The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-23

nidAh tAat Ni0 boohCi ~
alton OF women dies out, the better
One Of the three articles by Miss Black
well referred to Is entitled 'Finok w. Ten
nyson,' In II abe indulges In the ANA
sonian pastime OF running down q man
nay, two men at once. She gay that the
claim put forth by Dr.. Stanley Hall and
myself that the minds Of men and women
grow more and more unlike as CIVILIZATION
advances Is contrary to facts.
Her facts" consist In the assertion that
In Turkey the minds OF men and women
are more unlike than are the minds OF
American boys and girls who pursue the
same studies IN the, same schools. But
her Oriental facts
The Turkish women may not have much
mind or character, but neither have the
Turkish men. The women are not 80 much
feminine as efeminate; and 80, for. the
most part are the men-weak. fabby,
evervated by a life Of indulgence. Virility
u not a trait Of the Oriental man 30 that We
have here simply the converse OF savagery.
In which the ultra-mascuiine prevails In
both sexes.
As for the American boys and girls the
fact that similarity Of education tends to
make them alike. simply confirms my asser-
lions In regard TO the power OF circumstances
to unsex women; for coeducational schools
are In most respects boys schools. ana
need much modifying before their oppo-
uents can be expected TO Withdraw their
charge that they counteract the law OF
L oNOAdAiOh "lllCit v thhNS Wv aotP W.
savagery (our ancestors were savages
roaming the forests Of Europe), have tended
gradually TO differentiate the sexes. as
signing them distinctive virtues. powers
and functions, mental az well as physical,
In accordance with the universal and in
evitable principle OF the division OF labor.
Miss Blackwell has written. that any
effort to advocate a radically different
education for brothers and sisters IL con-
trary to tho whole spirit and tendency OF
the ago and Is bound to fall Like others
Of her party. she has the audacity TO claim
Tennyson-whose Princess has been
called "the herald-melody OF the higher
education OF women as an ally, But Ten,
nyson's views were Numerically opposed
to hers, as the following passage In the
Memoirs edited by his son proves:
His friends report my father to have said
Ing in England were The houslns, and eduoa-
ton OF the, poor, man before makIng nun our
and that the sooner woman finds out, before
the great educational movement, begins. that
| woman IL not undeveloped man. but diverse,
the better IL Will DO for the progress OF the
world.
This Is In itself conclusive: yet Miss
Blackwell accuses me OF garbling Tenny-
son because | cited only three lines;
For woman Is not undeveloped man,
But diverse; could we make her as III. man.
Sweet love we're slain
and did not add the following lines;
Yet In the long years liker mus, they grow
| The man be more Of woman. she OF mani
He gain In sweetness and in moral height.
she mental breadth. nor fail in chudward care,
Nor lose the chudllke In the larger minds.
In these lines Tennyson simply indicates,
what no one has ever denied, that there are
certain virtues, like chastity and gentle
ness, which rough men must acquire before
they can be called perfect men-gentle-
men; and that women, TO be at their best,
need more Of that mental culture which
In Tennyson's day was almost monopoiized
by the men.
But he makes It very clear thai. tn, hken-
Ing process must not go any farther: that
we must not make her as the man. that
she may learn and be AL that not harms
distinctive w~omanhood,' and no more.
In that line-sAl that not harms dis
tinctive womanhood'-lies the essence of
Tennyson's sexual philosophy; and his
whole poem. In Its details as well as is
plot, Is a commentary on IL.
A long ago as 1910 a writer In the Edin-
burah Rorieb accurately summed up this
philosophy Of The Prncess:'
Many passages In II have a remarkable
perpetual ccihfd protest against ,IdSt's ANA;
zouian philosophy. which, 4 realized. would
Of the female character. and. az the same
time. eNtirpate from the soul of man those
uro TO be complete must include.
$. F.. Dawson, who cites this passage In
his admirable monograph on The Princess"
calls 1t, the keynote OF the poets mean
ing To realize the full import Of this,
IL must be borne In mind that Tennyson
was so much pleased with Dawson's book
that, contrary 20 his wont, be wrote him
a long letter, thanking him for his able
and thoughtful essay and adding:
You have seen among other things, that
IL women ever were TO play such freaks
tho burlesque and tragic might go hand
In hand. The public did not see that the
child, as you say. was the heroine OF the
piece"
nyson was always gentle and chivalrous
there are in his poem many touches OF good
natured banter, giving evidence OF his pro-
found inward amusement at the weak
nesses of the fair deni2cns Of the female uni
versity. The suggested grotesque heroine,
six feet high, grand, epic, homicidal'-
'all she does is awful Lady Psyche's
harangue about tho legendary Amazon
as emhlematic of a nobler age" the boast
that nothing but convention keeps modern
woman from rising 20 such noble heights
and driving foes with slaughter from the
walls; the host who always makes a point
TO post with mares, whose boys are house,
maids, and who allows his land 70 be titled
only by women-these are a few of the lines
In which the poet lokes fun at the mis-
guided Princess and her followers, who.
while scorning men, seek 10 become like
them, militant and -g1rged with knowI-
edge
This banter the ~suTraglsts appear not
TO perceiye-perhaps through no 1auIt or
their own. To cite Dawson once more;
Women though quicker and vittier than
men, are destitute OF humor. They perceive
the ridiculous, but never the humorous. .
The advocates of %roincn's rights never seem
to Imagine that there il no ridicule, no feel
Ing Of superiority, In the irresistible smile 1
which their theories provoke. They become
angry and consequently more absurd.
IL Is the end Of Tennyson's story, how
ever, that teaches the noblest lesson and
shows most conclusively what he thought
in regard 10 woman's real sphere. He
made his Princess start out with the two
decisions that woman IL In all respects
the equal Of man, and that knowledge Is
all in all
At the end she discovers that there Is
something greater than knowledge, and
that Is love. Her college comes 20 an end
aud Is turned into a hospital. She nurses
the wounded Prince, whom she had scomed,
and love transforms her and makes her the
true woman again that she was before the
AmaZorian faint had poisoned her mind.
Her falser self slipped irom her IKE a robe
And lett her woman,
- + ~ H.