UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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THE WOMAN QUESTION
IN EUROPE
A SERIES OF ORIGINAL ESSAYS
EDITED BY
THEODORE STANTON, M. A.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
FRANCES POWER COBBE
· If you would know the political and moral status of a people, demand what
place its women occupy.”—L. AIMÉ MARTIN, “On the Education of Mothers," Book
I., Chapter VI.
“There is nothing, I think, which marks more decidedly the character of men
or of nations, than the manner in which they treat women.”—HERDER, “Philoso-
phy of History," Vol. II., Book VIII., Chapter IV.
BULLETIN
B
COOHOS
1874
HDSTRAND
SYRACUSE, N. Y.
C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER
1895
HQ
1588
,579
1895
('OPYRIGIT, 1981.
BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

soz opt &
I DEDICATE THIS WORK
TO MY MANY COLLABORATORS, AND, ABOVE ALL, TO MARGUERITE
BERRY, MY WIFE, WHOSE PARTICIPATION HAS NOT BEEN LIMITED TO
A SINGLE CHAPTER, BUT EXTENDS THROUGHOUT EVERY PAGE OF THE
VOLUME.
T. S.
assed 8-26-3 AVA
195583

GERMANY.
143
Classes of Prussia (Central-Verein für das Wohl der arbei-
tenden Klassen in Preussen), in which he proved, by the
aid of statistics, that a large body of women were forced
to earn their own livelihood, and that marriage—since fe-
males outnumbered males in Prussia, and also because of
certain economic reasons—was not always possible. He
called attention to the precarious situation of the daughters
of
poor government employés when, on the death of their
father, they are thrown upon the world wholly unprepared
for the struggle of life. He spoke of the few pursuits open
to women, of the over-crowding of those not shut against
them, and of the low pay resulting from this state of
things; and, in conclusion, he predicted fatal results if
the sphere of their activity was not enlarged and em-
ployments which were once theirs were not restored to
them.
These ideas formed the basis of the Lette Society,
whose organization was substantially that of the London
Society for Promoting the Employment of Women. We
did not, however, servilely follow the English model, but
while we utilized the experiences of the London Society,
we did not hesitate to introduce modifications demanded
by the peculiarities of the German character. The essen-
tial principles and aims of the Lette Society have been,
from the beginning, to discover new occupations fitted for
women, to protect their interests in those where they al-
ready have a footing, and to educate them for more in-
portant and profitable employments.
Notwithstanding the many difficulties which the society
has encountered during its long period of activity, it has,
on the whole, remained faithful to its origin. It is true
that we have found it more and more necessary to devote
* For an account of this Society, see page 97.--T. S.


144
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

attention to practical instruction, for it was soon discov-
ered that inost women did not know how to work care-
fully, conscientiously, and accurately. This is not due,
however, to any innate and fundamental defect in the
sex, but is rather a result of bad education and habits,
which, as experience has shown, quickly disappear, and are
replaced by remarkable aptitude as soon as irregular em-
ployment gives place to methodical work preceded by a
rational preparation.
After the death of its founder and first president, the
Lette Society was directed for several years by Dr. von
Holtzendorf, professor at the University of Berlin, until
Mrs. Schepeler-Lette succeeded to the post in 1872, where
she has ever since remained.
The society supports at this moment, at its rooms in
Königgrätzer Strasse, Berlin, a commercial school, a draw-
ing and modeling school, and a cooking school, while it
also gives instruction in washing, ironing, cutting, dress-
making, hand and machine sewing, the manufacture of
artificial flowers, and many other kinds of manual and art
work. The pupils of these various schools are prepared
for the State examinations for drawing teachers and in-
structors in mechanic arts, and subsequently find employ-
ment in boarding, private, and girls' grammar schools.
In another building is a printing office, where women are
taught to set type. The society also conducts a board-
ing-house for women (Das Victoriastift), and in connec-
tion with it a women's restaurant. A shop for the sale of
female handiwork, known as the Victoria Bazaar, a free in-
telligence office, and a bank where women may make
on easy terms small loans, with which to commence or
enlarge their business, or to buy sewing machines, are
some of the other admirable features of the Lette Society,

GERMANY.
145
The number of those who have been benefited by this
institution can be counted by the thousands, so that a
great and good work has been accomplished with propor-
tionally very small means. Nor has its usefulness been
limited to the capital alone. The reputation of the soci-
ety has spread throughout the country, and similar
organizations have been established in Bremen, Ham-
burg, Breslau, Brunswick, Rostock, Stettin, and Pots-
dam. At Darmstadt is the Alice Society (Alice-
Verein), devoted to the industrial and general instruc-
tion of women, and whose patroness was Alice, the
late Grand Duchess of Hesse. There are like institutions
at Dusseldorf, Cologne, Elberfeld, Weisbaden, Königs-
berg, Dantsic, and other cities, all modeled after the
Lette Society, whence are drawn their corps of teachers.
The societies founded by the National Association
of German Women, as well as those which have
sprung up independently of both organizations, are
all working in the same field, have a similar aim in
view, and are animated by that spirit of modera-
ition which has done so much for the success of the
common cause.
It cannot be said of this movement that it
purposes to
overthrow existing institutions, that it desires to estrange
women from their peculiar vocation in the family, State,
and society. This conservative character of the German
reformers has been criticised. They have been found too
timid, too considerate of old prejudices, too slow, too cir-
cumspect. The stricture arises mainly, however, from an
imperfect understanding of the situation in this country.
Because of the excellent system of compulsory educa-
tion which exists in Germany, we had not to begin so low
down as in some other parts of Europe. All German girls

146
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

were furnished with, at least, the foundation of an educa-
tion. And yet the women's movement has accomplished
admirable reforms in this very field. To it is due the in-
troduction into the girls' primary schools (Volksschule) of
compulsory and systematic instruction in sewing and sim-
ilar handiwork, and the persevering and finally successful
efforts to enlarge the scope of the girls' grammar schools
(Töchterschule), efforts which have met with the approval
of competent persons and which have not passed unnoticed
by the government itself. Still greater progress might be
made in this direction, if only the proper laws were enacted.
All attempts to bring about the establishment by the
municipalities or the government of girls' high schools
have failed, but it is almost beyond doubt that this worthy
object will be accomplished sooner or later. When it is,
women will be able to obtain a training similar to that
furnished at the boys' gymnasiums, so that, provided
with a diploma (Abiturientenzeugniss) they may enter the
universities and receive a degree.
German women who would secure a higher education
must study in private, for their admission into the lecture-
rooms of
any of our universities is very difficult. Female
students, to our knowledge, have been admitted only at
Heidelberg and Leipsic, and even in these two institutions
they have not been suffered to pass the examinations. It
is at foreign universities that our women are forced to
pursue their studies and take their degrees. The two fe-
male physicians at Berlin, Dr. Franziska Tiburtius, and
Dr. Emilie Lehmus, are graduates of Zurich, and Lina
Beger, Ph. D., who began her career as a teacher at the
capital, received her degree at Bern. The two Berlin
dentists, Mrs. Dr. Tiburtius Hirschfeldt, and Miss Carsten,
studied at Philadelphia.

GERMANY
147
In its treatment of the great question of the higher edu-
cation of women, Germany is outstripped, not only by the
republics of Switzerland, America and France, but lags
behind the monarchies of England, Sweden, Italy, and
Russia, which, after an obstinate resistance, have finally
opened their universities to women and graduated them
with full academic honors. We are convinced that Ger-
many must soon follow their example, either by the foun-
dation of special institutions or by throwing wide the
doors of the existing universities. But we fear that the
struggle will be longer and harder here than in other
countries, for our universities, venerable by their antiquity
and conservative by their organization, are immutable for
good or evil. The same thing is seen in England, where
the London University, which is of recent origin, long ago
conferred its advantages on women, while ancient Cam-
bridge and Oxford, although they have made some con-
cessions, still hold back. *
Until that day arrives, we must be contented with those
excellent institutions which have sprung up in many cities
under the name of lyceums (Lyceen) and which afford our
girls admirable instruction.f The oldest and best known
* The United States presents similar examples. While Cornell, Michi.
gan, and other young universities are not afraid of women, venerable Har-
vard, Yale and Columbia, the latter in spite of the repeated efforts of Presi-
dent Barnard in favor of the reform, tremble for their future if co-education
be adopted.-T. S.
+ The prospectus of the Victoria Lyceum at Cologne, of which Mrs. Lina
Schneider, a lady of wide culture, is the principal, gives a fair idea of the
scope of these institutions. The instruction comprises," says this pros-
pectus, “thorough English in all its branches, German, French, Italian
(taught respectively by native professors), Latin and Greek classics, mathe-
matics, shorthand-writing, history, literature, and other sciences, music,
drawing, painting, calisthenics, and all female accomplishments. ***



148
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
of these educational establishments is the Victoria Ly.
ceum, in Berlin, founded and directed by Miss Archer. It
contains the nuclei of what could be developed on the one
hand into a gymnasium, and on the other into a univer-
sity. The Alice Lyceum, established at Darmstadt by
Louise Büchner, would have attained an equally high
position if its growth had not been suddenly checked by
the death of its founder, who, as Vice-president of the
Alice Society, and as a writer on the woman question,
showed marked ability and accomplished much good
work. Lyceums patterned after these two have been
organized at Breslau, Karlsruhe, Dresden, Cologne, and
Leipsic.
Closely connected with this movement in favor of the
higher education of women and of the amelioration of
their position in the field of labor, is the effort to spread
the Fröbel system. Many of the industrial societies
(Erwerbvereine) already mentioned have accepted Fröbel's
ideas, and have opened kindergarten schools, courses
for the instruction of teachers for such schools, and
courses for the preparation of children's nurses. No-
body interested in the general progress of women can un-
derrate this important work, and Mrs. Johanna Gold-
schmidt, of Hamburg, a pioneer of the Fröbel system, will
always occupy an honorable place among those who have
labored in this field.
Women's domestic duties are not excluded from the
programme of our movement. Hygiene, the care of chil-
There are also opportunities for learning dancing, swimming, skating, and
riding.” It appears that the lyceum can prepare (the prospectus from which
I quote is addressed to the English public) “ with special facility and suc-
cess for the Oxford and Cambridge local, the Irish intermediate, the Uni-
versity or other examinations.”—T. S.

GERMANY
149
past fifteen
dren and rational housekeeping are essential parts of any
plan of female education. Furthermore, women should
know how to care for the sick of their own household, and
should even be taught professional nursing. There may
be a question as to whether they should be physicians,
but as regards the training of women as nurses there can
be but one opinion. The Catholic and Protestant Churches
have long had training schools for nurses, and similar in-
stitutions have sprung up all over the country during the
years. The oldest of them is the Baden
Women's Society (Badischer Frauen-Verein), under the
protection of the Grand Duchess Louise, which has many
branches, and which, besides the instruction of nurses,
succors the
poor
and aids working women.
The Women's Patriotic Society (Vaterländischer Frauen-
Verein), patronized by the Empress, besides doing a work
similar to that of the last mentioned organization, in time
of war takes care of the families of militiamen (Landwehr)
in service, establishes hospitals, nurses the wounded, etc.
The same ground is covered by the Albert Society (Al-
bert-Verein) in Saxony, to which the regretted Marie Simon
devoted her life; the Olga Society (Olga-Verein) in Wür-
temberg, which is patronized by the good Queen Olga,
and by like bodies in Bavaria, Saxe-Weimar, Mecklenburg,
etc.
Three groups of women's associations still remain to be
mentioned. The German Teachers' and Governesses'
Society (Verein deutscher Lehrerinenen und Erzieherin-
enen), which, with its branches, looks after the intellectual
and material interests of teachers, possesses in the neigh-
borhood of Berlin a retreat for aged and invalid members
of the profession. It has also organized boarding houses
and clubs, where male and female teachers meet to discuss
150
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
subjects which interest them. The second group consists
of Housekeepers' Societies (Hausfrauen-Vereine), which
owe their origin to Mrs. Lina Morgenstern, to whom is
also due the Soup-kitchens (Volksküchen), where the
poor are fed at a very moderate price. All the important
questions pertaining to domestic economy, come within
the scope of these excellent associations. The third
and last group are Societies of Art Students (Vereine
der Kunstlerinnen), which, as is the case at Berlin, have
established schools where women may study painting and
sculpture; it being difficult, if not absolutely impossible,
for them to obtain admission to the School of Fine Arts.
There are similar institutions for women at Weimar and
Munich, though the school in the latter city is more
especially devoted to industrial art, while inany pursue
their studies in the studios of eminent artists.
Our women have proved by their productions that they
have richly profited by these advantages. The last two
exhibitions of fine arts at Berlin, and the international
exhibition at Munich, in 1879, contained specimens of
female talent which received the highest praise from im-
partial critics. It is no exaggeration to say that women
contribute in no small degree to the art industry of Ger-
many. With the needle, the pencil, the brush, they pro-
duce magnificent ornamental work. The schools of art
and design established by the Berlin Industrial Museum
(Gewerbe-Museum) and the Lette Society, and the similar
institutions in Munich, Reutlingen, Karlsruhe, Dresden,
and other cities, have turned out many trained women
who have become teachers or artificers of fine needle-
work, designers, pattern-makers, and the like.
German unity, so long desired and so heartily wel-
comed, has been prejudicial, we are sorry to say, to the


