The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-11-26
Dangerous Teaching.

y
If there is anything that prevents
Charlotte Perkins Gilman from being
dangerous woman it is that her
doctrines are TOO palpably pernicious
To nislead They may arouse the in
terest of intelligent people. in this
respect eQualiug any other freak that
Tor the moment engages the attention.
They are 20 be taken, not as symp-
tom OF the trend of normal thought
bat am illustration of the possibility
of the abnormal Mrs. Gilnln is the
more TO be regretted because she
possesses an order OF ability so high
chat the wauton sacrifice OF il is a
depressing spectacle To see her
talents devoted 10 promotion OF an
absurd and impossible fad, degrading,
unnatural. and repellenJ. eXcites sur
prise that she should permit herself
To so 10 waste.
u is a strange circumstance that
Mrs. Gilman as q ref0Tmer should
pose as qualified i'm the one field
wherein she has demonstrated her
self a failure. She is telling women
how to conduct their homes. and how
TO treat their children Would she
cite as a model the home of which,
while Mrs Stetson, she was mistress?
Would she call her children TO tell
how they Jared when their mother
was ont insJructing motherhood?
And would she summon the neigh
bors of those days TO bolster up the
showing that would be made? These
are practical questions. and may an
uOy ATS. Gilman, whose specially OF
late is the opposite of practical
But perhaps. the reader has not
Noted the character of the Gilman
creed AS explained IN a recent ad-
dress by the distinguished promulga-
tor. in is that the home should be
chiIdless. and the domestic kitchen
abolished for one on the cooperative
plan. This having been done. the
children. Mrs. Gilman thinks. would
receive better care than the "crea-
ture" whom they call mother" could
give them So the sweet lady would
not Kill the children. No, indeed. On
the other hand. the children would be
treated with much the consideration
received by SO many horses boarded
in a livery stable.
Al old saying. rather frivolous
and obviously unfair. was that there
are three seXes-men, women, and
ministers. Were this true it would
be necessary TO add a fourth one. the
feminine capable of bearing children.
willing to do so. and having for them
less affection than the beast of the
field has for its young Any advocate
of the monstroUs perversion OF
human instinct counseled by Mrs.
Gilman must submit 10 the suspicion
OF being neither male nor female. but
either without sex or belonging 10 "a
distinct uncanny. and undesirable
sex
IN behalf Of Mrs. Gilman may be
pleaded that she does not mean all
she says Those who would be in
clined. through this, 10 regard as
innoeuous the poison Of her preach
ments, cannot ignore the fact that By
others she VIII be accepted as sim
ccrc.
Some homes are better childless:
some children would De better home
less The homes in question are those
where motherhood is regarded as a
burden too great 10 be sustained:
where there is no melody discerned
iH the prattIe OF babes. nor JOY found
in their presence. nor the eyes of love
To watch them as they grow.
And children. rather than be denied
the affection of a mother. or bound TO
one regarding herself as a creature"
hoarlIess. soulIess, selfish 10 "a point
far below brutality. would better
wander the streets OF the fields. re-
lying upon the charity OF strangers.