| Show AMERICAN WOMEN I Retrogression of the Xmorlcan Vo + man Is the subiect pta mps qnlcr ItI I 1II1Cn1ld suggestive contribution by J Flora McDonald Thompson lo the November No-vember number of the North American Review In this article Mrs Thompson I compares American women and their lives and purposes as they were described de-scribed by De Tocquevlllc In his well I known work on Democracy fifty years ago with the women of America and their ambllions at the present time The contrast Is startling Hero Is tho stOIY told of the American woman In the character and relation of wife for Instance J then and now In the United Stales the Inexorable opinion of the public carefully circumscribes circum-scribes Ihe t married woman within the r narrow circle of domestic interests and duties and forbids her to Step beyond I it 1 by no means suppose however that the great change which takes place In all the hubltn of women In the United States as soon as they are married I ought solely to be attributed to the constraint of public opinion It Is frequently fre-quently Imposed upon themselves by I the effort of their on will When the time for choosing a husband has arrived I ar-rived that cold and slern reasoning power which has been educated and In vlgoraled by the free observation of lime world teaches an American woman 1 that a spirit of levity and Independence in the bonds of marriage Is a constant subject of annoyance not pleasure It j I tells her that the amusements of the girl cannot become the recreation of the wife and that the sources of a married womans happiness nre In the home of her husbanel As she clearly discerns < beforehand the only road which can i lead to domestic happiness she enters upon lt at once and follows it to the end without seeking to lurn backSide I back-Side by side with this vision of wifely I I wife-ly I excellence known to Dc Tocquevllle and to my greatgrandfather I place I the history of Oklahoma South Dakota Newport So far from the modern American wife steadfastly pursuing the I road to domestic happiness without ever turning back divorce statistics have determined that the actual number of I American women during twenty years who set out on the road to domestic happiness and did turn back or were sent back Is 32S71G Of thIs number I G7GS5 or about onefourth turned back from causes Involving Immorality of I woman and In more than half the given instances of marriages dissolved for this cause the law fixed the blame on I the wife I |