GERMANY.
151
employment of women, as in Austria, in the railroad,
postal, and telegraphic service. While the States of South
and Central Germany have long availed themselves of fe-
males for these positions, Prussia and the countries united
with her in the postal and telegraphic union have taken
the opposite course. When, on the formation of the Em-
pire, the government assumed control of the post-office
and telegraph, it looked for a moment as if all the female
employés would be dismissed. A petition, however, was
sent to the Imperial Parliament (Reichstag) in 1872, which
not only checked this tendency, but secured the admission
of women into the telegraphic and postal service of Prus-
sia itself. But, as the Postmaster General of Germany,
Mr. Stephan, is opposed to the employment of women in
his department, everything has been done to defeat the
measure, so that we are forced to admit that in this mat-
ter our country has taken a step backward.*
But, on the whole, the agitation begun at Leipsic and
Berlin, has accomplished a great deal during the past
eighteen years. We have been able to give here only an
incomplete outline of its history. What has been writ-
ten in Germany, for and against the woman question,
would form a large library. A number of periodicals are
exclusively devoted to this subject. Besides the New
Paths (Neue Bahnen), the organ of the Leipsic movement,
we may cite housekeepers' journals published at Berlin
and Cologne, also a paper which represents the interests of
* Mr. Stephan's course is strongly contrasted by that of the English Post-
master General, and is a striking example of how much the success of laws,
even under the modern parliamentary régime, depends upon the personal
opinions of those who execute them. For an account of what Mr. Fawcett
and others have done in England in connection with this subject, see page
93.-T. S.

152
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

girls' high schools, and the German Women's Advocate
(Deutscher Frauen-Anwalt), organ of the United Societies
for the Education and Employment of Women (Verband
des deutscher Frauenbildungs und Erwerbvereine).
The last named organization was formed in November,
1869, at a meeting in Berlin of delegates from all parts of
Germany, and embraces a large number of women's indus-
trial, educational, house-keeping and Fröbel societies, and
training schools for nurses. It holds general meetings at
irregular intervals. Such assemblies have occurred at
Darmstadt, Hamburg, Weisbaden, and at Berlin, in the
autumn of 1879, where delegates were present from the
Leipsic National Society. At these congresses all the
various themes relating to women are discussed; resolu-
tions are passed, subjects for prize-essays announced, and
petitions sent to the Government. At the Berlin Con-
gress petitions were drawn up praying for the admission
of women into the pharmaceutical profession, for the pro-
viding of means for their higher education, for their em-
ployment in the postal and telegraphic service, and for
the modification of certain regulations which check their
participation in business and trade.
More radical demands than these have not been seri-
ously made in Germany. The opening of politics to women
has not been pressed. Contrary to the course pursued by
the American and English reformers, who hold that the only
way to emancipate the sex is by means of the electoral fran-
chise, and who consequently make suffrage the chief aim of
all their efforts, we Germans believe that the lever is found
in education. In working for the present generation, and
in helping women already half through the journey of life
to earn their daily bread, we are sowing seed which will
bear a rich fruitage in the future. Thanks to our un-

GERMANY.
153
tiring labors the conviction is spreading that every wo-
man, rich or poor, high or low, ought to have an educa-
tion such as will make her, in the highest and best sense,
the helpmate and companion of man-wife, mother, and
teacher. The German movement aims to elevate the
whole female sex, and to render women capable of sery-
ing themselves, the family, society, the State, and hu-
manity. Our object is to lift women out of their insignifi-
cance, frivolity, poverty, misery, and shame, and train
them for work which will render themselves and others
happy, and thus advance the general interests of civili-
zation.
II. THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GERMAN
WOMEN.
BY MARIE CALM,
[Miss Marie Calm was born at Arolsen (where her father was burgomaster
or mayor), in the Principality of Waldeck, on April 3, 1832. She was sent
to a private school in her native town and finished her education at a well-
known boarding school in Geneva, where she made great progress in the
English and French languages. Afterward Miss Calm spent three years in
England and two years in Russia, returning to Germany to take charge of a girls'
high school in the Rhenish Provinces. Her first appearance in literature was
as a story writer in the noted Illustrated World (Illustrirte Welt) of Stuttgart.
In 1865 she heard of the movement in Leipsic in favor of women-which she
describes in the following pages, put herself in communication with the
leaders of the new agitation and was invited by them to take part in their
next congress.
She accepted this invitation in 1867, and has ever since been
one of the most zealous advocates of women's rights in Germany. At
Cassel, where she now resides, Miss Calm has done much for the education
of girls by opening, in conjunction with some other ladies, an industrial
school which has proved most successful. Since 1869 she has lectured all
over Germany on educational subjects, has founded girls' schools similar to
that at Cassel and organized women's societies auxiliary to the National

154
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Association. Miss Calm is the author of stories, poems, works on pedago.
gics, and “Leo," a novel in three volumes, “which fastens the reader's
attention with the first page,” says an American writer," and holds it un-
waveringly to the closing paragraph.” I had the pleasure of making Miss
Calm's acquaintance at Paris in 1881, and was struck not only by her excel-
lent command of English and French, both of which languages she speaks
and writes with great ease, but also by her agreeable presence, her enthu-
siasm and her liberalism.]

THE National Association of German Women (Der
allgemeine deutsche Frauen-Verein), was founded at Leip-
sic in October, 1865, and was the first organized move-
ment in Germany in favor of what is now known as the
Woman Question (Frauenfrage). I do not wish to say
that previous to this date many noble minds had not ex-
amined the great subject of women's needs and women's
position, but what I do mean is that until the autumn of
1865 this work had been isolated, unorganized and conse-
quently barren of practical results. Again, the few wom-
en who, about fifty years ago, tried to cut free from the
restraints imposed upon their sex and to gain the liberty
denied them by society, overstepped the limits of what is
considered womanly by imitating the other sex in dress, in
smoking, etc., so that the word einancipation, originally
applied to their agitation, has ever since retained an
odious meaning and is therefore carefully discarded by
the leaders of the present movement.
This latter movement is indeed quite different in its
origin, its aims and its means from the generous, but
rather sentimental, outburst of 1830. The English census
of 1856 had brought to light the fact that two millions of
women in that country were dependent upon their own
labor for their livelihood, and that most of them knew
not how to work, or were so poorly paid that, as the Ger-
man saying goes, they had too much to die, too little to

GERMANY.
155
proved
live. About this time Hood's “Song of the Shirt "
ap-
peared in all our newspapers, rousing the public to indig-
nation at the neglected condition of working women and
filling it with pity for the unhappy creature of whom the
poet sang. A census in Prussia shortly afterward
that there was about the same number of women in that
country who were unprovided for, and drew attention to
the crying necessity of giving them the means of earning
their daily bread. Some philanthropists wrote and spoke
on the subject, and Dr. Adolph Lette, a man of eminent
merit, gave permanent form to this new public sentiment
by establishing what afterward became the admirable
Lette Society.*
Among the women who, not only then but long before,
had shown a deep interest in the amelioration of the con-
dition of her sex, stands in the front rank, Mrs. Louise
Otto-Peters. In her novels, most of which treat social
questions, she has always pleaded for the oppressed, and
when, after the publication of her “Castle and Factory
(Schloss und Fabrik), a deputation of Leipsic workmen
invited her to contribute to their newspaper, she replied
that she would gladly do so if allowed to defend the
cause of work-women in its columns. She also took a
very active part in the political movement of 1848, and
founded in that year the first women's paper, to my knowl-
edge, in Germany, which bore the motto “ I enlist women
in the cause of liberty” (Dem Reich der Freiheit werb'
ich Bürgerinnen). The reactionary period which followed
put an end to the paper, but Louise Otto continued fear-
lessly devoted to woman and liberty.
It was very natural, therefore, that she should become
* For a more complete account of the work of the Lette Society, see the
preceding essay.—T. S

156
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
her sex.
the centre of a movement for promoting the welfare of
In October, 1865, a few men and women met in
Leipsic to consider the subject, and the conference ended,
as has already been said, in the foundation of the National
Association of German Women. The name was rather
ambitious when we consider the small number of persons
who were present at the birth of the organization. But they
looked far into the future, and ardently trusted that in the
course of time the title of their young creation would be
no misnomer. The Association set itself the task of ele-
vating the educational and social position of one half of
the nation. It declared work to be the right, the duty
and the honor of women as well as of men, and denounced
all those obstacles which hinder the former from a free
participation in every employment and profession for which
they are fitted by nature. In order to propagate these
ideas it was resolved to establish a newspaper and to hold
annual conventions in different parts of Germany.
The organ of the Association, a bi-monthly, which
treats all aspects of the woman question, both in Europe
and America, was named New Paths (Neue Bahnen), and
has been edited from the beginning by Mrs. Louise Otto
Peters and her friend, Miss Auguste Schmidt. But re-
forms are not accomplished by the pen
alone. Our
articles are read chiefly by those already friendly to our
views, not by our opponents, and least of all by the great
mass of the indifferent. It therefore appeared necessary
for the complete success of the cause to propagate it by
word of mouth. Never had women assembled in Germany
to discuss their own position in society; never had they been
seen on the platform addressing an audience with eloquence
and logic. These were prerogatives of the masculine sex
alone. The National Association of German Women was


GERMANY.
157
first to show that the other sex, too, was capable and ready
to present its claims before the public. But our aim was
not simply to be heard, but to convince; and this object
has always been attained. Wherever our congresses have
been held, we have met with success, as witness those of
Leipsic (1867 and 1871), that of Brunswick (1868), Cassel
(1869), Eisenach (1872), Stuttgart (1873), Gotha (1875),
Frankfort-on-the-Main (1876), Hanover (1877), Heidel-
berg (1879) and Lübeck (1881). * These meetings have,
of course, encountered strong prejudices. People were
curious to hear what women had to say; they wished only
to be amused, but many became interested, convinced,
and often before the close of the sessions were enthusi-
astic supporters of the cause.
In these congresses addresses are delivered on all sub-
jects connected with the woman question, and reports are
read by delegates of the work accomplished by the aux-
iliary societies, so that the audience obtains a pretty good
idea of the operations of the National Association since the
previous meeting. At the end of each congress an
* In a recent letter from Miss Calm, she says: “There has not been any
congress this (1882) year, owing to the Berlin Society being rather loath to
undertake the trouble and cost of these meetings. It was their turn and
they postponed it. I am going to Leipsic next week in order to arrange
with my colleagues about next year's congress.”—T. S.
+ The following programme of the last congress, will give the best idea of
the nature of these assemblages, and of the scope of the National Associa-
tion.
THE ELEVENTH CONGRESS OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF GERMAN WOMEN,
HELD AT LUBECK FROM THE 5TH TO THE 6TH OF OCTOBER, 1881.
Wednesday, Oct. 5th, 10 A.M.-Business meeting. Election of officers,
etc. 7 P.M.–First public session. Reception of the delegates by the local
committee. Preliminary addresses by Miss Auguste Schmidt, of Leipsic.
158
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
a
effort is made to found local auxiliary society
(Lokal-Verein), which accepts the plan of the Na-
tional Association and endeavors to embody its aims in
some useful institution. Organizations of this kind
have thus been established in all the above-mentioned
cities with one exception, and in several other places
through the efforts of individuals. They have created
girls' industrial or professional schools, mercantile in-
stitutes and lyceums. In some instances the members
of these societies arrange courses of lectures and hold
monthly gatherings, where women of all classes meet
on a common footing, either to listen to an essay, to dis-
cuss subjects of mutual interest, or to be diverted by
music and declamation. Similar entertainments are some-
times offered to working-women, who thus enjoy simple
and innocent amusements.
Since the year 1876 an agreement has existed between
the National Association and the United Societies, at the
head of which stands the Lette Society, for calling these
congresses alternately, and for sending delegates from the
one organization to the congress held under the auspices
of the other. But the spirit of active propagandism and

