The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-05-21

| study of wcman's nature--phys1ca ii,
intellectual and spiritual, and good
| portion of the address was devoted to
an explanation of some of their more
| important results. Woman and man
| were compared and it Eas pointed out
| how the one excelled in one thing and
| the other in some other respect, the
two together making one perfect ma
| ture. Neither man nor woman was
a complete being alone: it took both
| to make the creature which science
knows as man-woman, the human
race. Each is complement of the 9TH
err. The Importance of studying the
nature of each was pointed out and
this complementary relation was de-
clared TO be the key to the science of
society. or sociology. This was Illus
trated by many striking facts, showing
that the one was qualified to do that
in which the other failed, &c.
In one respect, however, woman was
unique. As the mother of the race,
she is its preserver and its improyer.
She is the conservator OF the results
of development. Prof. Lester f. Ward
was quoted as saying:
''In point, both of origin and inn
portance in the history and economy
of organic life, says he, the female sex
is primary. And as life is the highest
mart of nature, and human life the
highest type of life, it follows that the
grandest fact in nature is woman"
Careful study of mon and women
shows that as in most other races OF
beings. man is the variable element
While woman is the stable one. Hered-
itv is distinctively the attribute OF the
e male sex, while variation is the char
acteristic Of the male.
Do we appreciate the stupendous i'm
portance of this fact in our investfga-
mon of methods of improving the race?
I fear that few persons, very few edu-
Gators, iii fact, do appreciate It's pear
ings. if woman is not only the primary
factor in human life, but also the most
stable factor. whose distinctive attrl-
butte in heredity, then it rs to her we
must look for the steady advance upon
which the sure and solid progress OF
the race it to rest. Says Prof. Ward
further: THE attempt to move the
whole race forward by elevating only
the one sex which represents the prin-
ciple of instability has been tried long
enough. The many cases of superior
men, the sons of superior mothers,
coupled with the many more cases OF
degenerate sons of superior Sires, have
taught rs over and over again that the
way 10 civilize the race is to civilize
woman. And now at last, thanks to
science, we see why this is 50. Woman
is the unchanging trunk of the great
eenealogic tree, a grated scion, as 1T
we're. whose acquired qualities die with
tie individual while those of woman
are handed to futurity. Woman is the
race, and the race can be raised up only
as she is raised up. True science teach
es that the elevation of woman is the
only sure road to the evolution of
man.
Such are the teachings of biology on
this one point. / scarcely need enlarge
on their important bearings. II woman
is thus indeed, not only the conservator
but the improver of the race, and it the
race can only be raised up by her ele-
walton, shall we confine her TO the mar
row limits of the nursery, and the
kitchen. and give her no opportunity
for education? Shall she continue I'D
be a mere play thing for man, as she
was for many ages, or shall we give her
he most perfect physical training, the
most liberal education, and then the
widest field in the world for the devel-
opment of her powers? Shall the mobn+
cps of the race, that half of the race
which holds all the improvement at
tanned. be excluded from the higher IN
situations and the best opportunities
of all kinds where she may get some OF
the Improvement Biology, sociology,
philosophy, all teach us that in limit
ir,o woman thus we are guilty of the
greatest crime of the ages, Q CRIME
which has retarded the Development
of fine race more than anything else
that has ever happened to it.
The first conclusion, then, which we
draw from these laws of nature, is that
woman must be educated, and educated
in rhe most liberal manner, and the
second deduction is, that woman must
be free to work in the world wherever
she finds a place. Since all nature
.caches us that there can be no healthy
natural development eXceps where
there is liberty, the first thing every
woman should seek is an independence
- that independence which will make 1t
possible for her to be free. One of the
greatest instincts in the human breast
is this. which leads us to want our sep
arate work ard our separate reward,
and one of the first things woman must
do when she enters the world is to es-
tfJblish her right to work and her right
to equal pay for her work. Scoring
to be dependent upon her family, either
for mental occupation or for support
she should have her own work and pro-
fession and her own pay and property.
With these, she secures the opportunity
to accomplish her own evolution, in
her own way, and so TO advance the
race.
have only contempt for those per-
sons who think that man must keep
" oman dependent upon him, IN both
mind and heart, in order to keep her
loyal to him and to his home; and for
those prophets of evil who would lead
us to believe that this emancipation
would render lighter the marriage re-
lation. multiply divorces, or weaken