The San Francisco call., 1896-05-08

We get further glimpse OF the social customs
Vashti and the introduction of Esther into the
court number OF fair young maidens were
brought TO the King, from whom ne might select a
wife. These women in the custody of Hege,
the Kings chamberlain and "keeper of the women"
Esther pleased the King, and he made her his
Queen. Her influence at court secured the liberty
OF her people.
The Bedouin woman has more freedom than her
A rab sister. She does not a veil, although
she sometimes throws the folds Of her dress over
her face when meeting strange upon the
, highway. she walks the street arm in arm with
her chief, much to the disgust of the Arabian,
while the Bedouin looks down with contempt upon
the poor fellahs who dwell in houses and till the
soil. With a careless freedom they wander on the
mountains where Moses and the Hebrews viewed
the memory Of great nations.
Some of the Tartar women follow the Turkish
garments of skins. Women are largely the manu-
| facturers and wearers OF these garments Women
with their children and valuab es Join the caravan
either for war, plunder, or change Of home. The
the army. The women also care for the sick and
| wounded.
The only direct relation Of woman to the system
of polity or body of principles by which the auto
cratic affairs OF barbarism administered is her
obedience to its requirements and her mainte-
nance of institutions. She is producer of wealth.
but has voice in its distribution In exception
cases she stands at the head of government, and
has decisive voice In Its affairs. The influence of
woman in barbarism is more industrial, social and
ethical than political. Exercised under the law
| OF force, tits not always at its best.
To women said we owe the existence of the
Family. The mother and child are the unit of the
| first step in civilization When woman became
tired of bearing children to be swept into the com
mon mass she gathered them about her and gave
| them her name; here became the nucleus of the
| family; and when the father could stand by
| her side and call the children by his name the
family wss established and parentage acknowl-
| edgeu relation. This then is woman's first state
| in government; through woman the line of descent
YVES first reckoned. She organized family life and
| Is everywhere its central power. Out from the
family grew the state. Out from family govern
ment the government of the state and of the larger
/ 1t was the horde of women through all ages who
learned self-control under the oppression and sub
| lection which barbaric life imposed. who be-
Queathed to their sons and their daughters tn at
| amount of self-control and loyalty upon which a
| free republic can safely build
Then woman in barbarism will pass out from the
snadow INTO light and her stake In government
Will be recognized and redeemed, for she will
bring government her rich inheritance from the
past-the crown and glory of the future.
Woman in the Ancient Civilization"
] is the title of a most interesting paper by
Mrs. George Oulton of Bouldin Island,
which was read by Mrs. Edna Smell Poul-
son. The following synopsis will give a
fair idea of the fascinating essay.
| Fancy the feelings Of Sir James Macintosh
when Nine. de Stael called upon him TO "tell her
| the British Constitution in ten wOrds.' and you
| Will understand how one might feel upon being
asked to tiptoe from the first cataract the delta
of the Nile, across to the basin OF the Tigris and
| Euphrates. thence down the Hellespont into the
Egean Sea and around TO the Eternal City-grate-
ful at not being required to prouette over Gaul
stand Colossus-like one foot on the Iberlan PENN
sula, the other the British Isles initiating
Canute-all in twenty minutes.
Were / to be asked what woman's relation to
government is or has been In any period of human
/ culture, should answer that she maintains and
always has maintained the most intimate of DOS
| sible reations-that she IS he government-that
no one ever spoke TO. or OF, or from her without