The Rock Island daily Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1872-1873, 1873-09-19
The erscian Bawd and her Modern Rsprsssn-
tatve.

bhhANus
Under the above heading, the Chicago
Times of the 18th, thus disoourses Of the
Wisconsin Republican U. S. Senator, one
of the vilist of the vile men in the land,
and that vile representative Of vile women
Woodruff
Classical students are aware of the fact
that Greek courtesanship was no ordinary,
brutal development of lust This quality
may have been its vitalizing principle, but,
then, il was 80 haloed about with refine
ments that its grosser elements disappear
ed. The women who enacted this roIe
were as marvellous for their refinement as
for their beauty They were philosophers
in thought, poets in sentiment ana artlsts
in dress. Their elementary constituents
were sin but il was sin so gilded and poe
TIED that it became luminous and beau
titui attraction.
The contrast between these erring but
magnificent dwellers in Cyprus, with the
crowds of intellectual men, warriors, states.
men, who thronged their receptions, and
their modern representatives, is one OF the
very broadcast and most striking thatitis pos
sible toconceive. BY their modern represen-
tatives is not meant the painted and eerlng
harlots who make prostitution trade.
They, and the gamblers, thieves, and 9th
er disreputable elements who constitute
their patrons and chief source of support,
are below even contempt They possess
in no respect the qualities characteristic OF
the Grecian 1ymphs and their wealthy and
refined suitors, The real representatives,
nj the present day, are the Woodhulls and
the Carpenters but how infinitely have
deterioration and moral decay afflicted the
descent
In SEINE points there remains similarity
between the Grecian ancestory and the
American result. There is somewhat the
same intellectual vigor in both. The con-
spicious men and women of the palmy
days of Grecian cOurtesanship were re-
markable for their mental strength. SO
are Carpenter and Woodruff. The one
has forced his way from an insignificant
beginning TO the very front OF the age.
The other has risen from nowhere,
from nothing from a quack doctresS
enyeloped all over with charlatanlsm
and evil report, to position OF the forum
where she stands without a peer. Her in
tellectual position and yigor are not ques
ton of doubt. In this single respect, she
is beyond discussion.
With intellectual qualifications, the sim
ilarity ends. There is nothing in the life
the teachings, or the influence of either Il
remind one, except through broad contrast
of their Grecian antetypes These wer,
religious; those are inidel and blatant il
the assertion of their blasphemous uube
lief The ancient class respected thu
rights of the family; they sang and wrot
of the beauty of chastity. The moderl
class do neither. They seek neither to el
evate themselves nor others. They woul'
reconstruct society, emitting God. femal
virtue and reducing men and women L
the position Of priests and priestesse
whose only mission would be to offer con
slant sacrifices on the affairs of lust. The.
have stripped the classic model of all it
drapery, its elegance, its poetlcal conceal
ments its charming suhtertuges, and pre-
sent it without single ameHoration of it
indecacy and indecency.
Leaving out their intellectual strength
Carpenter and Woodruff would drop a
once from any eligibility for comparison
with Grecian courtesanship and would siuI
below the level of even the professed am
degraded inmates and patrons of the bag
MO. The latter make no pretensons L
decency. They occupy position whicI
TtuNtTN Lutul dlWdNS tAdulp PIES NilNl az
can appreciate, and therefore shun. Nom
ot them can enter family by virtue of al
intellectual position, and there carry de
vastatiou None OF them can wrap sen
atorial cloak about their hideousness, an,
thus disguised, secure an entree wher
there is purity-and fresh victims. Nom
Of them can mount the platform, and il
strong, well-chosen words enuncate L
great audiences sentiments which are sim
ply and solely the utterance of an utterl
Infamous soul To this extent are the sen
atorial bawd and the spiritualisti
bawd worse and more dangerous than tn
professional inmates and patrons of tn
brothel.
1t seems pity that, if we are to have
revival Of ancient eourtesanshiT, we ca
have no more of it than its quality of men
tai strength. The rheumy-eyed and lib
dinous old wretches who sit at the feet O
Woodruff whose toothless mouths drinl
in her shameful teachings, aud whose shak
ing hands applaud her sentiments in pro
portion 10 their vileness, are no tit descend
ants of the noble Grecians who throug
ed the Paphian temples. In no respect
do the females who crowd the Woodruff
ian levees, and who applaud he
utterances, remind one of the voluptuou
and refined women who gave tone to til
immOrallties of Cyprus. They are emaci;
ted, angular, young and old hays. VIII
have all the inclination and none Of tn
ability TO make themselves participants i
iudlscriminate sexual relations.