The herald., 1894-10-31
WHAT THE WOMAN DEMANDS.
Should Wives Obey Their
Husbands?
A Belief That Laws Should Govern
Both Sexes.
A Claim That the Vow of Obedience
Has OutIived Its Meaning.
A Radical Point OF
View.

| lBY LADY COOK, NEE TENNESSEE C. cLAFLINl
II any OF your readers would desire to
gee what we're the old world views of
the proper relations and duties OF hus-
bands and wives. they should read a
letter in the Star under the above head.
ing, signed Homo. 1t is obviously a
joke, but prefer to treat it seriously.
The writer appears to be fair speci-
men of the ancient Tory churcbman.
and how he found his way into the Star
heaven only knows. He dishes up the
same stale assertions and arguments
that formed a leading part of the intel
lectual banquet of his predecessors
lev generations ago. These have been
exploded over and over. But it appears
there are some beinge still 80 obtuse that
nothing short of miracle can convince
them. Insensible to reason, deaf to
argument, and cocksure of their errors,
they cling to the failacies OF their great
grandistbers with limpet-like tenaeity.
We're it not that q few weak minds
might possibly be- led astray by them, |
should not trouble to reply to their abb
surdities.
The statement respecting the ''New
Women" that "they ell agree in claim
ing to do what they like. to cay what
they like, and to wear what they like.
ia entirely contrary to the truth. For
they claim nothing opposed to sound
reason, good sense and propriety.
Theirs are not the claims of wauton will.
fulnese, but equitable demands based
upon intelligent conviction. If there
are any 80 ill-informed as Homo" |
will tell them what we want. We re-
quire that the lave should deal with
men and women alike, making no dis
tinction between sex and ses that mar
.iage should be a civil contract, and
that eech partner should have equal
rights. privileges and responsibilities;
that under this contract the wife shall
be no longer regarded as 'chattel' or
matrimonial slave, but free partner.
ruling in her department while the hus.
band rulea in his; that obedience should
be equal and reciprocal. each yielding
to the authority Of the other
are concerned; that the wife shall
have the same liberty ae her hueband to
choose what she shall eat, drink, and
wear, but may not initiate him in ex-
cesses or in tranegressing the limits OF
purity of conduct which men demand
from women should be demanded from
the men. These are the most salient
points in our programme. and the OBJ
jections to them are: That husbands
protect their wives from all anxieties in
the battle of life, and 80 married women
out of every 100 have none whatever; !;
that women vow obedience in marriage !;
that lone must rule, and the question
is, which ?'; that the vast majority OF
women have less sense than men; that
''if the most gifted women OF the world
are put in competition with the most
gifted men, the result ia pitiable 80 far
ne the weaker eek 10 concerned" To all
this we give an emphatic denial.
Would to God that only one married
woman in hundred had mo anxiety"
Would to God that men were the gifted
and generous creatures that they are
represented to be. In that case we
should never have heard OF women's
rights and wrongs. But it is because
men have egregionsly failed in their
duties that women have risen to a sense
of higher responsibilities and demand q
freer life. Woman has always been
more or less the slave OF man, treated
first as a chattel. and next as q child
kept ever in subsection in some form or
another; denied freedom of occupation
and liberal education; refused tie COM
mon rights OF the lowest freeman; beat
en- by brutee and trampled down by her
country's laws. But by her abilities
and address, and the growing sense OF
justice, che has begun to smancipste
herself from foul restraints. And the
day is not far distant when she will dis
Io;n 90 ta No tow drn of
and will stand with him, shoulder to
shoulder. as his intellectual peer and
social equal. the worthy helpmeet of
the worthiest.
can fearlessly appeal to your readers
as to their personal knowledge OF the
numerous anxieties which beset every
married woman ga soon as the honey
moon is over, and frequently bsfore.
The anxieties OF collaborating, nursing
and household management belong to
rich and poor, and are by no means
elight. In the case of the poor. who
form the majority. there is often
added the responsibility OF assisting
the hueband in hia ecanty earnings by
some outside employ ment. Thousands
of INDECENT wives have to care for a
family and work besides, and excessive
child bearing, insufficient nourish mont
and hard labor break down the health
of the strongest young mothers. The
anxieties of mere houaehold control and
family training are far more wearing
than the routine OF ordinary bueiness.
"The vow OF obedience" which occurs
in the English church service is simply
part OF an old ecclesiastical formula
which has outlived it's meaning.
The man says. with all my worldly
goods | thee endow;" but neither Of
them, unless they are very simple, mean
or do anything of the sort. AS 10 the
alleged necessity that one OF the two
should rule, this does not exist where
two are OF one mind and strive to please
each other by every art of love, as in q
real marriage. But ii it caee of master
and servant, or even of a cold or pnr.
chased wife, the disparity between these
may excuse marital authority over the
wife. st. Paul wrote in regard to such,
and to condition OF semi-alavery which
existed in his time. but we wholly re-
pcdiate the application OF his oriental
idoas to the case of free Englieh
WON an.
Women, OF course, do not understand
those subjects which they have not
studied as do the men who have. They
have been carefully excluded from many
vocations which men regard as belong
ing to themselves, and therefore, upon
topics relating to these, women are ig-
noraut and may seem foolish. But it 10
equally the same with men when they
discuss women's affairs. SUM cnin-