The herald., 1895-07-01
HHE NEW WOMAN AND THE BIBLE.

Uut the proposition 10 SET woman right,
10 far as the Bible is concerned. is more
Or less urgently kept before the public.
1t appears that Miss Willard definitely
withdrew her support and was rather
sharply demonstrated with by others.
Mrs. Stanton still insists upon something
being done in the matter. and it would
Be extremely interesting to know just how
the thing lies in her mind. Does she
deny that there were bad women in the
olden days? If she discredits the mention
Of these, must she not also shut out her
"whose price is far above rubies?" And
what about the aged ones whom Paul
admonished to "be discreet, love their
husbands and be teachers Of good things?''
Was ever better advice given than this,
that they should not wander from
house to house. not only idlers. but
tattlers?" Would Mrs. Stanton erase the
most beautiful icture ever drawn of the
true and just wife in Proverbs?
On the other hand, does she deny that
the Preacher had good grounds for de-
claring. II find more bitter than death
the woman whose heart is snares and
nets. and her hands as bonds. Who
the sinner shall be taken by her," Or
was he romancing when he declared
One man lgood) among thousand
have found but a woman among all
those have not found"
Does Mrs. Stanton accuse Isaiah of u.s.
ing slanderous words when he pictured
many women OF his day as "haughty.
with stretched forth necks and wanton
eyes. walking and mincing as they go?"
Then must she not claim the same
prophet as q false one when he prophesied
possibly of this time-"And in that day
seven women shall take hold of one
man, saying We will eat our own bread
and wear our own apparel, only let US be
called By thJ nnmo to take away our re-
proach.'
Are we 20 be told that Rebekah
never helped ''play it, OH Isaac; that
Michael didn't ''get away with" Saul;
that Jezebel didn't 'sstir up'' Ahab; that
Delilah never dallied with Samson's loose
looks and thereby showed all her race
pull on husbands?
In all seriousness this talk OF the new
Soman about touching or in any unusual
way criticising the Bible treatment of
,he female portion of the race, is not
only silly. but shameful. 1t may be fair
" doubted if even the new version of the
Sew Testament advanced Christian learn
ing. Surely it was never of much inter-
est to the great public. The reader will
readily recall how Edwin Arnold, ill.,
famed with the success Of The Light OF
ASIA, unuertook pOetlcal rendering OF
the gospels which he, called The Light Of
the World, and what a dismal failure it
was. 1t is q curious literary fact that no
cirtic'Ea ever confessed to reading the
latter book through. The reverent crit
icism of real scholars has done much for
religious literature but he who has ever
approached ethe Bible with q purpose to
make of il support OF any phase OF be-
lief has profaned sacred thing. AS n
dear, blessed woman says Of her sisters
attempt to make over the old book:
THE idea OF q woman's Bible is too
advanced for most OF us. No matter what
the scholarship, we don't want any re-
vised editions. We want the quaint old
phraseology, and chapters arranged just
as they used to be, when on quiet Sun
day evenings we learned our verses at our
mothers knee-verses whose meaning we
could not grasp then, but that we under
stood long years arterward--su suddenly,
some day, when our hearts broke aud our
souls tainted within us. When in the 81.
lencc of the night we take up the WON
old book--her Bible-that opens of itself
at the most omforting promises, all the
foolish fads of the day drop away like the
motley Of a clown. We want not wo-
which all humanity has rested and been
at peace
THE GARDEN OF EDEN By W. H. BISHOP.
Kerr Co., chicago.
The aim and moral of this story are
best set out In the appendix, Why Not
an Eden? The claim is made In answer
to the query, that we may have a glor-
ious contamination of our hopes in 1901,
and not have to wait aimlessly for the
millennium. if only we will promulgate
the spirit of mutual helpfulness amongst
men. Then anything wrong, bother
some. puzzling would fade away into the
one great problem, the highest good of
all. This, in fine, is another 'prcachy"
novel, and as such will find its host of
readers.
PILATES QUERY, WHAT IS TRUTH ?" By
g c. CLARK. Arena Publishing Company,
This is story in which spiritualism.
charity, religion and much speculation
all have their part. It is not profound.
but suggestive; and if taken too seriously,
would be 'unsettlng in its influence upon
many OF the accepted conditions Of life.
1t is quite impossible even to attempt to
mirror the kernels of sound philosophy,
ana actual. savoiy truth out OF mass of
modern dissertation in story form. The
preachy novel will always find hosts of
read rs.
In a lighter vein and more pleasing,style
o. treatment is another OF the many pop
ular books OF the Arena Publishing COM
pany, entitled A Market for Our Surplus,
by William Whittcmore Tufts. The air OF
the story is CHEEKY and quite suitable for
the season, both in style and standard OF
excellence.
HE AMERICAN PEOPLES MONEY. By
IGNATIus DoNNELLY. Laird a. Lee, Chicago.
This 10 bold plea for unlimited silver
coinage At IL to l, and is written in Dom
nelly's own breezy and slashing style.
The book is also freely illustrat ted, most
OF the pictures being Of the modern car
t0on order. Mr.. Donnelly's literary va
carries have not tended TO improve the
peoples interest in him, either as
prophet or preacher, and yet this book
deserves to be read along with the 9th.
ers that are flying from the presses of the
country.
SOUND MONEY. BY J. A. FRASER, JR., and
CHARLES II. sEiGEL- Charles II. seigel
Company. Chicago.
This treatise has a very strong indorse-
ment from the leading advocates of the
present money standard. 1t is designed
more especially as an answer to Coins
Financial School. The treatmenG of the
money question is in much better form
than that of Donnelly's book Just no.
ticed, and makes no attempt at anything
but plain reasoning, though at times the
style is dramatic.
THE PHANTOM DEATH. By W. CLARK Rus.
SELL with illustrations by F. A. Carter
Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York.
Everybody reads Clark's sea stories,
and it he had also given to the world a
few pertaining to the solid earth he might
perhaps have ranked along with Cooper.
Certainly no modern writer in his line
n = Inn orlre s>1-