THE DAUGHTERS STRIKE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4907, 24 March 1894, Page 3

THE DAUGHTERS STRIKE.

AN ANSWER BY LADY JEUNE.

Mrß Crackanthorpe's announcement in last month's Nineteenth Century that a "daughters' strike" was bringing us to the verge of a social revolution, haa produced critics in the February numbers both of the Nineteenth and of the Fortnightly Review. Mcs Frederic Harrison writes a dialogue on tho subject in the former; Lady Jeune denies tha revolution, and the need for it, in toio, in the latter. Mrs Harrison's dialogue on " Mothers and Daughters" suggests that, although family life is in process of reorganisation, a " jeune fille bien elevee" can generally ba depended upon. And Lady Jeune's article comes to very muoh the same. COULD THEBE BE A HAPPIES LIJE ? Lady Jeune is inclined to make light of Mrs Crackanthorpe's suggestion that many mothers and daughters do net " hit it off." l h constitutionally hysterical girls, saya Lady Jeune; this has always been the caße to a certain extent. It is not a modern malady. And as to freedom, why, the girl of to-day is a different creature to that of forty yoars ago. "There are not many girla wbo aigh for tbe forbidden fruits of amusement, or conßider themselves ill-used becauae musichalls, plays which deal with equivocal subjects, and books which treat of the relation of the sexes are withheld from them." Their life haß every chance of reasonable and legitimate happiness:— " If a girl is intellectually inclined, a university career is open to her, where she can distance her male competitors. If athletic, she can take her part in all the sports and pastimeß formerly the Bole monopoly of her brothers. If sentimental, or of a humanitarian disposition, Bhe can find ample scope for her powers in work among the poor and in nursing. If frivolous, there never was an age when society was plea_anter or more delightful for girls, or when there were fewer restrictions on their enjoyment, and those only of such a nature as to prevent them going "too far ahead" until they have acquired some moral ballast. The freedom which girls ara permitted now, even in. the atricteet households,- is as much as is good or wholesome for them during the early years of their life, and were the restraints relaxed the ultimate results would be indeed disastrous. Moat mothers have realised that the result of education and the spirit of the age is against placing any vexatious restrictions on their daughters." HOTHEBB AND MARS-AGE. Mothers are accused by Mrs Crackanthorpe of keeping their daughters in, merely to get them married. There are, of course, two suggestions here, one in the nature of an innuendo. The first is that mothers do not mind whom their daughters marry, and only restrict their liberties in order that they may have to many somebody ; the -second, somewhat wider, iB that whether they look out for good husbands or only husbands (as eggs are divided at shops into new-laid, warranted and "eggs"), mothers think more of marriage as the object of their daughters' existence than they ought to; in fact, they ought to think first of education, and secondly of marriage, letting the wedding-ring look after itself. Againat thia latter view Lady Jeune strongly pro» tests. Marriage, ahe insists, is the object of woman's existence, and mothers have no reason to conceal their recognition of this primal fact. THB MAJ-EIAGE MABKET. As for the marriage market, it has always existed. This is what Lady Jeune says, with reference to Mrs Craokanthorpa's somewhat unpleasant stories of young girls sold to young (or old) rakes:— "Of the mother, with her knowledge of life, we will not epeak, for there is nothing to be said in extenuation $ but of the girl one must alwayß remember she is ignorant and often weak, and has the example before her of many women who have done the same, and have, with an unpromising future before them, not only made themselves happy, but their husbands better men. A girl will always justify her action by the hope that, in the surroundings of a happy peaceful life and the influence ofa better woman, a man will ranger himself and become a good husband and father. The risk is great, and the result always doubtful; but there are sufficient examples of such cases to make her feel that the experiment need not be a failure. Men cannot and will not, at least as society is at present constituted, bring a blameless past to the altar ; but they may make expiation for their past by fidelity and devotion to the woman they marry ; and unless a man is lost to every sense of honour, he does not disappoint the woman in her expectations. There are some men so completely outside the pale of morality as to be worthless in every way, but of the majority may we not reasonably admit our position to be a fair one P In the face of the greater emancipation desired by girls, which would, if permitted, lead to grave scandals, it seems a little superfluous that they should expect so high a standard of morality from men ; and if the concession of the wanderjahre is made to them, we shall see the positions reversed, and find men exacting a standard of purity from women the existence of whioh is now taken as a matter of course." THE MEANING OF THE LATCH-KEY. "If a girl (says Lady Jeune) iB to be j left to exercise her own discretion in such thingß, it can be only after a fuller knowledge of life and its problems has been un- j folded to her; for she could not be launched on hor new career without full instructions in the mysteries of the Book of Life. WiU any one calmly say that such a change is j possible or desirable in any of its aspects ? Do we wish to Bee our girls half men in theory and half women in inexperience andjignorance, with a superficial smattering of knowledge grafted on to tbe restless., impulses and vague curiosity of youth— -with all the romance, all the illusions of life dispelled, and with neither the con*, sfcitulion nor capacity of men to carry out their careers, and, above all, bereft of the sweet gift of purity which hitherto has constituted their greatest charm ? " .