The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1895-01-02
IS MAN A BRUTE2
One English Woman Who Thinks That
Many of Them Are.

Among the wrongs of our sex which
have been so freely ventilated lately,
both on the platform and in the press,
writes a well-known Englishwoman,
there is one which l have never seen
alluded to. and yet it is an evil which
has caused more misery to middle-class
women than perhaps all the others COM
bined-I mean the dreadful and cruel
monotony of a middle-class married
woman's existence.
There are thousands-aye, tens of
thousands-of women who from one
weeks end to another never have any
amusement excitement or change eX-
cept their Saturday marketing and Sun
dav church. Day after day there is the
same dull routine of duty, which COM
mences with the preparation of break
fast in the morning and concludes with
the arrangement of supper, with inter-
ludes of attention to servants, children
and house cleaning.
The average middle-class husband
goes out every morning to business OF
some kind or other. He meets friends
and acquaintances, enjoys the ever
varying kaleidoscope of the busy
streets, and the smaller or greater ex-
citement and pleasure to be derived
from his profession or business. He re-
turns after the labors of the day, enjoys
his evening meal, and then INDUCES in
his loose coat, slippers, armchair, news
paper and pipe.
If his wife should suggest walk or a
visit to any place of amusement the
man will plead that he is tired. No
doubt he is, but so is the woman, and
what difference there is in their tired
ness! She is tired of the four walls OF
her little house, of the silence and want
of variety, in fact she is yearning for
what her husband is tired of.
81 have been working all day." the
man will observe.
So has the wife.
II have earned the change which
call rest"
So has the woman earned the change
which she wants, but she must not have
it, because it does not please her lord
and master.
believe that in the majority of cases
this egotism on the mans part is
brought about through education, igno-
rance and want of thought. The in
tensely selfish manner in which most
boys are educated causes them to think
that the earth and the fruits thereof are
all theirs, with the exception of the few
they allow the women to gather. The
| ignorance of the woman's nature, of heI
wants and requirements, which, if they
do not learn it as boys. many mer
! never seem able to grasp or understand
and, finally, want of thought, which
| generally means too much thought-o
| himself.
| If that is the cause, the remedy i!
easily brought about. 1t merely re
| quires little sacrifice on the part O.
the man, which most husbands will of
fer when they know how much depends
upon it, but should the effect be pro
duced by want of heart l fear there il
nothing for it but for the woman tC
bear her burden, as so many are at thii
moment nobly doing. 1t cannot be de
MED that there are many men, or ami
mails rather, who degrade humanity by
their assumption of the name of man
who, while denying themselves nothing
in the shape of amusements and luxu
ries, always argue that "a woman!
| place is at home" You might just a
well say that mans place is at the of
flee, and that therefore he should neve1
be seen elsewhere.
During the last few years woman
| position, both social and legal, ha
much improved, but justice will neve
| be done to our sex until men are mad'
to understand that their wives work a
hard as they do, and that women re
quire, have earned, and deserve occa
sional relaxation quite as much as the,
do themselves.