Ellsworth American., 1874-02-19

anu SIN OF the world, they would say
I'VE have the greatest possible respect
for angels, but is it not little uncon-
stltntlonal for angels to take part in
earthly matters? Is not their sphere
above us, in Heaven" | have no
doubt these men are necessary. Re-
forms would go too fast without them.
They compel reformers by their dead
dull opposition to test their methods,
and to proceed carefully. But l al
ways feel little sorry for these per-
sons who are obliged by some fatal
destiny to oppose every good forward
movement. Clarence King, the explor-
er oil the iOth parallel, was once TAX.
Ing long journey over a lonely desert
with single companion. But the mule
on which this companion was mounted
insisted on always keeping about
quarter Of mile behind the other. 50
they had to ride three hundred miles
just too far apart tor conversation.
Some men are like Gardner's mule, and
always insist on being so far behind
The leaders in the march of civiiza-
49,. 49, w W otN vi Sstl SilOI. vi course
10 not mean to say that all opposi-
ton, even 10 wise and good changes,
Is OF this stupid and mulish character.
There are always intelligent and con-
sclentious people to be found in oppo-
sitlon to all reforms. There were wise
and good people among the pro-slavcry
party IN anti-slavery times. SO there
may be wise and good people now who
are seriously afraid of any alteration
In the position and work of women.
But suppose the largest part of what
Is called conservatism is blind dis
like to change, and this blind dislike is
an important element in progress. 1t
helps 1t as the ballast helps in the as
cent of the balloon, keeping it from
going up too rapidly at first. After a
while the ballast is cmptied out that the
balloon may rise higher still. Thought
iul and conscientious conservatives,
who oppose reform, are converted after
while and become helpers OF that
they once resisted. Blind and ob,tI-
nate conservatives are only bags ut
, sand, good :or ballast at first, but to
. be emptled out soon and To be heard
OF no more.
All people OF sense agree that wo-
men are different from men IN taste.
talent, tendencies OF character, quail
ties of mind and heart. Woman IS not
undcveloped man, but something else.
oman Is not superior to man, nor IN
/ ierior-they are unlike, but equal.
Man can do some things better than
woman. W oman can do some things
better than man. The difference in
/ sex runs into every corner and fibre Of
their respective beings. As man aud
woman become more perfect they do
not become more alike but more differ
cnt. The coarse savage woman is
more like the coarse savage man than
! the highly refined and developed wo-
man is like the highly refined ana de-
vcioped man. Nothing in the universe
runs deeper, OF seems likely to be more
/ permanent than this distinction OF sex.
Admitting this, the question asiscs
how shall this great difference effect
the relation of men and women in So
cIety: There are two schools OF
thought on this subject. One SAYS "bc-
cause men and women are different
their work should be separate Each
sex shall have its own sphere of study,
OF work, OF experience, of education
They shall study separate subjects, 20
TO separate schools and colleges, read
separate books, engage in separate in
dustrieS, have different standard Of
right and wrong, different attitude
toward religion, different pleasures
and amusements, different place in
private and public life
! Ihls theory we may call the A,latic
or MohammeJan theory Of men and
women. Not that it belongs eNclu-
/ sively 10 Asia or to Mohammedanisln
| but that 1t finds its fullest expression
/ III Aslatic and Mohamnedan countries.
/ II assumes that because men and WON
en- dltter, they therefore should be scpa-
rated.
The other school of thought, assum-
ing also the difference of the sexes.
SAYS: because men and women are
different, therefore they should be com
panions. This may be called the Eu-
ropean or Christian idea; not that it
belongs exclusively to Europe or
Christianity. but because 1t finds its
fullest expression in European and
Christian civilization.
And now let us ask which of these
theories is the sound one. If we test
them by experience we shall find that
as civilization advances men and wo-
men become more and more compan-
ions in every pursuit.
have large work, called "The
Uncivilized Races of the World" All
these races regard women as to be
kept apart from men. They regard
them as slaves, as tools, as domestic
animals. The natives Of Australia
consider women as articles of proper
ty. The wives of the North American
Indians are their slaves. In the Sand
wich Islands the women did the most
of the work. In the Fiji Islands wo.
men are articles of trade, and the val
ue ofa pig. All through savage ma
tiOns women are regarded as a subject
race, made for men, and to be separat-
ell from man in his work, amusements
and society.
AS civilization advances, women
and men become more and more com.
paniOns. The difference of sex is
found to be, not for separation but for
|
world. acids and alkalis, because they
differ, become one in the neutral salt !;
as different electricities attract each
other; as oxygen and hydrogen, being
different, unite to form water; as
vegetable and animal life depends on
the union of opposite forces, SO human
progress shows that wherever man and
woman unite in any work, study or oc-
cupation, it is thereby Immediately