The Indianapolis journal., 1897-04-11

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady stanton Makes "a
Plea for Wider Liberty for Girls.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady stanton Makes a
Plea for Wider Liberty for Girls.
New York Sun.
Nothing delights Mrs. Elizabeth Cady
Stanton so much as TO contrast the old
times with the new. She says she remem-
bers just how the crandmothers trained
their girls. And the contrast is wholly
in our favor she adds. with a laugh.
Then We had less form and less freedom,
and now We have more form and more
| freedom. The American girls of to-day
| have infinitely more dignity, self-possession
| and intellect than women of other coun-
tries. I've spent considerable time in Eng
! land. and the girls there. from sixteen to
| eighteen years of age. can scarcely express
| a well-digested opinion on anything. En-
| glish girls grow up with the idea that they
| must be seen and not heard. No such idea
| prevails in this country. Our girls. from
| the time they can toddle. are seen and
| get attending dinner in an old English
| castle. once occupied by Queen Elizabeth.
| Murat HalStead'S daughter, a chit of
| girl was present and when she ventured TO
| express well-rounded, thoughtful opinions
| on every hing that came up. including pol
| itics. | wish you could have seen how as
| tonished her hearers were. For weeks they
talked of the wonderful American girls.
I'm every respect the present training of
! girls is better than the past. Then they
! were shut out of colleges. and any woman
who was thrown on her own self had two
tesoSere erIeyns thew We're, There was a time
| when women were not allowed TO STUDY
| the classics. If we are going to sift out
! everything that is indeicate. we must be-
| gin by throwing out the Bible and Shak
| speare. along with the classics, and many
of the old poets must follow
''The term unfit for the young no longer
| exists as q vital principle. Some people
| hold that the modern mother guides her
| sons with better understanding, and, CO.
incident with this new function, has re-
| laxed her discipline over her daughters.
The wise mother talks to her boys and
| girls just alike; she has the same code for
| both. Our grandmothers did not talk to
! either their boys or girls. Other and more
k14Tng biC Gr ooys yrspamot6nrs dH should have pre-
sented in the most delicate, natural and
| beautiful way.
| children is to assume that she is wise. In
! many. great many. cases her children
| know more than she does. Many mothers
hamper their children instead OF developing
Even to-day children too much re-
stricted I'm many cases as Ihey nave 100
much latitude i'm others. The most Grip
| pIng influence in human development is
| fear. The young hundred years ago had
| ing with il to-day. Children are trained
| by their parents to fear God-I know His
omniscient eye used TO make me half crazy
| to fear the devil TO fear their parents.
| their teachers. to fear almost everybody
| and everything. speak from my own ex-
| perience My mother a splendid wom-
an. but she believed in the military disci-
| plne Go and he goeth. Come. and ne
| cometh' / was afraid of her and OF every
1 body
man happiness and development as hoerty'
and children don't have half enough OF y.
and my sisters We're restrl6eed 6 a,d IN prelr our
| byterian Church every Sunday, ana mace
| to listen to a sermon over an hour lohg,
| and then we were trotted home and made
| RI study the catechism and read the Bible
| for the rest of the day. Fortunately, my
| Bible had an apocrypha. and coul9 reau
| about Bel and the dragon. The devil was
! constantly held up TO US. and nearly every
dev when our childish spirits broke loose
we were told. You must surely oe 'i'iiu
peter an old colored man. whose. sole
| business was to look after my two sisters
and me- was the only human being we We're We're
! not afraid of We gained some freedom
through him. Things went on TINS way ull-
| Til one of my sisters married Mr.. Bayar9
| Who was ambassador to England under
| President Cleveland. He had for those days
very queer ideas about training Siris, anu ,rn
| n good deal of freedom slipped into our
| home when he entered ii. We never had
| any chaperonng. My father was a Judge
of the Supreme Court. and When ne hold
| court we'd go along and dine at the hotel
| with the lawyers and spend the evenings
! playing chess and dancing with them. Ihe
| Young have always mad freedom IN the
country SO far as conduct goes
Children have more latitude i'm their ed
1 ucation. reading and amusements than for
merly. but there are still few fools lett
| One woman actually said to me that the
mothers of to-day arrogate to themselves
the right of counseling their young sons,
| things the very knowledge of which. to
| sons mind. lowers his ideal of woman.
! That's perfect tommy rot. If there was
ever time when man had this ideal of
! woman how comes ii that he never re-
vealed it in the laws and Constitution, in
religion and theology? How comes IL that
she is mere subject in the state. church
| and home?
| did boys ever make confessions TO their
fathers? No. nor fathers have never talked
| 10 their sons | call ii talking to a child
| to sit down and give it the basic principles
/ of life Neither mothers or fathers do this.
| Parents can't know what their children are
| thinking about. Where n child has very
strong desire to do something. unless il il
| actually hurtful. ii should be allowed TO do
! it, / shall never forget an experience 4
| had with my little granddaughter Her
| mother had gone to London on business,
| and she stood looking at the colts scam
| pering in the pasture The rain was pour
! ing in torrents. She said TO me with
sigh
81 wish / was colt. so 1 could run in
You don't have to be colt to do that
| said J. Como and let me take off your
| clothes and you can run in the rain all you
IF YOU could have seen her, She tore
around like a mad child. and came in cry
| ing: It's grand TO he colt. grandmother
| | told her when nobody was there but she
wanted an d"a, to do very much. and that Would
let her do it. She'll be much better girl
for that liberty.
don't 10 child doesn't pay. Things that
! seem to us unfit for child aren't unfit at
/ all Sometimes il is book. Let the child
l have H. Ii won't understand it and will
/ skin the unfit parts as uninteresting. May
! be it is play. The same truth vii, hold
/ good Children often overburdened with
| a sense OF wrong. Anyway, how are the
young TO meet the dangers of life unless
| they understand them? II girls were
/ always sure of having a good right arm TO
lean on until they are safe on the other
| side of Jordan il would do very we'll to
| treat them like canary birds. But once
| thrown out on the world the question con-
| fronts them. Am j prepared to meet the
1 conditions?' When innocence is ignorance
| II is almost criminal and generally the
| fault lies not with the ignorant one. but
| with the parents
\ Not Methodist.
I waShiuCtou POS.