Thursday, Oct. 6th, 10 A.M.-Business meeting. Treasurer's report,
etc. 3 P.M. to 5 P.M.–Visit to the churches and other celebrated mon-
uments of the city. 6 P.M.-Second public session. Opening of the
Congress by Mrs. Louise Otto - Peters, of Leipsic. Address by Miss
Marie Calm, of Cassel, on “ The Women's Movement in its Principal
Localities from a Historical Point of View." Reports of delegates. Address
by Miss Willborn, of Schwerin, on “ The Scientific Education of Female
Teachers.” Social reunion. Friday, Oct. 7th, 9 A.M.-Third session.
Address by Miss Menzzer, of Dresden, on “ The Compensation of Women's
Labor." Reports. Address by Miss Assmann, of Hanover, on "The Citi-
zenship of Women.” 3 P.M.--Address by Mrs. Füllgraff, M.D., of Hamburg,
on "Women's Position in America." Reports. Address by Mrs. Lina
Morgenstern, of Berlin, on “ The Food Question.” 7 P.M.-Banquet.-M. C.

GERMANY.
159
the foundation of new societies appear to be alone pecu-
liar to the congresses of the National Association.
In 1877 the executive committee of the Association
sent to the Imperial Parliament (Reichstag) a petition
signed by a great number of women, praying for certain
of their civil rights, for the amelioration of their condition
as wives and mothers, and for the abrogation of those laws
which treat them as minors. This petition was accom-
panied by a memorial, drawn up by Louise Otto-Peters,
which contained all the laws concerning women as found
in the different statute books of Germany, for it must be
borne in mind that every State, and even a great many
towns, of the Empire has a code of its own. The answer
of Parliament to this petition was that a code common to
all Germany was soon to be prepared, and that then our
demands should be considered.*
The above-mentioned executive committee consists of
Mrs. Louise Otto-Peters, Miss Auguste Schmidt, the as-
sociate editor of the Neue Bahnen and one of the ablest
speakers in our congresses; and Mrs. Henriette Gold-
* I select a few paragraphs from the Prussian and Bavarian codes. Ex uno
disce omnes. Here is the law of Prussia: Children may not marry without
the consent of the father._$45. (So the mother is of no account when it
comes to giving up her daughter!) By marriage the husband obtains con-
trol of the wife's fortune.-S205. Whatever the wife earns during her mar-
riage belongs to the husband.-$211. The wife may not contract any debts on
the fortune she has brought to the husband.-SS318 and 319. (He has the
right to squander the whole of it, but she may not spend a farthing of what
was once her own!) In regard to divorce: Bodily ill treatment may
cause of divorce, if it endangers the health or life of the wife (!).—$685. Here
are a few specimens from the Bavarian statute-book : By marriage the wife
comes under the authority of the husband and the law (Gewalt) allows him
to chastise her moderately (!).—82. Women, with the exception of the mother
and grandmother, are unfit to be guardians.-$90. (So are minors, lunatics,
and spendthrifts !)–M. C.
be &
160
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
schmidt, a leading promoter of the Fröbel system in Ger-
many, who has formed a society in Leipsic for popular
education and a girls' lyceum, and who, by her eloquence
and her lectures in different parts of the country, has done
a great deal to keep alive public interest in the various
phases of the woman question. These three ladies and
Mrs. Winter, treasurer of the Association, live in Leipsic.
Another member of the committee, Miss Menzzer, is at
the head of a Women's Educational Society (Frauenbil-
dungs Verein) at Dresden; a sixth, Mrs. Lina Morgen-
stern, is a lady of great talent and activity; and, lastly,
the writer of this sketch, who is president of the Women's
Educational Society of Cassel.
This brief account shows that the National Association
of German Women has not been unsuccessful in its efforts
to raise the level of instruction and thereby to improve
the general condition of the sex. It is to be hoped that
the interest in this question may spread wider and wider
—and it was for the accomplishment of this end that our
Association was founded until the victory is complete,
and women secure in the family and in the State the
position to which they are entitled, but which customs
and laws so often deny them.


HOLLAND.
161
CHAPTER III.
HOLLAND.
BY ELISE VAN CALCAR.
[Mrs. Elise van Calcar was born at Amsterdam, in 1822. Her first liter-
ary production was “Hermine,” a domestic novel, which championed the
elevation of women and strongly protested against the impediments thrown
in the way of their progress by Calvinistic orthodoxy. It proved an unex-
pected success and was followed by many other works, one of which,
“Evangeline," was exclusively devoted to a consideration of woman's life
and destiny. Later, appeared a treatise on the influence of women in
improving the condition of sewing girls, which carried off the gold prize
medal of the Universal Benevolent Society (Maatschappy tot nut van 't
algemeen), the first time such an honor was conferred upon a woman in Hol-
land. Some time ago the Industrial Society (Maatschappy voor industrie)
offered a gold medal for the best essay on the following subject : "How
must a girl be educated in order to gain her own livelihood without unfit-
ting herself for domestic life, in case she should marry?” She was here,
also, the successful competitor. Mrs. van Calcar has taken an active part in
the movement to improve women's education. She founded a kindergarten
and lectured on the subject of infant schools throughout Holland ; she was
appointed by the Government to inspect these institutions, and a radical
change followed her report ; and she established a seminary for the instruc-
tion of teachers in the Fröbel system, which remained under her direction
for ten years. Mrs. van Calcar next turned her attention to spiritualism and
magnetism, and published a novel in three volumes entitled “Children of
the Century” (Kindren der Eeuw), with the object of popularizing these
new phenomena. She is now conducting at The Hague a spiritualistic
monthly, On the Banks of Two Worlds (Op de Grenzen van Twee Werelden).
Besides the works already mentioned, Mrs. van Calcar is the author of
many other books, articles in reviews and newspapers on various social,
religious and literary topics. Her last production is a life and defence of
Swedenborg.]

162
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
WHEN the report of a movement in favor of women's
rights first spread from America to these shores, our
women were offended that one dared apply the word
emancipation to their condition. Are we, then, slaves who
need deliverance ? they said, just as a cage-born bird
would ask, What happiness is there outside these wires ?
May I not do everything I wish : jump from one perch to
the other? The Dutch woman is proud of her origin.
She remembers that she first saw light on a soil redeemed
from tyranny by the blood of her forefathers, and, like a
true child of the Reformation, looks with contempt upon
her Catholic sisters, condemned to ignorance and bred up
in narrow-mindedness and superstition in the convents.
To contend for the rights of women seemed to this class
quite useless, and men in particular strongly objected to
the term emancipation. The idea of a possible equality
of man and woman appeared to them to be as dangerous
as ridiculous, and, in all newspapers and public utterances,
emancipation was branded as a mental alienation, and
ranked among the symptoms of the disease of the century,
which had to be kept carefully at a distance like a deadly
epidemic. However, even in Holland, so very conserva-
tive in many respects, there were a few earnest thinkers
who took a broader view of the question, and some highly
gifted women whose talents were too brilliant to remain
buried in the kitchen, or to find in the petty duties of the
family, a field large enough for their aspirations. It was,
for a long time, an open question whether woman really
possessed the necessary mental capacity to place her on a
level with man, and to make her the spiritual companion
of his life. Most men were afraid to solve the problem.
In the meanwhile, many women effectually proved the
superior quality of their intellectual gifts, in spite of

HOLLAND.
163
the adverse circumstances in which their powers were
developed.
The only field of labor, except the care of husband
and children, which has never been contested to women,
is charity.* They made an ample use of this liberty, and
thus became conscious of their imperfect training, often
discovering that even for this work, they had not receiv-
ed the proper preparation. Charitable institutions were
founded on every hand. Asylums for fallen women and
homeless children were opened, hospitals were established,
and many women found employment as nurses in Amster-
dam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Leeuwarden.
Sewing and knitting schools also sprang up in great
numbers. But whoever, twenty years ago, advocated
the admission of women to other callings received no
hearing.
Yet we possessed an author, Mrs. Geertruida Bosboom
Toussaint, who, by a series of able novels, usually drawn
from our national history, evinced what talent and learn-
ing a woman could possess.t She was soon followed by
* Miss Elise A. Haighton, of Amsterdam, who enjoys a high reputation
in her country as an author, and whose writings on social questions are
widely known, has been kind enough to furnish me notes, which will be
found scattered through this chapter. “Our women of the upper classes
are much interested in charity,” she says, “but as they are generally ortho-
dox, a good deal of unhealthy religiousness mingles with their acts. In
Holland, a great deal is done for the women who fall, but nothing to prevent
them from falling."-T. S.
+ The seventieth anniversary of her birth was celebrated with the greatest
enthusiasm, on September 16, 1882, by the literary world of Holland.-
E. van C. Miss Frederica van Uildriks, an intelligent teacher, of Gron-
ingen, Holland, whose notes, chiefly on educational matters, I shall have
occasion to cite in other parts of this chapter, writes me that “the Revue
des Deux Mondes has published some of Mrs. Bosboom Toussaint's novels,
and that others have appeared in German translations."-T. S.

164
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
some young female writers who, though not her equal in
mental vigor and erudition, have, nevertheless, powerfully
helped to combat the prejudice which would deny to
woman the development of all her intellectual faculties.
In 1856, Bertha von Marenholz, Countess of Bulow, a
noble and highly gifted soul, visited these parts to ac-
quaint us with the kindergarten system. She exhorted
us to be not only the physical, but also the moral and in-
tellectual, mothers of our offspring, so that, while pleading
for children's rights, she sowed seed for women's rights.
The advent of Bertha von Marenholz was an epoch in the
women's movement in Holland. A female lecturer was a
wonder in the Netherlands, and she spoke so well that
she commanded attention and disarmed prejudice. Her
eloquence, simplicity and earnestness beat a breach in the
thick walls of old Dutch conservatism concerning the
higher education of women. Blessed be her glorious
name among all those of our sex who desire our real
progress, and who seek its accomplishment in the right

way!
When this wise and lovable reformer left our country,
I felt that her prophet's mantle had fallen upon my
shoulders, and that I had henceforth to walk in her foot-
steps. I accepted the apostleship, and devoted myself to
the educational work which she had initiated. I was
therefore the first Dutch woman to mount the public plat-
form. I lectured in our principal cities, and called upon
women to improve themselves for their own and their
children's sakes. I projected a plan of a college for the
higher training of girls, which was laid before Queen
Sophia, the Premier, Thorbecke, and other eminent per-
sonages. I applied for aid in vain to all sorts of moneyed
organizations. But nobody seemed to share my enthusi-

HOLLAND.
165
asm.
I began to fear that my project would never be
realized, when the Universal Benevolent Society opened
at Arnheim the first girls' normal school. Although the
new institution fell far short of my own design, I felt
that it was a good beginning.
In the meantime, Mrs. Storm, a clergyman's widow,
who had spent several years in America, returned to us
with brilliant reports of the excellent education provided
for girls in the United States. She also delivered lect-
ures, telling what she had seen in the New World ; and,
although neither the first nor only person to describe to
us the schools of New York, she addressed herself more
to women and the general public than others who had
written on the same subject. Mrs. Storm urged us to
follow the example set by the United States and to found
industrial and high schools. We now have several indus-
trial schools for girls, weak institutions as yet, it is true,
and
very
inferior to those of America; but the experi-
ment has been tried, and that is something.
Twenty years ago nobody would have believed that
women could ever be apothecaries, watchmakers, clerks
in the post, railroad and the telegraph offices, and above
all physicians, and yet, to-day, they are found in rapidly
increasing numbers in all these callings. For the time
being we have but one female physician, Miss Aletta
Henriette Jacobs, who is practicing in Amsterdam, but
as she is meeting with marked success, others will soon
follow her example. * Several years ago the National
* The following extract from a letter which I received from Dr. Jacobs
in October, 1882, will be read with interest : “As my father was a phy-
sician, medicine always had a strong attraction for me. In 1871, at the age
of seventeen, I began my studies at the University of Groningen, after ob-
taining the necessary permission from the Prime Minister, Mr. Thorbecke,

