The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-16

the faults which were not essential to
( their cause. have become in the imagi-
nation of the people. synonymous with
the cause itself. Loud voices. martial
/ demeanor. carelessness of dress. unes-
sential eXcrescences ana mannerisms
which may have marked some of the
early workers in the cause of justice
for women. are still quoted by the
comic papers and by the average Eng
! lishman, as signs of the Woman
RICHTER" And some foolish women, a
very noisy but very inconsidera BILE mi
nority. have seen fit to ape the eccen-
tricities of the leaders without
greatness for excuse. These are the
lgitimate "screeching sisters They
! il is who pose in their writings and
wild speeches as the women of the
| future. They it is who denounce in
men the very qualities they are them
selves assuming. Thew it is who
not hesitate to exact courtesies while
/ camoring for rights. But despite the
| loud mannishness of their foolish, if
minority. and are not the fittest type,
destined to survive or influence to any
! sensible degree their felloW-women.
The other source of the general as
sumption that this curious hybred
species is indeed the new woman who
is to prevail in the future. is the pictur-
I eSque freedom of the writings of such
L
Lady Violet Greville. They erect in
| eloquent language IMAGES Of fierce
monsters, presumably of the female
sex. who breathe out in tobacco smoke,
destruction to all male beings. who
neglect. if they do not scorn to bear
| children: who aim at the total revolu-
J ton of all accepted order: who claim
| superiority over all men: who chiefly
| seek their own amusement and find
It in methods and places beloved by
stable boys; who having no conscience
deny to themselves a soul and to other
people a God. Poor. poor men: it is
no wonder that We shrink in horror
from the days that are to come. when
such beings shall have the rule not
only in your homes but in the country,
and when such creatures are perforce
by the hitherto Interchangeable laws of
nature. the only ones who can be your
wives. and the mothers of your chill
dren.
But. before suffering in advance from
the things which are to be. would it
not be more Just. as well as more reas-
surfing to examine the present state of
the New Woman, and the meaning and
| action of the New Spirit, with a view
of estimating its future? Does this
spirit which is. truly enough. creeping
into the mental Sinews Of the present
day womanhood. indeed mean all these
horrors?
The new spirit acts in many ways,
out all forms have. at some time or
other. one rOot-the valuation of wo-
man as a unit and individual instead
OF as machine. a CIPHER. a doll, or
Save. Such, however. she has been in
the eyes of the law. in the estimation
OF the average man, in her own idea.
since the days Of the Old Testament.
Now. speaking as one of the vast
I rI7n
regarding as false to Gods or mans
IDEAL the old and purely animal view
OF the position of women. have been
touched by the hand of the new spirit
and made to think. I ask. what then
is the new spirit. which Is creating the
order OF modern woman? l ask for
the consolation Of good men. and to
stlll the alarms of those women who
uenght TO call themselves the old fash
Toned women-dear ladies who often.
under their modest title conceal a more
raging spirit than animates the fiercest
OF PLATFORM Grafton. No one could ever
analyze the spirit to the satisfaction of
all parties of thinkers. because it ap-
peals to each in such different forms.
and no one person could represent all
but there is general line along viii,
the woman who is not an extremist, a
faddist or a specialist. feels the work
ing of this subtle force.
First. then. the new spirit makes the
woman consider her position as an in
dlVldual with regard to tlsc world, DO
htically. legally and economically.
She finds that. politically. she is
asked to use her influence in party
political fight 'as a woman" Which
means in the direction of teas. enter
tainments. kissing of babies. canvas
sing and doing all the odds and ends
of the baser sort of political wire-pul-
ling. This she resents as unworthy a
woman or man. Instead. she says:
If you will give me the right. 1 will
give directly. in the shape of a vote.
the weight of my womanhood's influ-
ence and opinions. if they are of the
service. Which you seem to assume"
The lady who ventures thus to be log
lcal is dubbed a suffra gist, and all the
faultS of all the women. who, as indi-
Vlduals, are vulgar and loud. but are
also suffragists. are Immediately at
tributed to her. In the broader field
OF politics. that which concerns the
public good, which embraces the cues
ton termed social. the new spirit says
TO a woman Consider the questions
sympathize with the sufferers, give the
right hand of fellowship to the work
ers. and II you have opportunity and
strength. work for the cause yourself. ;"
But the new spirit does not say: Rush
into every question. whether you I'M
derstand it or not. denounce. upbraid,
assume that everyone who holds an
opinion different to your own is an in
vention of the evil one sent to buffet
you. These additions to the new
spirits message are made by individ-
ual intemperance and sex-egoism.
Legally, the woman, new or Old. of
today in England, has little to COM
plain of. She once had not the right
no her own earnings, now she has.
and TO portion of her husbands,
too. Once she had not the right TO
the custody of her own children. Now.
in some modified and complicated de-
gree, she has. Once she was of no
account in a law court. now she is Of
ten the principal figure. There are
one or two points on which the New
Spirit drives a woman to think the
law is unjust to her, or rather, to
her unfortunate sisters whom it af-
fects. A husband can divorce his
wife if she disregards her marriage
vow, and cleave unto another, but
though he spend his days and his
nights with his mistresses his wife is
tied to him irrevocably, unless In
her the much less horrible indignity
of blow in the presence Of witness
es. This thing. says the New Spirit.
ought not to be. Does it whisper of
false alarms if it whisper this?
Another thing, says the New Spirit.
which is sometimes after all. the
echo of a very old spirit, is Of the
devil of selfishness. and is therefore
devilish-which is, the ineffective
treatment by the law of men vino
make helpless. and often innocent
women, the mothers of their children,
and then, without a thought Of care.