Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1898-04-28
woMAN's DEPARTMENT
MABEL H. poMERoY, EDITOR.
Woman, The Determining Factor OF
Civilization.

Woman, The Determining FhCtOI VI
Civilization.
The agitation and over increasing
demand for the political equality Of
the sexes have deeper meaning than
is generally apprehended. They
mark an epoch in the life OF civilIEa'
ton when forces never directly e1'
erclsed before are coming into play
TO mold and influence it's action
Heretofore, government has Teen
wholly been Of a masculine character
and representative Of masculine ten
denotes; IN the near future it is the
feminine as we'll as the masculine
This change in the structure OF our
society cannot but be productive OF
great and far reaching resulte.
To anyone who attentiveIy studies
what is taking place today, this change
in the nature of civilization is seen to
be part and parcel Of it's own organic
growth not to be avoided or sup
pressed. Woman has attained the
Observation-Disclosures, she knows bef
growing powers, and in that fact lies
the meaning OF a movement that is
bound to revolutionize the world.
Heretofore, or within the last two or
three decades only solitary voices
have broken the silence Of woman's
patient submission to her environ
ment, but those voice have been avant
couriors Of what was yet to come.
Reared in the tolls of ancient sys.
tenn Of slavery, passing from the
authority OF the father to that Of the
husband, taught by creed and tradi-
ton that she was born to play an in
fenor part in the great work of life,
that her sphere was the home, In the
bearing aud rearing of children, and
that beyond that sphere there was no
answering aptitude between her
mind and the larger tffaIrs Of the
world, woman acqiesed IN these de-
crees Of fate. But Clvization, which
is only another name for education,
for the unfolding of the powers ofthe
mind, mental and moral, has forever
put to fight these relics and beliefs
of a darkened past. Woman has
awakened to the knowledge that she
is not the helpless victim of any iron
bound laws Of fate, condemning her
to hopeless mental sterility and i'm
beCility. She knows whatever def
ciencies may have marked her course
in the past, have been the results OF
brutal customs and equally brutal
laws; that if servitude in one form or
another has forever logged her foot
steps, that it was the sacred function
Of maternity that rendered her in
capable Of coping with man in the
fierce struggle for existence.
The eva Of struggle and conflict is
drawing to close, and with it, the
subjectcn of woman. Henceforth
,he is TO take her place ride by side
with man in all the affairs of life
The status of woman is the determin.
ing factor in the growth of civillza-
tIor. If she is weak of power, small
Of brain, and Ignorant, she will tend
10 transmit those characteristics to
ler offspring. Everything, therefore
depends npon the mothers of the
race; the moral detection character
stlc of every age is the reflex action
II woman's .snhjsGtlon and degrade
ion. Woman is the mother Of man
and Of civilizations IN proportion to
ner developing status is a nation saw
age or civilized.
"Tbe divine womauly ever leads us
on." IModENE O. FALEs
Mts. Dole, wife Of the president OF
The Hawaiian Republic, esES Hawaii