ADVANCED WOMEN REPLY TO "F. W."

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10418, 22 July 1895, Page 3

ADVANCED WOMEN REPLY TO "F. W."

,' TO THE EDITOR.

Sm, —I am sorry your- correspondent "F. W." should have his or her '..sensibilities, so shocked by the correspondence between Mrs' Hatton and Mrs -Dildy in the public pre;s. In J,my young days, too, such 'things were not to bs'J named among women. Bu1; what are the facts of the case now? The laws for the protection of our sex are so thoroughly bid, that the "advanced woman " is' feeling-and beginning to exercise her power,' not in benefiting herself, bat her* suffering sisters. Granted that it is a shame that these things should be openly * talked o. by .women, .fib.. ; is , a .still greater shame thnt: such; laweC exist and that our ' legisla-tors.-ahd'. other men have not come- to tho rescue before now. -Does " F. W." suppose for. a moment that such:women as Mrs Hatton and? Mrs Daldy„and others talk of these horrible' things for the.'pies.ure of taUiiag cf them, dr that it, is not a.t.ial.fco " womehly women" like them to be obliged to speak of them at all ? But these are questions, that affect women, aud! oiily women kuow how tt> deal with them. j

A fewytars.agol would not have conversed on sdeh subjsctß aSxtbose " F. W-" mentions ; but having been. brought in contact lately with msiiy of our.ielf-denyihg brave women who' labour aniJing; the poor anil unfortunate, and knowing the harrowing tales they tell -.rapositively.. true, -.unvarnished statements, I have altered, my ■ opinion, and i see * now thafc ,only -woin^h can 'deal with these evils properly • apd I J would J recommend "Y-. W." to, make i_qni_i_s"before.again attacking tha female franchise movement.: Thank God, 1 say,' we.have fche franchise,* and now, we have the,power let us use it wisely in these matters that-, affect our sex. I believe it has been/given us for that purpose. -

. Look at our system of popular education, mixiog up boys snd girls together, with no religious teaching fcacounteract this Gvil... Look at the fasbionable literature of the day-r-rbooks not fit .to bo put into the hands of any young girl. Xiook at our newspapers,' with their columhs t -teeming-■;'; with horrible, J'-diSgusting details' ''(if murder*: or divorce; casgs, '.read in almost eve_y home alike, by old and young. And to come closer to tb- fewful evil; of..impurity, tho' very woman of society, who holds up her hands iujhbly horror afc the thought of her 'd_iighter_even'seeing one of these dreadful petitions, will "yet permit conversafciou at hfr,-afternoons at home thafc. will make the cho(tir of - a-pure-minded visitor tingle with' shsme. ; Can we J keep our * young girls pure long un'lcr.'such conditions as J these ? No ; emphatically ho. No one can touch pitch without boiug defiled,-and th-.re is a distinct differ--juca befcwepn haudling these oubjects 'as thsy are handled at women's meatingsaud the coarse joking—--uo-niafcter. how you put ifc, it is coar.se, if nothing wor3e—that goes on at so many -of our so-called re.p£Cfcable houses in this and other citieS. >>'J -;iJ"-. ; . fff ■■....'

From.the fact that a magazine e'xwacfc" in t^elafcWr, parb of " F.'W's. " epistle wa^ struck out by fche^editor,: I gather that the working women wore.. ppoken o* disparagingly. Let me tell "F,t W.,? thafc f amongst; our shop girW, tailoresses,; &c ; there are many brave,* unse)fiihw^mets, labouring 7 with .their hinds to earn their, owu bread, and in many cases of those neat.and (Sear to them, and can a compari'.on for oiieimqmenfc be drawn between them and th.eic.Jdlo sistgrsj^who lounge ,aWay an aimless existsuce at ho me; and yet are not too proud to" take thejr food, clothing, and their pleasures too,: afc the hands of the-very class they speak of so.contemptuously.—l am, Ss.., Dunodin, July 16. MAity.

—- Ths h'gh-'-fc-daath rate of any town in the civilised world is eaid to be that of the city of Mexico-^4O per 1000. The city is :7000ft above sea level, but in Spite of this fact its defective drainage . make 3 the mortality very gwaV- -.:.* . ■ ■ : :

— Paraguay is the only country in the world in which .the conquerors have universallyadqpfced the language of the conquer, d, for Gnatani is still the spoken tongue, Spanish being only used by the upjjar classes, who are not vei-y.numerous • even the country. priests can only "speak the Indian dialect. "