The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1878-06-06
Extracts from wife Torture IN Eng.
iv. land." :. ..r. -

EXtfaCtS from WHO IOrtnfC IN Eng
ByFranoss Power Cobbs.
What reason can be alleged why the
male of the human species should be the
only animal in creation which maltreats
its mate, or any female Of its own kind?
With the expection. perhaps, Of the seal
Mr.. Darwin gives a sad picture of
amphibious conjueal life :; "Ks soon as a
female reaches the shore Ccomes out as
we should say in society, the nearest
male goes down to meet her, making mean
while noise like the clucking of hen to
her chickens. He bows to her and coaxes
her, until he gets between her and the
water so that she cannot escape him.
Then his manner changes, and with q
harsh growl he drives her to a place in
his harem' ('Descent of Man." vol IL, p.
2G9) What an ''o'cr true tale'' is this. of
many human wooing and Of what comes
later; the slowing and coaxing" first and
the "harsh growl" afterward! am sur
prised MI. Darwin did not derive from it
an argument for the descent of man from
the seal.
When I read all the fine sounding
phrases perpetually repeated about the
invaluable influence ola good mother over
her son: how the worst criminals ale ad-
mittcd to be reclaimable if they ever
enjoyed it; and how the virtues Of the
best and noblest men are attributed to it,
as commonplace of biography-1 often
ask myself: Why, then, is not some
thing done to lift and increase, instead
OF to depreciatc and lower, that sacred,
influence? Why are not mothers allowed
to respect themselves, that they may fifty
claim the respect Of their sons? How is
lad to learn 70 reverence woman whom
he sees daily scotfed al, bea1en, and a..
of this country forbid her, ever and I'M
der any circumstances, to exercise the
rights Of citizenship; nay, which deny to
her the guardianship of 'hinaseI-of the
very child Of her bosom-should her
husband choose to hand him over to her
rival out of the street2" !:
The general depreciation of woman as
sec is bad enough, but, in the matter
we are considering, the special depreci
! alton of acices is more directly response
bic for the outrages they endure. The
notion that mans wife is his property,
in the sense in which his horse is his
property (dcsccnds to us rather through
the Roman law than through the Gus
toms Of our Teuton ancestors), is the
| fatal root of incalculablc evil and mis-
cry. Every brutal-minded man, and
many a man who in other relations Of
life is not brutal, entcrtains more or less
| vaguely the notion that his wife is his
thing, and is ready to ask with indigna-
ton Gas VIC read again and again in the
| police reports), Of any one who inter
ieres with mis- treatment Of her, " May
not do what will acith ,ny owp?'
It is even sometimes pleaded in behalf
OF poor men, that they possess n7thing
else but their wives, and that, consc-
quently, it seems doubly hard to med
die with the exercise of their power in
that narrow sphere!
Stripped Of the euphemisms of courtesy
wlerewitll we generally wrap them up, it
cannot be denied that the sentiments of
a very large number of men toward wo-
men consist of a wretched alienation of
exaggerated and silly homage, and If no
less exaggerated and foolish contempt.
One moment on pedestal, the next in
the mire; the woman is adorcd while she
gives pleasure, despised the moment she
ceases to do so. The proyerbial difficulty
of introducing joke into the skull of a
Scotchmau is nothing to that of getting
into the mind Of such men that woman
is a Aunaon 1eing-however humble-not
a mere adjunct and appendage of human
ity: and that she must have been created,
and has right to live, for ends Of her
OWN, not for the ends IF another: that she
was made, us tho old " Westminster
Catechism" says, " to glorify God and
enjoy him forever" primarily or express
y to be John Smiths wife and James
Smiths mother. We laugh at the great
engineer who gave as his opinion before
a royal commission that rivers were
created to feed vigable canals; and a
farmer would certainly be treated as be-
:rayipg the " bucolic mind "whs avowed
that he thought his horse was made to
carry him to market. and his cat to
eat his mice and cheese; yet where
women arc concerned-beingsw who are
understood to be at least quasi-rational,
to whom their religion promises an i'm
mortal life hereafter OF good and glory
tho action that the &C final cause OF
woman is man., seems never to strike
them as suprcmely ridiculous.
s. r g r
The Rev. F. w. Harper, writing to the
Spectator OF January Goth, says. II make
bold to believe that if ever should turn
into wife shall choose to be beaten by
my husband to any extent (short Of being
slain outright, rather than it should be
said that stranger came between u.s."
After thus bringing to our minds the
beatings, and kickings, and bindings,
and burnings, and ''cloggings," which
sicken us, he bids us remember that the
true idea of marriage is ';tho relation OF
Christ!' It is not for me to speak on
this subject, but should have expected
that minister of the Christian religion
would have shujdercd at tho possibility
of suggesting such connection of ideas
as these notions involve. Heaven help
help the poor women of Durham and
, Lancashire if their clergy lead them t
picture Christ resembling their hus
bands!
Wife Poisoning In Scotland.