The herald., 1895-03-30
PESSIMISM AND EvoLUTIbp
Some Of the Traits Characteristic Of ~
Sexes 4kl
Professor David Starr Jcrdsn's Opinion ofltho
New Woman and Of the
New Man

The teachers assembled again last niaht
at the Normal school to listen to lecture
on The Woman of Pessimisn and tho
Woman of Evolution, by President David
Starr Jordan Of Stanford. He began his
lecture by reading voluminous extracts
from Schopenhauer. Man is untitled
for close friendships. He has no sense
of responsibility for his own. He is not
willing to restrict his sphere to what he
can do. He wants to govern the country
when he can not keep his own dooryArd
clear.
The craft Of women arises from his
brutality. In division of labor he takes
every advantage. He puts his own whims
and passions above the good OF the
species. He claims the right to crafty
self desire and does not know anything
of self-control The beauty Of woman
comes with the demand for beauty.
Beauty was once dangerous and was con-
fined to the males--the fighting sex. ~
Intelligence AS we'll as affection is
needed in motherhood. The homeless
woman, like the loveless man, is sbhor-
rent.
"All the world loves a lover.'' The
woman of the future will be ever less like
the man of the future. With young girls
nature seems to have had in view what,
in the language of the drama. IS called
a striking effect; as for a few years she
dowers them with a wealth Of beauty and
is lavish in her gifts of charm at the ex.
pense OF all the balance of life; so that
during those years they may capture the
fancy OF some man to such a degree that
he is hurried away into undertaking the
honorable care of them, in some form or
other as long as they live--a step for
s.I, - -
sufficient cause If he were guided by rea-
son alone.
The evolution Of man and woman from
the brute has been slow and painful and
must always be SO until the highest type
is reached. Whenever desire arises
nature fills the desire with the desid-
eratum. If men want beauty in women,
women become beautiful. OF course all
these wants are not filled in day, or in
Thousand years, but in evolution "thou-
sand years are as a watch in the night"
We cannot make any perceptible changes
in the senses themselves in . thousand
years, or in thousand generations; but
we can develop the senses so that they
will be of infinitely more use than they
are at present. The law of natural
selection keeps matters on an equality-on
proper basis. Brute force is growing
more and more to count for nothing. I
have seen a man monkey beat his wife in
a most shameful fashion. She must be
meek or be beaten to death.
The time is coming when women will
not be compelled to tie themselves to
men to make their way through the
world. That time will not come soon but
it will come surely.
The time is coming when people will
not be compelled to marry for protection
or property. When human PROCESS has
developed far, people will marry for love
only. The ideal queenly woman will then
marry the kingly man, not because she
wants protection, but because she loves
him and wants just such king in her
house.
There is growing demand for such
women as will be suitable companions
for mon all their lives long. The best
matches have ever known were not
made in heaven, but in Cornell.
The best matches must be made where
people are more developed-where pro-
gress is greatest.
The soundest organisms are the simplest.
Progressive beings must be. delicate or
ganisms. T ogress depends on state
of chronic dissatisfaction with environ
ments and conditions. All things work
together for good to those that work.