The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-08-11

| American man is democratic, and nav
ing forced the democratic idea as to his
government and institutions has at
! tempted to run it into his domestic re-
lations, demanding Of the woman,
whom he formerly supported and pro-
tected, self-reliance industrially, men
tally and sentimentally. He has sys-
tematically and ruthIessly discouraged
her sentimentality to the end Of logical
selfshness and independence. The thou
sand graces of the old-time relations
have been transformed into self-re-
lance and unwonted hardships.
Miss Bisland and Sara Grand are both
of the opinion that no hand but mans
own has driven him from power. Vir-
| tually il is his own abdication-abdica-
ton Of duties of obligations, of oppor-
tunities. When the industrial changes,
brought about by the introduction Of
machinery, put an end to the old pa
triarchal system q home manufactures,
m an found it less easy to provide for
womankind, and without any very
manifest reluctance he turned her into
the world to look out for herself. Here
was a shock to her faith and loyalty.
Woman went away sOrroWfully, but
thoughtfully. Once forced onto the
world to provide for herself competition
for supremacy became inevitable. Miss
Bisland recites several interesting his
torical episodes Of the pioneers who re-
belled against mans divine right to
rule. Mary Wollstonecraft in question
ing this right in her own generation
gave the severest Of shocks and was
stigmatized as a "hyena in petticoats."
Further along Miss Bisland summons
the facts of history in defense of her
position. In the thirteenth century the
crusades had so drained Europe of it's
able-bodied men that the women were
forced to apply themselves to the aban-
doned trades and neglected professions.
When the weary bearers of the cross
returned from the east, they We're at
first delighted to disgbver that their af-
fairs were prospecting almost as well as
ever, and then amazed and disguised
to find the women reluctant to yield UP
to their natural rulers the new privi-
leges. Stern measures were necessary
to GUST them. Severe laws were en-
acted against the admission Of women
into the gullds-the labor organizations
which, at that period governed all the
avenues of industrial advancement;
and the doors of the professions were
peremptorily slammed in the women's
faces.
Elizabeth Tudor had fashion of lay
ing heavy hands upon her rightful lords
whenever they displeased her and she
appears to have rejected the whole
theory Of feminine subordination. John
Knox could and did dominate Mary
Stuart even upon the throne, but when
he blew from Geneva his First Blast |
of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous
Regimen of Woman" and called all the |
ages to witness that the rule of a fe- |
male was an affront to nature, that |
powerful lady who held the English |
scepter forbade him ever to set foot in |
her domains.
Why Miss Bisland did not take the |
bovine by the horns and hold for a con-
clusion on this vexed question does not |
appear. The new woman" is here, and |
has probably come to stay, whether |
upon the invitation of man, as Miss /
Bisland holds, or upon her own motion. |
She is d woman with gall; her liver is |
cold, and her heart is but a gizzard |
With her will come not only new social |
but new civilization. She |
with man socially and industrially, but
also politically. The home of song and |
story will give way to the mess-club
and boarding house. Marriage, instead |
Of a sacrament, will degenerate, first
into civil contract, then into a simple
optional copartnership, with compen-
sating concessions to the woman in the
event of motherhood. But the well
springs Of joy will be less numerous.
That the result may be a greater and
stronger race, mentally and physically,
and the fear Of congestion from over
population be obliterated, we do not
deny But much Of all the glamous
that rendered life worth living in the
past Will nave given way to cold, hard
facts and conditions