Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-06-02
Ertracts from "Uitc Torture IN Scotland .


By Frances Power Cobbe.
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 coniugal life: Gas 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 a 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
harsh growl he drives her to place in
his harem' ('Descent Of Man." vol ii p.
$500 What an o'cr true tale" is this Of
many a human wooing and Of what comes
later; the Glowing and coaxlng' first and
the "harsh growl" afterward I am sur
prised Mr. Darwin did not derive from it
An argument for the descent of man from
| the seal.
When I read all the fne-sounding
phrases perpetually repeated about the
/ invaluable influence ola good mother over
her son; how the worst criminals a.e adj
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 often
ask myself: : Why, then, is not some
thing done to lift and increase, instead
OF TO depreciate 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 a
lad to learn TO reverence a woman whom
he sees daily scoffed al, beaten, and a
bused and when he knows that the laws
of this country forbid her, ever and I'M
der any circumstances, to exercise the
rights Of citizenship; nay, which deny te
her the guardianship OF hinase!f-of the
{ very child Of her bosom should hel
husband choose to hand him over to hel
rival out of the street?'
The general depreciation of woman as
sec is bad enough, but, in the matter
we are considering, the special depreci
alton of eciyes is more directly response
BILE for the outrages they endure. The
] notion that mans wife is his property
in the sense in which his horse is his
property (descends TO us rather through
! the Roman law than through the Gus
toms of our Teuton ancestors), is the
fatal root of incalculable evil and mis-
cry Every brutal-minded man, anc
many a man who in other relations O
life is not brutal, entertains more or les
q vaguely the notion that his wife is hi
; thing, and is ready to ask with indigna
: ton Gas we read again and again in thu
b police reports), OF any one who inter
: teres with MS treatment Of her, /" May
9 I not do what I will aoith nay oacn {?
g 1t is even sometimes pleaded in behal
}. OF poor men, that they possess n7t1in
+ else but their wives, and that, conse
It quently, it seems doubly hard to med
v die with the exercise Of their power i
e that narrow sphere!
; Stripped of the euphemisms ofcourtes
Y wherewitli we generally wrap them up,
e cannot be denied that the sentiments {
A very large number Of men toward W.
n men consist of wretched alienation
is exaggerated and silly homage, and Of 4
2 less exaggerated and foolish contemp
a One moment on a pedestal, the next
( the mire; the woman is adored while ST
q gives pleasure, despised the moment 81
a. ceases to Go SO. The proverbial difficult
e; of introducing joke into the skull Of
5e Scotchman is nothing to that of getti1
S, into the mind of such men that woma
\ is a human being-howeyer humble-n
as mere adjunct and appendage of huma
s. ity; and that she must have been create
y and has right to live, for ends Of h
a own, not for the ends Of another; that 81
N was made, as the old Westminst
n Catechism' says, !" to glorify God al
a enjoy him forever" primarily or expires
en- y to be John Smiths wife and Jam
ne Smiths mother. We laugh at the gre
n engineer who gave as his opinion befo
an royal commission that rivers we
created to feed navigable canals; and
en- farmer would certainly be treated as b
he .rayiDg the & bucolic mind who ayow
Id that he thought his horse was made
be carry him to market. and his cat
eat his mice and cheese; yet whe
er, women are concerned-be beings who a
th. understood to be at least qetast-ration
til to whom their religion promises an il
mortal life hereafter OF good and glo