The record-union., 1896-05-25
WOMAN'S ENLARGED SPHERE
What the Movement Has Resulted In
So Far.
The Price That Woman is Being
Asked to Pay for So-Called In
creased Privileges

standpoint and is SO cleaT-CuL diiu
straightforward, that it deserves the
careful attention Of all:
"When a man is courtly and deferen-
t1al to a woman nowadays we say that
he is a gentleman of the old school,
We do not mean to imply by this that
the men of our own generation are
lacking in politeness to the other sex.
But we all feel that the old-time gal
lantry and chivalry are gradually pass
ing away. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe op-
served the changing condition OF affalrS
when she recently wrote from NE
time of experience: i do not think thal
the manners of so-called polite society
to-day are quite SO polite as they We're
iii my youth. Young women OF fasnlon
seem to me to have lost in dignity Oh
character and general tone and culture.
Young men of fashion seem to regard
the young ladies with less esteem ana
Difference, and a general cheap ana
easy standard of manners Is the re-
suit Mrs. Howe, herself leader IN
the cause Of enlarged privileges for
women comedies that the changing
condition of affairs Is due, IN a meas
ure. to the different social status or
men and women. But she thinks tnat
if the charmed circle of society has been
seriously damaged superior external
benefits have accrued. These benefits
she defines as being that women are
leading better and nobler lives filing
larger places, enjoying the upper air OF
thought, where they used to rest upon
the very soil of domestic care ana de-
tall And her deduction is that com
munity gains, although one class loses
but the vast majority of sensible
people will agree with Mrs. Howe's first
observation. While they dissentfrom her
subsequent explanation or deduction.
No community gains an tota In single
respect which loses the refinement ana
delicecy of the old social conditions, is
their argument. And they are r1ght.
The fact is that women of every mlnd
are on all sides beginning to reckon the
cost of this movement for the extern
sion of their privileges Even those
who We're strong adherents in the faith
at the beginning are showing signs OF
an abatement of enthusiasm. 1t is not
alone in the circles of fashion that the
poisonous arrows of woman's enlarged
sphere have entered, but in every grade
and walk of our social life. And, in
each instance, absolute damage has been
done. A distinct and gradual deca-
dence of politeness in the whole social
body has been noticeable of late by peo-
pie who watch the signs of the times.
Men and women no longer exhale that
odor of refinement and circumspection
that formerly existed. The two sexes
have come to meet more on an equal
footing There is more personal liberty
exercised by each. The rules of pro-
priety have been stretched and liberal
lied to suit what our advanced women
choose to call the enlarged views of
social duties and relations Young
women have assumed an air of indie
pendence; young men an air Of indif-
ference And nowadays honest polite
ness seems to have been relegated to
what we call the poorer classes, SO that
a woman Is more apt to be offered a seat
in a car by a laboring man than she is
to receive a similar courtesy from a man
supposed by birth and social conditions
to be the workingman's superior. Is it
the fault of the man? Hardly. He has
heard women speak SO much of the
equality of the sexes that he is simply
placing her on that footing. The taint
has not touched the laborer, however,
he instinctively rises to give his seat to
the woman. The new woman the 'ad
vanced woman, the equal rights
woman he knows not. He sticks to
the customs of the past-the Difference
which he, perhaps saw his father pay
to his mother He has not forgotten
the old-time lesson that a woman should
not be compelled to stand in a moving
vehicle. All this foolishness about a
woman being the equal of a man has
not touched him. He knows that it is
not so. He believes his mother or his
wife to be morally his superior, but
physically his inferior, and he does not
propose to lower Gods estimate to
earthly conceptions. Homage is the true
essence of politeness; and thank God
the advanced woman has not killed 1t
in some men yet.
1--WE need not go so far as to say that
as men and women we are deteriorat-
ing, or that the social structure is in
any danger Of collapse. It is not so bad
as that But 1t is bad enough. New
ideas have been interjected into our
lives, and they have brought forth new
conditions. Whereas, only a few years
back, one sex occupied position above
the other, the two are now side by side
competing fiercely in every occupa-
tion, in every branch of our life. An
ia agonisms have been born which hith-
erto have been unknown between the
sexes. The aggressive spirit of the
woman Of advanced ideas has assert
ed itself. A new sense Of se1f-reliance
has been imbibed by women. And what
Is the result? Men have tacitly inferred
that women scorn the sort Of considera-
ton which at one time they felt was
their tribute to womanhood. Naturally,
polteness has become lax, the grace of
homage is often forgotten. The highest
standard of manners cannot thrive in
an atmosphere charged with rivalry
and contention. Women first discov-
cred this when they went into business:
now they are experiencing it in their
social relations. Happily, however, a
quiet revulsion of feeling on this uues-
ton of the sexes has slowly become no
ticeable and the opinion is general that
there has come a distinct turn in the
tide, and it is well that it should be so,
and that we may all look forward to a.
return of old-time politeness on the
part of the men and a gracious accept
ance of it on the part of the women.
"To the sober-minded and clear
thinking people of this country the hol-
lowness of this whole movement of .ad-
vanced rights for women was apparent
from the start. But, unfortunately
there is always a class which Is ready
to listen to new ideas of to try fresh
experiments. The idea of woman be-
ing placed in every respect on a basis
of equality with man had it's un-
doubted attractions to the unthinking