St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-26
THE PROGRESSIVE, GLORIOUS
CREATURE OF THE NINE
TENTH CENTURY.
GLORY OF THE COMING DAY.
THE DISCUSSION LIFTED FROM
THE Low PLANE OF TRIV-
IAL ALLUSION.
HIGHER AND BETTER DISCUSSION
The Very Excellent Discourse of
Sc Rev. Hammond Cotton Upon
a Timely Theme.

Rev. Hammond Cotton, of st.
James Episcopal church, delivered
yesterday his sermon on 'The New
Woman" There was large con-
gregation present, especially of the
fair sex. He made no reference to
the paragraphs that are af1oat in al
fusion to the modern fads of the
female sex, but proceeded at once,
( to an elevated discussion of our
glorious new woman Of the day. His
text was from a song of Solomon
found in tenth verse of sixth chap
ter. The following in the discourse:
WHO IS SHE?
''Who is she that looketh forth as
the morning, fair as the moon, clear
as the sun, and terrible as an army
with banners?" Between forty and
fifty years have passed away since
my first great teacher, John Stuart
Mill, brought out in England that
memorable essay which first appeared
in the Westminster Review of July,
1851, and which he tells us was a joint
production of himself and of one whose
loss even In a merely intellectual point
Of view, can never be repaired or al
leviated. 1.-THE following essay" he
says, lis hers Creferring to his wife)
in peculiar sense; my share in it be-
ing little more than that of an editor
and amanuensis.' You will pardon
me, beloved, for recalling its opening
words: Most of our readers will
probably learn from these pages, for
the first time, that there has arisen
in the United States, and in the most
civilized and enlightened portion of
them, an organized agitation on a, new
question, new, not to thinkers nor to
any one by whom the principles Of
free and popular government are felt
as well as acknowledged, but new,
and even unheard of, as subject for
public meetings and practical poiiti-
cal action. This question is the en-
, reimbursement of women: their admis-
; sion, in law and in fact to equality in
all rights, civil and social, with the
male citizens of the community The
essay goes on to speak (after men,
tioning a convention of women held
in the state Of Ohio in the spring of
1850 Of a succession of public meet
ings held at Worcester, Mass, under
the name of a "Woman's Rights con-
vention," of which the president was
a woman, and nearly all the chief
speakers women; numerously re-en-
forced, however, by men, among whom
were some of the most distinguished
leaders in the kindred cet:.se of negro
emancipation. TT following is given
as a brief summary of the principal
demands:
/. Education in primary and high
{ schools, universities, medical, legal
( and theological Institutions.
2. Partnership in the labors and
gains, risks and remuneration of pro-
ductive industry
8. A CO. equal share in the formation
and administration of laws-munici-
pal, state and Acknowledgement legis-
lative assemblies, courts and execu-
tive offices.
1t may perhaps cause a smile when
we remember how Mr.. Mill innocently
found himself unable to imagine that
any American democrat would evade
the force of those memorable express
sionS which occur in the opening of
the Declare ton of Independence by
the dishonest or ignorant subterfuge
that men," in that memorable docu-
ment, does not stand for human Ge-
ingS, but for sex only; that life, lib
e1'ty and the pursuit of happiness are
"inalienable rights" of only one moiety
of the human species; and that 1.-The
governed" whose consent is affirmed
to be the only source of just power,
are meant for that half of mankind
only who, in relation to the other,
have hitherto assumed the character
of governors. The whole essay is well
worth reading, even in these latter
days when that phase of the question
has become an old story; and 1 would
especially recommend the study of it
to those frivolous persons Qf there be
any to whom the woman question
means nothing more sublime and up
lifting than the problem as to whether
bloomers are a becoming article OF
costume, or whether it is proper for a
lady to ride a bicycle. Its study may
also be recommended to those more
serious persons who think they have
sufficiently justified the restrictions on
woman's field of action when they
have said that the pursuits from
which women are excluded are I'M
feminine, and that the proper sphere
of women is not politics or publicity,
but private and domestic life. In fact
beloved, the careful study of this es-
say would do you all good, whether
you be serious or frivolous, and 1 hope
you will make yourselves acquainted
with it. It is contained in volume
three of John Stuart Mills ''Disserta-
lions and Discussions" and you can
all obtain the book from the st. Paul
Public Library.
FEMININE INFLUENCE EVERY
WHERE
When we turn from this aspect of the
subject to the state of the question as
it presents itself to us now, we find
ourselves confronted with the results
of the partial success of this great
movement of the nineteenth century.
and to many of us these seem to be SER
ious indeed. When the children of nv
parish in giving an affirmative answer
to- any question L put to them
reply Eyes, Ma'am," 1 naturally ask
myself what may be the exact result
on the character of the rising genera
tion of the exclusion of masculine
influence from our public schools, and
handing their training so absolutely
over to young lady teachers? -and I
seem rather at loss to find an an
swer. When we find men thrown out
of their situations because women can
do the work cheaper, and employers of
labor are so ineffably mean as to offer
a woman $50 for the same work which
if a man did it would cost them $75-
we cannot help feeling a little anxiety
as to the moral and social benefits of
the new movement. In regard to the
effects produced by this movement
upon material and moral legislation,
the outlook is, perhaps, a little more
hopeful but even here we find things
not altogether satisfactory. OF course,
these are only specimens of the diff
culties which arise in the study of the
problem. in its present state. There
are an almost infinite number of them;
and every thoughtful man must in his
best moods realize their magnitude.
"a s we call them to mind this morning,