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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1908)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAN jy SUNDAY HORNING, NOVEMBER 1 5, . 1903 10 9 WOMEN if 4 Have Fine Clothes Made the Female an Anomaly in Nature? 7 F, ladies, at any time in the Phoebus .course of your climb to the zenith, of j grandeur you should ' encounter Dr. Andrew MacPhail, you may be tempted to jab d hatpin into his frame, and jao it hard. This Dr. MacPhail has the scientific effrontery to declare that you arc all anoma lies. ' -'-i;' He has precipitate himself and his opinion into the arena of publicity hitherto devoted exclusively to rivalry in aduLtion of -your perfections; and now he proposes to take the very clothes off thou areas of your ad mirable backs which fashion still permits to remain covered. The hatpin is recommended merely be cause it will always be ttandy. But even your ; gentle souls, when you learn all that Dr. MacPhail has said of you, may incline to some ancient and more fitting punishment- something lingering, with d touch, of boiling oil to it. . . 1 Whatever you do to him, when you catch him, you will consider deserved, per haps not simply because of his accusations against you, but because he has started whole choruses of the tyrant man into echoing shouts. Ever other scientists have had the temerity to agree with him. YOU may remember having seen picture! of those bygone days In Europe, when the cavaliers, .In all their glory of One raiment, had gorgeous ' King Solomon hitched In the dressing room, while the dames and damosels of that pitiful epoch meandered about In a simplicity of garb beside which most women of today are splendidly arrayed. That's the state of affairs which Dr. MacPhail Is quoted as declaring to be natural and proper. But he Is far from being satisfied with a simple, sartorial rev olution. If he had his way, not only would man re turn to his Innate love of finery, while women should be shorn of her plumes and prettlnesses, but suffraget tlng would be as far from her thoughts as flying was from man's twenty years ago; her proud pre-eminence in social functions would vanish like Cinderella's glass slipper and the other fairy things, and she would be relegated to the nursery and the household, where, de Clares this scientist, she belongs. The new assertion, that " woman the American woman especially is an anomaly, Is based upon the general regulations of nature. In the animal kingdom, nature makes the male "the gaudy, strutting crea ture"; the female, usually, la quietly garbed and less ostentatious In manner. The lion Is a more magnifi cent, showy animal than the lioness; the peacock as sumes all the gaudlness of the" peafowl family. Should not man, then, and not woman, be " the gor geously attired representative of the human family T Dr. MacPhail lives in Montreal. Canada, As an aid to Identification and capture. It may be mentioned that he stands very high In his profession, and. In Eng land, receives such deference when he writes his philosophlc-srlentlflo opinions that solemn and learned periodicals are not only willing to publish them, but to go a long way toward Indorsing them. When the recent discussion over the alleged extrav agance ana Dad taste of New York society broke out, be slipped the leash, and England's Journals opened wide the door of print, and thereby aroused a mighty debate In all that land. " "It is not the -American woman peculiarly," said Dr. MacPhail. "The American women, in the mass, are sound enough. The American woman of the Indict ment Is to be found elsewhere than In the United States in Canada, England France, throughout the modern world. But she la morex visible In America because she Is more adulated and mere advertised there." The accusers of women barked back to a romantlo illustration of the changed face of affairs. When the old-fastttoned American novelist was pressed' for an explanation of the waywardness of his heroine, ha found that she had a French mother. The novelist of today finds another explanation of the caprice of his heroine: She Is simply an American' woman, THE DANGERS OF WEALTH To the American woman of Action, It Is the life of luxurious Idleness which alone appeals. , While the reasons are largely beyond her control, it Is nevertheless the fact that the primitive funotlona of woman-such as the preparation of food and cloth ling have become less, incumbent upon her. ' "With the one exception of maternity," the scientist observes, "those functions have been usurped by the male, or been placed in the hands of hirelings. , Every advance In Industrial development continually makes ' for. the destruction of the family. The country lias grown rich; but the family is destroyed. "There Is money and Idleness for the women of the well-to-do: idleness alone for the women of the poor. For the daughters of the poor there Is the refuge of the factory; for the daughters of the rich there is nothing but idleness, and both classes arc more un happy than when they lived in the trees." . That was going pretty far back back to some where which was very close to the state of nature. And the state of nature was precisely the precedent .appealed