The Dickinson press., 1889-10-12
WOMAN AND HOME.
HOW THE SPANISH WOMEN OF THE
PAST LIVED AND KEPT HOUSE,
Another Appeal for Fresh Air-The Age at
Which Women Should Marry-Something
About Female Suicides-Interesting Sc
~lections About the Fair Sex,

appeal LUE fTGSn Alr-InO Age at
Which Women Should Marry-something
About Female misunderstanding Sc
~lections About the Fair Sex.
The Spanish woman of the Eighteenth cen
fury forms a marked contrast to her French
sister at the dawn of the Revolution. Where.
as the French woman Of the past century is
perhaps the most witty, skeptical and free of
tnose VINO nave a place in history, the Span
lard is the most ''devote," docile and igno,
rant-noticet that l have said devote" not
plous, for piety, in my opinion, existed in a
better and more solid form among tho fn.
nous women of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
centuries, chief among whom shines tho
great queen Isabel, the Catholic. AT the
time of the Renaissance Spanish women,
whose learning cqualed their piety, far from
contentinS themselves with no education, or
with only a superficial one, held professor
ships OF rhetoric and Latin, like Isabel Calm
do, or wldened the domain of philosophis
speculation, like Olivia Sabuco. In the
Eighteenth century these traditions were so
utterly lost that it was considered dangerous
to teach girls the alphabet on the ground
that If they were able to read and write they
might correspond with their swccthcarts.
have heard ittold of a great-grandmother
OF mine, of noble family tgrandccs in facp,
that she was obliged to learn to write alone,
copying the letters from a printed book, with
epointed stick for pen and mulberry Juice
fer ink, a %salutary ignorance, absolute sub.
mission to patelnal and conjugal authority,
religious practices and complete self eface-
ment formed the regime under which the
Spanish woman of tho last century lived.
These abuses were dashed by the satiric
SrOllTpp of O1r lannon's kf,r,+;, g., 1871 -: J..
las Ninas," "El viejo y Ia Nina" aud LA
Mojigata." The result of the teaching of
these comedies amounted to u complete trans
formation of the female character. Tho
Spanish woman of the time anterior 10 the
Cortes OF Cadiz has become the classic type,
as classic ms the "garbanzo'a and the "bolcro."
The woman of this pure and simple national
type never went out except to mass, and that
very early, for, us the proverb has it, Good
women don't walk"
Her dress consisted of the tight petticoat of
tine cloth or serge, white kerchief fastened
with a gold pin and velvet bodice and laco
mantilla. Her only luxury when dressed in
her best for she never walkedD was the OPEN
work silk stocking and the satin slipper. She
employed her time in manual labor, ironing, |
knitting, embroidering on II frame, or max |
ing preserves or sweetmeats. Patchwork |
was fashionable in spite of its danger to the
eyes. AS lately as my girlhood my mother
used TO show me, us Il work deserving of adj
mlration, cushions worked by my great
grandmother in patchwork so fine that tho
work almost formed n new texture. Even if
she knew how to read this woman was ac-
qualnted with no other book than the brevi-
airy, the Christian Year and tho catechism,
which she used to teach her children bv force
of blows-for to chastise children was at that |
time a kind of rite, which it would have been
incorrect to curtail. She led the prayer of
the rosary surrounded by her servants and
family, at night she gave her blessing to her
sons, who kissed her hand, even though they
already wore boards and were married; she
consulted with some triar or other on the uf-
fairs of her household and had homo made
remedies for all Known iuirmities. So
thorough going u female figure was bound
to disappear at tho advent of society us at
present constituted .-Fortnightly Review.