The record-union., 1898-01-22
Decline Of New Womanism.

Decline of New Womanism.
Now that new womanism has shrek
ed itself out and is visibly on the de-
cline, il may perhaps seem rather late
in the day to set about defining the
term with something like precision
Such definition, however, is made nee
essary by the prevalent tendency 10
ascribe to the spirit of "newness, in
the invidious sense, everything that
goes to differentiate the woman-and
especially the unmarried girl--of to-day
from her predecessor of the early part
of the century The effect of this IS
practically to identify the lady cyclist,
the feminine derotee of healthful sports
and even the girl who voluntarily seeks
some form of occupation suitable to her
sex as an alternative to a life of alb
solure idleness, with the pioneers OF
revolt" who rant on platforms about
| their equality with men and demand
entrance TO fields of activity which for
them are fenced about with insuperable
barriers of natural disqualification.
This confusion of ideas is as unjust
as it is stupid, and suggests an appar-
ent unWillingness to recognize any al
ternative to the man-woman, whose
crazy doctrine implies the abolition of
sex-dstinctions altogether, except the
bread -and-butter miss" of a bygone
dispensation. We say an apparent un-
willingness, because it is hardly to be-
believed that the recoil from the ugly
extravagances of the real new woman
has as yet induced a desire to resusci-
tate the simpering Miss Prues and Miss
Innocences who stood to represent ideal
ma.denhood in the days when our
grandfatheTls We're young. Happily, the
''emancipated" sisterhood have ex-
hausted their energies in provoking so
drastic a revolution. Nevertheless, it is
just As possible that in a change loving
age some such reaction may one day
make itself felt, and that the old wo-
manor shall we say the old grip
Will be restored, for a while at least
10 her former pedestal. According to
our present manner of looking at
things, she was undoubtedly, in her
way, as profound a. bore as the "pio-
neer' herself. 1t is true that she was
womanly instead Of an unwomanly
bore; and her blushing and fainting
proclivities, her converse tional poverty,
her polite accomplishments and even
her paralyZing self consciousness,
seemed only to enhance her attractive
ness il the eyes of the youth Of her
day. He, in fact, not only accepted her
pretty airs Of dependence and helpless
ness as by no means the least part of
her charm, but would have been horri-
fed at the very suggestion of the
''chum" idea. which so largely governs
the mutual relations of young men and
maidens in these dayse of advance 1t
pleased his fancy to regard the idol
of his heart, or any possible candidate
for that post, as a delicate, dropping
flower, and he rather objected than
otherwise TO her displaying anything
approaching robustness either Of body
or raind.
But if we should ever be tempted to
seek refuge from any future outbreak
Of pioneering folly in re-establish-
ment Of the old-fashioned feminine
ideal, it will behoove us to remember
that the early century ingenue was, in
her own fashion, a hardly less complete
fraud than the new woman herself The
latter, with her bogus rights and
wrongs and her impudent ignoring OF
her sex's natural limitations, has been
after all a. less successful sham than
was the languishing little mink whose
oppressive simplicity was reserved for
public circulation only, and who, like
the diplomatic Maud" of the doggerel
rhyme
Never seemed to be able to eat when at
table,
But down IL the pantry-O LordI"
an aifectation by the way, sufficiently
discredfted by the Lady Jessica Ne
peans Of an age in which, at the din
ner table at least, the theory of sexual
equality is fully and unreservedly ac-
cepted.
For the present at any rate there is
no sign that the effect of the passing
phase CT feminist" folly has been to
foster desire for any such violent re-
action The blatant masculinity and
absurd assumptions of the new woman
have probably been no whit more ex-
aspel atlng than the studied artlessness
and inert insipidity of the old would
prove II 1t We're possible to try the
experiment of reviving the latter. Here.
as in most other matters, the middle
course Is clearly the desirable one: and
IN that course the sensible womanhood
OF to-day is, fortunately, quite content
10 waik.-London World.