, 1888-11-15


Iiority prevails, the argument of biology
that the existing relations between the
sexes in the human race are peculiarly
what nature intended them to be, that
they ought not to be disturbed and can
not be improved, leads, when carried to its
logical conclusion, to palpable absurdity.
But have we, then, protited nothing by the
thoughtful contemplation Of the subject
from these two points OF viewP Those
who rightly interpret the facts cannot
avoid learning a most important lesson
from each Of these lines Of inquiry. From
the first the truth comes clearly forth that
the relations of the sexes among the higher
animals are widely abnormal, warped.
and strained by a long line of curious In.
huences, chiefly psychic, which are Incl.
dent to the development of animal organ.
isms under the competitive principle that
prevails throughout nature. From the
second comes now into full view the still
more important truth which we first set
out, that The female sex is primary in
point both of origin and Importance in the
history and economy of organic life. And
as life Is the highest product of nature and
human life the highest type of life it fol-.
lows that the
GRANDEsT FACT IN NATURE is WOMAN.
But we have learned even more than this.
that which is certainly of more practical
value. We have learned how to carry for
ward the progress of development 80 far
advanced by the unconscious agencies of
nature. Accepting evolution as we must,
recognizing heredity as the distinctive at
tribute of the female sex, 1t becomes clear
that it must be from the steady advance OF
woman rather than from the uncertain
fluctuations of man that the pure and solid
progress of the future is to come. The at
tempt to move the whole race forward by
elevating only the sex that represents
the principle of instability has long
enough been tried. The many cases of
superior men and sons of superior mothers
coupled with the many more cases of de-
generate sons of superior sires, have taught
us over and over again that the way to
civilize the race il to civilize woman. And
now, thanks to science, we see why this is
so. Woman is the unchanging trunk of
the great genealogical tree, while man.
with all of his vaunted superiority, is but
a branch, a grated scion, as it were.
whose acquired qualities die with the in
dividual, while those of women are
handed on to futurity. Woman is the
race. and the race can be raised up only as
she is raised up. There is no fixed rule by
which nature has intended that one sex
should excel the other, any more than
there is any hxed point beyond which
either cannot develop. Nature has no
intentions and evolution has no limits.
True science teaches that the elvation of
women is tue only sure road to the evolu.
ton Of man.
THE INvAsroNs or WOMEN.
Concerning the way In which women are
invading all occupations Colonel L. w.
Hgginson writes in Harper's Bazaar:
Take, for instance, the matter of music
in our rural communities. In the little
hill village, where am just now writing,
there Is still preserved the venerable dou-
ble-bass which did duty in the orchestra of
the Congregational church forty years ago.
At that time 1T was common thing for
some older men to practice on strinRed in
struments in order to take part in this or.
chestral performance. They met several
times week to rehearse, and the result
elementary instruction, even it not always
followed by perfect harmony in the per-
formance. can myself recall such orches.
tras in the towns around Boston where the
village blacksmith played the violoncello.
and tine village doctor the flute. The gem
eral introduction OF the organ changed all
that. The orchestra of men vanished, be-
lug replaced usually by single young
woman. In the same way the stringed in
struments disappeared from the farm
houses; the fiddle and the bow were liter
ally hung up the piano and the reed or
gan appeared instead. Now. in the coun.
there is man under FORTY who can play a
note on any stringed insliu ment, and all
the old musical rehearsals have disap-
peared. The same change has meanwhie
been going on in England. ;,nd Readers OF
Thomas Hardy's novels will remember the
racy description of his Dorsetshire peas.
ants in ''Under the Greenwood Tree, '"
when young woman takes her place one
Sunday at the church organ, and all the
twanging instruments of the choir are at
once
REMANDED TO DIsUsE.
Many critics of our public schools, with
President Elliott at their head, have ex-
pressed solicitation about similar changes
which have so extensively substituted wo-
men for men as teachers. These anxieties
seem to me largely borrowing of trouble,
because they are all based on the assum o.
tion that women remain q much shorter
time than men in the profession of teach
ing, while there never has been any care
full presentation of statistics to prove
that there is such difference. Local sta
tistics, taken at several times, have rather
tended to show that ambition or change
ableness depletes the ranks of male teach
ers quite as much as matrimony en-
croaches on the ranks of women. Not to
dwell, however, on this, there ia of late
visible another way in which women are
taking up the duties hitherto done by
men, this being, namely, in the work OF
sanitary reform. When women first en-
tered the medical profession. more was
hardly expected Of them than that they
should do their share-and an humble one
lin caring for invalids Of their own sex
and for young children. That they should
actively concern themselves in regard to