Newspaper Page Text
THE} SUM MV SObUH.
THE WOMAN PROBLEM.
A Philosophical Inquiry.
Editor Sunny South :—The close of a
century of wonderful activity is at
hand; a century in which has been
enacted processes of thought, more
successfully, brilliantly and rapidly
than in thrice the time, of any other
period in the world’s recorded scroll.
The tutelary genius of America has
almost confounded our mind, and the
introduction to American shores will
not be complete until to liberty is
added another statue—that of power.
A man grows almost dizzy as he con-
teinplales the nervous inventions of
this unapT roac hed era of progress. It
has not been a quiet, thoughtful age,
but a restless, active one. A learned
Frenchman of the eighteenth century
insisted on dividing the world’s useful
men into two classes—vn home grand et
un home fort—his exegeis being, that in
order to properly reward each for his
role in the world, the division was
necessary for the acknowledged reason
that men of greatness—id eat grand
men, were never men of action—id est,
strong men. Why not also of eras?
Eras, in which thought is noble and
generous, poetical and legendary or
arithmetical and political, as distinct
from eras of application and practical
energy. . We know this is true; in
physics it is as true of the spiritual
world.
This century has been, par excel
lence, an exponent of the latter classi
fication; it has been acting—not
thinking, and it h is, all along, been
confronted by two > roblems, which it
has not essayed to i < |ve,—inextricably
delicate, both, ini» nsically difficult,
both, and vitally i- portant, both—one
involves the right of color, the other
the rights of sex.
They are very different, and in no
s e nse to be compared, but they are
both problems of the highest order,
and it is strange how identical has
been the conduct of the advocates of
each—in each case the world has been
treated as a prosecutor on a huge scale,
more, a ferocious enemy, and they have
posed of counsel for the injured, indig
nant defendants. Each would, seem
ingly, prefer a fatal verdict, than an
insupportable, never-ending conflict.
In launching- out into the woman ques
tion, unsteered, and yet unstemmed,
we would not be human if we did not
feel some qualms, not as to what we be
lieve, or that we do not think its im
portance and latter-day perplexity
justifies a respectful hearing for every
serious voice, for in what subject is
there more essence than that which
deals with the two great forces of
human society, and where in the sin-
weary world is there a more prodigi
ous wrong than that which disturbs
their harmonious adjustment? But be
cause it has come to be prosaic and
banal, not to say superfluous, to write
seriously on that which is caricatured
and flouted in paper and in journal,
the pulpit (horrihili dictu!), theatricals
and clubs. This century has realized
the “fairy tales of science,” the most
splendid mechanical arts mark the
places of its Herculean footsteps. Its
giant profile we can see now, in proud
perspective, an imperishable monu
ment to invention.
With the extensive introduction of
machinery into the home, almost every
species of domestic labor has been there
by, happily, abridged. The wheel, the
automatic contrivance, electricity, and
other mechanism can now do-the work
In an hour, which once required the
house-wife days, if poor, or many hours
of supervision and instruction of meni
als, if wealthy, to complete.
We saw, in Venice, less than a decade
ago, six or seven women engaged in
making lace, which machinery has
duplicated at recent expositions. A
few years ago a woman was earning 75
cents a day at button-hole making, it
being a specialty in the dressmaking
line. Now an additional attachment
to the sewing machine produces a finer,
more durable button-hole than could
be made by the most skillful needlist.
The dough-beater, the carpet-weaver,
the olothes-washer, the clothes-scrub-
ber and the sweeper have all been sup
planted by successful
tion. The cow is milked by it, the
milk is churned by it. The mantua-
maker with her fingers, the copyist
with her pen, have been superseded in
like way. In these occupations—solely
womanine—and nearly every one, ex
cluding those for which talent is. re
quired, such vocations as teaching,
authorship, the arts and thee play, the
woman is now almost as absurd and
clumsy as the much-talked-of profess
or’s gorrilla for a valet. The feminine
avenues, then, for bread-winning,
omitting those for which exceptional
training or talent, really both,, is
requisite, run into clerking, nursing
in hospital wards and the profession
of maid. They are at a discount now
in their quondam businesses, because
the same work is more speedily, suc
cessfully and cheaply executed by ma
chinery.
Whether she would or no, whether
men wish or no, woman is being
swiftly pushed into the mental sphere.
But this is not all. The world’s great
race, “spinning down the ringing
grooves of change,” has had a bi-effect
upon the female sex. The rapid en
largement of woman’s education has
made her more capacious and aspir
ing, and before she has had hardly time
to consider its moral phases she sud
denly finds herself ejected from her
former employments and sentenced to
idleness if rich; poverty if poor, or
the adoption of mental professions—
professions hitherto pursued by men
alone. This has been a natural evo
lution, and she has no responsibility
therefor. During her education at
the universities, and almost all women,
even those from the country, enter the
universities now, the professions of
the court room, the dissecting room,
brokering, real estate, commerce, down
to the fine art of oratory, are studied
and practically learned by her, and
when she comes out of school and
looks about her for the duties which
the earlier world assigned her, she
finds she is not her sweat’s worth.
She, then, at present, discovers herself
in a queer position. Every opportu
nity is given to equip her for the
higher, more important, that is, more
remunerative functions of life, for let
it be understood no duty in this world
ranges above another, save in its
equivalent, with all these opportuni
ties well modified by a most uv in-
promising and sincere o;> •<> ' n to
her business application • > t d me
chanical substitute aching
daily upon that apeof labor in
which her grandmother found not
only her highest util it v. but her bread
We can see in a morm*' ♦ « r
ad judicium, her embi 1 ' , ’ ,ow ’ T ’? position,
for, unwittingly, she has been treated
in the most remarkable fashion. No
legal status has defined her, but, in a
changing world, amid changing condi
tions, she stands a changed being, de
fied by the liliputian, yet inexorable,
fiat of antique custom.
Instance; It is a proud tribute
to a woman’s intelligence that she
can draw up a complaint or
write a bill in chancery, but a
shame and an over-stepping if she
does it, and a feminine theologian is
highly esteemed if she is as mute re
garding her accomplishments as a
“Calvinist his creed in Catholic coun
tries.” Again, to every woman the
secrets of nature relating to physical
organism should be an open and
digested volume, but her empire must
not further go than the kingdom of
her own brain.
We yield her the compliment of our
admiration if she is a rapid and
accurate accountant, but we would
prefer her double and single entry to
be founded upon a suppositions busi
ness and used for a mental exercise
exclusively. She ought to know the
price of articles of furniture, ware and
clothing, and incidentally the tariff
on each article of importation, but we
cannot see the advisability of giving
her the power to express her approval
or disapproval’of any existing law of
finance.
“I would like,” said a man to his
wife, “you to understand the ‘Critique
of Pure Reason,’ but I would wish
your sensibilities to be your spring of
action.” A student of Aristotle, yet
let her dialectics he indirect and care
fully removed to where they could not
have the least practical effect. Let
her, why to be sure, be an astronomer
or chemist, but let us have no isolated
lives in observatories, and who wishes
a lady to make a profession of
analyzing medicines. The woman may
seek her bread if she must, but let her
work be such as it has always been,
and, if she has not to seek her bread,
let her be a mental aesthete, a theoretic
physician, a Sabea of wisdom; in fine,
Un de seide in every branch of thought,
but attempting none of them as a
means of support.
Thus, the subject is reduced to the
extremity when some one, and we hope
for a metaphysical Moses, must dispose
of it, conclusively, categorically, and
satisfactorily to both branches of the hu
man family. How woman, oapable and
ambitious, can become self-reliant with
out disturbing the equilibrium of na
ture’s careful definition in her distinc
tion of sex—or can she, by any means?
—is a problem which the great major
ity of women are determined not to
answer for themselves, but, it may be
parenthetically added, they are not
giving half an ear to either the hys-
terical advocate or the opponent, simi
larly afflicted, and the subject would
be nearer settlement if those who pro
pose to test truth by mawkish senti-
timent or ribald ridicule, could find
some other topic to waste their wit or
wind upon. We believe woman would
receive gratefully and loyally any ad
vice given her on the perplexed theme,
as to her part in the world’s service, if
the source were thoughtful, and we be
lieve the advice should in like propor
tion to her need for it be faithful and
earnest. . .
Much has been written and said in
regard to her new roles, her yet untried
armor in life’s heavy battle, but she,
scorning alike the maudlin favorer or
scoffingopposer.is standingin fullview
of the fray, her shield and buckler well
on, yet her timidity, born half of aeons
of dependence, makes her pause and
a-k if her enlistment would be a right
eous one.
