The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1889-06-16
"womcn of Fac, anil rIctIop.

Young Lady Graduates, Ladies and Gen
tlemen-To young girls just about to step
across the threshold into the great world,
which has hitherto been dream to them,
no subject, apprehend, can be of more i'm.
mediate value than the present contras,cd
with the past condition Of the women OF
the civilized world, as we find this evil
denced in fiction, in history and in the
facts OF life. In nothingso much as the adj.
vancement OF women has the world made
such sure and steady progress in the last
half century. Environed by custom and
prejudice they were long heldin a bondage
Of slavish subserviency, the mere creatures
OF fctich-like ideas, most Of which have
crumbled and disappeared before the
ever increasing light OF education.
One by one the preiudics against women
are Sinking away like other ignorances,
In proportion rs they themselves have made
manifest a strength Of mind, firnncss Of
purpose and resolution to be independent,
and, as workers, 10 care for themselves.
And 50 II has now come 10 be freely
admitted that every human being has a
place 10 I'LL and duties 10 perform-the
woman rs well rs the man-henco the
necessity for the education Of women, tech
nically as well as collegiately, TO draw out
the hidden treasures OF the mind and ex-
pand II, fitting IL for the contest Of life,
made sharper and more eager than ever by
the multiplied necessities OF modern condi-
tons There was time when Il was the
boast OF man that women enjoyed sheltered
lives. when their horizon was limited by
III
and exactingly confined 10 its narrow
bounds. The great world beyond was
declared 10 be mans peculiar arena
whence there came alike TO the women Of
the palace and the hut only the faintest
echoes. and these generally through the
pains and penalties incurred by lalhcr,
husband or lover In the battle Of life. This
Is admirably illustrated In tho reported
colloquy between Mrs. Knowles and Sam
ucl johnson, which arose out OF the com
plant Of the former that men had more lib
erty allowed them in that day than women.
To which DIR. johnson responded, "Why,
madam, women have all the lib
eriy they should wish 10 have. We
have all the labor and the danger, and
the women all the advantage We 20 10
sea, We build houses, we do everything in
II We require more perfection from women
than from ourselves, Il Is doing them
honor, and women have not the same
temptations that we have; they must live
} In yiriuous company; men must mix in
discriminatory" But the doctor In much
Of this was wrong. In 80 lar rs IL was
plea for mans Eoli.indulgcncc, Il was
wrong. Besides the position and con.
dtion OF women in his part Of the oigh.
tecnth century was in many respects any
thing but sheltered. From private letters,
from the comedies put upon tho stage,
and from the novels Of that day, those
real histories OF the people, Il Is made
sSident that women could not journey
aloae or appear upon tho streets or in
public places alone without liability to
tho grosscst insults. These novels aud
plays can now only be read in the closet
and then for instruction by the historian
who desires 20 contrast the morals OF that
era with this. In Lockhart's Life OF
Scott" there Is an instructive anecdotc
10 this effect told by Sir Walter
Scott. A grand-aunt u his, Mrs. Keith,
OF Ravolsion, when n very old lady, once
asked him whether he had ever seen Mrs.
Aphra Behn's novels. Sir Walter con-
icsscd that he had not. She then asked
him whether he could get her "sight' OF
them, aud with some hesitation, he said
he believed he could, but hc did not
think that she would like either the man
neB described or the language used.
"Ncycrtheless, said tho good old lady,
81 remember their being 10 much adj
mircd, and being 80 much interested In
them myself, that / wished 10 look at them
again" go" said Sir Walter, ~ sent
Mrs. Aphra Bchn. curousy sealed up, with
private and confidential marked on the
packet, TO my old grand.aunt. The next
time saw her aitorward she gave me
back Aphra, properly wrapped up, with
nearly these words Take back your
bonny Ns. Bchn, aud, II you will take
my advice, put her In the fire, for find Il
impossible 10 get through tho very first
novel. But is Il not, she said, a very odd
thing that !. an old woman Of eighty and
upward, sitting alone, feel myself ashamed
TO read n book which sixty years ago
have heard read aloud for the amusement
Of large circles, consisting OF the first and
mostcrediiable societyin London?' Thus