Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-05-02

ley, writing IN the Boston Globe, dis
cusses the Decline of Woman's In
fluence." 1t is news to many of us
that womans influence is declining.
The cry has been for years that 1t is
constantly increasing, growing with q
real hostility to mans welfare and
progress. But Uncle Dudley says 1t
is declining and tells his story In the
following interesting manner:
There was an age when a Chris
tina of Sweden asserted the rights of
her people and throne against Richie
lieu and Mazarin. There was an age
when three women, Marie Theresa.
Elizabeth Of Russia and Nine. Pom
padour bore the brunt of the Seven
Years war. There was an age when
an Elizabeth Of England outwitted
Philip of Spain and Catharine de
Medici, an age when these two women
ruled the world.
do not suppose that. the great
women of other days owed their OPP
portunities to their exalted birth. The
great Catharine Of Russia, was a poor
German peasants daughter, who fell
to Russian soldier as q piece OF mer-
chandise after q battle. From that low
round she assembled to the imperial
throne, to be robed, crowned and scep-
tered and consecrated as sovereign of
all the Russias.
What a long list Of women poten-
tates or Warwicks fill the pages of his
tory! To name them is to recall the
days of old romance. The knee almost
instinctively bends at the mention of
an Elizabeth or even Wilhelmina
To hn not, wal ar
for men to apply to ship, a racing
mare, or to the sovereign of their
hearts.
"Yet dispite this alteration, the
thought of woman being president
of the United States, yes, or state gov
ernor, or mayor would be greeted with
general derision. The very conception
of the idea of woman president or
governor makes the average American
very much fatigued, although he is not
always circumspect when picking out
his men rulers.
"In the political machinery of past
ages woman was a powerful wheel.
Today she Is not even part of the dec
orative work. She has more political
liberty than ever but less political in
fluence She has more smaller oppor-
tunities than formerly but not SO
many great ones She sees and does
more, but achieves less. Her useful
ness has increased as her power has
diminished.
Courts and camps once gladly ac-
cepted her counsel They do SO no
more. Sheba's queen and Joan of Arc
have no prototype today. Cleopatra
/ O., ,i,o IL Tee 10 4
their shadows across the epochs, and
even from the wood gloom of mingled
history, romance and fable emerge the
dim outlines Of Processes who could
hold the distaff or sway the rod Of EN-.
pire. But in the noon of the present
day, we behold no woman's dominant
figure.
What has wrought this change!
The spirit Of the age. 1t has con
demned the ancient claim of a divine
right to rule, condemned all who
sought to rule on that basis, and con
demned many innocent things associ.
ated with those eras of terrible splen
dor when rulers rode over the backs
of mankind
"Merciless history, which preserves
many, If not all the scandals of dead
reigns, has fixed in the framework OF
memory the abuses of monarchial
times. In all those pictures woman
seems necessary part. Without her
was no real civilization. Without her
was no genuine decorum. Her rein
ing influence smoothed the way fol
art. But being necessary part of the
system when that system was smash
ed by the rude iconoclast democracy
her power crumbled. Fancy can re
store the dust into a portrait of allur
ing loneliness. but the cold reason has
decided never to re-create the ole
regime. Under thai regime the oppor
tunities which g. few had of reaching
the citadel of success were marked
Woman's swift intellect that circles
the sphere of things while man II
drawing up the preamble of resolu
ton to act, was admirably adapted tt
the requirements of an age of unrefiec
ton. She often succeeded where the
man failed.
"In those days the richest prize wa,
not barred from her. Today the av
j enues to political power are not ann,
enough nor wide enough to accommo
date the men who crowd one anothe
like rough boys and pay no heed t,
the women, who, therefore, seek othe
paths to fortune.
1T should not be forgotten, how
ever. that in the ages of woman
1 greatest deeds she toiled not especl
ally for those Of her own sex. Sh
/ looked at the kingdoms and principal
ties Of the world through spectacle
made for her by man. But those wer
not the same through which he looked
4 Oh, no. He was her political oculis
and optician. He examined the worl,
through lenses that magnifed his ow,
Importance tremendously. Through
the glasses he made for woman sh,
saw herself minimized and him exag
gerated.
Some day she may learn true Wis
ual values Then, let him look out
She may try to crowd him off tn
bridge.
i Even the average imagination cal