The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-06-19

upon what our mothers were.
e that we take a more practical,
q mora sensible view Of life; that we
nave 4 usoned nearly all those silly
artlhci9 conventions by which the
Victorian woman set so much store, no
candid observer will deny.
Yet, even now, some Of the aforesaid
silly conventions still survive and one,
the sllliest Of all; l mean the relation
of woman to man In the prellminarles
which lead, through courtship, to we'd
lock.
N6arly forty years ago Darwin
stat1ieF the old wives Of his day by
expldIfng upon them, MS a bombshell,
bis novel theory Of natural selection.
l, too, in my smaller way have startled
some old wives of my generation by
torpedolng them, so to speak, with
my novel theory Of matrimonial selec-
ton. But I must tell you all about
that theory; why 1 formed It, and how
/ carried It into practical effect.
First, then, as to why I formed it. I
had not been tout" many months
wheRt occurred to me to inquire into
the regson Of the absurd custom by
which the right of selection and pro-
posal lies exclusively with the man; to
ask myself why it was that he should
be free to pick and choose, whereas
she-his equal in many things and his
superior in mOst-should have to con-
tent herself with being picked and
chosen. And when I came to look
into the point-to inquire the why" of
1t, | diecevered that there was no
why but that it was merely a mean
inglessN convention-an empty custom,
existing because it existed, and OBJ
served because people were foolish
enough to observe it, Nay, 1t was
more than meaningless-it was rotten
1t was iniquitous. If marriage means
anything to either party "a point, per-
sa9as, open to discussion, upon which
not here embark), it means more
g4woman than to the man. To
but an incident, to her it is a
80 him tits still the same old
h variations; to her tits a
NEW piece that has to be learned
anu Studied alb initio. OF this fact the
name process is emblematical Let
him be Mr.. Smith, let her be Miss
Jones. They marry. What of him ?
He remains Mr.. Smith to the end of
the chapter. What of her? Her
"Miss" becomes forthwith converted
into "Mrsg,, her "Jones" transformed
into "Smith." Her former name and
style know her no more. In one word,
he is the absorber she the absorbed.
Now to be absorbed the process of
absorption is far more momentous than
to the absorber. That is automatic
Il therefore follows that if either one
lis a graater liberty than the other in
te field Sof selection, that one should
the woman. But in practically a
st absurd conyention-things are
ecisely the reverse. Man, the alb.
rber, can select and propose to any
lumber he likes of the whole fair sex
goman, the absorbed, is limited in her
aoice to jgst those few men that may
he fit to propose. While he has thou
nds to pic from, she has only units
Id those frequently the wrong units
hat is the worst of it. She may see
ne man who is just suited to her
ghom she knows she could make hap
bler than any other woman could; who
would, in a word, be the ideal mate
or her. But he is not among those
Who have proposed to her. Therefore
e is not within practical politics. She
larries home one else as a pis aller.
But IL eformer who doesn't begi1
y adop in practice his own doc
rines d true reformer. He is {
Iuack, & charlatan, a humbug. 1 an
hot that sort. Ny motto, like STRAIT
ord's, has always been Thorough"
Gas a first STEP" says 1 to myself
toward rahsferring into womani
hands the \ initiative in matrimonial
selection, Xviii exercise that initiativ
myself. Others, when they see m!
success, will follow my example; ant
soon the benighted custom by which
my sex are treated as mere passiv,
proposes win lhaye been relegated t,
he limbo Of q kploded fallacies."
1 first men pned my resolve to nam
ma. I did not expect support from
he amiable but obsolete old dear; ant
certainly did not get it. Mamma
vas aghast. Her hair almost stood Of
end; or, rather 1t would have stood Of
end had It been hers to do so. I oil
hot mind mammals displeasure, how
ever. Wa not the fate Of all re
'ormers I'd e misunderstood, abused
lerided By their own families? BE
IL. -r.n. 10 h. 4rrr.r,nd ncidn from