166
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
School of Fine Arts was thrown open to both sexes, in
compliance with a request made to the Government by
some women. The male students were at first discon-
tented at the innovation, but to-day girls attend lectures
and work after living models in the studios of sculpture

who, by the way, added that this was only an experiment, so that, if I had
failed, it is probable that the four Dutch universities would be still shut
against women, and not frequented by female students pursuing various
branches, as is the case to-day. To tell the truth, it was a long time after
I took the first step in my present career, before I reflected upon its impor-
tance to other women. I attended the lectures without ever experiencing
any annoyance from either professors or students. In 1872 I passed my
propædentisch-examen, embracing physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, and
mathematics. Two years later, in April, I did the same for my candidaats-
examen,-physiology, anatomy, pathology, etc., and in October, 1876, for my
doctorraal-examen, which was of an almost totally theoretical nature. I then
went to Amsterdam, which, being a larger city, was preferable for the
practical part of my medical studies. In April, 1878, came my arts-examen
(conducted by a board of examiners appointed by Government), which con-
fers the privilege of practicing medicine, surgery and obstetrics. There now
remained but one more degree for me to take, that of doctor, which is given
by the universities, and which was the only medical degree in Holland prior
to 1867. I returned to Groningen, and in ten months' time had accom-
plished my object by successfully defending my thesis, “On the Localiza-
tion of Physiological and Pathological Symptoms in the Cerebrum " (Over
Localisatie van Physiologische en Pathologische Verschijnselen in de Groote
Hersenen). I immediately left for London, and visited daily, during several
months, the different gynecological and children's hospitals. On September
15, 1879, I established myself at Amsterdam for the treatment of the diseases
of women and children. I have no fault to find with my success, nor, if the
inevitable professional jealousy be excepted, with the conduct of my con-
frères. I have been admitted with the greatest complaisance to the Medical
Society and participate in all its meetings. The State and municipality ac-
cord me the same rights and impose upon me the same duties as in the case of
my fellow practitioners, and yet this same State and municipality treat me,
as in fact they do all women, as a minor ! Public opinion, it will be ob-
served, throws no obstacles in the way of my professional success, so that in
this respect my own land is in advance of every other European country.
Great progress in favor of bettering the position of women in State and

HOLLAND,
167
and drawing, with as great freedom as the young men.
Among other signs of progress, I may mention that a
few years ago an exhibition of female industry and art
was held at Leeuwarden, while reading-rooms for women
have been opened in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. *
The press being always hostile to our movement, wom-
en determined to have an organ of their own. Miss
Betsy Perk therefore founded and edited for two years
the
Our Vocation (Onze Roeping), a weekly journal which
was, however, overshadowed by another periodical in fa-
vor of women, Our Striving (Ons Streven), supported by
society has been especially noticeable in Holland during the past two or three
years." Although the law now allows women to be apothecaries and as-
sistant apothecaries,” says Miss Uildriks, “Miss A. M. Tobbe was re-
fused admission to the examination in 1865. In the following year this call.
ing was opened to women, and at the end of 1881 two hundred and sixteen
had passed the assistant apothecaries' examinations. The results of these
tests during the past two years prove that the female, are far superior to the
male, aspirants. The first and only woman up to the present date (October,
1882), to take the apothecary's degree, is Miss Charlotte Jacobs, one of the
sisters of our first physician. This occurred in 1880.”—T. S.
* It is only within a short time that the prejudice against women appear-
ing alone in public has begun to pass away. How was this change brought
about ? By women simply doing, while strictly adhering to propriety and
decorum, what society had been pleased to call improper. Their conduct
immediately received the approbation of our best men, who, by the way,
are not to blame if our sex does not enjoy in Holland all the liberty it de-
serves. The definition of the term womanly broadens every day, and when
society hesitates to give us what it is our right to have, our women associate
and establish for themselves organizations similar to those from which they
are excluded. This is the origin of the women's reading-room at Amster-
dam. To-day we may travel alone, may, if business requires it, take rooms
and receive our friends, dine at a restaurant or table d'hôte, etc., without
running the risk of losing our reputation. Our authoresses may now take
up any subject they please, although formerly moral themes and fiction-
even novel writing was considered eccentric-were alone thought proper for
a feminine pen.-E. A. H.

168
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
some clergymen. But both were too timid to live for any
length of time. Although Miss Perk's paper soon died,
it left behind an admirable creation, a women's society,
whose motto was “Work Ennobles” (Arbeid adelt), and
whose aim was the providing of poor gentlewomen with
home work; which was afterward sold in shops estab-
lished for the purpose. This beneficent institution is still in
existence. A third journal, The Housewife (De Huisvrouw),
edited by Mrs. Van Amstel, is, as its name indicates, devoted
more to domestic matters than to the general question of
women's rights, while Miss Alberdingh Thym, a young
author of considerable talent, has just begun, at Rotter-
dam, the publication of a periodical which addresses it-
self to our girls. Although these papers are not in every
respect all that one could wish, still it is a good sign that
we ourselves are creating our own mouthpieces in the
journalistic world. I should prefer to see them deal with
broader questions, and to have them more exclusively
the work of women, which could be easily the case, as the
number of female writers has greatly increased of late, and
their united efforts would be sufficient to carry on a solid
journal.
Some authors deserve a place in this essay.
Miss
Catharina van Rees, for example, is distinguished not
only for her literary productions, but also for her
highly developed musical talent. She has sketched the
lives of several great composers, in the form of novels,
which deserve a wider recognition than they can obtain in
the original language, and has written many admirable
pieces of music. Miss van Rees has also published im-
portant articles on art, and is the editor of a Collection of
Dutch Authoresses which brings out clearly the gifts of
many of our rising female writers. Among the latter is a

HOLLAND.
169
young woman who commenced her literary career at
twenty, and who, if she continues as she began, promises
to take a very honorable place in our literature. She is
known in letters by the pseudonym of A. S. C. Wallis, but
it would be no disgrace to her father, who is a professor of
philosophy at Utrecht, if she were to write under her own
name. Miss Emy de Leeuw is remarkable for her knowledge
of botany and her skill in rendering that science enjoya-
ble to women, which she has done in a very clever book
entitled “Letters of a Country Girl” (Brieven van een
Landmeisje). She is now the editor of a popular weekly,
The Swallow (De Zwaluw). But however rich in intel-
lectual women our country may be, their efforts are not
as yet sufficiently bent on universal interests and the im-
portant demands of the hour.
The tendency toward teaching has not only very much
increased among girls, especially since the establishment
of normal schools, but it has developed into a veritable
mania, which is encouraged with an almost superstitious
zeal by the parents, who seem to look upon pedagogy as
a sort of life insurance. But this notion is based on an
All women have neither the taste nor the ability
necessary to become good teachers, even if they succeed
in passing the very difficult examinations required by the
State. And furthermore the training is very one-sided :
the cramming of manuals, rather than a rational develop-
ment of all the mental faculties.
It was a long time before public opinion could be
brought to give girls the educational advantages enjoyed
by boys. But now the intermediate schools for girls are
increasing in our chief towns and we shall soon have a
population of educated women. Their instruction, how-
ever, will be imperfect, because to my mind too little at-
error.

170
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

tention is paid to the peculiarities of female character and
destiny. The course of studies is the same for both sexes,
but too much time is devoted to our three neighboring
languages, French, German and English, so that Greek
and Latin are neglected. In my whole life I have met
only three or four Dutch women who understood the
ancient classics. But I shall not be hypercritical: let us
rather be contented that at last a somewhat broader field
of culture has been opened to our sex.*
* In 1864 higher elementary instruction (middelbaar onderwys), was estab-
lished in Holland, and in 1876 there were in existence fifty-two higher ele-
mentary schools (middelbare scholen), for boys, and, although several similar
ones have been opened for girls, not one of the latter is supported by Gov-
ernment.
There was great opposition to these girls' schools among the
general public, and in the Lower House (Tweede Kamer) many members
predicted that grave evils would result from this conferring on women
more than an elementary education. Eighteen hundred and seventy is
an important date in this movement. In this year a majority of the
municipal council of Amsterdam refused to have a girls' middelbare school
in their town, and the Dutch press teemed with essays, pamphlets and news-
paper articles on the subject of the education of women. Dr. Vitringa,
rector of the gymnasium of Deventer; Dr. J. P. de Keyser, a clergyman
of Arnheim ; Marie Delsey, who wrote “Instruction, Education and Emanci-
pation of Women ” (Onderwys, Opvoeding en Emancipatie der Vrouw); Dr.
D. J. Steyn Parvé, inspector of middelbare schools and
schools and perhaps
the most earnest champion of the measure; and Dr. B. H. C. K. van
der Wyck, professor of philosophy at the University of Groningen, are a few
names selected from a long list of men and women who spoke out in favor
of the innovation. “If man and woman are mentally equal,” says the
last writer in his “ The Education of Women” (De Opvoeding der Vrouw),
" then we continually lose funds of immense value by not utilizing the fac-
ulties of the female sex.” The question of opening boys' middelbare schools
to girls in towns where no such schools exist for the latter is being agitated,
and meets with the approval, among others, of Dr. Vitringa and Dr. S. A.
Naber, professor at the University of Amsterdam. It was one of the sub-
jects discussed at the meeting of the Society of Middelbare Teachers held
in August, 1881. This discussion brought out the fact that since 1871 one
hundred and fifty-five girls have attended twenty-one of the fifty-four boys'

HOLLAND.
171
Dutch women have shown a considerable talent for the
fine arts. In painting I may
mention the names of Vos,
Haanen, Schwartze, Bisschop, Rooseboom, van der Sande
Bakhuyzen, van Bosse, etc., and in music, while I say
nothing of the professional artists, I must devote at least
a word to an amateur, Mrs. Amersfoort, who has distin-
guished herself by the composition of an oratorio and
some other fine works.*
The legal condition of women is the same in Holland as
in France: we are still subject to the evils of the Napoleonic
code.f The idea of women enjoying the same political rights
middelbare schools with none but the best results. The meeting decided in
favor of the proposition. Although some of the female teachers in these
schools are members of this society they rarely participate in its proceedings,
so that the example set by four of their number from Groningen, who
attended the assembly of 1881, might well be followed by all. At the be-
ginning of this note I gave an example of the half-hearted way in which the
Government aids the cause of girls' education. Here is one of many in-
stances of this same spirit in its treatment of female teachers : Article 25th,
of the law of 1878, concerning elementary instruction, states that women are
preferable to men in the lower classes of primary schools, and yet but one
governmental normal school, that at Nymegen, has as yet been established
for their training.–F. VAN U. Miss Haighton also pronounces co-educa-
tion in Holland a success. “Female scholars are admitted to our gymnasia,"
she says, "and I am told by some of the teachers that their presence has a
good effect on the behavior and industry of the boys.” Thus, one of the
chief arguments used in America by the friends of co-education finds its con-
firmation among the intelligent people of the Low Countries.—T. S.
* The School of Dramatic Art (Tooneelschool), established not long ago
at Amsterdam, is doing a good work in preparing women for the stage.
Mrs. Kleine, one of our best actresses, teaches at this institution, and
among its graduates who to-day occupy a high position in the theatrical
world may be mentioned Miss de Groot, Miss Poolman, and Miss Sab-
lairolles. Some of our other distinguished actresses are Miss Beersmans,
Mrs. Albregt, Mrs. de Vries, Miss van Biene, Mrs. de Graeff Verstraete,
Miss van Ryk and Mrs. van Offel-Kley.-F. VAN U.
+ The most noticeable example of legal progress we have to record is,

