The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-06-06

2 4 tl ~ d e s
complement IL art or learning was re-
garded ns. ut only for women OF loose
morals Music. dancing, singing, read,
Ing, We're all interdicted.
Nature was subordinatel to depray-
ed theology. Kingsley says: 1.-THE Chris
tian church was swamped by hysterla
from the third to the sixteenth century"
The reformation left women little better
than before. Luther gave as his opin-
lon and that of six other great reror,ners
that polygamy was nowhere condemned
by the Bible. AS to education, mo
gown or garnet he said. worse be-
came than that she should be wise,
That popular Clergyman, the Rev. Knox
Little, III his Sermon to Women" 1880.
says: There Is no crime that d man can
commit which justifles his wife in leav-
ing him. 1t is her duty to submit herself
to him always. and no crime that he can
commit justities her lack of obedience
If he be bad and wicked man she may
gently demonstrate With him. but re-
fuse him, neVer!''
It is not TO Christianity but to science
not to our preachers. but to our thinkers
that the race owes its progression and
that the bonds OF women are being loos.
ened No great English woman has
ever appeared but some great dignitary
or the church has attempted to smother
her or her schemes Of reform. Mary
Somerville was publicly denounced by
Dean Cocltburn Of York, and as late MS
April "a, 1854, Dean Burgon wrote in
liberal paper, the Daily News, against
the proposed admission Of women to ex-
amlnattonS for honors at Oxford Uni
VerSity. He described 1t as "a moral
revolution disastrous to a woman's best
interests He went on to give tho
purpose OF creation, how she was de-
being his chieftest earthly joy.' .'but
all this will be brought to rhe end al
once II you teach her to try 10 be (what
she never can becomc) mans equal,
much less mans superior. Hence forth
she will have TO be kept down." and SO
on, according to the old formula. DO
these good gentlemen really believe that
their Christian Offices require them 70
oppose, tooth and nail, every attempt
! toward woman's advancement? We sup
pose they 40. An American song goes
There was man what had a clock,
his name was Mathew Mears,
re. wound 1T regular every night
For four and twenty years
| And when this precious tlmeplece proved
AN eight day clock to be,
~ madden man than Mathew Mears
You wouldn't wish to See"
So when the end comes and woman's
couse prevails, will they not feel like
ar. Mears, that they have been mistaken
| 80 eAiSAA tAliCplSCe ana nave engaged IN
supererogatoIy efforts 10 wind up the
| pubic clock? Let US turn from such
pullnS specimens OF manhood who
would keep woman in perpetual seryi-
tnde, to one OF our great thinkers and
| giants in progress, the late Professor
Huxley In his Lay Sermons" he says:
nat Is the first step toward better
state or things? We reply, emancipate
girls. Recognize the fact that they
snare the senses, perceptions, feelings,
reasoning powers and emotions Of boys.
ana that the mind OF the average girl
IS less different from that Of the average
boy than the mind of one boy 10 from
that of another. Let those yo-
men Who feel inclined to do so, descend
into the arena OF life, let them, If they
SO please, become merchants, barrist tiers.
politlclans. Let them have a fair field .
me last sentence contains the whole
secret OF social progress LET them
nave fair field" How otherwise can
une male half OF the community endure
In freedom and preserve the INTEGRITY of
their manhood? 'Man! be it Yours 10
nelp them on to good" And although
Jeremy Bentham laid it down that no
government ever yielded right unless
pulled into 1t, heaven forbid that the
| same De said OF our husbands and broth
ers Let them yield In good time and
| give the woman's cause 4 fair field. Tor
heF cause Is not hers only, but mans
also. What ever upiifls her will elevate
nm Her increase Of usefulness will
simulate MINI AS was remarked by 4
| powerful writer: Society is raised by
every new right that women gain"
| Let us have fair field This IS MI
| we ask, and we will he content with
nothing less. This finger Of evolution
which touches everything. is laid tender
| ~ upon women. They have on their
side all the elements OF progress, and its
spirit stirs within them. They are
| nShting, not for themselves alone. bu
,of the future of humanity Let them
| have fair field.
| LADY COOK