THE GOLDEN HOUR.
��73
��this sphere without question or demur- rer. But civilization has passed that plane where strength of limb is looked upon as the only mark of honor. The giant is a myth ; the pugilist has fallen into contempt. The hero of the past be- headed the enemy, tortured the infidel, exterminated the weak. The hero of the present time does not oppress the lowly, but uplifts him ; does not burn the here- tic but converts him ; does not slay his adversary, but dies for him.
The grand promise of the present age is its determination to recognize princi- ple. The rights of the individual are being every day more accurately defined, more extensively granted.
Every soul shall be its own guardian ; shall decide its own wants, relation and mission, with only such restrictions as shall insure no infringement on the rights of others. Such is unmistakably the ver- dict of our times.
This, therefore, is the Golden Hour for woman. Man has spoken for her in the past; she may now be permitted to speak for herself. Man has spoken for her. What he said as a barbarian, we have seen. In the ages succeeding, one might expect to find grander words. Let us come up nearer the present, to Teutonic literature, which is recent, and what does he say here? Search the rec- ord and you will find him appealing to nothing higher than her love of his ap- probation.
I speak not in bitterness or anger. It were as wise to rail that the plant was once beneath the soil. Sunlight has caused it to leave and flower, and simple growth likewise has carried the race through the unconsciousness of its em- bryonic state. Truly, no woman has reason to murmur that the savage and the half-civilized held her sex as of little worth.
"Ah! but here is the humiliation," some one may argue, "that she has been dumb through all the ages. She has neither made history nor written it. She can boast of nothing but her obedience to man ; she therefore has proved herself worthy of no better place than the one he has assigned her."
I warn you not to impeach God's meth-
��ods. You remember that the organism destined for the highest uses is slowest in developing. Woman has remained longest in the obscurity of childhood. This promises well for her future. It surely is not to be regretted that as a child she held the state of tutelage to be nor- mal and proper.
Let her therefore no longer bewail her infancy. It was a necessary phase in her development; an experience required to secure to her ultimately the greatest per- fection. But time has increased her stature. The days of her childhood have gone by. She is of age. She no long- er needs man's protection, only as he needs hers. The relation is mutual now. Equality, not subordination, is the word she delights to utter. But the influences of the past are around her. What has long been common usage cannot be put away entirely and at once. Habit causes her to doubt her insight. Man, too, would bind her to old customs. But the die is cast; there is no turning back. Old dogmas are denied ; any theory of her status which may be presented is stormed with the batteries of criticism. The old is losing ground and passing away, while there is augury on every lip as to what will take its place. t
At the present time there are as many different theories as to woman's relations and needs as there are different heads. It is always thus when society is in a transition state. The unity characteriz- ing the old order of things is succeeded by that diversity which attends every re- form.
The strife is actual and earnest. There is crimination and recrimination ; there is charge and countercharge. The stag- nant conservatism of the past and the progressive aspiration of the present are fairly met. Let us count the chances. Let us consider on which side stand the probable victors.
The conservative affirms that woman must keep silence in the church, but al- ready she is ordained of man to preach the gospel. He says she must not heal the sick, but in all our great cities we find her in successful medical practice. He thinks she would debase her woman- hood should she attempt to expound the
�� �
