The Savannah morning news., 1901-07-07
EDUCATING HUSBANDS FOR
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
BY Susan B. Anthony.
Copyright. 1901. by S, S. Mcclure c,

N~~--
menced in the eighteenth; indeed, there
should have been some preliminary train
ing for several centuries preceding that.
With ninety-nine boys out of hundred
it is the pride of their lives to initiate
their fathers; the hundredth boy may
have discrimination enough to look about
for better model. In the average femi-
ly the boy gauges his treatment of his
sisters by the manner in which the faith
ers treats the mother; and this attitude
toward his sisters he is very apt to du-
plicate in that which he adopts toward
his wife The women themselves in all
of these cases may effect some modifica-
tons, but they represent the general
practice of men. And then comes the
cross-inheritance from mothers, which
influences in a vast degree the charac-
teristics of sons but even this carries
with it the traits of the men in her fam
lily line. Every boy, therefore, Is com
posite of a multitude of paternal and
Maternal ancestors and a condensation
of all their good and bad qualities forms
the husband of the twentieth century.
The memory of man goeth not back to
a time when girls were not trained for
wives and mothers. Their first plaything
is dol and their second set of dishes.
They are coddling these dolls when the
little boys are making life miserable for
the dogs and cats of the neighborhood;
or they are peacefully playing at keep
ing house" when the boys are banging
away with a bat or shiny in bliss
full ignorance OF future domestic duties.
From childhood the girl is put through
course of training with direct refer
ence to future wifehood. The training
of the boy is exactly the same as If there
were no such relation as husbandhood.
The girl is constantly admonished as to
her duties when she has home or her
own No such contingency is suggested
to the boy. With the keen observation
of youth the girl soon notices the DEEPEN
dent position of the mother, while the
boy Just as soon realizes the immense ad-
vantages of belonging to the sex of his
father. The result of this unavoidably
must be a sense of infertority on the
part of the girls, and of superiority on
the part OF the boys.
In olden times this distinction was ac-
cepted as the decree of an inscrutable
Providence, and, as the years went on,
the girl became the submissive woman
and the boy the assertive man. This was
inevitable so long as the woman was de-
MED education, travel, business expert
ence knowledge of the world-all that
tends to develop and strengthen men and
fit them for the exercise of authority. But
when the first rift was made in the rigid
conservatism which had dwarfed her pow
| ers, then began the protest and antagon-
ism against that submission which for
ages had been exacted. 1t will require sew
eral generations more to obliterate this
| antagonism, which exists to a greater or
| less degree in the business world, the pro-
| LESSONS, the schools and even the home
| itself. So long as women are continually
| challenged to prove their fitness, and can
do this only by showing themselves SUI
perior instead of equal, and so long as
opportunities are grudgingly allowed by
men and the way impeded, just that long
win this antagonistic spirit survive. If
men would be just to women, the proverb-
| ial generosity and devotion of the latter
| would yield more than half the ground,
but this is impossible where they are kept
| constantly on the defensive and fighting
| for life.
This is especially true in the home The
average wife is willing to concede to the
husband the position as head of the fam
| lily; it is her pleasure to consult him, to
defer to him, to give him the most and
the best of her life, but she demands that
| all this shall be freewill offering, and
| that he shall be worthy of It. She desires
| that this Difference and devotion shall be
reciprocal; that her place in the house
hold shall take equal rank with his; that
| he shall repay faithfulness with fidelity,
| and affection with love. There are hus-
| bands who are deserving of all the trust
and honor reposed in them, and, with the
cooperation of the wife. they illustrate
the ideal family life. There are others
who are utterly unworthy, and yet they
expect the same devoted service and alle-
| glance simply because they bear the rela-
tion of husband, and it is against such
that women rebel. How then shall men
be educated so that they may bring hap
piness and not misery to themselves, their
| wives and their children?
1t is said that boys receive the strong
est impulses of their life at the mothers
| knee, but We see continual proof that
these may be entirely counteracted by the
| fathers example Therefore, the most
valuable part of a boys training for a
| husband lies in daily object lesson from
his mothers husband Two anecdotes
may illustrate the effect of the fathers
! influence: A little girl said to her mother
| 81 suppose I've got to be a cross old
maid like Aunt Jane, or marry a man
| like papa. This is a hard world for us
| womenr Another said, II shall never
marry" ''Why not?" her mother asked,
ct married" Eyes, I know; but you got
papa. and there isn't another as nice
man in the world" Two views of matri-
| mOny rounded on the personal oDSerVa-
| lions of children! In the first case a
little boy would have drawn the conclusion
| that it was the proper thing for husbands
| to be disagreeable, and he would have put
his theories into practice some day. in
the second, he would have reasoned, with
his childish philosophy that it was part
of a husbands duty to be kind, patient
and loving, and he would have endeavor-
ed to carry out these ideas in his own
family when he should have one.
1t is not sufficient, however, for the
father simply to set an example. Some
precepts should be taught at the fathers
knee as we'll as at the mothers. In a
great many matters even at an early
age, a boy has more respect for the
opinions of the father than of the
mother. When the latter teaches that
he should be kind to all dumb animals;
that he should not rob birds nests or tie
tin cans to a dogs tail, or chase cows,
| his perverse moral instincts are apt to at
| tribute these teachings to a sort of weak
ness on the part of women; and when
| the mother insists that his sisters must
be treated with particular Difference, the
little embryo savage is prone to conclude
| that she loves them better than she does
| him Ii Is highly important that both
father and mother should inculcate in
sons the lessons of gentleness, courtesy,
fair dealing, generosity and helpfulness,