to. , ' ; . ., .V' Gate to be eloquent about it upon the gorgeous peacock. Is he a lady f By no means, remark the critics of womankind. He Is the original, genuine male of his species,, holding. on like grim death to all the plcturesqueness that is coming to the peafowl ' family. . " ... ,";.;... . . ' l. ; He swells around with his daxsllng Iridescence flashing in the sunshine, s creature so magnificent thai, the juen of fcneUa would be a kitchen ma.d be- side him.. The hen is so Inferior that she is scarcely 'noticeable. She is An her proper place laying eggs and - hatching them. - - Gaze, likewise, upon the superb lion of the desert. - lie carries a mane that is as magnificent as It Is orna- ' ' mental; his carriage suggests dignity and lordly'" ' power; he Is thet embodied picture of strength arid ' greatness, while the poor lioness has to go around -wun no greater supply or ornament man a bull pup. ,nou me rooster ana t he cock robin both 111 US4 ; 3P : r tratlug a natural law in showing ths resplendence of the male creature; the magnificently antlered, kingly looking male of the deer family and the meek-looking female. And then, holding the mirror up to art, gase on woman. "In the state of nature." remarks Dr. MacPhail, "It is ordained that the female shall go quietly. But In the race to which we belong. It Is the woman who Is glorious; and this burden of splendor, falling upon an organism which Is unqualified for the task, breaks it down hopelessly and renders It unlit for the perform ance of Its proper functions. "The possession of splendid apparel Involves the necessity for its display, and out of that arise vanity, jealousy, rivalry and all uncharltableness." Have you ever witnessed the performance of a troupe of trained animals dogs, for Instance? The doctor finds in them a parallel for the modern woman. He pities the animal that is compelled to perform a new and uncongenial task the dog in a dance, for ex- ample. NERVES WEAR OUT EVEN DOGS Off the stage, he avere. the animals are subject to fits of ill temper, to outbursts of emotion, to d, scon ten l, they crave excitement more and . more eagerly until, finally, they break down under the nervous strain. Symptoms of a somewhat similar nature have been observed in the case of the American woman as the result of her performance. While the function pf maternity necessarily re. F. .ihOfflfe..0t womn- care of the offspring bee nnel. over to the male or to female hire lings, and the wide outlet for physical and mental ac tivity of woman has been effectually stopped. P-P!i.Ve? 5.the re hr chlldrenAa woman suf fers a diminution of affection, which li replaced by a noisy senttmentallsm. equally disastrous for the mother, the child and the husband pkJ.'i lJLtJ,e ma5ernaI 'nt,not running riot Dr. Hie Phall finds that It exhausts Itself upon the Infant, leaving none for the growing child, to whom It might jo value "The American mother." h K- So" of hef?h7ld."0r Ca" f her lnaDt and htt 1. l ,Kn-.rear"ty- mer',v n ""ifteur In a role that ts new to her. In a society which has grown up by a KlMi'". "'P,n? th" eou!,, of IOW -nturles. the woman performs her duties easily, almost uncon- S VRAL attractive titles still remain in the .list of British peerages that might be cap tured by American girls of charm or wealth.- or both. . . ...... : While, aimcst any sort of a title seims to ap peal to the young and old, for that matter women of this titleless country,, the highest value is set upoa British titles. . - v tx A British peerage is inherited only by the possessor's eldest son or nearest heir, and so the list is restricted subject only to such additions as the king may choose to make from time to time. ; . On the other hand, in many countries of con tinental Europe aA the children of the ownfer of a . title have- titles themselves. ; Hence, the enormous , crop of Italian counts, German barons and Russian princes. ?"-:"r; ,,' a, v.,.: -- -- 1 J ' ' I - . -. - - . " If n Mil ' ii 1 rule, the possessor of a British title doesn't hare to go begging to induce some fair one to share it with him.. Among the rather small list of wifeless peers at present are some who are con sidered remarkably good "catches." F OR instance; there ts the duke of Leinster. who became of age aomethlng less than a year ago. although he succeeded to the title nearly fifteen yearsago, Recently he was appointed master of the horse- to' the lord lieutenant of Ireland, a post . tion carrying with It many special, privileges In the royal and vice regal households. - ' Besides his title, a handsome fortune and high position at oourt, the duke can offer his bride two, magnificent homes "Carton." one of the most beautiful estates in Great Britain! and a splendid town house in . Dublin. .. - ; . . r-, -. . Some years ago' his V trustees sold' Kllkea Castle, where the duke was born; and Its Immense surrounding estate for, something like ft.O00.0OO, They also sold. 1 Xs wmmMBm- ii wvr W" A 1 1 ifxll VI I iTvSV til lit I I i' ' vj,"- in , , ljj i IlktVtuHi Jr t "'-s Mr ' - " ' ' ' ' V frl - A ' -VV ' SSe ill 1 ii ; A4$ t "rcr- .its 9 J v- ; U I I IK CXX V;- Pre'Sji'V v ill ,J I? t.UT r e to Mrs John W. Mackay the duke's London house for a large