Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-10-11
ON oulda.

Mrs. Mary Livermore goes for the
writer Of what an American called ''Them
nasty books"
The September number OF the North
American Review contained a rcmnrkably
bitter article on "Fenaie Sufrager by
the we'll known novelist, 0uida. The
OCTOBER number OF the Review has very
plain though dignitled paper on the same
subject, by Mrs Mary A. Liyermore, in
which she answers Oulda and crltieises
her writings. OF these writings Mrs.
Livermore says;
at cannot be denied that Ouica,s
books show Cleverness. She has keen
sense OF besuty, and Is richly endowed
with ideal imagination. Her general
knowledge is extensive and varied, and
she has wide outlook upon nature. But
her stories are coarse and unnatural In
detail, exaggerated In incident, vulgar In
their worship OF limltless wealth, and Inn
moral in tendency. Her heroines are al
ways spangled, bedizened, and unresl
creatures. Her preposterous heroes, who
she presents as types Of the aristocracy OF
our dav, are OF the same dazzling and un-
likely sort, Like Disraeli, abe gives us
surleit OF splendor, and fatigues us with
gorgeousness. But the worst tea
ture OF her novels is their coarseness.
Her dainty puppets have an inordinate
appetite for the grossest forms of sem
euality Her men rejoice In many
mistresses. They must have ripe, scar
let mouths TO kiss In lawless sovereignty,
because they are men. They worship
love, wealth, and enjoyment. They are
all god.llke, and yet are high-souled de-
bauchees. Her women are
worse than her men, II possible. II mar
ried they have many lovers, and are gem
orally unfaithful 10 and deceive ali.
Doubtless her vaulting ambition TO por-
tray these ecstacies OF crime o'erleaps
itself, and suggests the idea that she may
really be as ignorant OF the world Of men,
as she must be OF that OF letters"
When 0uida attempts the role OF the
essayist, she betrays, according TO Mrs.
Livermore, "the same literary character
istics and moral tendencies that have
made her books and her name an offense.n
Her article against woman suffrage le
merely a "tirade," directed mainly
against Republican government and
woman. But 1--WE easily forgive her at
tack on this reform, the alphabet OF which
she fails to comprehend, from sheer graft
tude that the within did not seize her TO
advocate It."
: "Not believing In the people-or the
! mob, uneducated and unwashed, as Ouida
, calls them--she has no faith In govern.
ment by the people, and so levels her
first blow &C Democratic institutions
: She regards the wnoIe system OF electoral
,, power all over the world as absurd, and
condemns republic because 1t does not
carry out the doctrine OF the supremacy
of the fttest. What form OF gov
eminent does Imperfectlon inheres
In everything human. Monarchical
governments which begin In ueurpa-
ton, are perpetuated by the laws Of
hereditary descent, and supported by
small aristocracies and standing armies,
! have very rarely been administered by
ness to change the ruling king or emper-
or, even when he is Justly detested by
his subjects. But In government of the
people which maintains It's permanence
by constitutional pr DIVISIONS, the rulers
may be changed at the viii OF the major
, ity whenever they are dissatisfied"
IL Mrs. Liyermore observes "it was neces-
! sary that Ouida should first dispose Of re-
! publican government and its electoral
system; for she sees very clearly the abb
/ surdity Of Withholding the suffrage from
woman II manhood suffrage Is universal"
! Even Ouida comedies this, "rabib as she
is at the prospect Of woman sufffage.n
4 Mrs. Llvermore next devotes few
i stubbornfa facts to "the hard-worked fallacy
that behind every ballot stands bullet"
and then proceeds to say that dropping
the role OF logiciAD, IN which she Is not a
!, conspicuous success, Oulda grows pro-
! phetic, and utterB most dismal vaticina-
tions concerning woman suif:age. She
tells us that the net result Of the entrance
: OF the woman into the political arena will
not be for the happiness OF humanity.
/ - II female suffrage becomes law
, the result will scarcely be other than the
: emasculation and the confusion OF the
whole world OF politics."
ouida, as prophecies, is answered
thus;
eve know not what special qualinca-
tionB Oulda may possess for soothHAying,
: nor need we wait TO learn. For the re-
suits OF woman suffrage In England and
America have been before the world these
dozen years. A little over fifteen years
ago England gave municipal suffrage TO
unmarried women on Tie same terms as
! men. II proved so great success,
! especially In school management and In
! the care OF the poor, that last year the
! same right was accorded TO the women OF
Scotland In 1850 the women OF the Isle
OF Man who owned real estate equal 10
: value to $50 year, were given the par
= liamentary franchise. When the women
: voted 10 1881 for the FIRST time, the local
press announced that fthe new polt.
! ical element acted in the most
I admirable manner In the
? United States the woman suffrage
movement has achieved most enyiable
status, numerically and morally. In 1868
: the Territory Of Wyoming gave fun sui
!, frage 70 woman. Az the end Of ten years
y Hon. J. w. Kingman, a graduate Of Har.
ward college, and for four years q judge
Of the supreme court OF that territory
wrote that the general influence OF no
h man suffrage has been 10 elevate the tone
OF society, and 10 secure the election oi