It would be but a partial truth to say
that every woman who has manifested
the independent tendencies has done
so because necessity has absolutely
forced her to it. With many it has
been so ; but again, many have embrac
ed these lives because of a belief in
their natural adaptability, or because
they have simply yielded to their tastes,
and others have followed, braced by
the successes of these few pioneers.
Many women discover no disposition
for man’s displeasure by even an ad
vantageous rivalry with him, and the
requirements of man himself will
always make this true. When woman
assumes the domestic government of
man’s life, he never encounters her
again; the moment she unites her des
tiny with his, their duties flow forever
afterward in separate channels. But
the sentiment among them for inde
pendence is spreading, amounts to
craving; their ability is growing
amounts to phenomena; and their
preference for labor to even luxurious
idleness is far more current among
them than it was in so brief a space as
five years ago. Where a woman was
then continually apologizing for work
ing, her father’s early death, or bodily
misfortune, or unfortunate specula
tion, she is now railing against the
conventionalism, the philistinism or
the narrow views of her male relatives
who will not let her rub against the
great world. So she bewails her, that
she cannot see life, “such as it is.” Is
not this so radical change enough to
give us thought? The dispute touch
ing female ability is very vain, for it
has appeared in almost every branch
of mental labor. She has enriched
literature, art and science, and because
there have been isolated examples of
women extraordinarily endowed dwell
ing in a peculiar atmosphere and given
unusual training, it does not follow
that they have been accidents. Oer
tainly, many a year may fold its eye
lids before another woman will equal
that greatest name in all female
erudition, Mrs. Somerville, but her
work was a precedent, and has been
full of humble imitators, and what was
°nce, and ln her case, considering her
age, almost a prodigy of development
may after awhile be a natural and
logical statistic. So with ladies Mar-
tineau and Hershel. Very few of their
sex could have the slightest hope of
remotely approaching these constella
tions of the mental firmament, but
they are a great argument fof them to
attempt their footsteps. It may be ob
jected that these scholars have been of
no real value to the world. We assent
to it.
Great lights always blind, but it is a
supererogation for us to supply our
selves with smoked glasses : the world
stands in no present fear of any en
cumbering amount of female genius.
Tt is not of the operations of the won
derfully constructed intellects—there
is no law for exceptions—but of the
woman, ordinarily habited, who is be
coming so restless and unsatisfied, that
we would speak. We think, that not
upon the idea of ability or a lack of it,
but unequivocally upon that of sex
her question should be looked into.
From the nature of her being, woman’s
position must always be a subordinate
one. She cannot be at all times, and
under all conditions, as equal for great
and continuous labor as man. This
could, easily, be proved, but it will be
admitted.
All evidence from the law made in
Paradise, down to her natural temper,
bespeaks the eternal fact that she was
created for man. There are several re
ligions which embody the concept that
she was even created at man’s request.
Any life, then, apart from him, is a
perceptible derogation from her spe
cifically indicated destiny and must be
whether by compulsion or voli
tion, to her cost: the greater the sepa
ration from him, the greater the cost.
It then follows, that her question be
comes entirely man’s, and entitled to
no consideration save from his stand
point.
The questions he is asking are two :
What effect will her new venture have
upon me? and will her sex lose by it?
Man is surrounded by many oppor
tunities for noble, holy living, and he
can find glory in any work. To ac
complish this his nature calls for. and
has always called for, two inspirations,
ing self absorption and individuality,
which he receives from his own ambi
tion, and the other is a concrete influ
ence calling for tenderness and self
abnegation, which he receives from the
family. Of the two, probably the more
powerful is the last. The man who
hath taken wife and children hath
already given hostages to fortune, said
Lord Francis Bacon, speaking of the
great responsibility of his act. His
connection with wdinan, first poetical,
imaging the Divinity in his immortal
conception of it, afterwards so sacred
and soclose produces a powerful impres
sion upon his moral and mental char
acter. The dependence of a woman
and her children upon him, her honor,
their honor, the comfort and happiness
of both, has the most tremendous and
viral effect upon his conduct, which is
oftener regulated by a concern for
these tender beings, whose fate he
makes, than any wish of his own.
