The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-09-09
i He SAUNTERERS


on the question of ownership now
came together and made further
pacts for the purpose of defense of
their property, and in all probability
their lives, for although the first MUIR
der was committed under the influ-
ence OF jealousy, covetousness has
through all the history of man been a
prolific source of that crime.
For the better protection of life and
property, the fires of our forefathers
were drawn closer together, and
walls or stockades were built around
them and the women and children
were brought within this enclosure,
and man developed the sense or feel
ing of protector. This is a very old
and we'll rooted virtue in mans
heart, and when all is said it is at
been offered to "Woman's Suffrage"
and not lesser or a meaner motive.
This drawing together of the fires
was the first rudiment of the city; a
word that has it's root deep in the
possibility Of such a plan, even the
Latin which is quite modern compared
with the times of which we write, has
we get our words "civiP-civil man
ners, civil law, civilization, etc.
Thus we had the fire, the divisions
OF labor, the home, private ownership,
the law, and civilization developed.
Hand in hand with this develop
ment went in man the development
OF his sense of protector of the wom-
en- and children, virtue that reached
its Towering in the days of chivalry,
and is by no means fed the earth at
this day, while woman developed the
home with all it's sacred and beauti-
full associations.
1t is interesting to reflect that these
two virtues developed in a primitive
people are the most beautiful orna-
ments of the race today, at least in
the natural order
Christian Influence.
! 1t will be seen that the balance of
such a condition of living must be
maintained by every woman having a
|
and that as soon as a woman was left
without her natural protector it threw
her on the other side of the scale.
She must become the hunter and fish
er herself, and in all reason should
have voice in the making of the laws
that insured ownership or protected
property. But in these days such
women were very scarce, and were
never more than grains of sand in
the political machinery. 1t is true
that men, then as now, in their roll of
protector, were often reduced in num-
bers out of all proportion to the WON
en-, in their wars and raids, but the
practice of polygamy even among the
Jews restored the balance, and made
it possible to continue on the same
basis. With Christ came the system
of mOnogamy, and it is not eXaggerat-
ing to say that this was the most stu
pendous jolt that Christianity gave to
the established customs of the world.
1t not only called for the awakening
of the supernatural in human nature,
but it threw the system of the divi-
sion Of labor which had been evolved
through the ages, out of gear to such
an extent that it has not acquired it's
balance to this day.
The effort and the striving which
this unsettled condition resulted in,
has called forth degree of heroism
that could not be realized under the
old regime.
When the teaching of Christianity
began to make an impression on the
social fabric, a great body of women
soon found they were unprovided for;
and with resourcefulness and an I'M
selfishness that is peculiarly feminine,
they met the change of condition.
Cast out of the plan in the worlds
economy, they turned to their Creator,
and while on the one hand they
stripped themselves of all things that
the world made laws to preserve, on
the other they laid hold of the only
real treasure: a constant companion
ship with God, and thus plucked Wis
tory from defeat, and stood forth the
new" woman, in the new order of
things.
But of these noble women and their
labors among the poor and the sick
through the Middle Ages, that is an
other story.
When Professionalism swept the land
and their homes were closed, the
number of women unprovided for in
creased, especially as trade and COM
merce made the risk of mems lives
greater every year.
Women in the Social Scale.
For about three hundred years this
condition went on-a flood of women
without natural protectors were being
poured into the social system. She
was required to make her own living
while at the same time almost every
avenue of labor was barred to her.
She was scorned because she was not
happy and useful, while every door of
happiness and usefulness was closed
against her. The unmarried women
even in her brothers or sisters house,
was looked down on. She was dubbed
with the title of old maid, and was
the pariah of her people, the scape:
goat and often the slave. 1t may seem
strange to the unmarried women of