The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-15
WIFE OF oLDEN TIME.

Dramatic Contrast Pictured Be
tween the Position of the Minis
ter's Wife and All other Wives
Fifty Years Ago and To-day.
1t is not very long ago since the right
of women to ownership of themselves
was a de1Jatabie question. The small
ambitions of young women were
brusquely squelched with the authori-
tative statement that "a girl was to
live under her fathers roof and be
subject to him, and serve him till her
marriage. Then she was to go to her
husbands house and obey and serve
him." This was a survival of "the
contempt for physical weakness and
WOMEN" of which Walter Bagehot
speaks in his Physics and Politics as
characteristic of primitive society"
1t led men then to supply themselves
with wives by capturing them, as if
they were wild animals or by pur-
chasing them, If any one else had
claims on them.
Since a woman could not own her
self, she could not own property, could
not demand wages for her work, and
could not dispose of her time as her
taste and capacity dictated. These ar
engagements were in the control OF
the person to whom she owed service
and obedience. She only needed to be
trained to her duty. Where the law
was silent on this subject a public
sentiment existed stronger than law,
that compelled unmarried women to
observe these unwritten commands.
Concerning married women the law
was not silent-and is not to-day.
There were homes where unmarried
daughters lived through life, render
ing unpaid service, from very love and
devotion, and there are such to-day.
And there were then, as now, mar
riages based on mutual respect and
affection, which made the earthly
heaven of both parties, to whom the
law was a dead letter. For humanity
is diviner than law, and men are
| not unfrequently nobler than the laws
they enact.
Somewhere in the f1fties a Connecti-
cut clergyman wished to marry his
sisterin-law. She had worked for her
widowed father twenty-five years
without wages, although he was able
to pay her, had carried on the multi
form labors Of a large farm with
financial success, and had reared
younger brothers and sisters to useful
and respectable maturity Meantime
her father had married again, and she
could be spared from her home. But
| the father, misery old curmudgeon,
| stoutly opposed the daughters mar
riage, and not only refused to give
her a decent setting out" as the
| country parlance phrased it, but lock-
| ed up her wardrobe and denied her
| that. All the same her clerical lover
married her. And being as renowned
for grit as for grace, he then COM
menced suit against the irate father
| for the unpaid services OF his daugh-
| ter for twenty-five years.
He lost his case through some in
| formality. But it provoked great dis
| cussion at the time, invading even the
| pulpit; which blazed with condemna-
| ton of unfilial children, who forgot to
honor their father and mother" Some
| of his ministerial brethren handled the
clergyman with great severity and
| hurled at his devoted head an ava
lanche of Scripture texts, to prove that
Children can never do too much fol-
their parents" This aphorism was ir
everybody's mouth in those days, as is
| its complement, which to-day sup
| plants II: Parents can never do toe
| much for their children" Both are
true, within certain just limitations.
| Col. Higginson tells us of a school
| committee In Massachusetts town
1
| speaking of an appointment: "As this
| place offers neither honor nor profit
| we do not see why 1t should not be
| filled by a woman" Work of this de.
scription has been considered woman:
work ever since the world began. And
| when her services have been so emf.
nent as to compel a reward OF money
or so illustrious as to win applause
| both the money and glory have usually
been diverted from their rightful own.
er to some man who had a claim
If a woman married a minister II
those days she ran the risk of adding K
her disabilities and discomforts. Fol
she was considered one of the minis.
ter's belongings" and when the par.
ish committee made a contract with
| him IL went without saying that hel
services were thrown into the bargain
| The female contingent of the old time
parish regarded the minister's wife as
their especial perquisite. She was t.
| be appropriated as their needs ol
whims might suggest, and as her tenn.
per and will would permit. 1t was MOI
so very bad for the minister's wife thai
her husband was her legal owner, since
II she only knew enough-and whai
| woman does not, when she chooses p
she could transmute this doctrine Of
legal ownership into a legal fiction anc
bring him to be her most loving anc
devoted subject forever. But subor.
dination to her husbands parish was
a very different affair. For women are
more conservative than men, less len.
| lent to the shortcomings of their sex
and the standard by which they meas,
ured the minister's wife was beyond
| attainment.
She must be a pattern OF goodness
indoors and out, tempted In all points
like other women, but always without
sin. Her housekeeping must be a mar
vel of excellence. with a time and
place for everything. and an ever read
| mess for the unexpected events, which
are sure to happen. She was not to
| be thrown off her base by the irrup-
ton of any number of her husband
| people" on washing day. when she
could serve only picked-up dinner
nor by the descent of the sisteFhood
into her parlor. on Sunday Moons be-
| tween services, TO eat their lunches.
eked out BY her freshly drawn tea and
seed cakes. Her husbands white neck
erchiefs and starched bosoms and cuffs
must always be immaculate. and her
own apparel and that of her children
uauQl be gpiCk. span and Mncr1In1p lad