The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-02-05
Ancient DAYS.

New York World: A twentieth century
American newspaper would furnish start
ing reading to a man in almost any for
mer stage of civilization. The scientific
wonder 1t described would bewilder such
a reader, but what Would astonish him
would be the Independent activity Of
women. He would see half of the human
race, whom he had been accustomed to
consider born for subsection to the other
half, now raised to a position of COM
plete self-mastery. He would see women
competing with men In every Intellectual
field and in most of the industries.
1t is true that there nave been other
times In Which women have had large
privileges. IN the worst days of imperial
Rome the decay of domestic discipline
was part of the general decay of society.
Said Juvenal In that reckless Sixth Satire
which put him under the ban Of every
sorosis of his time:
Thus the virago triumphs, thus she reigns:
Anon she sickens of her first domains,
AND seeks for new; husband on husband
Till of her bridal veil one rent she makes.
Thus swells the list; eight husbands in
A rare inspection for their sepulchres.
When the ladies' of the Roman smart set
were not divorcing their husbands they
We're engaged in other r%ecreations equally
modern. Juvenal complains that thew IN,
tested the courts:
Women supper the bar; they love the law.
And raise litigious questions for a straw:
Ihey meet In private and prepare the bill.
DRAW up the instructions with a lawyers
Suggest to CELSIUS where the merits lie
ana dictate points for statement or reply.
Also they fenced. wrestled. boxed, fought
in the arena and played every sort Of
game but golf and bridge.
such brief glimpses of feminine fnde-
pendence In the past serve to maintain the
rule that history repeats itself, and keep
us from the vanity of thinking that We
nave found something new under the sun.
But IN most former ages, as in the back
ward parts of the earth today. woman
was simply a negligible quantity outside
the home. and If she ever made her will
1elt inside the home it was without any
support from law or custom. Often she
was sold as a chattel, and ever among
our estimable Teutonic ancestors, who
treated her with a respect unusual for
their time, she was at the mercy of any
body who could pay a small fine. The
Mosaic law confined the privilege of d.
yorce to the husband. Under the Roman
republic q woman could not have the con-
troll OF even her own person or property.
If single she remained for life under the
rule Of her father or other male relatives:
If married she was her husbands prop.
erty. The old Norsemen had a similar
system.
Even in our own country, within the
memory of people now living, women were
barred from the professions and from the
higher education. and when they married
they had no legal voice in the disposition
of their property, their earnings or their
children. AS some compensation for their
lack of rights they had certain privileges.
Now they have gained the rights and kept
the privileges, too, which leaves the for
mer lord of creation standing with his
oAN1r tf1t1I h@-Ir 81 EL
gle and looking hopelessly up at a scorn.
full Diana on n tower.