The record-union., 1893-05-13

The lessons learned by contact with the
world are valuable in training children.
1t IS impossible to avoid dangers of
which we are ignorant, and the mex
perlenced mother cannot keep the feet OF
her children from quicksands OF which
she herself is unconscious. Harriet
Beecher Stowe in agnes of Sorrento
depicts graphically in the characters of
Mother Teresa and the shrewd old Jo-
cunda, the differences to which l allude.
The woman who is a failure as wife
and mother is not the business woman,
but the woman whose idol is society, who
burns her incense not at the shrine OF
duty, but of fashion.
Inc third proposition is harder to dis
cuss, as we might differ as to the preml-
ses from which it should be argued. If
the charm Of femininity and the graces
OF character presuppose condition OF
helplessness, that would result in a
woman's being either pampered pet or
helpless slave, | am bound to con-
Tess that business training would de-
stroy them. But if ''the charm of femi-
nlnlty and the graces of character belong
TO such woman as Solomon describes
IN Proverbs, chapter XXI, then the
business training will develop them;
for the wise man" tells us that
"She considereth field and buyeth it;
with the fruit OF her hands she planteth
vineyard" "She max eth fine linen and
selleth 1t; and delivereth girdles unto the
merchants" 'She looketh well to the
ways of her household and eateth not the
bread of idleness." 1.-THE heart OF her
husband does safely trust in her; she will
DO MN good and not evil all the days of
her lite." Give her of the fruit of her
hands and let her own works praise her
in the gates"
We used to find woman described as
the cllnglng vine, and man as the sturdy
oak around which she entwined and by
which she was supported; but in Califor-
MA we DO not find the vineyardist culti-
Vatlng his vines in an oak grove: he
makes the vines self-supporting. This
very well illustrates the changes in the
conditions of civilization which are re-
sponsible for the changes in the status of
woman.
But we cannot go back, if we would.
Among the nursery doggerels of child
Dumpty." "Humpty Dumpty on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had fall, and all the
Kings horses and all the Kings men
could not put Humpty Dumpty back
again"
When. after the downfall of Napoleon,
the allied Powers Of Europe attempted TO
ignore the effects of the French revolu-
tion and force Europe back into the con-
dition of absolutism and tyranny which
had before prevailed they found them
selves unable to do it. The bird of
Freedom" had broken its shell and could
not again be squeezed into its old condi-
tions.
As l see, there is but one way by which
the old Utopia may be restored, and that
is by first shutting the saloons and sup
pressing the manufacture of cigarettes,
those twin hydras who are sapping the
moral and mental strength of the youth
OF our land. This done, the coming man
may be designated ''vir'' and not simply
homo"
And, secondly, close all the public and
normal schools. Put padlocks on the
doors OF all the colleges and universities
that have opened their gates to the higher
euucatlon of women, for it is in 5hese
dangerous institutions that have been
forged the weapons by which she has cut
the cords OF ignorance and the swaddling
bands of helplessness. This done, in a
few generations woman might become
what she was in the medieval period
the wealthy and noble-the pet OF the
man; the poor and helpless-his prey.
But there is one consolation even for
the pessImlst who sees nothing but evil
In existing conditions, and that is in the
TACT that after all has been said and done
there will be still left enough helpless
women, who haveinot been demoralized by
business associations, to become the wives
of all those men who see in this sort of
companion the panacea for domestic infe-
HcIty. And, as the opinion Of men con-
corning women is based upon their
knowledge of the character of those with
whom they are most intimately associ-
ated, we shall find in the future, as we
have found in the past and in the present,
those who see nothing but disaster star
ing them in the face.
Is there not, however, a higher and no.
bier way in which we may look at this
subject. We are in the latter part Of the
nineteenth century and cannot, if we
would, go back to the fourteenth or tif-
teenth, but can we not sympathize with
the grand prophetic thought expressed
by the recently dead-no, not dead, but
living-Poet Laureate, Tennyson, in the
closing lines of THE Princess'':
Blame not thyself too much, nor blame
100 much the sons of men and barbarous
laws;
These were the rough ways of the world till
now
The woman's cause is mans; they rise or
sink
Together, dwarfed or godlike, bond or free;
For she that out OF Lethe scales with man
The shining ste of Nature, shares with man
His nights, his days, moves with him to one
If she be small, slight natured, miserable
How shall men grow?
Let her make herself her own,
To give or keep to live and learn and be
All that not harms distinctive womanhood,
For woman is not undeveloped man, but
diverse.
Yet in the long years liker must they grow,
The man be more OF woman, she of man;
He gain in sweetness and in moral hight
Nor lose the wrestling threws that throw the
world;
She mental breadth, nor fail in childward
care.
Nor lose the chlIdnke in the larger mind;
Till at the last She set her self to man,
Like perfect music unto noble words
ELIZABETH B. PURNELL,
90 ant Inr-