| Show THE FREEDOM OF OB WOMAN in four states of the union women have equal suffrage with men and in twenty eight thy thoy vote at school elections I 1 while in nearly every state there is modern modem legislation conferring upon them enlarged rights in respect to property the power to sue and be sued etc these results have been achieved by dint of persistent and en thus lastic effort and by a gradual growth of the womans comans wo mans rights idea there are few men now even among those who oppose the extension of woman suffrage who would vote to deprive the sex of the ground it has gained after so long a struggle and place it back where it was when the contest for equal rights at the polls began just half a century ago but it is unquestionably true that there has been a development accompanying and keeping pace with womans comans political advancement van cement which is to be profoundly regretted gret ted and it is rapidly becoming more and more marked one of its catch phrases is the freedom of woman I 1 i I 1 madame clara is a prominent platform speaker who frequently frequent treats themes germane to the idea conveyed by this phrase albeit that idea does not appear to have been very distinctly defined she Is spoken of in terms of praise by the womans comans Wo mans tribune of washington Washing toru D C where she recently delivered an address upon the sublett 1 t I the marriage ideal in the light 0 e womans comans freedom she he is thus report ed by the tribune the delicate nature of this proba lem she said makes its discussion and treatment very difficult indeed f f and yet she continued taking a broad outlook and approaching it with reverence looking upon it from V w philosophical and religious standpoints standpoint the treatment cannot fail to strike the keynote in the heart of suffering suf Cerine hu 1 manity we often suffer because we are ignorant and despair of a remedy yet there is no evil in this wide wort world for which the remedy does not exist somewhere marriage must take on a new form it must represent the now new ideal of life it if it would serve and the race the old idea of mar v ariage was founded upon physical physic aj at traction the new will be based upon C soul union we can easily account f ta ar the prevalence of divorce and the conar r stant increase of in famila f fanille 1 life it is because our ideas hafti ho r changed without a correspond change in civil and ecclesiastical laws 1 l the new spirit of our age must fin find wt ex pres slon in our institutions before har harf hain f mony can be restored the f freedA of woman the sacredness of h her r nw sodality sona lity must find recognition bedei marriage will assume a new and power vie th e speaker did well to characterise character charac terise Lse her subject as delicate and difficult t treat what change in civil and eo eco laws must be made to order to conform to the changed id ide of the time what are the f freedom 31 woman and the sacredness of f hw 4 1 1 personality which must find reco ml tion before marriage will assume a new dignity and power are not thew thema expressions dark hints at the speaker had not the courage to ad frankly if not what la is chely significance the simple fact is that there is in ay socia soc ted with the workers of the waa wo man suffrage movement a clase of r A women who are restive under the A restraints and obligations of the preb 1 l ent marriage system even under ther laxity which it has during recent yeam acquired and who desire to see bro brought about a change in civil and ecel laws that will make at still 11 ilg lighter r or remove altogether those t into and obligations in this connee connection 1 they talk of soul union and the sa a cr edness of womans comans personality the meaning intended to be conveyed expressed in plain english is that ma 1 ariage laws civil and religious should be so relaxed as an to remove the dit i faculties acuities now experienced by married persons who wish to change conjugal partners in the opinion of this his clao claim of women marriage has lost its former forrler sacred and stable character ana ought to be made by law a matter nat S of pleasure or convenience to be deemed no more binding nor permanent than are other social or business relations should such ideas actually be come legalized the result would be sa system of promiscuity between the sexes which would obliterate the home and go far towards destroying the roge race by preventing the birth of child children reft the woman who frequently chan changed geor husbands would not if she could i and could not it if she would bear children j I 1 the air is full of rumors of war ana recent years have been signalizes signalized by inventions designed to make wax war deadly to a degree never dreamed of by bir former ages but there la Is no perit peril hanging over the human race in these the closing months of the nineteenth tv century which more imminently threatens its very existence than does t the V onslaught which modern thought making upon the institution of mara ariage much of the philosophy ot of the time is meretricious and adul teroW through and through and teaches noth fw ing h higher than the unlimited mn of the whims and ca prices of the nature the freedom of woman which to is aavo bated by some female reformers s Itu ft stead of making her free indeed would reduce her to the most abodin able slavery she would become the hoa bolm neless eless and friendless victim of mans tuat just and perfidy and this is the in f vatable vl table fate of the weaker sex when loses the attribute of per ff the stability of the mar f itsie relation is the chief bulwark of i bi mans safety from a fate worse than feath i the anie freedom of woman for which the sex should strive is the privilege of t caving a virtuous home an honorable hubband and a family of loving chil wen T the h e soul union she should seek should be with the husband to whom 1 alie has given herself in the most holy and ad sacred relation that can exist be often mortals she plays with a fire bose fumes are death when she seeks 1 ua union with any other and aad inu stad of desiring to further r t felax ax the civil and religious t that hat now so imperfectly t A r d the institution of mar marriage ariage she t fw d d bend her energies with all her er r in the g opposite direction |
