The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-18
WASHINGTON, March IL.
The "E,olution of Woman satirired.

Candles reply to DR.. Shahan. in The Sun OF
March I, she makes use Of two expressions,
the significance Of which. | fear. has not been
fully CRASHED in tho Interesting controversy
concerning Woman Under Plagiarism and
! Christianity" and which should not be over
looked, Tor these words are the hinges upon
which the whole contention. from your cor
respondents po'n mt OF view. must turn. Ia the
letter referred TO she says: "Notwithstandin inc
the aspersionS which have been cast upon the
names OF Greek and Roman women. 1t Is
doubtful i those o! the present age who care
mlly eXamin" the shreds OF history which
have withstoO the envy OF mediocrlty and the
bigOtry at schol1sticism. will believe that the
excuses which are foreign to female nature
and belong 70 ruder. less developed structures.
were p~ractisel by them"
Now. in this sentence there occur two I'M
suspicious phrases which were written with
the cunning hand Of the ~satirist. These are
'shred- Of history and less developed struct-
ureS.' and | cannot but think that they were
indited with that suppressed roguery and
depth OF moaning with which Dean Swift must
have written The Tale OF Tub" or Pope his
Rape of the Lock- This sounds dark and
mysterious, / know. but tho darkness and
mystery are diSpelIai directly Wa take up the
Evolution OF Woman" the masterpiece OF
your correspondent. and | 10 not hesitate b.
add. a masterpiece II line irony and irreprcssi-
bic satire, Don QulXvte I'D not more solcmnIy
perform the last obselu'es over knight s%rrantry
and it, ,aughable ahsullitic- than does the l.
thor OF the "Ev0'l'ion Of Won min more
mo- lest way, Of course. bat hardly less eflec.
tye-dI~rharge the same impressive Office for
untenah'e oNtggera'ions Of Dlrwin's d,,Iuisi-
tons on Natural selection This book Is
divided into %ect.ons. each one Of which rivals
the other in the iexterous pay Of fancy which
is Just save from riotous excess by the all
mixture. or. a -the author would probably say,
tho "-hrels" OF science and learning with
which IT is interlarded. The first OF deals
withthe structural superiority Of woman over
man, In this. after casting aside the Christian
idea Of creation "a. no doubt, the fancy OF a
too crelulous age she informs US that the
history Of man begins with the animated par.
ticles OF Monera which appeared in the pri.
meval sea-
lila necdlessto follow her as sho skll'u,ly
traces the origin and differentiation Of the
soNes and polnte out the characteristics that
early distinguish them-on the side ~ the
male eEoi-m or sell-hHess and on that Of the
female. altruism or caro- FOR others beside her
run liTu 'lA- NIp NN'Nht|u VI NfNAAt q
lection. AMI II Is here where she shows that
yelled lnconseluence AM serious inrongruity
IN which the %sttiri.t Ioyrs to revel Thus We
ere informed that the sexual Characteristic,
have been developed in the male through the
ay5 re aul elort to captiyate the female.
These are In man. for instance, physical
strength, -ell-hnesS. his beard and the
greater hoIgb: o' his physical -tatur,
over that % his SUI erior-w0mau. The manner
In which she rmpha- yes the heard IN this con-
Eec'.on would lead u tn believe that the
au'horess entertained some mi,.iv.ugs as T.
oGr accepting the account she gives Of It's
origin She may have thought that VIII le the
absence o. hair on a mans head N sht Somc-
times Indicate that there hHd been IA woman
I'm the "ts',' tho presence ~ i On the chin
would hardly b. thought a. afrording the
same evidence
These secondary sexual characteristics. more
over. are a CHEEK 10 true progress and growth
-yerItariH i,IUacles and cXtresCrnce,. And
this is true hot only Of his beard. hut OF mans
greater phys cal rroIor:iuns. which latter
threaten t. sap his vitality and strength. But
the presence Of these, say, our authoress, is
c. result Il woman's Preference and choice.
Tor. by plrfrrr nS only mates 80 gi ted, these
useless and banoiu' character sites were trans
mlttrd tnOG-pri < un'I they have been fixed
like points in thoroughbred dogs or horses.
And so much ~ his corsti'utiunal faults and
llcmi hes TINT the rulcr sex labor, under
must be laid az the door Of his gontlcr, more
gifted partner. And. s'il, the FatLo.- .r,
blamed II they could speak rather d,nrrna'.
in.ly ot mans tomptres, and snductrcss wnur
they pa. .ear her crime Of having bcquraihcl
such An evrl inhoritnnce.
But here ar. mora ,hrcds 10 ba gathered up.
THAT the 'cmalo represents a higher develop
mcnt than N" mn'c ia proved throughout all
the various departments Of nature This ia
shown from tho 'ict that more favorable con-
at On- are required for the birth OF the female
than for the male: for example. 'lfiadpol"s are
left 10 Themselves, the average number Of f..
malesis about llty-sey,n in the hundred. nu'
under favorable conditions the percentage Of
females is greatly increase - so also Of cater
pillars ami insects In general. Yet more:
a we reach the human stage wa tlnl that
women hly'a finer touch, that they arc loss
the victim OF cu.pr-hlindnos, than mcn;thu-
they can DISTINGUISH the tIutS and shade- ~
ribbons or the p'umagr on hoNrets 50 much
better than their dul -uyed brethren and then
again man ia more hairy than woman. though
on tbs subject Of hair Mr. Darwin lwho. by the
way. had a generous hirru'e alrrHdlge' Is rep
rehcndc { FOR not attach NJ much as an arlI-
mcrt for mans jntcrori'y.
Now, all this, II course, Is nonsense. but II
is. as Sir Ioby Nrrh would .ny, Excellent good
uoueons'' -skil'ully designed to point out
it- own masked absurlity. IN the consequence 3,
, TINT luw from i, namely. the so-ca.Iod sub.
lection 90 woman hy Just those means which
are here adlu"ed to prove her superiority Va
in the FIRST section. the authorcSs dlspOrjs her
self with the "ehr Ia uf science, so i'm tho
next two she -ambOS tho yile pun is here
meant over the He'd Of history. Here. toa
with III" an Of a certain worthy. Herr Bach
a'cw. she manages 10 pick M some "-hrris"
pointing 10 a time when woman engaged in
war aud dr'rrlol her rights by force Of arms
How stupid of u. 70 ne sure. IN not rrcogniling
before hi, the hi-tpri' worth D0 those ]plcturp-
ald statue. whore the ro5ustuous Amazon.
mounted IN her fiery steni. j. displayed '.o,A-
ug all her beauty free To- sink or swell a,
Heaven rleas"s.'
The Hutnoress Ia, much TO say oC tho
position of women IN the prrrlrau as,. ~
tho" She says; "Thattheir effort. We're I,rrcle /
largely tuwnr the elevation Of thu, uYn ,oy
IL ludirttoi hy various sbrrls ~ history which
the car rWl -,aaeut viii not o~yrr',u, 90 Irrgrc,
tha Suar" pb TX = m. iuoycr .ok fli. r|yiI,urr:
bat rnouEu has b"on al - hint At IN. rhar-
actor th , extraordinary OpoE. Shrk square
somewhere refers r 'rer disparig 70 y
crrta u X n-o -h-e l. AMI pt'rhc-." H." does
not mention III" Queen, but Shakespeare meyer