Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1898-11-23
MANS ABOiCATION.
Why the Male Tyraut Has Lost His
Throne.

Why the Male Tyraut Has Lost His
Throne.
In The North American Review for
August there is discussion or the
"Abdication of Man" by Miss E. Bis
land, who undertakes to show that the
tyrant man has lost his position of
ruler of the family and society, not by
reason of the rebellion of the
'unquiet SEX" but by reason of his o"n
abdicat1on of the position of lord and
master. Time was when man was a
hero. He went to war, he faced danger
and brought back the spoils upon
which his admiring women-folks sub
sisted. AS sole protector and benefactor,
the husband in old times deserved and
received the plaudits of submissive de-
pendents. The circumstances Of life
gave him a glorious role and he sup
ported the dignity of his position by
suitable dress. Our great-grandfathers
wore silks and satins, powdered their
hair, sported gold buckles, ratified
their swords and put ON lordly airs
which greatly impressed the weaker
sex. They appreciated the value OF
handsome personal appearance and
took great pains to conffrm their hold
upon womenkind by the studied charm
of courteous manners. The individual
man thought highly of himself and
tried at all times to sustain in dress,
in conversation and conduct the char
acter Of hero, or at any rate of
chivalrous gentleman.
So long as the tyrant held himself up
to this ideal, his mastery, according to
Miss Bisland, was cheerfully conceded,
but during the last fourscore years the
average man has been taking COM
monplace view Of himself and life. He
has become SLOUGH. Woman sees with
sorrow and disdain the transformation
of the hero into the "unromantic man
| who goes patiently to business every
morning in a cable car, sits on a stool
at desk, weighs tea or measures rib
bon." The man of to-day is conceded to
be steadier in his habits, more indus
trious, better provider and more re-
liable in money matters than his pre-
decessor of the same class eighty years
ago, but all that was heroic about him
has collapsed. The ideal is lost and the
| idol is shattered. Man no longer fas-
cinates woman by his masterfulness
and splendor, but, bent solely upon his
ease and comfort, sets himself against
| this need of the female. HE alone"
says the writer, 'fatuously prides him.
self on the dark bifurcated simplicity
of his attire, intended only for warmth
and ease and constructed with cal
| culated avoidance of adornment. He
| carries further this democracy of sex
| by adding rigid plainness of behavior
to ugliness of appearance, forgetting
| that a woman like a child and the
savages loves pomp of manner as we'll
as of garment. What she does not see
lover knows that tenderness of man
ner must be reinforced by definite as
surances of affection several times in
every twenty-four hours"
| The heroes of romance studied the
female heart, and every woman wants
| the modern man does not take the
trouble to please woman's imagination.
Hence the revolt. Woman has thrown
off the yoke of a tyrant who dis
cards the trappings and habiliments
proper to despot. She was prepared
to obey a monarch who would dress
and act the part of a monarch, but
man." says the writer. has been seiz-
led with a democratic ideal, and after
Applying it to political Institutions has
attempted to carry It into domestic ap-
lplication. He Ii relentlessly forcing .
democracy Of sex on woman. indus