John Bull's Womankind (Les Filles de John Bull)O'Rell, Max
General
John Bull's Womankind (Les Filles de John Bull)
O'Rell, Max
England -- Social life and customs; Women -- Great Britain
"Madam," said a polite prince of the House of Wasa to his wife, "we
married you that you might give us children, not advice." A remark
worthy of Napoleon I. The Englishman says the same thing to his wife.
So Mrs. John Bull gives her husband plenty of children, but very
little advice.
But things are altering. Thanks to the higher education that is being
administered to young Englishwomen; thanks to Girton College, Newnham
College, the High Schools, and other institutions that are being
founded day by day, with the object of stripping woman of the
attributes that render her so attractive in our sight, all that has
been said and repeated about the reserve, the modesty, the innocence
of the Englishwoman, the virtues that made of her a model wife and
housekeeper, all this, I say, will soon be quite out of date.
Formerly girls were sent to receive their education at the hands of
some good women who did not teach them much, I am prepared to admit,
but who did not fail to fit them to be good wives, good mothers, and
good housekeepers. Now they are taught Latin and Greek, mathematics
and natural philosophy, political economy and medicine, yes, medicine,
and no one knows what besides. They wear men's hats known as
wide-awakes (much too wide awake to please most of us), and masculine
looking coats, and they stare you in the face in manly fashion. When
are the trousers coming?
Take care, friend John, you are on a downward and dangerous path. I
see you presiding over meetings of blue-stockings and hear you adding
your voice to theirs in their demand for women's rights. It seems to
me that it is your future happiness that you stake. You will have a
wife who will know the differential and integral calculus, but will be
all unskilled in the art of making those nice puddings and pies you
like so much. No more warm slippers awaiting you by the fender;
instead of the song of the kettle on the hob, that sweet household
melody, you will hear the litany of the Rights of Woman; no more
kisses on your wife's half-closed eyelids, she will wear spectacles.
You will be able to console yourself, by taking refuge in your club,
and grumbling there to your heart's content, or by going to a
restaurant and, at the price of a tip, buying the right of blowing up
the waiter. But remember that, to have a good grumble in, there's no
place like home; and if your dinner is not to your liking, why, you
can blow up your wife for nothing.
* * * * *
Some English ladies are moving heaven and earth to get Parliament to
pass an Act which will allow them to vote. They will, perhaps, one day
go so far as to demand seats in the House of Commons.
What is to be done with the women? Owing to the emigration of the men,
this is indeed a problem that England will ere long have to solve in
one way or another.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account