The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-09-18
"The New Woman"

directing a set OF fellows, armed with
clubs and pistols, when to rush into
drunken row and, if need be, clip the
skuIl or shoot the brains! A woman,
appointed to appear with her boys before
court and testify.to the particular CIR,
cumstances Of some unnameable outrage
Matron the mother of men, the sy mbol
of tender affection, the holy nurse ana
refuge of distressed humanity; the
earthly FORTRESS that welcomes me Woria,s is
now guests, as the angels welcome the
new heavenly guests. Matron ! that
thou shouldest preside over rapes and
gambling dens and so de6le thy holy
Office.
Were an angel to come down from
heaven and report, he would say: see
the Tempter, as OF old, sitting 'squat like
toad" at the ear of sleeping Eve, glow
ing dreams of womanly ambition ana
greatness, I see men and women Tor
saking the ordinances Of old appointed.
see men, yielding to strange fatuation
men courting etfeminacy and women
aspiring to the positions Of men. see
women public speakers, police officers,
haranguers, preachers ~ l see women,
Just at the age when the instinct OF chas-
tity ought to be most sensitive, Walk, IN
tight swimming costume, with men to the
beach and plunge into the SURF see
female bicycle racers and football players
performing before spectators. see them
taking lessons from the gymnastics OF
cotton exhibitions and great world expo
sitions, where the irresponsible gymnasts
are. both men and women, half naked
And I see, as consequence, young men
and young women coquetting and trolicK-
ing but declining to marry, the only
honorable and safe condition Of tempted
humanity. I see thousands OF modest,
holy women unsought, because undow-
cred and marriage q contract Of bi-metal-
lism. see courts OF justice scandalized
with divorce suits and the holy family,
which God instituted, disgraced by pub.
Lie details of connubial intrigues. And
see women becoming impatient OF the
Office and duties of mothers and looking
to child hospitals in which their parent
less waits may be nursed and weaned.
This was what the angel saw and 1t was
no hallucination. And as 1t was not
natural that woman was often untrue 10
her instincts, confess my serious appre-
hension.
o! INTELL1aENcER, that this move
ment is directed by q very superior
strategist behind 1t, OF which the women sa
themselves are not conscious. THINK 80
because the stragetio point Of attack IN
all this movement is the family, GODS
own original sanctuary, where the race ls
indoctrinated, where purity and virtue
are domiciled and where all that is pro-
motive of the happiness of the race
resides. And thought, If this strange,
this unnatural infatuation which has
overtaken the generation, goes on. we
might EXPECT, instead of an atmosphere
of purified politics, instead Of more
respect for women, instead of more self
respect in women, we might expect to
breathe an atmosphere Of scandals, and
innuendos about female character. We
might expect many more awful 1ealousles
prowling like raging bears around the
dwellings Of men. We might expect
that many more deadly revolYers would
hang in the pockets of men and many
more dreadful murders would stain the
record Of our American manners.
One small stain on the pure white
character of a virtuous woman is enough,
in a decent community, to consign her to
social oblivion. How much more purity
can she afford to spend in purifying poll
tics by her presence? Purify politics,
indeed! It would be curse on the
morals Of the age, and such state OF
morals as nothing but the Intervention OF
heaven could rectify.
The most artful of strategists has man
aged thus far in gagging the lips OF men
by appealing to their gallantry. But
true gallaptry consists in saving the Wo-
men from anarchy by recalling to her
woman's heart her native self-respect.
say anarchy, because think the move
ment ia at the same time the most artfuI
and the most ruinous to the best interests
of society of all the evils that now threaten
our civilization and our christianity.
The liquor evil, or the socialist evil of the
day is, neither of them, so threatening.
Because this looks towards the disruption
of the most ancient, the most sacred, and
the most powerful bond for holding
society together, the Family.