The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-11-02
TOM DIxoN,s LECTURE.

less for One Hour and Hail,
Except When They Wept or Laughed
or AppIauded Some Outburst OF
Eloquence. or Some Original Expo
sitIOn-
Rev. Thomas Dixon, of New York,
lectured last night at the Academy of
Music on 1.-THE Woman of the Future"
What he said was about in three sec
tions, namely, exordium, analysis and
illustrations
Like all artists, be they orators or 9TH
erwise, who know their business, he
fingered the keys lightly at first, with
home touches and notes here and there
that made the folks prick up their ears.
Everybody'sI feelings seemed to get
rubbed the right way, but he hit the
keys his own way, as when he said by
way of deprecating men in comparison
with woman: "Jesus Christ was a man,
because as a man he touched the lowest
depths of human need" He humor
ously swept over the pages of book
lately out by NEW Woman" in which
the females of all animals were epito-
mixed units whose every part was in use
for the needs aud aims of their existence,
whereas the surplus plumage of males
signifed an energy at work not necessary
to the essential ends of the race.
''The woman OF the Goth century, !"
he exclaimed, twill enter a full world
of natural right and privilege" Woman
had heretofore been either toy or a
servant Here Mr.. Dixon referred to his
los vuyhf oh
called the remedy of a man who had his
wife stolen by another man. He RECEIVERS
by reason of the slave-service he has been
deprived Of He pointed to Vassar as the
first step toward woman's higher educa
ton in America. IL had been founded
in the midst of the jeers and Kisses of
men. But Wellesley, and Smith, and
other colleges that had come later had
excited no derision. 1t had been only the
first step which had cost. Moreover, of
32S, 900 divorces which had been granted
during the last generation, only $4,000
had been granted to men, Woman had
thus been the injured party, but she was
advancing, though the fact that she
was getting to be breadwinner was
falsely called part of the advance: it
was simply an eddy IN her advance.
There were $50, 900 women to day in New
York city who earned their bread by the
sweat OF their brows, and that outside
of the duties of mother and wife, in com
petition with man.
Mr.. Dixon deprecated this eddy as
not part of the advance, saying that
every burden put upon the back
of a woman was tribute laid
upon the coming generation of men.
Moreover, women should not be al
lowed to enter into such competition and
thus lower wages and destroy children
yet unborn. There were enough men on
this earth TO do the work of the world If
they worked only four hours each day.
Wages ought to be raised and hours
lessened. This could not be done with
women in the field.
Mr.. Dixon denounced the system
which made it necessary for woman to
be a breadwinner. He said the State would
have to come to the rescue. Here he
drew a vivid picture of the young
men whose lives were demanded
by the State during the war, and
exclaimed the speaker, "Who dares de-
stroy life must take the responsibility of
conserving life, and the State should see
to it that no woman should have to work
for her daily bread Then Mr.. Dixon
came to the second section, the bulk of
his subject; not so divided by him, but
only for the convenience of the SKETCH
and confronted as the greatest agency at
work toward working out the 30 called
''new woman" the question OF woman
suffrage. He said the women who ad
yoeated suffrage as a remedy for ills
were not TO be laughed at. They were
made OF the stuff that heroes
were made of. ''You try to laugh at
them and they'll thrust You in the side
with green umbrella, and you'll know
they are here" Iaughter.) He used to
be ''dogmatic' he knew it all; he was
different now; he was willing to say to
all corners ''let us reason together" and
proceeding in this spirit he said, Elf a
woman is the same in function and de.
yelopment and ideal and future as man,
there is no reason why she should not
have the ballot"
Then Mr.. Dixon went into both a
physical, metaphysical and psychol gical
ana ysis of the difference between the
functions and future of men and those
Of women. Gan radicali-m is m 4scu-
line" said he; "all conservatism is
feminine; mans work is to vary the
type; wOman's work is to preserve the
type. Mr.. Dixon hre gave the results
Of some interesting reading he must
have been doing in this branch of
thought The whole trend was to leave
the woman lifted higher than man.
Then said he ito give woman
a ballot is to drag her down to
the level of a man" applause. J
ut is not question of similarity AID
equality; it is question Of difference. "
All this was said in definition of the
word woman" in the proposition ''shall
woman have the ballot" Now he came
to the definition of the word ''ballot "
He said the ballot has nothing to do
with spiritual forces. Tine ballot is
force he exclaimed, with accent on the
sis" mot force in posse, force in eSSe,