172
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
sons.
as men is as yet accepted by a very small number of per-
Our great female landed proprietors especially feel
their undignified position, for they signify less in the sight
of the law than the very peasants on their farms, who ex-
ercise the elective franchise, from which they are excluded.
They often think the distinction wrong and absurd, but
still lack the courage to demand a reform. Our women
are so little conscious of their gifts and powers that they
dare not form a society or found a philanthropic institu-
tion, without always choosing a man as president, secre-
tary or trustee. *

without doubt, the adoption of a new penal code by which adultery of any
kind on the part of the husband is sufficient ground for giving the wife a
legal divorce.-E. A. H.
* If Dutch women do not vote it is probably due in the main to the fact
that they have never earnestly asked for the right, for it is by no means sure
that female taxpayers might not vote under the present law. Every 45,000
inhabitants, which includes women, are entitled to a representative in the
Lower House. A few of our women do not hesitate to participate actively
in politics and social questions in so far as this is possible. The Union
(Unie), a society which aims to promote popular interest in politics by
meetings, discussions, tracts, etc. ; the Daybreak (Dageraad), a radical asso-
ciation which holds very ultra opinions on politics, religion and science, and
supports a magazine to which many scientific men contribute ; and the New
Malthusian Bond, an organization sufficiently explained by its name, all
count several women among their members.—E. A. H. In 1870 there ap-
peared at Leeuwarden an essay entitled “Equal Rights for All, by a Lady”
(Gelyk Recht voor Allen door eene Vrouw), which claims for women
not only better instruction, but more social freedom and the amelioration of
her legal status. “ The law seems to take it for granted,” we read on page
five, “ that women have no interest whatsoever in the political affairs of their
country, that they are indifferent as to the manner of raising the taxes, how
the public moneys are spent, what measures are taken to defend the
honor of the nation, or for the instruction of their children. The laws,
therefore, shut against them all the paths which lead to public life and do not
suffer them to have any voice in the election of their rulers.” But, as Dr. B.
D. H. Tellegen, professor at the University of Groningen, has well remarked
our customs are better than our laws.”—F. VAN U.

HOLLAND.
173
A tremendous obstacle to progress in Holland is the
strange perversity of the upper classes to cling to the old
traditions and customs. Instruction has made great ad-
vances during the last twenty years, and our schools can
now vie with those of any country. But who are bene-
fited by them ? The middle classes alone. The higher,
as well as the lower and poorer classes, use them but very
little. So long as education is not compulsory, there will
remain at the bottom of the social ladder a motley mass of
proletaries still groveling in darkness and ignorance, while
at the top, will be found a group of refined aristocrats
who take quite as little advantage of this State instruc-
tion-young ladies even less than young gentlemen.
The children of our best families are not sent to school,
nor are they taught at home by well-trained Dutch
tutors, but, for the sake of a proper pronunciation of the
modern languages, they are confided to the care of
foreigners, in many instances mere adventurers; to French,
German, English and Swiss governesses, with whom Hol-
land is plentifully stocked, and who finish the education
of the daughters of our oldest houses. Hence it is that
the most fanatical religious and political convictions
prevail in this stratum of society, for the aristocracy,
with some exceptions, are as bigoted to-day as in the
past, and hold fast to all sorts of clerical and social
prejudices. As soon as the new instruction penetrates
into this narrow circle, we shall hope to find there power-
ful friends of the women's movement, but until that day
arrives, all solid work, intellectual light and progress, will
continue to issue from the more liberal middle classes.*
* Holland is considered to be a Protestant country, although one-third of
the population is Roman Catholic. The aristocracy and the lower classes
are orthodox, while the middle classes, though liberal, still profess a belief.

174
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE,
I am sorry to have to confess that, as regards the
general emancipation of women, we have accomplished
but very little. * Our work is indirect: we can only pro-
claim the injustice of our position. This has been done
in an admirable way by our gifted writer, Catharina van
Rees, who, in the striking scenes of her novel, “From the
South” (Uit het Suiden), shows the unfairness of the
laws and public opinion in judging the moral transgres-
sions of the two sexes; how heavy the punishment
inflicted on the sinning woman, and how the equally
sinning man escapes without even a reprimand. Our
hopes are fixed on the coming generation, the fresh
troops who will carry on the old battle to victory.
We claim only our good right, our legitimate place in
the world, free scope for the complete development of
all our faculties. We wish to become cleverer, wiser and
better, in order to be able to respond more fully to our
vocation and destiny, so that, coming into a nobler and
purer relation with the other sex, man and woman may
the more successfully strive together to attain the ideal
of a perfect humanity.

Irreligiousness, however, is increasing daily, and great is the number of
men and women who never go to church. Our cleverest women become
more and more of the opinion that Calvinism is their worst enemy,—that
Calvinism which orders them to be weak and to submit absolutely to men.
They are discarding the old motto, “My weakness is my strength,” and are
accepting the opinion that the best people are those who possess moral and
intellectural force.-E. A. H.
* Among the members chosen by the Government to act on the jury on
painting at the International Exhibition of 1883, was Miss Schwartze, of
Amsterdam, who is mentioned on page 185. “Miss Schwartze is, we
believe," writes Mme. Henry Gréville, “ the first woman to form part of an
art jury in Europe.”-T. S.

AUSTRIA.
175
CHAPTER IV.
AUSTRIA.
BY JOHANNA LEITENBERGER.
1
[Mrs. Johanna Leitenberger was born at Prague, Bohemia, in 1818. She
published, at an early age, some lyric poems and prose essays which met
with a favorable reception. After her marriage, separate volumes in prose
and poetry began to appear, and an historical tragedy (Veronika von Tesch-
enitz) was played with great success at the two theatres of Gratz. Mrs.
Leitenberger edited the Women's Journal (Frauenblätter), devoted to the
progress and instruction of women, which was published for a year and a half
in this same city. In 1873 Mrs. Leitenberger traveled in Northern Italy and
Southern France, and gave in several newspapers an account of what she saw.
The next year she established herself at Salzburg, where she still resides, and
where were written a collection of tales (Lichtstralen) and some religious
poems (Schneeglöckchen). Mrs. Leitenberger is a contributor to many jour-
nals in both Austria and Germany.]
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY is composed of so many peoples of
different language and origin, that, although they are all un-
der one government, it is very difficult to give a precise ac-
count of this whole vast and varied agglomeration. Prince
Gortchakoff's famous remark, that Austria is not a state
but a government, is, perhaps, not wholly devoid of
truth. But the other races of the Empire are grouped
around the old German stock, which, in many respects,
stands at the head of civilization and progress.
This
sketch, therefore, will have to do chiefly with the
German women of Austria, for the women of the
other parts of the Empire, and especially those of Hun-

176
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

gary, have generally followed the lead of their German
sisters in all movements for the amelioration of woman's
condition. This preponderance of the Teutonic influence
in our society is brought out still more strongly by the
fact, that the position of the sex in state and family, and
the conduct of the government in regard to our interests
and rights, is, in all essential particulars, the same in the
Austrian Empire as in the German Empire.*
The women's movement in Austria has had two
phases: the economic and the educational. It is astonish-
ing what opposition the latter question has called forth,
especially among men. They have brought forward
every argument the most careful research could produce,
with which to combat the proposition to instruct women
and to prepare them for callings monopolized by the
other sex.
Learned professors have not hesitated to
assert the intellectual inferiority of women and to ex-
patiate on the weight and quality of their brains. But,
notwithstanding this resistance, great progress has been
made in the industrial and professional education of
women. Institutions for the preparation of women for
active employments are continually appearing everywhere
in Austria. In the front rank stands the Women's
Industrial Society (Frauen-Erwerb-Verein), which was
founded at Vienna in 1866, and which has grown every
year in usefulness and importance. In 1874 the Society
opened its school for the industrial training of women,
and workshops, art studios, schools of design, etc., soon
66
* Mrs. Schepeler-Lette, of Berlin, writes me: Austria, although politi-
cally separated from Germany, is so closely bound to her by the ties of a
common ancestry, that the history of the development of the women's move-
ment in the latter country would be incomplete, if the history of the same
movement in the former country were neglected."-T. S.

AUSTRIA.
177
followed. A class in lace-making is connected with the
school, and the children of the poor lace-makers of the
Erzgebirge, of Bohemia, are here taught gratuitously.
But the aim of the Society is not simply to train the
hand : it would also develop the intelligence of its pupils.
It has, therefore, established a commercial school, formed
classes in the French and English languages, and during
the winter season courses of lectures on various artistic
and scientific subjects are delivered under its auspices by
competent professors and scholars. Far more than a
thousand women have, during the past few years, enjoyed
the privileges of this admirable institution, of which
Mrs. Jeannette von Eitelberger is the president. Many
of the other principal cities of the Empire possess similar
societies.
The State participates in the good work and confers
honors on the friends of the movement. In 1875, for ex-
ample, the government founded at Salzburg a school of
trades, which contains a department for women who wish
to study certain of the arts applied to industry. Orders
of merit have been bestowed on Mrs. Jeannette von Eitel-
berger, whom I have just mentioned; Mrs. Emilie Bach,
who is at the head of the Vienna school of art embroidery ;
and Mrs. Johanna Bischiz, president of the united women's
societies of Buda-Pesth.
If now we turn to the general education of women,
we find that great progress has been made during the past
ten years, especially in Austria. The public and private
schools for girls are infinitely improved. The establish-
ment of girls' lyceums (Lyceen), which aim at the higher and
broader education of women and which cover almost the
same ground as the boys' gymnasiums, was a great step
in advance, although they are far from meeting all the de-
12

178
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE,
mands of the new era. Gratz has an excellent lyceum,
and the mayor's wife took an active part in its creation.
The normal schools for the training of female teachers
are of a superior order in many of the Austrian cities.
But they have turned out so large a number of pupils
during the past few years,
that
many young teachers, after
long months of waiting, are finally compelled to seek em-
ployment in private families.
Hungary also offers many signs of progress. The
country possesses some four hundred organizations whose
aim is the improvement of women's condition. A teacher
of South Hungary writes me: “Here, too, the women's
movement is a movement in advance, especially in the
department of industrial pursuits or employments. Pres-
burg, for example, has a society to encourage the employ-
ment of women. Many young girls of good family
prepare themselves for teachers, although there is an
oversupply in this profession, on account of the large num-
ber of Catholic sisters, who have of late invaded our
school-rooms. These ecclesiastic teachers have gained
possession of the girls' schools and kindergartens in every
city and important town of South Hungary. Many young
women, however, study the Fröbel system in the institu-
tions for the training of kindergarten teachers at Buda-
Pesth, Klausenburg and other places. Females also find
employment in the telegraphic and postal service and in
other departments of government. It is here that we
find the most marked progress in the amelioration of the
condition of Hungarian women.”
If we approach South Austria, we meet with a goodly
number of institutions for girls, as for instance at Lay-
bach, in Carniola, where females are not only employed
in the telegraphic and postal service, but are furnished


AUSTRIA.
179
the instruction necessary to fill these posts.* Girls may
obtain private instruction in the commercial school of this
same city. At Triest is a normal school which has been
recently converted into a girls' lyceum. Primary schools
for girls are found at Görtz, Fiume, and other cities in the
south, Institutions of a higher grade for the instruction
of women do not exist either in the maritime countries
or in Dalmatia.
The Society of Austrian Teachers and Governesses
(Verein der Lehrerinen und Erzieherinen in Oesterreich),
founded in 1870, takes care of the intellectual and mate-
rial interests of its members. Its work may be classed
under three heads: 1. Normal school and scientific in-
struction, 2. The spreading of rational ideas on female
education. 3. The aiding of needy members. These
objects are accomplished by lectures and discussions on
pedagogic and scientific themes, by the use of a library
and reading-room, by participation in teachers' meetings
and congresses, by the publication of the proceedings of
the society in the newspapers, by gratuitous information
to those seeking situations, by the setting apart of a
fund for the sick, etc., etc. The Society supports a
Home, which can at present accommodate eleven persons,
and offers to teachers and governesses, during their so-
journ at Vienna, a good, healthy, cheap boarding-house.
The Society organizes lotteries from time to time,
the prizes being various kinds of women's work.
The net proceeds of the lottery of 1881 were turned
over to the Home. This admirable organization is
* A recent law has, unfortunately, prohibited the further employment of
women in this field. Those already in the service may, however, remain.
The reason given for this unjust change is that the male telegraphists com-
plained that the females worked for too low wages –J. L.