sum. So the duke la not hard up, probably, for spending-money. One of the richest unmarried peers is Lord Howard da Walden, who owns a big slice of the West tilde of London, and whose rent roll is said to be nearly as million dollars a year. Lord 4e Walden Is a fine looking young man, with some reputation in amateur sports, being especially proficient with the folia He Is devoted to his mother, now Lady Ludlow, and . has announced repeatedly that he does net propose to , marry until he finds a woman just like her. AudleyEnd, near Cambridge, the De Walden country aeat. ts one of the Ones! ettiai.es In Kugiand. Xhe nouaa ' was built in the time of Henry VUL and was onue de scribed by James I as "far .too magnificent for a monarch." '. - -- Lord Percy has more to promise In the way of title than be now possesses, as he Is heir to the proud duke dom of Northumberland. He seems, to be a young man Of considerable ability, "and for that reason, entitled to distinction among- the titled youngsters of the t V it f - 1 ,-.uv,i.1'v,' sclously. But In a society that Is the product of only a generation, the woman pays the penalty of aspira tions beyond her primitive functions. . - , Of the American man. the critic In Canada has com paratively little to say; and that little la mora merciful than caustic The men are primarily to blame. Simple-minded, old-fashioned creatures, they have the notion that the balluiarlt of poverty is the spectacle of woman work ing. In general, the men of America belleva they have extricated themselves from poverty's curse when they have relieved their womankind of the necessity of doing anything. ' . .. ' i The women have taken more than kindly to tha theory. The ambition of the American, woman, it la asserted, is to live In Idleness. , , MEN STICK TO WORK As for society, the American man finds In It some thing mysterious, occult, beyond his own understand ing 80 he is content to stick to bis specialty plain, hard work and to leave the arrangement of all social activities to the women. m , It is more than a mistaken kindness. It Is posi tively cruel folly. The man. with his sturdy physique, his steady nerves, bis faculty ror organization and his habit of exercising the mental faculties, is qualified to. manage his social affairs as readily, as efficiently aa ne directs his business Interests. But. allowing the whole burden to fall upon the woman, he is both recreant to his responsibilities and , cruelly careless of her inborn weakness. She may Imagine that she Is indulging her own free, sweet will; but she is headed straight for tha emotional breakdown that befalls all victims of misdirected n6he'ls. says Dr. MacPhan. an anomaly of nature. kingdom. He took high honors in his university course at Oxford, has won repute aa an explorer of the remote territory of Asiatic Turkey, and has written several booka v ' ' ''" - j ' In addition, he has begun making a career In publla life; he has done good service as a member of tha House of Commons and as an under secretary In the British Foreign Office. , ; It seems to ba pretty well assured that the future Lady Percy and Duchess of Northumberland will not have a personal nonentity for a husband. Lord Rocksavage, whose years are. yet compara tively few. is heir to the title and estates of the mar quis of Cholmondeley, lord great chamberlain of Eng land. This post will ba inherited in due time by young Lord Rocksavage. : V"- It may be well to remember, in passing, that the lord great chamberlain is a mighty personage in the picturesque ceremonies of state, at least. He haa entire charge of things whenever the king visits Parliament or takes part in any royal function in Westminster Abbey; he is also in charge of the Houses of Parliament and the adjoining government buildings vi . ; '?v -'.";-.::' . ; ; Houghton Hall, near King Edward's country place at Sandrlngham, is. the principal home of the Chol mondeley family. ; . About two years 'ago tha young marquis ef Angle sey., head, of the famous old house Of Paget, came ol age . . . . . . . r . . ' . ' HIS predecessor, tha lata marquis, a cousin, wss theatrical almost .crasy in his ways; In fact, he de veloped a notorious mania lor appearing before tna footiighta. The present bolder of the tiue is aalj ij be a quiet and sensible young ma n. He has a good income over u,008 a year, It ! said much of it from mines on his estates, wttu-n Id elude about 80,000 acres; own two fine country n. ,!,-, filled with valuable art object a, eld furniture ana t t luoma '. Among other unmarried peers are tha dukx et r ' Albans and Lord Dalroeny, son of Lord Uoti:H'r ; i heir to tha Kosebery title and eslatea. In tiua .' t does not Include the dukes of Atho.l ar,.i c ' who are elderly widowers and apparently i.-ivo i , , of seeklnir new wives. - Perhaps the duke of SL Albans will nev r n. i t v he Is a confirmed invalid. SaoulJ he tin no, t. .. , will enjpy, a privilege that oine;wt.o u r-- ii - the queen that of drlvtnir wltu her h-jr-Kai.-i I ... Rotten Kow, In Hyde Park. That fashionable way Is Hplwl'f'v f r t riders; only the king ami qu'-tt : i . duchess of Ft. Albans are pfr :- ri . , This rivile(?e was.roni-rt-1 natural son. along with t'. 9 : "anl other lienors.
