Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1893

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4518, 8 September 1893, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1893

Wr read with some interest the report which appeared in our last issue of the Rev John Dukes' able address to the Mae tor ton Women's Christian Temperance Union. Women are now, to his great satisfaction, being emancipated, and he; indicates to thom how they ought to conduct themselves ai electors'ol New Zealand. ; Emancipated womanhood suggests both ludicrous and serious ideas. As yet the general body of womankind view with some amusement the efforts of a few enihusiaßtic members of their sex to obtain the franchise, and to put down intempnance. Women love excitement as a rule, some take it in the form, of dress, oilier* revel in dancing, whilst many satisfy their craving with mission work. It is not difficult 10 get lady helpers for any work, or even to rouse thfir enthusiasm on behalf of. auy cause.". While there is much that is frivolous in these movements for the emancipation of the "ait sex, there is alio to be found now and again some judication of earnest and sustained purpose which may lead to woman taking a relatively higher position in the world: tbanebe has yet occupied, atid doing nobler work' ihan she has hitherto been wont to perform. At present three women out of four don't want to be emancipated, do not desire to rise to a higher political level, and are out of touch with the forward movement whioh is being agitated, But if we turn to the leaders of the emancipation movement amongst English speaking races we are brought face to face with "noblewomen, nobly planned," In the "Modern Beview," of April hat, is given the portrait of a Mrs Martin, Victoria O. Woodhull Martin, and the features presented appear to us like the ft-aUiren of a Christ with their intense, look of power and earnestness. Victoria O. Woodhull Martin hasbeen, we understand, a newspaper editor, a politician and a lecturer, As a leoturer in both the old world and the new, she has gone beneath the surface to solve social problems, and has spoken bold brave words of truth from woman to woman, which no man could .cr dare titter. A sister end co-worker of Mrs Martin, in the magazine to which we have made a reference, dis : courses on "when women are set free" in the following terms:- , Boys and girls should be educated aliko, and should compete with each other in Studies and sports, - What is good for boys is good for girls, Mothers should encourage entire confidence between their daughters and themselves, and carefully instruct them in regard to all that concerns their future, Nothing should be left to chance or to prurient instructors, '■■ The mother is the finest teacher of her daughter.. Bow many gWswould have been spared miserable lives had they been blest with sensible mothers I Women should have tho same right to propose to men as men' have to women, It Is she who (or weary months will bear her child beneath, her heart and for years will nurse it in her bosom. Will she desire an idiot, a drunkard, a weakling ? No. She longs for a man-child, ono who will.be tender, wise and valiant. Woman Is a hero-wor-shipper and desires to produce heroes, Her instincts are true, and she would select the bravest and best of men for her husband. If left to Nature, the fittest would survive. But, as things are, theunworthiest increase most rapidly. The ignorant and tho improvident give tbe reins to their passion's and threaten to overwhelm us with tho "multiplicationof tbe unfit,"

It is in this strain that the leaders of the' woman's emancipation movement are nowjpeakih'g and writing, They are making .converts by the thousand, and in : the ; next ceiitnry their iwbrk may lelland their influenee may determine: social problems whioh coult) ti^t': • w ithoii tn tfteir; ■ aid .solved. Men; do.noi • alt»getj^ert!care!to see daughtere shake their heads jn pulpits

and wag their tongues from platforms, but >ftcr'aU ; they can aflford to leave Women to manoge their own affairs, reverencing thciu "when" they sot or %»£•■: nobly, aiid laiigbing ut them gncd•' humouredly when they make themselves ridiculous.