Charlevoix county herald., 1908-01-04


known as an author. Among her first lit
erary work may be mentioned her trans
lation of Pierre Lofts Iceland Fisher
mas 90, which was praised by the rn Critics Ea
dust DOLL" dealing with society in New
port and New York. IT went through ten
editions and was republished i'm England
and India Her novel, by the Waters OF
Babylon" was also a distinct success"
The liberty of American women has
become SO universally accepted a fact
that it has passed into a byword OF
comparison to the older nations.
The puritan idea has become at
: last transmitted, through the light and
luxury of wealth and the diffused in.
fluence of widely scattered location,
into basis OF fine responsibility and
finer courage. From Virginia and
the more southern states we have a
fluent charm, a soft womanliness and
grace both lovable and admirable, but
regrettably lessening with the disap-
pearance OF the characteristic life of
the south.
II is too early to attempt an analysis
of the western idea of American wom-
anhood, for the west, from Cleveland
and Chicago outward, is but a system
Of eastern colonies with only one gen
eral and determining condition, and
that is liberty under which individual
traits, traditions and tendencies find
their full opportunity of development.
These various ideas. historical as
well as local. in their origin have pro-
duced the types Of women thus largely
indicated in our country. Profoundly
felt and almost universally operative,
beneath these varying influences, re-
mains the oldworld orientalism that
women should be first charming, again
charming and always charming. Char
acter, logic, reason and other stern
requirements of life are for the most
part left to develop in some mysteri-
GUS way, INTENDED.
The desirability of a thorough col
legiate education is as a rule not &C.
copied voluntarily by the solvent por-
ton of our national community. The
female. universities are demanded by
the future breadwinners among wom-
en- and supported by them. This is an
almost universal fact and it ha;, a
|
promise and reproach. In plain
words, the American girl is superb
cially educated except when she is
compelled to earn her own living.
There is shallowness Of foresight so
universal, a deficiency of logic so Sc
rious and so ominous in this certainly
universal inclination on the part of
American parents that one may well
stop and inquire its reason.
In a certain celebrated essay by
Schopenhauer, an essay as acrimoni-
Gus as it is profound, he remarks upon
| the universal jealousy between all
women as women. Jealousy among
men, he insists is largely professional,
when it is not intensely personal from
| particular emotional impulse. The
male will fight for bis chosen mate as
long as the race continues; but watch
a pretty woman, says this philosopher,
as she walks the street and see the
chances cast upon her by the women
she crosses in her path. They are the
glances of the Guelph and the Ghibel-
line. The jealousy is as universal as
the sex, likewise professional in the
sense that women's only profession is
to please the men, their masters. He
goes further and with a savage bitter
ness declares that the libery of women
is a monstrous idea, German-Christian
in it's origin, which is the curse Of
Europe He advises the restoration of
the feminine seclusion of the middle
ages and lauds the institution of the
harem, which he insists would elimi-
nate vice and all the dangers WHICH
beset homogeneous civilizations. This
is indeed q vivid expression of the
idea of woman and her proper func-
ton and limitation. But his idea is
only too prevalent at the present
time, even in America, the last outpost
of European civilization. The linger-
ing proof of this deep-lying prejudice
is shown in it's application to the edu-
cation of American women. The con-
clusion derived from the prejudice is
inevitable-it is dangerous to be clev-
er. Such a reputation may be for
midable handicap in the race for hap
piness, IL woman's happiness is in
the hands OF man. 1t is idle to deny
that this is so. And here We have the
reason why the daughters Of the rich
are guarded from any such peril, why
beauty and charm, gentleness, good
ness and submissiveness are the quail
tiles which clothe young mans fancy
and dictate the choice of wife.
The question now is pertinent. Does
a cultivated mind, with its infinitely
various resources, detract from
charm? Does trained logic, with its
innumerable applications to the prob
lens of life destroy it? 1t is aston
ishing that the reasoning masculine
mind for these centuries should have
persisted in the conclusion that they
do, The slightest hint of rivalry to
the male intelligence is destructive to