The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-06-21
sen RELATIONSHIP.
AcALM AND DiSPA5SloNATE VIEW or
1.-THE WOMAN QUESTION:"
The Future Of y Nations Prosperity de-
ponds In Great Part on the Maria &c Re-
lati"n- Lessons Drawn from the History
Of Ancient Greece and Rome.

The rights and wrongs of women are
nov debated with a vigor and virulence
which increase every day. Those who
demand for women not only all the priv.
ileges which men possess. but also con.
tinued exemption from their response
bilitias. would carry the principle Of fe-
male emancipation to a point which has
aroused opposition on the part of many
who in every great question of the dav
are admittedly leaders Of the party of
progress. While tine contest RACES as to
whether women are TO know. say and do
everything that the coarsest of men can.
or, on the other hand. he kept completely
in the background. people are apt to for
get what is really the crucial point Of
the whole question.
They forget that the POSITION of WON.
en-, and of men. too, FOR that matter.
is inseparaIlv bound up with the rela-
tionships between the sexes known as
marriage; are apt TO forget the impor-
lance of that relationship not only to III
divlduals. but to the state; are aot to
forget that too ri&oaeus ii srbiection of
women ma. bring T. near to barharisln.
too great an emancipation may lead 10
that corruption which has SO often in
the worlds hlstorT been the outcome Of
a civilization which has not placed due
restraint on the passions and impulses.
The prosperity of a country depends
on the proper maintenance Of the rela-
lions between husband and wife quite
as much as on its outer strength. and
however great and powerful a country
may seem to be. if these domestic rela-
tions are unhealthy. if the wife has moi
her place in the social politr, that coun-
try is rotten 10 the core, and its complete
decay and Generalization are inevitable.
Speaking generally. there are -four as
poets or ideals of the status of the wife
-four ways in which her position Is re-
gardei by men.
There is the method Of the barbarian.
that Of the oriental. that of western civ
ilization, that of corrupt civilization,
which last is practically the degraded
form of the third. The barbarian re-
CARDS his wife as a mere slave-a squaw
to cook his food. carry his burdens. sub
init to his i'll usage. The oriental sees in
his wife a plaything to crafty his pas
sions. to be kept in the strictest seclu-
sion. and to be treated altogether as a
brainless being. regarded by him, in
fact. SO far as any respect is concerned.
much as the squaw is regarded by the
savage.
From the third point of view the wife's
position is very different. True. she is
the mother of her husbands children;
true. she has duties to perform which
her husband would disdain: true. her
husband is the head of the family, and
she bears mis- name. But with all this
she is looked upon as her husbands
equal. is the snarer of his connsels. his
Intelligent partner and has a right to ex-
pect from him the fidelity which in the
case OF the savage or the oriental is so
sided.
The credit of placing this view of mar
rled life before mankind has been
claimed bF Christian writers for their
religion Blt although we mus. admit
that Christianity has done much to i'm
prove the position of woman. vet the
high ideal which we have termed that Of
western civilization existed in IA very
strong degree in ancient Greece. still
more strongly among the Romans and
The nations Of western Europe. whom
they conquered and civilized long before
Ihrlstlanlty was preached. and the noble
qualities which we admire in those races
nay often ID. directly traced TO the in
1uence of wives and mothers.
But high as is this ideal. history shows
hat there are dangers which threaten
socief es where it prevails: dan
ger the outcome of that very civilization
which it has done SO much to perfect.
Luxury, prosperity, too great liberty,
rant of mutual respect and continual
after new sensations are too apt
o destroy that wholesome state Of things
has been the palladium of every
great nation, and we too often have ex-
Of the fourth ideal. which, though
bringing from the third, is SO distinct
rom it that it deserves to be classed by
tself. Where a wife is no longer con
,ent with taxing her share in the battle
If life. no longer content to recognize
he fact that there are things which i
becomes the roman TO do than
he man, ano vice versa; when she insists
On aping and sharing the follies aud
-F0
Of the man, OF casting from her
hat modesty and reserve which are
woman's greatest charms, when she
Ipurns maternity and domestic duties as
trivial or monotonous, then indeed the
marriage state must fall into disrepute;
thea the fatherland must surely suffer.
Il was this which led to the unspeak-
lble horrors of imperial Rome; it was
the unsexed women. their prohigacy only
by their audacity. VINO were re
sponsible as much as Nero and Doni-
themselves for the downfall Of Re-
man civilization. Ohio and Silius would
nave been impossible but for Popp9a
aud Messalina In latter times, too. and
IN Christian countries. where the
marriage tie was in theory held 10 sa'