News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1901-02-20
MANS ABDlCATlON.
Why the Male Tyraut Has Lost His
Throne.

Throne.
In The North American Review for I
August there is a discussion of the
'Abdication of Man" by Miss e. Bis
and, who undertakes to show that the !
grant man has lost his position OF
uler of the family and society, not by
eason OF the rebellion Of the
'unquiet SEX" but by reason Of his own
Indication of the position of lord and
master. Time was when man was
Zero. He went to war, he faced danger
md brought back the spoils upon
which his admiring women-folks sub
listed. AS sole protector and benefactor,
he 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
Iuitable dress. Our great-grandfatheTs
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 confirm 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
chvalrous 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 a 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 a 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 well
as of garment. What she does not see
she finds it hard to believe. Every wise
lover knows that tenderness of man
ner must be reinforced by definite as
s,Tances Of affection several times in
every twenty-four hours"
The heroes of romance studied the
female heart, and every woman wants
her life glided with some romance. Yet
the modern man does not take the
trouble to please womans imagination.
Hence the revolt. Woman has thrown
off the yoke of tyrant who dis
cards the trappings and habiliments
proper to a despot. She was prepared
to obey a monarch who would dress
and act the part of monarch, but
man." says the writer, 'has been seiz-
ed with a democratic IDEAL and after
applying it to political institutions has
attempted to carry It into domestic ap-
plication. He is relentlessly forcing a
democracy of sex on woman, indus
trially, mentally and sentimentally He
refuses to crafty her imagination: he
insists upon her development of that
logical selfishness which underlies all
democracy" But this has results.
Women are beginning to accept these
stern theories-to look out for them
selves by discarding domestic burdens.
1.-THE only considerations that can re-
concile human beings to unattractive
labors," Miss Bisland says, "are first,
the sentiment of loyalty-that such
labors are for one who is loved and
admired-and second. the fine old habit
of submission. These incentives to
duty, these helps to happiness man has
taken from woman by weakly shutting
is mastership." Such is the Indictment