But her material dependence upon
him must shadow forth this intangible,
yet Catholic truth, or else he will
never fail to appreciate the whole of
the great moral reality. If their sen
timental relationship only continued,
and it always would, no matter how
emancipated she becomes, or what
man declares to the contrary,
if she and her young ones, who are
at first weaker and more incapable,
than any other living creatures are not
to be actually provided for by Him, his
life would not be half so complete, nor
would her influence with him be so
firm. His conduct could not have so
much effect, and for this reason her
interest in him would not be so keen.
The consequences of his action would
not be nearly so great. The family is
the arc of feeling necessary to finish
his circle, not an identical influence
nor an opposing one, but an opposite
one, essentially different from that
which he finds within his own breast.
It is, then, for her sake in the end as
well as man’s that the divine law went
forth that she should not live apart
from him, nor yet with him, but
through him. If a bread-winning man
and a bread-winning woman, or fame
winning, both, who are united for life,
infringe this eternal law, then the
pursuit of one must be wrong. If a
man’s spouse is equally equipped and
determined to seek her material sup
port or her laurels by occupying either
body or mind to that end, and loses
thereby that heavenly-ordered power
over him which has such an indescrib
able charm for every man, be he of
hovel or palace, then he is to be greatly
pitied. If the place where the impres
sionable years, the formative stage of
the next and succeeding generation,
are to be spent, in its intellectual ab
straction jars this harmonious regula
tion, then the race must suffer. If all
this comes to pass by the proposed in
novation, the home will in time dis
rupt.
On the other hand, her intellectual
improvement earnestly commended,
shall she be the only factor
in the world’s march that does
not progress? Shall she perpet
uate the race, in pain and travail,
watch with throbbing heart, the play
of the mighty drama of Time, see all
expand and dignify around her, and
never attain to a whit more imposing
figure? Shall she be a brilliant orna
ment, and in defiance of a physical
law, must her brightness both radiate
from and concentrate in herself?
“Heaven doth with us as we with tapers do,
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely
touched.
But to fine issues: nor Nature never lends the
smallest scruple of her excellence, but like a
thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself, the glory of a creditor—
Both thanks and use.”
BiseatluS
p pii
TASTELESS
FO
ij DISORDERED UVER
i> Taken as directed these famous P:ii7 *
1 * E r0V u m ** rv ®llous restoratives to aU ; i
(> by the above or kindred diseases. * oeb
25 Cents a Box,
. but generally recognized in England nnH
!! fact throughout the world
( , Kuinea^a^box/^ for the reason that tii -
^effectual*
* wnx CUKE a Wide range of eom 7 5
'» Plaints, and that they have Saved to
! ! doctors’ 3 b'dis. 111916 " ° n ° but •
!* Covered with a Tasteless & Soluble Csm*--
J(Of all druggists. Price 25 cents a box
{From U. S. Journal of Medicine.)
Prot. W. H.Peeke,who makes a specialty of Epilepsy
ha8 without doubt treated and cured more cases than
anyliving Physician; his success is astonish in-. We
have heard of cases of 20 years’ standing cured by him
He publishes a valuable work on this disease which
sends with a large bottle of his absolute cure, free
any sufferer who may sendtheir P.O. and Express acl,
dress. We advise anyone wishing a cure to address
Prof. W. H. PEEKE, F. D., 4 Cedar St., New Yor!
RHEUMAT
AND
NEURALGIA.
Sufferers can send address (no stamp re-
qnired) and receive FREE a pamphlet
which tells what these painful diseases
really are, the cause of the pain attend
ing them, and how to obtain a lasting and
inexpensive cure.
W. R. JOHNSTON,
542 W. Main St., Louisville, Ky.
each different, both inexhaustiltfe and
necessary to the completion of hlslife;
the one an abstract stimulant, demand-
She, not less than the boy, has im
bibed the freedom of our institutions,
and “to catch the lightning, weigh the
sun,” has been her task as his, and can
it be possible that this wonderful ex
pansion must cease at eighteen, or
twenty or twenty-five? No man would
dare to say that woman’s intellectual
emancipation has been unfortunate.
She is certainly a more comprehending,
more charming, and more helpful com
panion because of it, but is she not
feeling more bitterly, each year, the
illogic of her position, and the contra
diction of her experience in the world,
and her alma materf The domestic
union is not suffering. There are as
loyal mistresses to-day as suggested by
that proud, proud name, Cornelia,
which would make all women willing
to be women, but is she not beginning
to believe that marriage, no matter
under what conditions, is a sacrifice?