I 80
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
under the able management of Mrs. Louise von Stahl-
Almásy.
There are many women's charitable societies at Vienna
and in the other Austrian cities. Among those at the
capital may be mentioned a society for the maintenance
of the widows and orphans of musicians (the Haydn),
which was founded some twelve years ago; an asylum for
homeless women(the Elizabethinum), under the protection
of the Empress, which, in the single month of February,
1882, came to the aid of 1,496 women and 407 children ;
an aid society whose aim is to instruct and train Jewish
girls for some trade; an asylum (Töchterheim) for the
orphan daughters of Government officials; a retreat for
poor and friendless women and girls (Frauenheim), which
was established in 1882; the Housekeepers' Society
(Hausfrauen-Verein), which has an intelligence office
and a shop for the sale of women's work; a society
(Gisela-Verein) under the patronage of the Archduchess
Gisela, eldest daughter of the Emperor, which gives a
dowry to poor marriageable young girls; and a women's
society for the training of domestics. The Vienna
Women's Charitable Society (Frauen-Woltätigkeits-Verein)
has brought about the creation of similar institutions in
many
other Austrian cities. The Rudolph Society (Ru-
dolf-Verein) has established at Vienna a school for the
training of female nurses, and in 1881 its students were
admitted to the clinics of the celebrated surgeon, Pro-
fessor Billroth.*

* The Baroness Kathinka von Rosen, a zealous friend of this school, pub-
lished in the autumn of 1881 a “Guide for Nurses of the Sick" (Leitfaden
für Krankenpflegerinen), which is rich in personal experiences in English
hospitals and in the military hospitals during the recent troubles between
Servia and Turkey, and Russia and Turkey.-J. L.

AUSTRIA,
181
20
2
9,460
The statistical report for 1881 furnishes the following
interesting information concerning the female population
of Vienna, and may be taken as a fair sample of the con-
dition of women throughout the empire generally:
Government employées...
Teachers ...
2,790
Authors and editors..
25
Actresses and musicians..
739
Painters and sculptors.....
53
Employees of the Board of Health...
5
Health officers..
870
Innkeepers.
133
Farmers.
4
Miners....
In industrial pursuits..
4,855
In business...
4,448
In banks...
14
Messengers.
116
Living on their incomes.
Living on pensions, and the like....
5,154
Heads of educational establishments.
32
Heads of charitable institutions..
19
In undefined callings.
31,518
Clerks .....
2,378
Day laborers..
Domestics..
75,238
That is, 187,249 women, out of 373,156--the female
population of Vienna—do something toward their own
support.
Although the doors of our universities are closed to
females, we possess many women who have pursued their
studies abroad and who have acquired a reputation for
their learning. Miss Rosa Welt, of Vienna, for example,
is a graduate of Bern. During the summer semester of
1879, she attended the lectures on ophthalmy of Professor
Mauthner, of Vienna, was admitted to the Rothschild
hospital, directed by Dr. Oser, and was at one time
49,376
182
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
mentioned as likely to become the assistant of Pro-
fessor Pfüger, of Bern, on diseases of the eye. The
wife of Dr. Kerschbaumer, who has an institute at
Salzburg for the cure of diseases of the eye, studied
medicine at Vienna, became her husband's assistant, and
now aids him in all operations and sometimes performs
them herself. The orientalist, Mrs. Camilla Ruzicka-
Ostoic, who has spent six years at the Imperial Academy
of Oriental Languages in Vienna, and has passed brilliant
examinations in Turkish, Russian and Arabic, received
from the Emperor a gold medal for her dictionary of
Turkish-German transcriptions, and from the King of
Bavaria the Ludwig's gold medal for art and science.
In 1881 she established at Vienna a private school for in-
struction in the Oriental tongues and gave free courses
of lectures to ladies on the Turkish language. Miss Sofie
von Torma has done some very good work recently in
the investigation of antiquities at Siebenbürgen. She
has a book almost ready for publication in French and
German, and has lectured on her discoveries. Professor
A. H. Sayce, of Oxford, and Dr. Schliemann, have both
spoken in high terms of Miss von Torma's excavations.*
Miss Emilie Hörschelmann has lectured with success to
women in Vienna on the history of art. Miss Amalie

* In a letter from Athens, which I received in October, 1882, Dr. Schlie-
mann says: “In commenting on my Trojan antiquities in 'Ilios,' I have con-
tinually pointed out the great similarity which exists between many of them
as compared to the antiquities found in Hungary, and in my mind there
can hardly be a doubt that in a remote prehistoric time Hungary was peo-
pled by a Thracian race, which, as it would appear by the signs brought to
light by Miss von Torma, also extended over Siebenbürgen. A lady who
excavates is a very rare thing, and such efforts as hers ought to be encouraged
and applauded by every archäologist. I twice mentioned her important
excavations on page 350 of my 'Ilios.' "-T.S.

AUSTRIA
183
Thilo, principal of an important girls' institute at the
capital, is well known for her lectures on pedagogics, that
on the great names in the history of education being
specially worthy of mention. In 1881 Miss Helene Drus-
kovich, Ph.D., spoke before a large audience under the
auspices of a Viennese society, and showed a large ac-
quaintance with the Italian and other foreign literatures.
Miss Susanna Rubinstein, Ph.D., has made a name both
at home and abroad by her lectures and philosophical
works. These are a few names selected from a long list
of women who have proved that intellectual power is in-
dependent of sex.*
* The number of women who have shown real talent in special studies is
much larger than is generally supposed. Every country furnishes examples
similar to those given in the text. The London Times (weekly edition,
January, 19, 1883) in a review of the “ Dictionary of Christian Biography,"
refers in these terms to the female contributors : “One, Miss Dunbar, of
Duffus, has very appropriately been intrusted with the account of a few
saintly women. The other, Mrs. Humphry Ward, has contributed a series
of learned and interesting articles on a subject which few scholars would
have been competent to treat.
* It will be only necessary to refer
to her article on Leovigild to see that she holds a distinguished place among
the contributors, not only in respect of her command of the learning con-
nected with her subject, but in point of independent judgment and literary
ability.
Here is another example which I find in the Journal
des Débats, September 26, 1880: In the sitting of Friday, September 24,
1880, of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, M. Le Blant
presented to the learned body, in the name of the Countess Lovatelli, a
notice on a marble crater found in 1875 in the vineyard of the old monastery
of St. Anthony on the Esquiline. “The author describes and interprets
the figures which ornament this monument,” said M. Le Blant, “and shows
that she is perfectly well acquainted with the monuments of art and with
Greek literature, whose original texts are familiar to her.” At the German
Anthropological Congress, held at Berlin in 1880, two or three women took
seats as members along side of such savants as Virchow and Schliemann.
Miss J. Mestorſ and Professor Virchow served together on one of the coni-
mittees.-T. S.
* "

184
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
etc.
I shall next take up the part which women play in the
fine arts in Austria. The theatre, especially during the
past few years, has become a veritable magnet for every
girl who feels that she possesses a particle of dramatic
talent. A large number of our actresses and singers are
famous abroad as well as at home. I may mention, for
example, Mrs. Amalie Friedrich Materna, the daughter of
a humble schoolmaster of Styria, who is to-day one of
the most renowned prima-donnas of Austria and Ger-
many; Mrs. Marie Wilt, Mrs. Ehnn, Miss Bianchi,
From the Imperial Theatre of Vienna I select the
names of Wolter, Hartman, Wessely and Hohenfels. Out-
side of the theatres, a large number of women devote them-
selves to vocal and instrumental music, a taste which is
greatly encouraged by the many musical societies scat-
tered all over the country. Women generally prefer the
piano, but the harp, zithern, the violin and harmonium
have their votaries. The number of female composers
is as yet small. In painting our women have made great
progress during the past few years, as is evidenced by the
art exhibitions which have occurred in various parts of
the country. There are very few female sculptors.
Many of our women devote themselves to scientific
literature and belles-lettres. Besides those already men-
tioned, I may cite Aglaja von Enderes, who has written
on natural history; Eufemia von Koudriaffsky, who died
in 1881, and who has often treated scientific subjects in
her essays ; Mrs. Elise Last, who published a few years
ago “ More Light” (Mehr Licht), an admirable exposition
of the teachings of Kant and Schopenhauer; and Mrs.
Charlotte Edle von Schickh, who also writes on philosoph-
ical subjects. Educational questions occupy the atten-
tion of many female authors. Austria has a large number

AUSTRIA.
185
of poetesses. Betty Paoli, the nom de plume of Elisa-
beth Glück, is distinguished for the strength and beauty of
her verse; the poetry of Margarethe Halm (Berta Maytner)
is full of originality ; and Ada Christen (Christine Freder-
ick) has published poems, dramas and novels. In lyric
and epic poetry are found the names of the Countess
Wilhelmine von Wickenburg-Almásy, Marie von Naj-
májer, a Hungarian by birth ; Caroline Bruch-Sinn,' the
Baroness von Kapri, the Baroness Josefine von Knorr,
Angelika von Hörman, Herma Cziglér von Eny-Vecse,
and Constanze Monter (Rosa Pontini). Among our novel-
ists are the Baroness von Ebner Eschenbach, Therese von
Hansgirg, Hermine Proschko, Mrs. von Weissenthurn,
and Louise Lecher. Ida Pfeiffer is a well-known writer
on travels. She twice circumnavigated the globe, visited
the countries of the north, Jerusalem and the island of
Madagascar, and described her voyages in a simple, clear,
and interesting manner. She died in 1858. Rosa von
Gerold has recently published a fascinating account of
an autumnal journey in Spain. Several very able works
on spiritualism are due to the pen of the Baroness Adelma
von Vay, née Countess Wurmbrand. Hedwig von Radics-
Kaltenbrunner and Harriet Grünewald have written
sketches, essays, etc., for different periodicals. Many
women have treated the various aspects of the woman
question. The poets, Rosa Barach and Henriette Auegg,
have written on this subject. The essays and poems of
Margarethe Halm are pervaded by a bold reformatory
spirit. The Hungarian author, Ida von Troll-Bor-
ostyáni, published a volume on this question a short time
ago, and Franzeska von Kapff-Essenther has handled the
same theme in a novel.*
* Heinrich Gross, professor of German literature in the German State

186
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Several newspapers are devoted to the different phases
of the women's movement in Austria. Some years ago
an ex-officer, Captain A. D. Korn, who, if I am not mis-
taken, had passed some time in England and America,
founded the Universal Women's Journal (Allgemeine
Frauen Zeitung). This newspaper was wholly devoted to
women's interests, but it soon died. The same thing is true
of the Women's Journal (Frauenblätter) of Gratz, which ap-
peared for a short time under the editorship of the writer
of this sketch. Mr. Karl Weiss (Karl Schrattenthal), who
is professor of German literature in the State college at
Deva, recently established at Vienna a paper bearing a
similar title (Frauenblätter), which suspended publication
after the third or fourth number.
On the 9th, joth, and 11th of October, 1872, the third
German Women's Convention (Deutsche Frauenkonferenz)
was held at Vienna, under the auspices of the General So-
ciety for Popular Education and the Amelioration of
Women's Condition (Allgemeine Verein für Volkserziehung
und Verbesserung des Frauenloses). The other two meetings
of this society had been held at Leipsic and Stuttgart. The
soul of this new movement was Captain Korn, whom I have
already mentioned. His study of the woman question in
the United States may have prompted him to awaken a
similar agitation among the women of the Austrian
Empire.* Addresses were delivered at this convention
by ladies from Vienna, Hungary, Bohemia and Styria, and

school at Triest, published in 1882 a work on German female poets and
authors. He is now (1883) engaged on an anthology of the female poets of
Germany.-J. L.
* Several years ago Captain Korn and his wife, who took an active part in
this convention, returned to Hungary, his native land, and I have never
heard of him since. I do not even know whether he is still living.-J. L.

