The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-01-09
In WONIAN'S BEHALF.
uTHEN AND NOW"
low the Condition of Woman has I'M
proved In a Hundred Years.

for eSultant, cheerful, heavenward-ris-
ing thankfulness. it is the modern wom-
an. Never in all the worlds history
has she been so free from burdens, so
exalted in privileges as to-day. This
Nineteenth Century is the era of her
coronation. To-day she stands queen
of herself and of the world. In the pal
miest days of the good old times the
only woman who was allowed any priv
| ileges or culture was the courtesan. The
wife's home was prison, and her hands
alone were of value. Whether or not
she had any brains, she was not per-
| mitted to discover. and this has held
substantially true the world over, until
the last hundred years. and the most
| convincing proof of this is the character
! of the books of the best society You
would not dare to read aloud in mixed
society any book of the last century.
Books were not made for women, and
SO whether they were decent or not was
: small consideration.
Even the old preachers INDUCED in
coarseness of language that would not
now be permitted in a political ha-
rangue. Some of Martin LuthCr'S SER
mons could not be read in modern
school. Swearing in the drawing-room
and in the best society was no I'M
common thing ninety years ago. Even
the ladies themselves not rarely in
dulged in it. Dean Ramsey tells an
anecdOte that will Illustrate how it was
| regarded. a sister was speaking of her
! brother as much addicted to the habit,
and she said: ''Our John swears awful.
and we try to correct him for it: but. "
she added, apologetically, mae doubt
it is a great set-off to conversation. y
The ''double-intendre" and indelicate
illusions, such as now no respectable
company would endure, were then
quite common in mixed society. Eighty
years ago eminent lawyers would use
language in the courtroom. in the
presence of ladies. for which they would
now be arrested by the sheriff. Then
women were punished by being public
ly whipped on the bare back. Prison
ers in pillories were pelted with eggs,
and jeered and tainted by the bystand
ers. The whipping post. the stocks,
cropping and branding were common.
1t was no very rare sight to see man
and his wife, from the first society, sit
ting on the gallOws for an hour. with
ropes round their necks. And those
who favor the harsher forms of punish
ment might profitably take notice of
the fact that milder cOunsels, fewer
crimes and the general elevation of
society are invariably accomplishments
of each other.
To be poor and insane then was worse
than torture or death. The poor We're
sold at public auction. their board
and keeping knocked down to the low
est bidder. who was left to treat them
very much as he pleased. Alms-houses
were almost unknown. The insane wife
of a prosperous man was sometimes
fastened in room in the house. and
kept there for years. her screams MAX
ing hideOus the public road ON which
he lived. The common school girl of
to-day is better off. in all that makes
life desirable than was any queen of 200
years ago. More comfort. more purity.
mere intelligence. more refinement.
things worth having-these mark the
advance of our social life. Never were
houses SO good, never was furniture SO
convenient and abundant. never was
dress so comfortable and healthful. new
er manners SO simple and sensible, new
err the means of all enjoyment and de-
velUpment so common and so univer-
sally accessible as to-day. And yet. in
spite of these facts. there are large num-
beers of people perpetually bemOaning
our degeneracy and signing over the
departure of the good old times" of
our early American life.
The reason of the present distressing
state of affairs | heard explained not
long ago. One man thought it was be-
cause the good old doctrines" were
nowadays not preached at all. and the
other was equally sure that it was be
cause they were preached all the time.
Never was a grander fallacy than this
whole idea. Never was more ignorance
of the past displayed than by those who
talk of the falling away of modern
times. Never was the church SO bright
and fair as now, and never did the sky
of the future redClen with a more glori-
Gus promise of the coming day. In
those good old times men lived under
the horrid shadows of frightful super
stitions. Now it is to modern science
only that we owe our emancipation
from the yoke of this awful tyranny.
Scientific explorers have been over the
earth. and finding no mouth of hell,
that is gone. Science has explained
earthquakes and volcanoes, and now
devils fight no longer in the bowels of
the earth. Etna and Nesuvius are no
longer vent-holes of the pit. Astronomy
has shattered the follies of astrology:
and people have found out that the stars
are minding their own business instead
of meddling with theirs; and eclipseS,
no longer moon swallowing monsters,
are only very natural and well-behaved
shadows.
Since psychology is studied, we know
that witchcraft is folly, and insanity is
only disease to be treat and cured.
Thus science-like mother going up
stairs to bed with her frightened boy
has been with her candle into all the
old dark corners that used to make us
creep and cringe and shiver with terror.
Croakers always have had a special fac
ulty for seeing breakers ahead and
smooth water behind. But the sober
facts of history justify the statement
that never was the ship of human hope
in stancher trim, and never was a fairer,
broader sea ahead. What then? Why,
this: In spite of present ills. and diff
culties, and corruptions, and discour
agements, learn to see things as they
are. How many a curse has this ser
vile, unreasoning worship of the past
fastened upon us, As if an evil that