New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-11-20
NOTES FROM LONDON.
TWO WOMEN OF TO-DAY AND THEIR opN.
1ONS-SIR CHARLES DILKES SECRE-
TARY-SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT-
OCEAN RACING
London, November a

OCEAN RACING.
London, November g.
Lady Catherine Mines Gasken has made a hi,
with her paper in /" The Nineteenth Century, on
The Women Of To-day No one article in the
reviews for November has been SO much discussed.
and we have narrowly escaped, if we have indeed
escaped, fresh sensational topic in that singular
journal which singularly supposes itself to have
the largest circulation in the W Lady Cathe.
rine Gaskel has, I think, many American frienda
who will be interested to hear OF her success in
literature. They have long known her 10 prvan
life as a gifted and accomplished woman Per.
haps in New-York, where social life moves ats
pace more moderate than in London, you wifi 10
slightly surprised at the picture Lady Catherine
paints of an English womsn's daily round Of %
| equations and amusements and distractions But
no one knows the truth better than she.
| Not less lifelike is the description of woman,
day which Mrs. Jeune gives, and 1t Is more com
pact, for Mrs Jeune allows herself but little mon
than half a column in the journal above referred
| TO. and has to be brief; an art in which few excel
| The life of the young married Engishwoman with
| q busy husband is. says Mrs. Jeune, one OF abss.
lutte independence, and this is her account Of IL:
| "She may he frivolous, fashionable, phihu,
! tbropjc. religious Bohemian either Wing or Tory,
| or she may be all, and woman Of vigorous con.
stitution and unlimited ambition elects 30 be all
at once. She is quite Unsuitable, and Incapable Of
! fatigue. and her day, which begins early. com.
prises her religious obligations ride in the park
a visit to the dressmaker, visit 10 the East End
| a large party Of men and women at luncheon, all
| AZ occupied and catholic in their pursuits as her
| self-drives, visits, afternoon teas or drawing.
| room meetings TO hear some charitable scheme dis
cussed carry her on TO dinner time, when prob
| ably an evening party and ball end a weary day
| and send her tired TO bed
| Without the frivolous and with half dozen
| adiectives and items added, Mrs. Jeunes account
| might pass as autobiographical, though she was
| certainly not aware how closely she describing
her own daily routine if incessant variety can
| be called routine. Her letter, nevertheless Is
meant as a protest against this endless succession
of excitements and interests which crowd the
| life of the woman of to-day that she cannot find
| time for domestic duties. The best answer to
| Mrs Jeunes argument is Mrs. Jeune. II is NOT
every woman, however, who has Mrs. Jeunes
energy, or power of work, or enthusiasm, and
| there is no use in generalizng. She does not
| mean by domestic duties such matters as the or.
| derinC of dinner and other household details but
duties to her children, and with that she Is on
| the threshold Of another delicate yet vital ques
| ton. 1t is not only the women o. to-day who are
to be considered, but the women Of tomorrow,
and the men of tomorrow.
| The woman of to-day has among all her other
duties to perform the most important OF any
namely, to be the mother of the women OF to-
morrow: and is the overworked nervous. highly
strung creature we know likely TO give either q
sound constitution healthy nervous orssniza-
ton to her children?'
That is the question which the shriekins sister,
hood always shirS, and the fashionable and 1.-TWO
lous woman of the period shirks it too. The IN
sexed creatures who want to elbow men on tho
platform and out of the House Of Commons never
will face the physical question. The frivolous
| have not time to think Of it, Mrs. Jeune puts u
without finching, and answers it
| Sooner or later the strain will begin TO tell,
| and women will realize that, much they may
| regret it, the one function imperatively laid on
them by nature requires all the physical strength
they can spare, and in that and not in attempting
to be an inferior man must they pass part OF their
lives The cares of maternity are not popular
nowadays, but the memorable laws OF
nature are Interchangeable. Out OF necessity
for rest, caused by the ultimate physical
prostration of the women Of to-day, venture 10
! predict sir, return to a wiser and more natural
state of existence for the women Of tomorrow
That is coura geously and wisely said, and IL
| comes from the right quarter. Nobody can obIect
| that Mrs Jeune is not entitled to be heard She
touches life at more sides than any Of the woman's
rights aGtatOrs. She knows the East End ana
the West End of London equally WELL and her
face is as familiar in the slums as in the drawing
rooms never heard of her on the platform she
| certainly does not go about preaching that new
| gospel OF the equality of men and women to which
| Mr. Stead is even now trying 10 convert the Pope.
She prefers life of benefcent activity in those
practical and laborious charities which demand
| continuous personal effort among the most I'M
fortunate of her SEX She knows the facts, and all
the facts, and her Judgment on the whole matter
is dead against the new gospel. Nature has pre-
determined the place of woman in the economy OF
the world Women of exceptional strength or
character NAV lead double lives; or Others may
excuse themselves from their most Important iunc.
tons and perform only the less important buo
Nature is in the long run moro than ma'ch ior
them, and the greatest of English philosophers
declared she was only to be commanded oy ooesiis
her And. on the whole the authority Oh oa'o"
il greater than that of Miss Lydia Becker
MrJ.E.C. Bodley, the author of that amazing
article in the November Nineteenth Century OIL
Roman Catholicism in America is, perhaps or once
was best known in London as private secretary 70
Sir Charles Dixie. He was one Of the witnesses IN
the divorce case, and model of ingenious SIM
plicity 1t was, in his opinion. impossible tna'
Mrs Crawford should have paid visits 10 or
Charles in the morning as she swore she did' De-
cause she must have passed Mr.. Bodley's room' INV
door of which was always open. he said so tnat 40
must have seen her, and he did not see her Du'
il presently came out that the first thing aons On
these occasions was TO shut Mr. Bodey u W.;
Tie is University man-was, THINK q "'".Y
undergraduate and he has travelled eise"a 80.
! than in America South Africa was ior N W" 49,
his hunting ground, and he killed croccii'%
fore he brought down Cardinals The iasnlOI 49,.
organs of London related how, on his return "a
the GAS, coast OF Africa, Mr. Bodley presence a.