The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-02-19
THE NEW WOMAN
JOHN TEMPLE GRAVES
EULOGIZES HER.

EULOGIZES HER.
A Brilliant Oratorical Effort at
the Opera House Last Evening
Two Glasses of New Women
are Denounced in UnmeaSur ed
Terms = WOman's Conquering
Advance Into the Spheres of In
dustrial and Political Activity.
| one OF the very best numbers on
the Citizens lecture course was that
given last evening at the opera house.
All who heard John Temple Graves
on his last appearance in this city
knew his extraordinary oratorical
powers, and were prepared for the
splendid address which the brilliant
young Georgian gave. The house was
filled with critical audience, and the
address was frequently interrupted
with applause. The subject was 'The
Twentieth Century Woman" and it
was ably handled. The word pictur-
ing was magnificent, and the. rhetoric
unsurpassed.
In introducing the speaker, DR..
Cleveland paid a tribute to the ora
tors which the South has produced.
Mr.. Graves responded by saying that
the Northwest was now looked to for
oratory, and named number of young
men who have risen to fame, includ-
ing among the number Congressman
Towne, of this state, who, he said,
had been brought prominently before
the country in a single speech.
Mr.. Graves opened his lecture at the
year one, with the advent of Adam in
the garden Of Eden. He spoke of the
majesty of creation being here met by
| the majesty of stainless soul. Adam
| was the first gentleman Of his day,
and no man ever held such pre-
eminence. But it was not enough to
be rich in every natural blessing-the
man lacked companionship. No re-
sponsive sympathy answered his en-
raptured soul, there was no one to
help bear the burdens and divide the
responsibilities. 1t was the first pro-
test of humanity breathed against
solitude, and God answered it and
woman came. Adam first demon
strated that it was not good for man
to be alone. Every old bachelor is a
freak, a monstrosity, and has no part
in this world, and no perilous posi-
bility for the future.
What glory Of sentiment was in
that silent garden when there burst
on the lover the view of the first
women that ever lived, who blossomed
from the fertile soil that held a hui
man soul! No stays throttled her,
and no cruel corsets disturbed her
perfect symmetry of form.
Curiosity in the woman gave birth
toEdisobedience, the first sin, and the
first man who ever lived found it i'm
possible to say no. Eve was the only
woman who ever pleaded guilty to the
fault of curiosity, but she was better
than her masculine comrade, who
shifted the blame onto her shoulders,
the pitiful subterfuge of coward 1t
is significant to note how these hui
man traits have travelled and travail
ed through succeeding generations,
and at the end of 5000 years woman is
woman still. Man has visited the
sins of the first mother on the women
of the farthest generations, and has
kept her for centuries under the
burden of his law, which dates from
the garden Of Eden and not from God.
When refer to the new woman, 1
do not mean the radical hybreds of
this day. One kind is bold and un-
womanly, and vilihes man even while
she rushes to initiate his garb. She
wraps his faults about her, and all her
gifts are Goddess, and all her graces
are guile. Her body is not a temple
of virtue, but of pride. She has a
sister of fashion, who is holder. If
she has a shapely neck, she commences
at the throat and drops the cIoC, ing
inch by inch, and parades in brazen
shamefulness of the decollete. If she
has no neck to show, she starts at the |
other extremity, and takes to wavy
boomers. One sees how far from the |
ceiling she can have her clothing, the |
other how far from the floor l dis
like them both. Their so-called |
reformation is nothing but original
sin, and great deal of that. They
are the antitheSis of woman's progress. |
The speaker paid glowing tribute
to the woman of yesterday, who was
the immediate mother of the woman
of today, and the jewel of her age.
S1,a l.