AUSTRIA
187
all the various interests of women were discussed. The
author of this sketch read two essays-one on women's
work and wages, the other on the education of women, .
The convention decided to petition for certain reforms.
A resolution was adopted, amidst general applause, that
monuments ought to be erected at Vienna and Presburg
to the memory of the great Empress, Maria Theresa.
Another resolution called for the enactment of a law which
should assure women the same pay as men for the same
work. The proceedings of the convention attracted con-
siderable attention, and produced a favorable impression
on the audience, which was recruited from the better
classes of the population. But the newspapers of Vienna
ridiculed the young movement, its friends grew luke-
warm,
and every trace was soon lost of this first and last
Austrian Women's Rights Convention.
The legal position of women in Austria does not differ
essentially from what it is generally among Teutonic and
Latin nations. They are subordinated to men. A woman
of the nobility loses her title on marrying a commoner,
and her children cannot inherit it. If a woman lives five
years outside of her country without an official permit,
she becomes a foreigner. The married woman who has the
right to vote, must exercise the privilege through her
husband, but the widow and single woman may delegate
any man to represent them at the polls. *
To sum up the situation, we find that in the field of
labor the most crying need is the prompt and better sale
of women's handiwork. Although bazaars and lotteries
have been constantly employed for the purpose, there
* The subject of women's legal and political rights in the Empire is
treated at greater length in the chapter on Bohemia, in this work.-T. S.

188
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
still remains much to be done in this direction. Radical
innovations are needed in the system of women's instruc-
tion. The gymnasiums and universities should be opened
to them. But as a vast majority of men, public opinion
and a large number of women themselves are opposed, or
at least indifferent, to this question, much time, agitation
and popular enlightenment will be necessary to bring
about this very desirable reform. But the future is not
all darkness. I. H. von Kirchmann, the distinguished
author, in his recently published work entitled, “ Ques-
tions and Dangers of the Hour” (Zeit fragen und Abent-
euer), devotes a division of his volume to “Women in
the Past and Future," where he shows that the female sex
has been gradually gaining its freedom, and predicts that
the day is approaching when women will obtain their com-
plete independence and will compete with men in every
department of life, not excepting politics. Among our
educated women great interest is shown in this question,
but the female sex in general has never thought on it.
It is a great impediment to progress and reform that
Austria is composed of so many separate races, speaking
different languages and having dissimilar customs and
aims. The German, Hungarian, Slavonic and Italian
peoples, which make up the Empire, do not all think alike
and do not all work in unison. Thus, lack of interest on
the part of the great mass of our women, and want of
national unity in the Empire, are immense obstacles to
the triumph of our movement. But I feel convinced that
the day will come, when these races will unite in their
efforts to ameliorate woman's lot, however much the ways
and means employed to attain this end may vary, accord-
ing to the different qualities and characteristics of these
nations.


NORWAY.
189
CHAPTER V.
NORWAY.*
BY CAMILLA COLLETT.
66 As a
[Mrs. Camilla Collett is the sister of the great Norwegian poet, Henrik
Wergeland, and is herself one of the best known of Scandinavian writers.
Her principal theme has been the woman question, and she has treated it
with force, elevation, and, at the same time, with moderation.
poet," says Professor Dietrichson, of the University of Christiania, “she
has many charms and lofty ideas, and as a thinker her judgment is profound,
clear, and rich in penetrating analysis.” “The Bailiff's Daughters," a
novel which appeared in 1859, had a marked success, and has been translated
into Swedish and German. Mrs. Collett has also published many books of
travel, literary criticisms, stories, poetry, etc. She is a member of the order
of Lettris et Artibus, one of the few women on whom this honor has been
conferred. I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Collett personally during
her sojourn at Paris in the winter of 1881-2, and her tall figure—now bend-
ing under the weight of advancing years—and stately presence left an im-
pression which will not soon be effaced.]
It is almost incredible how imperfectly this woman
question is grasped, not only by the general public, but
even by many of the leaders of thought and culture. If
we consider the European women's movement, we will
readily perceive that the north lags the furthest behind.
In initiative measures the nations of the south are in-
* Norway is placed before the other two Scandinavian countries because
of the comparative estimate of the triad with which the sketch begins. If
they were to be arranged according to the progress made in the emancipa-
tion of women, Norway would fall to the rear and Sweden stand first,
followed by Denmark.-T. S.


190
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
variably in advance of us, and positive results are there
more easily observed. I venture to assert, however, that
while the northern, the Teutonic, mode of treating this
question is characteristic, and differs strongly from the
course pursued in the south among the Latin races, it in-
sures a solution which, if more tardy, will be more truth-
ful, more in harmony with the fundamental principles of
the subject. This question of women's rights is inex-
tricably intertwined with the moral history of mankind,
and strikes down into the very soul of social life. In these
depths we must fathom for its raison d'être, therein we find
the source of a world-wide wrong, thereon we must base
our claims, there seek the means for redress. This moral
victory won, the more material immunities will follow of
themselves.
An examination of the three Scandinavian peoples
presents many very striking differences.
Denmark, because of her more central position, is in
a much better way to obtain a happy and speedy solu-
tion of this woman question. Her population is more
closely massed, she has more life, more of that mobility
found in southern nations, and further, she is blest with
Grundtvigianism,* that “lucid and joyous, Christianity”
which does not throw obstacles in the way of progress,
but is rather auxiliary thereto.
But it is our neighbor Sweden which, although not en-
joying the advantages just mentioned, stands first among
northern states in the movement for the elevation of
* Nicolai Grundtvig, a man of high repute as poet and preacher, was
the founder of Grundtvigianism, which is essentially nothing else than pure
Protestantism, and is much too extensively diffused to be designated a mere
sect.-C. C. See the chapter on Denmark for further reference to this
school. -T. S.

NORWAY
191
women,
She early outstripped them in a more lively and
general interest in women's rights, and the result is that
to-day the country is blessed with many noble reforms in
this direction. This striking fact is unquestionably due
to the liberal sentiments which Swedish men entertain
for women themselves, as well as for the cause which
these women advocate. From early times the men of
Sweden have been considered to represent the specifically
chivalrous virtues of our northern climes, and if the
daughters of the land have not yet reaped the full bene-
fit of this inestimable national trait, now assuredly has the
harvest time come.
Norway remains to be treated—Norway of which I
have as yet not spoken, and of which it is so difficult to say
anything, for the simple reason that there is so little to
say. But what I do state shall be candid and true.
One step in advance has been the partial opening of
the university to women—the best thing that can be
said of Norway.* The right of married women to
1
* Miss Cecilie Thoresen, the first female student to matriculate at Chris-
tiania University, writing to me from Eidsvold, Norway, under date of De-
cember 29, 1882, says that it was in 1880 that she decided to try and take an
academic degree. Her father, therefore, applied to the Minister of Public
Instruction for the necessary authorization ; the latter referred the applica-
tion to the University authorities, who, in their turn, submitted the porten-
tous question to the Faculty of the Law School. In due season Miss Thore-
sen received this rather unsatisfactory response : “The admission of women
to the University is denied, but we recognize the necessity of changing the
law on this subject.” Thereupon, Mr. H. E. Berner, a prominent Radical
member of the Storthing, or Norwegian Parliament, introduced a bill per-
mitting women to pursue studies in the University leading to the degrees of
arts and philosophy (examen artium and examen philosophicum). The Com-
mittee reported unanimously in favor of the bill ; on March 30, 1882, it
passed without debate the Odelsthing, one of the two chambers of the Stor-
thing, with but one dissenting voice-that of a clergyman ; on April 21,

192
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
control their own property, for which both Danish
and Swedish women have so bravely battled, has
been denied us. The laws
laws of inheritance, which
dated from the time of
of Christian V. (1646–1699),
and which cut daughters off with half as much as

1882, it received the unanimous vote of the other house, the Lagthing; and
it became a law on June 15, 1882. A London illustrated paper, which
gives a picture representing Miss Thoresen's matriculation, describes the cere-
mony in these terms: “On the 8th of September last (1882) the hall of the
University was crowded to excess, when 260 students and their first female
colleague, who had passed a most successful examination, were present to
receive their matriculation. The body of the hall was occupied by the stu-
dents of 1832 and 1857, who were assembled in Christiania to celebrate
their fiftieth and twenty-fifth anniversary. The gallery was principally filled
with ladies, no doubt anxious to see this new champion of their sex on the
high road to learning and academical honors. The proceedings were opened
by a fine quartette, sung by a choir of senior students. After the inaugural
address by Professor L., M. B. Aubert, the President of the Collegiate
Council, the students advanced, one by one, to the rostrum to receive
their academical diplomas.
There was at this moment a gen-
eral bustle and a great deal of stretching of necks all over the hall to catch
a glimpse of the fair student, but no cheers or any other sign of sympathy
escaped her male colleagues. At an English university a most enthusiastic
reception would on a similar occasion undoubtedly have been awarded to
the fair one.
In the afternoon, however, a deputation from the students
waited upon Miss Thoresen to congratulate her, and to welcome her
amongst their ranks. She also received an invitation to the festival which
the students always give on the evening of the matriculation day, but this
is of such a wild and uproarious character that she very wisely excused
herself from being present. In the course of the evening her health was
proposed, and drank with the greatest enthusiasm.” In a letter from Mr.
Berner, dated Christiania, December 5, 1882, he writes me: “It is my in-
tention, next year perhaps, unless a similar move is made in other quarters,
to propose an amplification of the recent law, which will render it possible for
women to take the final university degree. It may be necessary to explain
that the law of June 15, 1882, permits them to aspire to only the first de-
grees. It was thought best to make haste slowly. Now these two degrees
do not confer any privileges, do not open any of the walks of life. It is

NORWAY.
193
their brothers, were repealed some time ago, but the
ghost of this half-heirship still survives in the habit of
paying women less than men, whether it concerns the
salary of an ordinary employment or the granting of a
Parliamentary pension.* We have two women's reading-
rooms, but I am acquainted with no other association.
We have no organ in the periodic press; we have no in-
fluence on legislation ; we take no part in political life.
only after passing this final examination that one may enter the civil service
of the state, be a judge, clergyman, principal of a high school, lawyer,
physician, etc. Such is the provision of the law of July 28, 1824. In
order, therefore, to place women on an equality with men, this law must be
changed, and the former admitted to this examination. I do not think this
proposition will encounter much opposition now that a beginning has been
made. We shall then see women competing with men for employment in
the civil service, a calling for which they are admirably fitted. It is a reform
of this description that I propose as the next step in the movement now
begun.”—T. S.
* Mr. Berner, in the letter already referred to, says: “But, while much
still remains to be done by legislation to improve the social position of
women, the education of public opinion concerning this woman question is of
even greater importance. The law reformer is powerless against popular
customs, which even destroy the force of existing laws. Thus we see how
custom in the last few centuries has annulled the truly liberal provisions of
our ancient jurisprudence regarding the rights of married women, and
authorized the husband, by the mere act of marriage, to take possession of
the wife's property, and to treat her as a minor. The tide is, however, now
happily turning again. Marriage contracts or settlements are becoming
more and more frequent, and although a bill concerning married women's
property, similar to the one which has recently become law in England, was
defeated in the Storthing this year (1882), yet the growing tendency towards
marriage contracts shows that almost the same end will be attained by this
It is scarcely necessary for me to add that I stand ever ready to do
what I can to advance the interests of women. In my opinion, there hardly
exists nowadays any other social problem which has a better claim on public
attention. Until women are placed on an equal footing with men, we shall
not have departed from the days of barbarism."-T. S.
means.
9

194
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Such is the sum and substance of woman's condition in
Norway. *
A word may be offered, however, in extenuation of the
humiliating figure which Norway makes in this great
movement for the elevation of women.
It should always be borne in mind that Norway is a

* Miss Mathilde Gasmann, a talented Norwegian artist living at Paris,
gives me these few notes which brighten a little Mrs. Collett's rather dark
picture. “The number of Norwegian women who are school teachers,”
says Miss Gasmann, “is proportionally very great. It is relatively but a few
years since women became teachers in the public and private schools for
boys, and consequently the state has not yet founded normal schools for their
training, although bills for this purpose have been laid before the Storthing
by the government. For several years we have had state industrial schools
for women, where the instruction is almost free. These schools are very
much frequented. The number of our literary women augments every year.
Public opinion has grown much more liberal as regards the part women may
play outside of the domestic circle. A few years ago, the fear of being called
a blue-stocking would have restrained many a woman from quitting the
narrow sphere to which nature was thought to have limited her. To-day,
however, women are frequently found discussing scientific subjects, lecturing
on literary topics, participating in congresses, etc.” Mr. Berner says on the
subject of education : “Our system of girls' high school education, which
has been so deplorably neglected, needs reforming. Such an improvement
might be obtained by adopting the American plan of opening the high
schools to both boys and girls. But the co-education of the sexes is admitted
in this country only in exceptional cases, and then only up to the age of
twelve or thirteen. This is a great mistake. It is as equally detrimental to
woman as to man, and consequently to the family and society in general, to
make education a means of isolation, a wall between the two sexes, holding
up to the one ideals and aims in life widely different from those which are
instilled into the minds of the other. Non schola sed vita ought to be the
governing principle of every educational system, or, as Gambetta very
truly
put it: 'To join hearts, you must begin by uniting minds' (pour unir
les caurs, il faut commencer par rapprocher les esprits '). It is, however,
rumored that the government has in course of preparation a bill for the
establishment of girls' gymnasiums similar to those already in existence for
boys.”—T. S.

