The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-03-07
Is Society Wiser in Its
Dictum
Than the Nature That
Controls Us?
A Plea for the Spinsters as Against
the Married Woman and
the Widow.

Inc WIDOW.
(By Lady Cook, nee Tennessee G.
Clafiin.)
The report for 1894 Of "Rescue Work
in Richmond, Kew, Brentford, Twick-
enham, Strand -on- the Green, Mort
lake, Barnes, and Isleworth," in con-
nection with the Ladies' association
for the Care of Girls-Mothers of Nat
ura1 Children-in Richmond and neigh
borhood,'' of which Fl. r. II. the Ouch
ess of Teck is president, and the
Dowager Countess Russell first member
| of the committee, sets one Inusing.
! And yet there is nothing philosophical
about it. But it is typical of rescue
reports generally. It gives the min
imum of information with THE MAXI
mum of pious reflections. The follow
ing extracts, however, from the mat
| ron's notes are chiefly responsible for
this article:-"A., 1S, was sent to Rich
mond that she might be away from
her old associates in another district
| of London. She had been a very
naughty girl, and for some time gave
/ a great deal of trouble in the Home.
She determined, however, at length,
by Gods help, to try to do better. A
lady kindly engaged her to give her a
| trial, and is so we'll pleased with her
that she has sent two of her friends to
know if I have others like her, she is
such a good girl" "B., 21, had al
ways been a very respectable girl and
borne a good character, till she was
wronged by her lover, in consequence
of which she was cast off by her rela-
| tions and thrown out of employment
| Naturally a delicate girl, the trouble
ipreyed upon her mind, and for some
time she was very low and depressed
But now that is a. thing of the past
she obeyed the call Come unto Me
all We that are weary and heavy laden,
and came and found rest. Her friends
have since received her again, and she
is back at her old place of business
with her heart full of thankfulness te
God for all His goodness to her.
There were fifty-six other cases, nc
doubt similar, and we asked ourselves
what was the primary cause that these
young creatures became outcasts? ant
the answer was, heart-hunger Heart
munger! The strongest craving i'm
planted in our sex. And nature exerts
all its skill in fashioning us for it.
organization. Consciously or uncon.
lsciously, all the impulses of the bud.
ding woman impel her to love, and hel
organization cOnSpicuously denotes the
purpose of her rbeing-motherhood AL
the forces that made her urge her tt
fulfil this mission, but when she does
so otherwise than in the society meth
cd of her time and place. she becomes
at once miserable sinner, is "cast of
lby her relations and thrown out o1
employment" and finds her way to thu
Workhouse, to the refuge for lost
women, or the streets. Nature anG
Isociety are at variance ON this point
One must be wrong. Which of then
is right? God or man?
Nature provides a maid for every
man, and a man for every maid Ir
point of numbers the sexes are a.
equal as anything in this world car
be. Yet in England and Wales il
1881 only 33 per cent Of the female.
We're wives In every thousand SO.
were spinsters, 329 wives, and z
widows. In every ten thousand wo
men twenty years of age, 7,011 Were
lspinsters, 1874 wives, and 1 widow. II
Ievery ten thousand women 80 years Of
lage, 1,644 are spinsters, and at g.
years, LOTS. Thus from 15 to 65 there
is huge proportion Of women who
never become wives, and from 15 tt
20 the spinsters outnumber the wive.
iseveral times over. Altogether, there
are nearly nine millions. As, men arr
not believed ito be continent, it fol
lows that, excluding illicit engage
ments, wives and widows monop *
them all. This agrees with obseIya
tion.
Widows are more skillfu anglers fo
husbands than spinsters, and man,
marry several times. This is a socia
injustice to the >pinsters. "One mar
one woman" is surely as fair a CRY
as "One man one vote" As there i.
scarcely one man for each woman
what right has one woman to two
three, or four men in succession? She
may reply, "By the right Of conquest
But then, is she not reducing Others
to unhappy courses or to become ole
maids? Formerly she would have
been punished for bigamy if she mar
ried again. And although the church
in olden times was cruel in this mat
ter, we believe ii was to some extern
right in asserting that it was impure
for a woman to know more than one
man. Society, for the interests of all
should discourage the re-marriage Of
widows.
The married women, however, arx
much more numerous than the wild
lows, and by far the worst enemies Of
the spinsters. For, not content will
their own husbands, too often they
not only covet other women's spouses
but the bachelors as well. Their pas
sion for conquest is Unsuitable. Whe1
the mothers behave thus, is it any
wonder there should be ga revolt o1
the daughters?" Thus one often hears
T can't go to this ball; there will b.
too many married women" The pool
girls have no chance against the wiles
Of these experienced and desperate
danes. We are told by Clemens OF
Alexandria that '"Theano the Pytha
gorean made such progress in philoso
ply, that to him who looked intently
at her, and said "Your arm is beauti
! ful," she answered, eyes, but it is no
public" But the shamelessness Of
modern fashion commands married
women to expose to the public eye, no