CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 3980, 30 April 1883, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE PROGRESS OP WOMEN. Him

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—Rapid strides have been made by women intellectually within the last treaty years. "ISO woman .ever wrote it," ,was the cry, as Billy as conceited, raised by men less than twenty years ago,if anything particularly good subscribed, !'A Woman" appeared in print, To day, should the best article by mortal penned appear in priat bearing a feminine signature, it wonld pass unchallenged. It is believed, even ;by the Adam nature still disgracefully rampant in some men—the barbarous nature— which having denied to woman a liberal education, yet mercilessly drags her intellect up to the severest standard of criticism, though it knows right well tbat her capabilities are wholly untrained, undeveloped, unreasoning, unreflecting Adam. Women* interests are fairly, represented nowhere f neither in the social, political, nor religions world. She justly therefore,for her children's sake, claims the right to make hervoiea heard, and if man were man, fits very feebleness were its mighleat power, since tho necessary training of thoughts aud of Bpeecb —admittedly necessary to man—lias fce_' denied to her through no fault of her own, Men talk against time, and wiite against space; but, educated as man is-educaietf woman will soon teach them tbat reaero; reflection, mean something vastly different from words, words, words, drawn out to infinitude,with nothing in them. The result of such reasoning as Been abroad in the world, might well make angels weep, Man has nothing to boast of with a__~ " reasoning powers in full exercise^ as he fancies. Stupid blunders and stupid failures mark every step of his way* ward course, and shall woman, in her enforced ignorance, be expected to escape the blundering stupidity of maul; Not wholly, certainly. Bat she shall presently nail man's "reasoning" to. facts, dry, hard facts, with such persistency its shall make ugly things to ugly as to constrain him to bring bis God-given reason to bear to some purposeon all the ills ot life. Donotfor God'a sake, for truth's sake, talk of reason till this ia done. The very atones cry out against man's vaunted " reason,"-, for even they have a beauty aud a use that sack " reawn " has never yet dreamed of. a Still I life, active life, all true life, waits on the higher and nobler development of the reasoning powers wasted in words, wows, words, nothing but words. Oh, it is Sickening, so much so,: indeed, tbat no. room is left for anything that can be fitly namtu originality iv woman. Her present workto level with the dust the tens of thousands of Dragons man has set up before she can properly originate—build up; except as the pulling down is in tbe best sense a building up,paradoxical though this appears to tbe unreflecting. Verily, the Adam nature botrajs man to his fall no less ctrtainly to-day than in Eden.—-ours, <«c.i A WOMAN.