New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-08-27
The Woman In the Case.

can hold themselves up by straps in street
cars, that women may be comfortably
anchored on the seats. We shudder at the
brusqneness of the British society mascu-
line. We have complacent vaunt that
woman can travel from Boston to San
Francisco, unattended and unmolested. 1t
is stretched vaunt, Is harried femininity,
with It's recollectiOns of smirking hotel
clerks and gaping conductors of sleeping
cars will vouch. We call mans wife his
"lady.' We permit young girls to whirl in
the waltz. spin along the boulevard drive,
and hold late hours at the theatre
and opera with men whom they may
not have known week. we be-
lieve that transformations freedom
in her doings enhances a maiden's attract
iveness and purity. We fancy it impOssi-
BILE that a woman should not always have
talrer treatment and better place IN our
sympathies than the rOugher half of human
kind. In fact We are superior sort OF
nation in our ideas of gallantry, and have
rather tiner intuitiOns as to the courtesy
due the fragile sex than have been evolved
since knighterrantry days. We are certain
that woman does as she pleases IN the
United States. We are equally certain that
her claims to immunity from the atronts OF
scurrility or the venom OF detraction are
reverenced instinctively with us as they
are reverenced by the people OF no other
land.
A peppery scandal has tingled the palate
of nation al gossip tor weeks. 1t has burnt
its way into the vitals of a great reputation.
1t has bred general familiarity with all
that is detestable and immoral That ia:
miliaritv, in it's turn, is breeding Its pro-
verbal contempt, and Omnlsclence alone
NAV be able to check the universal prone
ness to endure, pity anu embrace the evils
once held so monstr0us. The inevitable
woman has figured in the case with terrible
prominence But, in this new Utopia OF
chivalry, how few have been the kindly
words. how scant the sympathy for Eliza
beth K. Tilton.
She who has needed the general pity has
had only the general sneer. No matter on
which banner the victory of public indOrse.
ment may at last perch, she is a conquered,
blasted sufferer. If the world shall side
with the priest, she is to be recorded as hav-
ing weakly encouraged her husband to
shatter one of the grandest characters OF
the age. II the verdict comes finally in her
husbands favor, she is to be remembered
as the woman who blighted an almost ideal
home at the beck OF a monster clerical im-
poster A woman OF far more than com.
mon culture and sensitiveness, she racks in
the horrible knowledge that her name Is a
t1appant by-wOrd for a broad hemisphere.
Circumstances have tended to so place her
must always be upon her, no matter how
the battle may go. But the contemplate
gibes of .'chlvalric" men, and the gleesOm
stabs of women, are working her a wanton
harm which pei verse fate could never have
the heart to shape.
Mothers. think of the mother alienated
from her children, some of whom she knows
are being trained to forget her, if possible;
to hate her if they can not forget. Wives,
,;v1- Of fha afvap =
band guest under the roof Of those who
entertain her only to spite that husband or
please his priestly enemy. Think of the
| torture wringing her soul at the knowledge
that half the wives of America are being
taught to dispise her as a hdeous example
of wifely perfdy. Think of her, pity her,
pray for her. You but squander your con-
| dolence on the husband, your sympathy for
| the priest, when, in the same breath, you
heave yirtuous eXec:atlon at the name OF
| her who suffers more than either.
Men of America, you do but sham manly
attributes when you range your compassion
| on one side or the other of this misery, and
fling only your contempt at the woman.
| There is no chivalry in lodging to the out
| side of promenade so that your slmperlng
| companion may have the inner edge OF the
walk, when you handy muddy lests at the
| character of the Brooklyn sufferer. with
| your male friends in private. There is no
courtesy in giving your seat in an omnibus
to smrking school girl, when you crack
coarse conundrums, at your office and on
| the streets, at the mention OF Mrs. Tilton 3
| name. The mark of the true gentleman is
not in pretentious exhibitions OF what your
dancing master, or your Manual of Good
| Behavior" may have taught you. A kindly
| thought, and tender word for her whom
you have never seen, but whom you know
is among the most miserable of earth s
| women, will be a better badge of your in
| nate gentiIity than the bow of a Chester
field, or the gracious dignity of Sir Roger
de Coverly. Chicago Times.