The Hickman courier., 1874-02-28
CONCERNING WOMEN.


It is told of that disgusting creature
called Diogenes, who worshiped dirt
and lived in a tub without ever using
water, that, passing once by tree on
which woman was hanging, he cried
out 'sBy Jupiter would that all trees
bore such fruit -
There is a tree still standing in the
Washington parade ground, III New
York, on which, not above half cen-
fury ago, such fruit might one day have
been seen hanging by the cynic had he
been living to see it; and 1t would be
curious to know whether the uncleanly
old philosopher's reflection was uncon-
-ciously echoed in the secret soul of
any Kniekerbocker who witnessed that
lameutable sight. As the woman of
the Washington parade ground was
hanged for numbering her husban !,
and as there must have been at least
two or three husbands then living IN
New York who knew that they deserved
no better treatment at the hands Of
-heir own wives, it is not impossible,
case @y For. after ali, it is probabfe that
those men have the worst opinion OF
women who are conscious that women
ouoht TO have the worst OF them.
Sucb. at least, is the conclusion to
which we had been Brought by lazy
summers meditatiOns over the sayings
of the ages concerning the female sex
The subject is one OF universal IN
tercst. if there be any truth IN the IA
nous inscription qp the base OF statue
of love:
sFOni que tn sole, yoici ton maitre.
ii Test il le fut, ou le doit etre
or in Coleridge's peaceful development
OF the maxim
q An thoughts. all passions, oil delights,
Whatever stirs this mortal frame,
All are but ministers OF Love
And feed his sacred flame
So let us call our readers of both
sexes into council, upon these Judges
of womankind.
If we 60 back to the days of anti
onitv we shall find that the wise men
who te' level in locking their wives up,
and even in beating them whenever 1t
was safe and convenient, had rather
low opinion of the sex. "a woman,
sa dzSolomon, lis more bitter than
death" !" ''Out of a thousand men,
averred the same paragon OF wisdom,
I have found one who was good oat
of all the women in thu world, not
one"
"The sea-" said the Greek Codrus,
"has not so many fish, nor the sky so
many stars, as a woman has thoughts of
mischief"
"Whether women be handsome or
not" observed Bon, reputed one OF the
seven sages, "does not signify if they
are ugly they turn ones stomach If
they are lovely they turn ones head.
"There are many ferocious Geasts
born by land and by sea" mcaned the
poet Menander, whom St. Paul himself,
no great admirer of women, admired
sufficiently to quote him in his epistle |;
ssbut a woman is of all beasts the most
ferocious."
The scientific Aristotle, with his mania
! for analogies, compared woman to tn e
panther among beasts, to the partridge
among birds, and to the viper among
reptiles. The same polite philosopher
/ declared that 'fwhen nature missed
making a man, she put Hp with making
q woman" Over against which afro
! cious sentiment the ladies may properly
set Burns gallant couplet
Her prentice hand she tiled on man,
And then she made the lasses, oh,
They may have the satisfaction of re-
fecting too that Aristotle, though a
very great sage, and much cOurted by
princes. made fool and hobby-horse
/
/ plump but questionable little part
ridge" while Burns, though a guager
and given to strong drink, was a good
husband and left a loyal widow behind
him.
PropC rtius, who was a poet too, aud
passed his life in making love and
verses. came to the conclusion that II
was idle TO Glove many women, since a
| single one could infict on man all the
sufferiugs of which human nature IS ca
pable."
Juvenal had too much sense to make
such universal and sweeping statements
He confines himself to the assertion
that both black swans and good womeI
may undoubtedly exist, but that tht
latter are as rare as the former.
The fathers of the christian church
notwithstanding their great indebted
ness to the piety of their female dis
cipIes, are scarcely less savage THAI
their pagan predecessors.
81 am deeply interested" said St
Augustine, to know whether womel
i will rise at the last day as women; fo
it is to be feared in that case that the,
may continue to tempt us before tn
} throne of heaven itself.
st. Augustine had earned the right {
speak for himself on this subject, Gel
iaialy; bnt he ought to have remen
bered his good mother Moruca, whel
: he was geueralzing his proposition.
st. Cyprien, Notwithstanding, III
4 name. was merciless TO the daughter
{ of Venus. at is the form of women,
, he exclaims rather rabidly, "whic
tempts US to sin /; itpis from the sui
stance OF women that came the drea
I necessity of death Far from us q
be this pestilenee, this contagion' thl
| secret ruin I"