The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-01-20
SEX RELATIONSHIP.
A Calm and Dispassionate View of
The Woman Question.

ileges which men posses but also cOntinu-
ed exemption from their responsibilities
would carry the principle of female emanci-
patton to a point which has aroused opposi-
ton on the part of many who in every great
question of the day are admittedly leaders
of the party ofprogress. While the contest
RACES as to whether women are to know.
say and do everything that the coarsest of
men can, or, on the other hand, be kept
completely in the background, people are
apt to forget what is really the crucial
point of the whole question
They forget that the position of women,
and of men, too, for that matter, is insepa-
rably bound up with the relationships
between the sexes known as marriage; are
apt to forget the Importance of that rela-
tionship not only to individuals, but to the
state; are apt to forget that too rigorous a
subjection of women may bring us near to
barbarism: too great an emancipation may
lead to that corruption which has so often
in the worlds history 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 relations
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 relations are unhealthy, if
the wife has not her place in the social
polity, that country is rotten to the core,
and its complete decay and demoralization
are inevitable. Speaking generally, there
are four aspects or ideals of the status of
the wife-four ways in which her position
is regarded by men.
There is the method of the barbarian.
that of the oriental, that of western civili-
zation, that of corrupt civilization which
last is practically the degraded form of the
third. The barbarian regards his wife as
a mere slave-a squaw to cook his food,
carry his burdens submit to his i'll usage
The oriental sees in his wife plaything to
crafty his passions, to be kept in the
strictest seclusion, and to be treated alto
gether as brainless being; regarded by
him, in fact, so far as any respect is con-
cerned, 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 hears his
name. But with all this she is looked upon
as her husbands equal, is the sharer of his
counsels, his intelligent partner and has a
right to expect from him the fidelity which
in the case of the savage or the oriental is
so one sided
The credit of placing this view of mar
ried life before mankind has been claimed
by Christian writers for their religion.
But although we must admit that Chris
tianity has done much to improve the posi-
tion of woman, yet the high ideal which
we have termed that of western civilization
existed in a very strong degree in ancient
Greece, still more strongly amopg the
Romans and the nations of western Europe,
whom they conquered and civilized long
before Christianity was preached, and the
noble qualities which we admire in those
races may often be directly traced to the
influence of wives and mothers
But high as is this ideal, history shows
that there are dangers which threaten those
societies where it prevails; danger the out
come of that very civilization which it has
done so much to perfect. Luxury, pros
perity, too great liberty, want of mutual
respect and continual striving after new
sensations are 100 apt to destroy that
wholesome state of things which has been
the palladium of every great nation, and we
too often have examples ofthe fourth ideal
which, though springing from the third, is
so distinct from it that it deserves TO be
classed by itself Where wife is no
longer content with taking her share in
the battle of life, no longer content to re-
cognize the fact that there are things which
it better becomes the woman to do than
the man, and vice versa; when she insists
on aping and sharing the follies and vices
of the man, on casting from her that mod
esty and reserve which are womans great
est charms; when she spurns maternity and
domestic duties as trivial or monotonous,
then indeed the marriage state must fall
into disrepute; then the fatherland must
surely suffer
1t was this which led to the unspeaka-
BILE horrors of impevial Rome; it was the
uusexed women, their profigacy only
equaled by their audacity, who were
responsible as much as Nero and Domitian
themselves for the downfall of Roman civ
ilizatiaon. Otho and Silius would have been
impossible but for Poppea and Messaliua.
1t latter times, too, and even in Christian
countries, where the marriage tie was in
theory held so sacred that if duly cele-
brated it could only be dissolved by death,
we have seen state of things as bad.
II coal dealer sell load of coal to
another who refuses to pay him for them,
viii he sell to him the second time
If farmer sells a crop of corn to
another who refuses to pay him, will he
! .