The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-15

tishness at playing second fddle TO the
masculine head Of the house." and
Mrs. Colquhoun's parable Is the slight
est casual incident In the course Of her
we'll sustained argument.
What and why is the revolt? This
writer, and she Is woman OF wide
experience and observation, no traitor
to her sex, finds II to he n revolt against
nature. not the tyrant man. Its strength
and impetus come from the discomfort
Of educated women. at war with their
environment. 1t Is q chaos OF confused
aims and lost ideals. Superficies arc
mistaken for elements; personal license
for spiritual freedom; political privi-
leges, the mere badge of freedom, for
freedoms self and substance. But many
fenlinists attribute the inequality OF
the sexes" the consciousness Of which
Is sitting to many excellent women. to
sex prejudice" u bugbear which Mrs.
Colquhoun sees standing upon three
I legs: oae Of "apocrypha," stories Of
| persecution Of women lust because
| they are women" stories that never
take circumstantial, evidential form,
| but grow and propagate their kind;
true accounts OF individual men who
| tyrannize their women folks. although
: as Mrs. Coluuhoun knows and every
sensible woman, knowing. practises.
, these tyrants, by very vanity. arc COM
| pletely governable; and, more tangible
than the other elements OF propaganda,
| the consciousness Of the handicap OF
sex IN economic competition with man.
' Prom the very beginning" however,
''of the battle for the higher education
| of women there were men WHO favored
| and women who opposed IT.; and sex
prejudice" seems to be. so far as II ex-
lists at all. q product Of female imag-
\ nation.
| Mrs. Colquhoun scores the students
OF feminine psychology for their obtuse-
ness in sticking TO the idea of woman as
"a potential male weighted down with
the cares and prcoccupations of mater
nifty" Read The Princess" she urges:
compare II with the platform proinul
cations OF to-day, and see how much
advance has been achieved by the in
tervening decades OF feminist thought
and work: THE synopsis Of Lady
| Psyche's lecture reads like gentle
parody OF many modern womens tights
books" The greater the achievement
OF your "emancipated" woman In the
arena OF competition the less likely are
her powers to be handed down in the
stream of inherited characteristics. So
feminine progress Is Individual, not
cumulative, a possession OF the sex.
Marriage is the first big stumbling
block. In the matter OF morals Mrs.
Coiquhoun writes with frankness. She
decidedly opposes the stand taken by
a recent writer of her own sex that In
| view OF the Homogeneous nature of
woman. the alleged polygamous nature
or man, we must "cling TO monogamy,
but open our doors socially 70 the
woman outside it," II is most re-
markable thing, when you stop 70 think
about Il, that women should be thus
ser!ously and naivcly debating these
relative statuses. II would be an eve
opener for many a man who never looks
into such books as this TO turn the pages
OF one on each side and see how the
ladies' are hurting back and forth as
| arguments ideas and facts that used TO
be sacrcdiy personal. But there is COM
fort IN the knowledge that Mrs Colau-
noun can conclude this section OF her
work with so classic sentiment as
this; Viewed in the light OF the well
fare and security of woman as a whole.
and particularly OF tn, mother and her
children, there are many reasons 10 fear
that the growing tendency TO relax the
stringcncy OF the marriage Tie cons,i-
tutcs hot only serious menace to the
social position Of woman but q spiritual
retroGression." Mrs. Gasquolne Hart
ley, IN The Truth About Woman"
maze the sweeping gcneraliza lion that
the triefest glance at our marriage
system shows Il to be founded on the
patr.a-chal Idea" OF woman as the
property or man: to which the author
replies very justly that II this Is in
deed not only true but the whole truth
the system does mighty little credit to
mans intelligence, since 1t not only de-
bars nm from acquiring additional
property" but checks his ability To- dis
card the property" when he ceases 10
regard 4 as valuable.
The economic status" Of woman Is
responsible for the inky covering ~
vast areas Of good white paper with
transcendental nonsense. Probably In
this department as in others o: hc-
survey Mrs. Colquhoun displays hard
sense: but there is scant APPEAL" IN
any chapter. however wise. witty o-
~eighty the style. on sex" subjec,
that simply must work itself out in
!iluiN !uuSl cases ms or course refers
10 the economic" phase OF marriage.
the conflict between the component Gle
monts OF the dual VOCATION Women
are IN business and the arts. and no one
oegrudges them accommodation there.
No statistical balance can be struck be-
tween the charge OF the fem!nis;s that
the siackncss of men in providing for
their families drives women into bust
Ness and the counter assertion that
woinen'S invasion OF business territory
makes 1t harder Tor men 70 support
their families dependent daughters
used to earn their living in the home;
now they earn II in an Office. The
world. says the author. needs both the
lady professor at the top OF the ladder
and the kitchen maid at the bottom. and
probably needs tho kitchen maid much
more than the professor. But Il is not
economic necessity nearly So much as
their own discomfort with the old order
that drives women into business COM
petition with men. When the feminists
reply that the world would not need
the kitchen maid moro than It needs
the professor were 1t not for the fact
that men will be teachers but not scull-
Ions. and the old fashioned u-,,n,, 49,,