Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-04-18


istic ideal may bring about.
The ideal for the present joins itself
to the traditions of the past, and the
two work together their baleful will.
IL is the Church of tho Dark Ages that
has begun the work, and that has de-
termined that all women, save nuns,
and few outside convent Is, who
may be saved, are croaturers of impur-
| ity, created To- be the bane of man, and
| in all cases TO be subject to his will
| Not even the dedication of woman in
the worship of the Virgin has been
| powerful enough to neutralize this in
| fluence, or to make the actual interior
thought of man toward women any
thing beyond contempt.
Born 10 be mans enslaver, there is
IL othing in her soul that is preservative,
or can DO relied upon, has been the
! thought for accumulated generations.
"To preserve her from her own weak
ness, the only security is to shut her in
convent. Educate her there, and the
worn man OF the world will find in her
! innocent ignorance new element OF
! charm, while she herself will be safe
from forbidden knowledge"
1t is this argument that rules to-day,
and that voices still the contempt for
women that underlies all fine phrases,
| all tributes to their influence, all the
myriad seutimeutalitics that make the
| staple of French fiction and of French
daily life. And here comes the point
where the two sexes must be judged to-
! gether since, il women gave 10 their
sons q different ideal, the whole out
look must necessarily change. The
Frcnchman has for his mother n feel
ing often merely sentimental and
traditional, but also very often of deep
devotion and confidence. He gives her
the detail OF his successive amours,
and the mother accepts them as the
natural, and, on the whole, praise
/ worthy ebullitiOns of youth and youth
full spirits, and looks TO the time Of
marriage az the remedy for any pre-
vious Irregularities. She takes it for
granted that. whether student or clerk,
in whatever role he may intend to fill,
a mistress is the essential element of
his early years, and thus calm accept
ance of two distinct standards of moral
ity for the sexes becomes portion of
the national inheritance.
Admit the uumOerless exceptions to
this rule, and no one who knows any
thing Of French provincial life can fail
to feel that there is very much of
what we know as genuine family life
az its best, it is still a fact that, for
France as whole, the baser element
predominates, and must predominant
until an utterly different standard pre-
walls. Here and there a father sees
how false is the system under which
both daughters and sons are coming up,
and seeks TO Introduce new and wiser
method. But since the days of Mon
tligue. who records in one Of his es-
says his calm Sinking of responsible
ity in regard to his own daughter,
putting it on the ground that women
have Their own notions, and that he will
fare better not TO interfere, fathers
have grated their personal code OF NOR
atty upon the sons, and mothers have
hastened TO put convent walls about
their daughters, and have vowed tn at
for men and women must be forever
two moral codes and two sets OF action.
Nowhere is there stronger family af-
lection than in France; nowhere better
examples OF all gentle, lovable qualities
That woman can own, and nowhere do
the results Of blind following of tradi-
ton show themselves moro disast-
rously. The convent ignorance is no
security against sudden fall when temp
tation presents itself, and some of the
saddest tragedies known in Paris
homes have been born of this ignor-
ance, ana the sudden reaction against
the rigidity Of training.
Wban tbn, fbn mental attitude n
whole, for both women and men can on
ly be stigmatized as immoral, it is use
less TO question as TO minor facts, and
inquire how far Frenchwomen are
moral, and how far tinctured with the
theories Of Paris life. 1t is n system
which debases whoever holds it, and
all social intercourse, no matter Of
what external charm, has this blight
upon It, Many Americans adopt the
system, 10 their amending shame be it
said since in so doing they deliberate
~ accepta low ideal in the place of a
high, and tacitly admit that no man is
/ to be trusted, and no woman is capable
of protecting herself. Only a week
ago, at n crowded reception, an Amer
| lean lady, who has chosen to become
more French even than the Parisians,
defended the system holly.
You've got TO follow it IL you live
here" she said. There isn't Paris
ian or a Frenchman alive, who will
not insult woman il he gets the least
chance. know none Of them are TO
| be trusted"
Another remark, few moments
later, to some one who had asked after
her son, held some results of her
methods and may serve to point the
moral that will hardly need other put
ting.
"Claude? Oh, Claude is so well,
but fancy what he said to me last even
ing! wanted him to take his sister
Clare TO walk, for | had had a head
ache and could not go with her, and
had no one TO send. i wouldn't mind,
mamma, if she were little he said,
but she's seventeen, and / can't write
on her face that she's my sister, and so
OF course, everybody'll think she's my
mistress, and you see don't quite like
it for Clare, though l wouldn't mind il
for myself. Helen Campbell, in
Cincinnati Times.
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