The Arena, Volume 4, No. 24, November, 1891Various
General
The Arena, Volume 4, No. 24, November, 1891
Various
American literature -- Periodicals
There are many other cases of great interest in the Divorce Colony at
Sioux Falls, but this plain statement of a few is enough to show how
grossly the _personnel_ and character of the colony have been
slandered by certain sensational and corrupt newspaper correspondents.
For more than six months I have studied the conduct and natures of the
persons who compose the divorce colony, and every reputable citizen of
Sioux Falls will substantiate my statement that, with possibly three
exceptions, the divorce seekers have been remarkable for the inherent
justice of their suits and the dignity of their behavior during their
residence in this town. The attempt to give them and the place an
unenviable notoriety, made by certain newspapers, is a stain on
American journalism. Men and women suffer enough before they seek a
divorce court. It is ghoulish to pursue them in the press with
misrepresentation and ridicule, or with exposure of their marital
miseries. Divorce is not merely a legal right of the individual; it is
often a moral duty which ought to be demanded by society from a truly
dignified woman or man; for to cohabit where there is no love between
husband and wife, worse still where the atmosphere has become
surcharged with hate, and to foist on society children begotten and
reared in an atmosphere that may crush out every noble impulse and
lofty desire, besides the subtle discords of heredity that must mark
their temperaments, is not merely a most pathetic blunder for the
parties primarily affected, but a wrong to the race--a crime against
civilization.
THE WOMAN MOVEMENT.
BY LUCINDA B. CHANDLER.
The woman movement is a world-wide fact. An agitation which has
gathered impetus and strength during more than forty years is a
significant phenomenon in the realm of mind and of social progress.
Since, in 1848, the rebellion of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, at the humiliating position accorded them as delegates to an
international convention in London, England, led them to inaugurate
the "woman's rights" movement in this country, at Seneca Falls, New
York, the growth of this "mustard seed" of truth has become a "great
tree" whose branches overshadow continents, and the thought and active
moral forces of nations "dwell in the branches thereof."
If not from "Greenland's icy mountains," at least from the boundaries
of the United States and British America to "India's coral strand,"
the onsweeping wave of woman's elevation is steadily advancing.
Ramabai in India seeking the deliverance of the child widow, who has
no earthly existence, nor any hope of one beyond mortal life except as
a wife, and who, as a widow, is but an outcast, this woman missionary
from the opposite side of the globe has clasped hands and is in
heart-fellowship with her American sisters who are still seeking the
enlargement of woman's freedom and opportunities in this favored
country.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account