The herald., 1895-07-13
The New Woman

The New Woman
Editor Herald Il want to say something
on that subject about which everybody
| is talking nowadays, viz, the new wo'
| man question. For it seems to me that,
! though men have been attacking women
and women defending themselves on thai
! question for some time, yet l think al
has not yet been said which might and
should be.
To begin at the root OF the matter,
| then. We have more divorces in this
| country, in proportion to its size, than
| in any other. Why is this? Doubles,
| you will answer, the laws make it so.
| But what makes the laws? To this re.
ply, public sentiment that strange, in
distinguishable something. intangible yet
all powerful. made up of the feelings, the
ideas, the experiences of people Wo-
men as well as men are sharers in this
popular sentiment, ana therefore indi-
rectly, but nevertheless potently. inf1u-
ence the trend of these laws. Popular
sentiment was that which it was the in
tention of our foIefathers who drew up
the Declaration OF Independence should
make our laws; that, too, has been the
desire Of the men who came after them (;
and that is the desire OF the men of to-
day. If, then, woman has helped to
make popular sentim ent, and therefore
the laws, can you blame her if she has
legisated for herself?
And ii she has not acted aversely to
your wishes. you, American man. are to
blame. For, the truth of the matter is.
you have lett her too much to herself. II
you wanted her to accept unQuestioningly
your ideas. You have. it is true. pro-
vded well for her, dressed her well, edu-
own amusements. clubs, occupations,
and left her quite alcne with all this
power in her hands; have, in fact, left
Phaeton alone with the celestial horse,
all hliched to the chariot OF fire. And if
Phaeton. for the first time left to himself
felt that y.u had given him great
charge. is it any wonder if he bravely
sent them fiying into the clouds? o He
los, Helios! Are you not little incon-
sistent?
The fact is. you have been a little sell
fish. you American men. You don t
think you have been, because. as l said
before, you have drsssed us well, gwen
us money. educated us. But lave you
been altogether fathers and husbands and
brothers to us? We know you have meant
to be; and that when you have been
working ana striving and leaving US to
our own devices it was for our own sakes.
But then. if you would only take time to
become acquainted with us, Wouldn't
it have been better. that summer you
stayed ut home and worked and made
yourself i'll (bless youD y. SO that you be-
came so cross we couldn't speak to you
wouldn't it have been better. | say. if
that summer you had gone with us to
the beach. had sat there beside the sea,
had made mother more comfortable with
her wraps, and had talked with your
daughter and learned some of her
thoughts and hopes and that life which
every girl lives within herself? 1t would
have been better for her too. to have
known that strength and tenderness that
come from q fathers affection, and then,
perhaps, she mightn't have had that sea-
,de Irritation which ended just trihe
bitterly for her, and which caused her to
look on all men thereafter with eyes
grown a little cynical.
| said, in the beginning. that women
helped to make divorce laws in this coun-
try. Every woman in every country
would do that if she could; for it is,
believe, an ackowledged fact that in an
unhappy marriage woman. from the in
evitable nature OF things. has the worst
of 1t. generally speaking. So, then. the
result of these laws is divorce. The sem
sible woman, seeing this, thinks carefully
with the brains which God. and by help
of the education which you, kind Ameri-
car father, have given her, before taking
the step into inatrimony. For she be-
lieves, and rightly, that an unhappy
marriage is far worse than no marriage
at all. Then she seeks new fields of in
terest (for the American woman is ever
restless, ambitious, active), and unless
the right one comes leads solitary, but
trust not an unhappy life.
Perhaps the new. woman may be con-
sidered as sort of retributlon to man.
He has married her and ill-treated her;
he has neglected her: sometimes l think
he has given her the god things of life
only to ease his conscience of the fact
that he has not discharged his larger
duty, and has given her amusement and
education only in order to have time for
his own occupations and amusements
apart from her; yet ho has put into her
hands the very weapon which he now
decres-liberty-w has made her
what she is.
Yet the Am erican woman, the new wo-
man. is not beartess; only independent.
And | am sure there is no true woman
who does not think that to be married
happily is the safest. the truest, the best
life for her; and the discharge of her du-
ties as wife and mother the most sacred,
the most dignifeI the most honorable
function she could perform; better and
more honorable (thoueh perhaps not SO
loudly sung) than the victories OF the
warrior. for her victories live in the
hearts and souls and characters of human
beings, and bring forth the fruits of no.
b'llty, of patience, of purity, while his
are forgotten when the trumpet blast
Of tie next great one is heard. better,
too. than the Irium phs of tke statesman
though the words she utters are but small
prayers, and those she hears but child
ish echo of th m. And surely she thinks
no mind too well trained and educated,
no character too great, to bequeath to
her children.
But TO properly perform this noble life
work, she must be mated to one who is
congenial III mind and disposition. whose
natu'e is suited to her own. And until
she finds HIM, she will not marry, and if
he Goes not come. she will not marry at
all. but will content her mind with other
things. Isn't she-the American woman,
the new woman-light? Yours sincerely
AN AMERICAN GIRL.