Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-25


Three sessions today was the program Of
work laid out for the woman's National Coun-
Gil. one at 1880, one at and one this evening
at 7:l5 o'clock.
At the morning session there was q large at
tendance. There were not more than q score
OF people in the second gallery, but almost all
the rest OF the seats in the great auditorium
we're occupied some time before the exercises
began. Some. of the best known women in the
line OF suffrage work we're on the program to
speak on various themes of interest connected
with that movement. This evening the sub
ject is "The Organized Work and Life of
Women" and during the afternoon miscella-
neous papers that did not seem to MT in at any
other session were read.
1t was the closing day Of the first triennial
meeting Of the Woman's National Council, that
has started out under such favorable auspices
and that seems to promise SO much for the fu-
ture.
THE OPENING OF TIE EXERCISES.
The exercises we're opened with q solo by
Mrs F. A. Perkins, who sang sweetly and with
expression.
Mrs. A. c. Thorpe Of Cambridge. Mass, the
president OF the W.C.T.U- in that city, lead in
prayer and gave thanks that the women of the
land are coming forth from darkness into the
hight OF fuller and larger opportunity.
Miss Willard, in her opening address, an
nounced that the program for the morning SEES
sion was the strongest of the council The
Political Status Of Woman" was the subject Of
discussion.
The first paper was one by Mrs. Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, president Of the Woman Suffrage
Association, who is now abroad. The paper,
which was on the subject 1.-The Matriarchatc or
Mother Age" was read by Miss Anthony, whom
Miss Willard characterized as one OF the two
double stars Of the first magnitude.
MRS. STATIONS PAPER.
without going into any of the fine calcula-
the centuries of human growth 1 simply state
that some agree on about 5000 years. They
assign GO 600 to savagery, 200 to barbarism
and 5000 to civilization.
"for my present purpose these facts are only
interesting to show for how long period. in
proportion, women reigned supreme; the ar
bisers of their own destiny. the protectors Of
their children. the acknowledged builders of all
there was of home life. religion and later, from
time to time, of government.
what Is often said, and repeated from time
to time and never cOntradicted, is accepted as
truth. Thus the assertion that women have
| always been physically inferior to men and con-
condition has been universally believed.
This view has furnished the opponents to
womans emancipation their chief arguments
for holding her in bondage. and logically So
for II at all periods and in all latitudes and
longitudes woman had held the same subordi-
nate position men would naturally infer that
what we choose to call Providence, for wise pur.
poses. had made woman the slave of man. The
worst feature of these assumptions is thai
women themselves believe them and feel thai
to strive for their own emancipation is simply
| an attempt at the impossible. Fortunately his
tor1cal research hasat last proved the fallacy OF
these assumptions and all the arguments tina,
grow out Of them.
LEFT TO PROTECT HERsELF
Through all this period woman was left to
protect herself and forage for her children
Morgan, in his Ancient Society," gives many
remarkable examples of the superior position
Of women among different tribes in the latter
part of the period Of barbarian. Among the
greater number of the American aborigines
the descent of property and children were in
the female line. Women sat ia the councils OF
war and peace and their opinions had equal
weight on all questions.
"A family OF the moncgamic type might have
individualized and become powerful in society
at large. but the gems did not and could moi
recognize the family as an integer of ITSELF
This is equally true of the modern family and
political society. Although ipdividualized by
property rights and privileges and recognized
as a legal entity by statutory enactments. the
family is not the unit of political system. The
state recognizes the counties of. which il is
composed, the county its townships but the
townships take no note Of the family So in
the early periods the nation recognized its
tribes, the tribes its phratries and the phratries
its gentes but the gems took no note of the
family.
"Itis worthy of note that our barbarian ances-
tn hav We baG oil i,rha ,laa
woman than American men in the nineteenth
century, protesting to believe, as they do, in
our republican principles of government.
During these early periods the property of
woman was In her own line and gems and man q
property was in his own line and gems.
INVADING THE MOTHERS RIGHTS
''The growth Of the idea of property, and
the rise of monogamy. which in a measure as
sured the paternity of children, formed motives
sufficiently powerful to bring children into the
gems of their father and participation in the
inheritance of his estate But this invasion Of
the mothers rights was slow process and for
long periods resisted.
''As far back into the shadowy past as human
thought has penetrated, and been able by a
process OF reason to substantiate the facts OF
primeval life we behold woman in all her
native dignity, self-poised and self-supporting,
her own head and hands her guidance and pro-
lection. The instincts Of motherhood gave her
the first thought of privacy and seclusion, and
led her to make q home for herself and chill
dren in the caves of the earth, safe from the
wild beasts Of the forests and the willy hunter,
who lived on uncooked food and slept on the
ground wherever night found him. While his
rude activities developed but few Of his facul-
ties the woman, in solitude, was learning the
great lessons Of life.
1.-THE period Of woman's supremacy lasted
through many Observation-Disclosures, &C.
cepted as natural and proper wherever it existed.
and was called the matriarchate or motherage.
1t was plainly traceable among the Aryans, the
Germans, the Persians and indications of it are
still seen among uucivilized tribes and nations.
Careful historians now show that the great
est civilizing power all along the pathway of
natural Development has been found in the
wisdom and tender sentiments growing out of
motherhood. For the protection Of herself
and her children woman made the first home
in the caves Of the earth; then huts with trees
in the sunshine. She made the first attempts
Mt agriculture; raised grain. fruits and herbs,
which she learned to use in sickness. She was
her own physician; all that was known of the
medical art was in her hands. She domesti-
Gated the COW and the goat, and from the neces-
sites of her children learned the use Of milk.
The women cultivated the arts of peace and the
sentiments Of kinship, and ali there was Of
human love and home life. The necessities OF
motherhood were the real source of all the
earliest attempts at civilization.
MATERNITY An ALL~INsPIRNo MOTIVE.
"Thus, instead Of being disability a. un-
thinking writer's are pleasedto call il, maternity
has been the aIl-inspiring motive or force that
impelled the first steps toward . stable home
and family life. Clearly the birth of civilixa-
ton must be sought in the attempt Of woman
at self-preservation during the period Of preg-
nancy and lactation.