The other question, whether learn
ing will or will not make woman un
feminine?
Learning certainly tends to coarse
ness, for as a large area obliterates the
sight of fine lines, large understand
ings dispose of small canons of taste,
and familiarity with anything is in
clined to be vicious, but if learning be
came too over-mastering a passion to
adorn woman’s character, it would but
magnify and accentuate her sex’s
native defects. No, the second fear Is
a bugbear, and should not make cow
ards of us, but “to the quick of the ul
cer, the danger, which threatens man
in woman’s attitude is her misconcep-
tion that she is not only acting defen-
srbly, but nobly and wisely in with
drawing from his providence.
Thomas E. Pearsall.
LEND US YOURCOMPLEXiON,
And we will make it beautiful with
our Columbian Face Bleach. All we
ask is a fair trial. Send for a bos.
Price only 50 cents. Address Colum
bian Face Bleach Co., Box 435, At
lanta,Georgia.
JACKSON, TENN.
MANUFACTURERS OF
School, Cfyircti am Office Ftntfftire.
Schools and Churches Seated
the Best Manner. Offices
Furnished.
Send for Catalogue.
In
CONSUMPTION
SURELY CURED.
To the Editob—Please inform your read
ers that I have a positive remedy for the
above named disease. By its timely use
thousands of hopeless cases have been per
manently cured. I shall be glad to send
two bottles of my remedy free to any of your
readers who have consumption if they will
send me their express and post office address.
T. A. Slocum, M.G., 183 Pearl St., New York.
Sfcoije J|oUie.
Georgia Railroad Company,
Office General Manager.
Augusta, Ga., Nov. 11,1893.
Commencing Sunday, Nov, 12th, the following
schedule will be operated:
This company reserves the right to vary from
the following schedules without notice to the
public.
No. 1, West Daily.
Lv Augusta 11 58 am
Ar Camak 1 37 am
“ Milledgev’le 3 22 pm
“ Macon 4 50 pm
“ Wash’gton . 3 30 pm
“ Athens 4 10 pm
“ Gainesv’le 8 40 pm
“ Atlanta ... 115 pm
No. 11, West Daily,
Lv Augusta 5 00 pm
Ar Washingt’n. 8 25 pm
“ Uunion P’t. 8 00 pm
No. 3, West Daily,
Lv Augusta. ... 11 30 pm
Ar Camak 110 am
“ Milledgev’le 6 00 am
“ Macon 8 20 am
“ Atlanta — 5 30 am
Train 27, West Daily.
Lv Augusta — 7 40 am
G“ Union P’t ..10 15 am
“ Madison... .llTOO^am
“ Social Cir’lell'37 am
Ar Atlanta.... 115 pm
No. 2.East Daily.
Lv Atlanta 7 20 am
“ Gainesv’le.. 8 05 am
“ Athens 8 40 am
“ Washingt’n 8 35 am
“ Macon 8 32 am
“ Milledgev’lelO 00 am
“ Camak 11 47 am
Ar Augusta — 1 20 pm
No. 12. East Daily.
Lv Union P’t... 5 00 ant
Ar Augusta 7 55 am
Athens 115 pmlAr Augusta.
No. 4, East Daily.
Lv Atlanta 1115 P m
“ Macon ’ 8 43 pm
“ Milledgev’lel0'25 pm
“ Camak 3 35 am
Ar Aueusta 5 15 am
'Train 28, East Dailal
Lv Atlanta 3*40 pm
“ Athens 4 40 pm
“ Social Cirele’5 22 pm
“ Madison. .. 6 08 pm
“ Union P’t...'7 00 pm
9’25 pm
.7NION POINT AND WHTTE PLAINS B
(Dally, Except Sunday)
Lv Union Point..
A r Slloam
Ar White Plains.
Lv Wnlte Plains,
Lv Slloam
Ar Union Point..
9 15 am
9 37 am
8 65 am
8 10 pa
8 27 pm
8 60 pm
Sleeping ears to and from Augusta and
Macon, Atlanta and Charleston on trains Nos
3 and 4.
A. G. JaCKSON, Gen’l Pass. Ae’t.
J. W. GREEN. Genenl Manager.
JOE W. WHITE, Trav. Pass. A r’t,
723 Pro • d Street
Revolvers,
Rifles,
O £