch
from the truth, and that is, everything is 60
ing to the bad. Our household expenses are
double what people who keep up much larger
establishments pay; our servants rob us; the
children are neglected, and will be beggared,
for we are spending our capital"
"And whose fault is all this?"
swell, suppose you will own that we can
not consult our tastes and wishes i'm every
thing. Society could not go on if people did
not attend to certain Duties"
81 suppose" said Mrs. Colinson, Shy du-
ties you mean those sordid and degrading
household cares which, as you say, must be
imposed upon some one, and you would sug-
gest that do not take my fair share of them.
But how can L? You know my time is en-
gagged; l have three lectures to deliver This
week, one in Yorkshire and another in Scot
land, in addition to the board meetings and a
mass of correspondence; while, except for
relieving me of some of my work as secreta-
ry, you have absolutely nothing else to do but
to look after household and nursery affairs.
If you had been successful in getting into
Parliament, | should have withdrawn in a
measure from public life, in order to set you
more at liberty; but as it happens, it is my
time that is the most valuable"
eyes, yes; that is all very good in theory,
but, practically, there are things belonging to
woman's department which man cannot at
tend to-
''Are THEREOF 1 do not know them. We
are agreed that women ought to engage
equally in what conventional prejudice calls
mans work; why does not the converse hold
good?'
Because a man looks ridiculous in the
kitchen or nursery. Yesterday morning the
servants Uttered, while was ordering dinner,
and when came up stairs again, found that
a dish clout had been pinned to my coat
tall"
Sand of course you have given the cook
warning"
''Well no; on reflection, it seemed less hui
initiating to appear not to notice it. But af-
ter all, that is a secondary matter. The condi-
ton of thechildren is far more serious: | real