The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1889-12-11
EQUAL FREEDOM.


EQUAL FREEDOM.
What Women Need to Broaden Their
Minds and Increase Their knowledge
of the World.
The husband Of the future will doubt
less be quite as happy as the husband
of the present, says Mary H. Krout, in
Chicago Inter-Ocean, but he will have
accustomed himself to some radical
changes. One who has already felt the
touch of the new spirit said the other
day:
II do not wish my wife to stay at home
all the time. She has an angelic tenn
per naturally, but when she remains
within doors for three or four days or
week, find that she becomes too much
absorbed in domestic matters, which /
do not believe ought to consume any
woman's entire time. When she goes
away to public meeting or to conven-
ton, to be gone week or so, she comes
back refreshed, enthusiastic and ready
to take up the old duties with sufficient
interest and energy. She has metmany'in-
teresting people, she has had the benefit
of an exchange Of ideas, and the family
have the benefit Of what she has seen,
told with the vividness and sympathy
which makes tho conversation Of q
bright woman, who has both heart and
brain, always delightful"
And this is one man who is already &C.
cepting cheerfully and philosophically
the new order of things, which is as in
evitable as the rising of the sun. He
was not the head Of q wretched, disor-
derby household, where unruly children,
ill-temper and selfshness held sway.
His home was luxurious In its appoint
ments, and the sons and daughters had
grown up in the midst Of cultivation,
with an example Of gentle manners,
considerateness and purity Of thought
and speech, daily exemplified in both
parents. The mother was an ardent
equal-suffragist, but she was no less
womanly on that account. and she had
tho hearty approval Of her husband in
all that she did, relying upon him for
counsel and advice. There is deal Of
truth in this mans opinion. To sym
metrically developed mind, a knowledge
of the world is as necessary as knowl-
edge of books. ...r
The gad-about has always been con-
dcmned by press and preacher, and the
woman who stays at home held UP as
the pattern Of wifely and womanly per-
lection. But it has never occurred to
any one that the woman who gets no
glimpse Of the outside world, who has
no opportunity to measure her mental
and moral stature by the mental and
moral stature Of others, grows narrow,
querulous, and exacting. She is an alb
solute authority in her own domain, and
there is no appeal from her decisions,
however ill-advised. She sees nothing,
and, unless she has a love for books,
which, strangely enough, such women
rarely have, her mind is concentrated
upon the petty details of housekeeping
and the affairs Of her ncighbors-what
Mrs. Brown wore, what Mrs. Smith had
for tea when she entertained the minis
ter, what dreadful creatures the John
son children are, and how shockingly
that Miss Thompson carries on. These
are the themes that occupy her tongue,
and the mind that, from want Of use,
grows feebler and narrower from day to
day.
A wise old man remarked that the
reason so many old people lost their
memory was because they had mover
learned any thing worth remembering
The same is true, with difference, Of
women. If they 60 from home, not Il
the neglect of home and children, but
enough to see what life is like, they are
laying up fund of knowledge that shall
keep them young at threescOre. The
centennial was OF incalculable benefit t.
the country. Thousands OF women went
saw the magnificent display, had ;
glimpse of the civilization of other ma
lions, and took the keen memory of /
oil back to their homes in the hills o
: New England or the farms in the West
ern prairies. Had there been any mean
of getting accurate statistics, it coult
have been demonstrated that the amour
of gossip for the following year in thei
respective neighborhoods fell off at leas
sixty per cent. Their talk for month
afterwards was Of the great picture
they saw. the wonders of art, the mar
velous mechanical contrivances, and al
, the beauty and splendor and ingenuit
! that was concentrated there. 1t CAV
their minds healthful and natural food
. and more was accomplished to abate tn
sin of Islander and backbiting than coul
have been done from a thousand OF tn
minister's best sermons.
1t is observable that when even an OF
O binary woman goes from home for FEY
!. weeks or few months, she comes bac
: enlightened with what she has seer
4 and it is Of this that she talks. Tn
] women who are the most entertaining
j who are most agreeable and whose 81
ciety does not tire, are not those VIII
! have spent all heir days knitting in th
: chimney corner, or within the fou
/. walls OF Kitchen porting over cool
n book. However men may profess to loy
d this pure domestic character, they til
4. itsas they would tire Of an unrelieve