The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-09-03
rHE INFLuENcE OF RoMEN.
[From the New York Henld.l

ending with the very latest event in his
tory, the influence of women over the
actions of men is something marvellous
almost beyond belief The Eastern
prince, who, whenever he heard of any
new Ofiense, was accustomed TO ask,
"What her name?" was led to the inqui-
nv by the same experiences which have
made "a woman in the case" a recog-
nized phrase in modern speech. Histo-
ry is full of the struggles of women i'm
posed on nations and on men. Achilles
and AgamemnOn quarreled over the pos
session of Briseis even while seeking to
punish the abduction of Helen. Herod-
otus, the father of history, begins the
worlds annals with the two versions of
the carrying off of 10, Coming nearer
to the verities of history, we find the
impassioned story of Pericles and Aspa-
sia, and later still the wonderful sacri-
fee of DemOsthenes for Lais, the model.
Even Julius Cesar, "the foremost man of
all this world" forgot everything, inclu-
ding ambition, in his dQlliance with Gle
opatra; and Mare Anthony, with Caesars
example to warn him, is chiefly remem-
bered for his infatuation for the same
woman. From the reign of Francis !. to
the close of the career of the grand mon
arch, Louis XIV, French history is the
history of noble ladies whose actions
were ignoble. II is charge not Who'll
ly groundless that Luther brought about
the Reformation because he wished to
marry, and Henry VIII, who ostenta-
tiously claimed to be the English reform-
er, was the husband of six wives during
his lifetime Napoleon's downfall dates
from the time he divorced the wife of
his youth for the Austrian princess who
brought him son but not a successor.
History is a succession of episodes in
which the inhuenCeof women marks the
destinies Of great men and powerful
states Poetry is but the repetition i'm a
thousand disguises of the passion of He
loise and Abelard. Fiction has no other
purpose than to illustrate the relations
of men and women, and the modern
stage must content itself with giving
life and form and color to the passions
with which the novelist or dramatist has
imbued his creations. And in practical,
every day life, we occasionally meet the
counterparts of the miscalled heroes and
heroines of history or the Imagination.
We have witnessed the remarkable spec
tacle of q wife and mother claiming
Catherine Gaunt as her ideal. Even
Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter. seemed
about to be reproduced scene by scene
and sorrow for sorrow. What is so com
mon to history to literature and to art,
must have very deep significance and
be indeed the groundwork of all social
existence.
We have not cited these examples for
an idle purpose, but as illustrating the
great lesson of all human experience
In the earlier ages of Greek civilization
men captured the wives and daughters
of their enemies, and States warred with
others In consequence. Later still Cleo
patra lost u throne, and, it may be said,
conquereda q world by her destinations
From that hour up to the beginning of
the eighteenth century emperors and
kings, despite the influence Of Christian
religion, were little better than this
heathen queen and these heather sOl-'
diers. Even George |. carried the
"Maypole" and the elephant into Eng
land, and was not ashamed 20 be as vic
torious in his dull German way as the
vivaciolls Charles X. The example Of
Louis XIV. corrupted every court in
Europe, and society was as corrupt rs
the courts which, sdt the fashion, Roy
atty has grown better since the last cen
tury, and society, as a matter of course,
has improved with royalty, while,
strange to gay, men of letters, the head
ers Of thought, the brightest examples of
high dramatic and artistic culture, have
been the heroes Of the age. That ro-
imance which savors of vice and in
which kings we're onGe the principal
figures j now sought in the domestic
infelicifes Of gehips, ! Byron has the
reputation 9fibehs the most pr9figate
man Of his age. Scott was unhappy in
his domestic life. Lytton imprisoned
his wife on 4 charge Of lunacy-his enc
mics say to get Irid of her, Dickens
turned away from his home the mother
of his children because she could not APP
prGciate his genius and minister to his
vanity. These things were due, how
ever, to exceptional causes, and society
in the later ages Of the world had so pu-
rifed itself that the latest great scandal
seems almost impossible; so nearly inn
possible, 10 say the least Of it, as to re-
quirc the strongest and most unequivo-
cal proof before it can be accepted
II there is always q woman in the
case now as heretofore, the Aspasias and
the false countesses and the
ignoble ladies, and the whole army of
women whose lives have been q wrong
to womanhood, are fewer than ever be-
fore, while those whose work is high and !
pure and great and goodwill whom
charity is the highest duty and bright |
example the noblest ambition--have
wonderfully increased in numbers and
influence. But for false reform this |
would be almost millennial epoch. II
is those who are protesting to seek new
sphercs for women whO are the worst |
foes of womanhood. 1t is noble char |
actertitic in man to take upon himself |
the severe toll for the race-the surest |
sign of the influence of women-the |
brightest thing in our modern civiliza- |
ton. III this natural division Of labor is |
To be disregarded; if women are tostand !
side by side with men in all the voca-
tions of life; il the high estimation in |
which women are held ia to be rudely
set aside for some fancied advantage, all |
the gains of society viii be destroyed. |
Free love is scarcely more perniciOus
than the other questions which a few |
women are agitating and which are akin |
10 it. The influence Of women 10 long
felt for evil in the world is at last felt |
mostly forgood; but 1t is as easy to go
backward rs forward, and we certainly
do not want the Aspasias and Cleopatras |
over again. 3lr Nf.t1H 1lH.
TWO IOWA 7R4GEDIES-1 MANI
! Ls-lelff-II-A III. u Ill.,.