NORWAY
195
laggard among nations, because she is the most iso-
lated of that triad of states called Scandinavia, both as
regards geographical position and political relations. Her
deliverance from Denmark, under whose yoke four long
centuries were passed in provincial stagnation, was not
accomplished until the second decade of the present
century. She had then much lost time to make good, ere
she could hope to cope with her sister countries, Sweden
and Denmark, and assume a distinctive place in general
European civilization. . It does not fall within the scope
of this sketch to trace the successive steps by which the
nation, favored by an admirable constitution, and the
gentle rule of the Bernadotte * dynasty, which brought
as it were a spark from the south to material only await-
ing ignition, has taken on a new life, and is to-day
thriving as never before. The effect is seen in every
department of our national activity. Art and literature
especially felt the change. Since 1814, the year of our
independence, the metropolis of Norway, from a small
starveling market-town of some eight thousand inhabit-
ants, has swelled into a stately city of nearly a hundred
and thirty thousand souls. The land was as a desert.
Many of our lordliest alp-tracts then lay unexplored, and
few there were who dared the break-neck adventure to
gain nearer acquaintance with them. In some rural dis-
tricts the dead were borne to the grave-yard bound on
horses. What has since been accomplished to facilitate
communication and to provide for the convenience and
* It is scarcely necessary to remind American readers that the founder of
the reigning house of Norway and Sweden was Napoleon's marshal, Berna-
dotte.
be said in passing, that Mrs. Collett's opinion of the Berna-
dotte dynasty as regards its treatment of Norway is not shared with her by
all Norwegians.-T. S.
It may

196
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
comfort of travelers throughout our wide-spread, strag.
gling territory, the annually increasing stream of native
and foreign tourists well know and fully appreciate.
The nation, therefore, has had, as I have already said,
much lost ground to recover in order to catch up
with our
restlessly advancing age. But as yet she has not had the
might nor the time to test all the questions, and to solve
all the problems, which this same restlessly advancing age
has brought forward in its career. Hence it is that all
which concerns woman and woman's place in society has
lingered pretty much in its former state.
Our over-
busy men have not yet found leisure to devote them-
selves to her.* Unfortunately' our women lack, in a
certain measure, that Danish vivacity and mobility which
might prompt them to rebel against this spirit of mascu-
line exclusiveness, which has become more and more pre-
dominant. Patiently, therefore, oh, how patiently! they
remain quiet, much like well-behaved children awaiting
their turn. The crushing character of our rocky mountains
and that isolation in which a great portion of our culti-

* There are a few exceptions to this statement, as has already been seen
in the indefatigable labors of Mr. Berner. Professor Lochmann, of the
Christiania Medical School, is also favorable to the enlargement of the
sphere of women's activity, and has recently pronounced, with the approba-
tion of the faculty, for their admission to the pharmaceutic examination.
“ Pharmacy is a field for which women seem peculiarly fitted,” he says ;
“I have no doubt that they would conscientiously and carefully prepare and
dispense medicines, and experience has shown that there are many advan-
tages in employing them in this department. They are indeed already
found there, and the general opinion is that they do their work satisfac-
torily. It would therefore be in the interest of society as well as that of
women themselves, to give an official stamp to their employment in this
profession, which could be very easily done by opening to them the phar-
macy school connected with the universitya"-T, S.

NORWAY.
197
vated people live and move, give a certain heaviness to our
women which develops ultimately into a passivity too
sluggish to will, too timorous to dare. There are parts of
my country where girls become women, and women
matrons, without ever having once heard the ominous
words, “women's rights.” And the religion of our land,
which least of all may be termed "the joyous Christi-
anity," does not hesitate to pronounce its yea and amen
to this dumb stress of self-renunciation.
What I have just said of our rural population is equally
true of the social life of our towns, where the absorption
of business and especially the turmoil of political strife,
which has begun to lift its Gorgon head in our heretofore
so peaceful and happy land, scarcely leave a moment for
the consideration of woman's interests. * It is still, as it
was before 1814, regarded unfeminine for one-half of
Norway to have any thing in common with the other
half. The ideal of womanhood is to be as little remarked
as possible, that is, not to leave the beaten path. If a
woman should venture an opinion or put a question in a
conversation among men
men on political topics, a polite
* Mr. Berner makes the following note on this sentence of the text :
«"The turmoil of political strife' has already done much for women, and
will surely do more. Our great national poets, Ibsen, and especially Björn-
stjerne Björnson, have exerted a great influence in liberalizing public opinion
in regard to the woman question. In his well-known ‘Lectures on the
Republic,' he makes this very true remark : 'The first thought, or perhaps
more correctly, the first deed in aid of women, will come from the republic.
With gratitude and hope women ought to unfurl the banner of republican-
ism.' Miss Frances Lord, of London, in the preface to the translation of
Ibsen's “Nora" (Ett Dukkehjem), literally, “A Doll's House,” gives an
interesting biographical notice of the author, which brings out clearly the
important part he has played in the European women's movement. This
work, which appeared in 1879, procured for Ibsen the title of “Woman's
Poet."-T. S.
»

198
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
response will of course be given, but it will be instinct-
ively addressed to the man at her side.
Years may pass away before any one shall remind us
that this cause exists. But that day must come, like the
February sun, so ardently awaited in our northern clime.
Coldly, weakly will fall those first rays into our shaded
valleys. But welcome, February sun! Blessings on thy
first, though feeble beam ! It is the harbinger of many
brighter ones to come.*

* The above sketch, although prepared for this volume, first appeared in
the Christiania Aftenposten, of February 8, 1882, in the form of a letter ad-
dressed to me. Mrs. Collett has since done me the great honor of publish-
ing, in the same journal, two other open letters on the woman question,
similarly addressed.-T. S.

SWEDEN
199
CHAPTER VI.
SWEDEN.
BY ROSALIE ULRICA OLIVECRONA.
[Mrs. Rosalie Ulrica Olivecrona (née Roos), born at Stockholm in 1823,
was educated at the Wallin School for Girls (mentioned in the following
essay), and was one of the first scholars of this pioneer institution for the
instruction of women. Miss Roos went to the United States in 1851, and
spent nearly four years as a teacher in South Carolina. During this period
she devoted much time to a favorite study, botany, and collected a herbarium
of American plants containing more than four hundred specimens. On her
homeward voyage she visited Havana and New Orleans, went up the Mis-
sissippi, stopped at several western and eastern cities, and admired the Mam-
moth Cave, that natural wonder, Niagara Falls, and the Catskill Mountains.
In 1857 Miss Roos married Dr. K. Olivecrona, one of the most distin-
guished jurisconsults of Scandinavia, then Professor of Law at the University
of Upsala, and named in 1868 a member of the Supreme Court (Ilögsta
Domstolen) of Sweden. Two years later 'Mrs. Olivecrona aided in the
foundation of the Home Review (Tidskrift för Hemmet), the women's
organ referred to at greater length in the following pages, to which she
has contributed numerous essays on social and educational questions, on
natural science, accounts of travel, biographies, stories and poetry. Mrs.
Olivecrona has also published a volume of poems (1851) and the “ Life and
Work of Mary Carpenter” (1877), of which an abridged edition has been
issued in French (Paris, 1880). Having taken the leading part in organ-
izing the Swedish department of women's work at the Vienna Interna-
tional Exhibition (1873), she prepared, at the request of the Swedish
commissioners, “ Notes on Women's Work in Sweden " (Weibliche Arbei-
ten, Schweden), which were annexed to the statistical reports edited by
them. These notes, revised and augmented for the subsequent great ex-
hibitions, have been translated into English (Philadelphia, 1876) and into

200
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE,
women.
French (Paris, 1878). By invitation of the Women's Centennial Committee
of the Philadelphia Exhibition, Mrs. Olivecrona prepared, after much time
*and labor, a lengthy account of women's share in Swedish charitable work.
The manuscript reached America in safety, but having been mislaid, a very
unsatisfactory abridgment of the original was drawn up at the last moment
and published as a supplement to the catalogue of charities conducted by
Mrs. Olivecrona is the contributor for Sweden to the pro-
posed "Encyclopedical and Biographical Dictionary of Celebrated Women”
(Dictionnaire encyclopédique et biographique des femmes célèbres), edited
by Miss Anne Marie Botteau, of Biarritz. She has taken part, as
a member, in the Dublin Social Science Congress (1861), the Interna-
tional Prehistoric Archäological Congresses of Copenhagen (1869), Brus-
sels (1872), Stockholm (1874), and Buda Pesth (1876), and the Stockholm
International Penitentiary Congress (1878), at which Dr. E. C. Wines pre-
sided, and to which Mrs. Olivecrona contributed a paper on the reformatory
work of Miss Carpenter. Mrs. Olivecrona's philanthropic labors have been
in connection with the Upsala Ladies' Society for Poor Infants (1861–1868),
the Stockholm Society for the Education of Idiots (since 1869), and the
Stockholm Society for Promoting Female Industry (1872). She moreover
founded the Ladies' Committee of the Red Cross (1871), the Bee. Hive
(Bikupan), or shop for the sale of women's work (1870), and took part in
the establishment of a Working Home for Idiots (1881). All of these in.
stitutions are at the capital.]

DURING the last twenty or thirty years an earnest
movement, aiming to extend women's sphere of thought
and action, has been manifest throughout all civilized
countries. Sweden early felt its influence, quickly caught
the spirit of the times, and made great progress in
the amelioration of the condition of its women. The
best evidences of this are found, on the one hand, in the
many educational institutions which have been estab-
lished for, or made accessible to, women; and, on the
other, in a greater readiness, on the part of both private
individuals and the State, to employ females.
The movement for improving the education of women
may be said to have been inaugurated by the establish-
ment of the Wallin School in 1831, through the efforts

SWEDEN.
201
1
of Professor A. Fryxell, the eminent historian, under the
patronage of the Archbishop of Sweden, J. O. Wallin.
The next step was the opening, in 1859, at Stockholm, of
Higher Classes for young ladies by some influential men,
who were eager to raise the level of female instruction.
The tuition, which was gratis, was given in the form
of lectures and private recitations, and embraced re-
ligious exercises, the natural sciences, mathematics, his-
tory, Swedish grammar and literature, French, hygiene,
and drawing; the scholars being at liberty, however, to
choose their subjects. This course of study was contin-
ued for three years, and, having met with great success,
it led to the foundation of the Royal Seminary for the
Training of Female Teachers (Kongl Seminariet för bil-
dande af lärarinnor), which was opened at Stockholm in
1861. Instruction at this institution is free; the curricu-
lum covers a period of three years, and embraces, besides
the branches already mentioned, geography, natural philos-
ophy, pedagogics, German and English. The number
of scholars admitted to the seminary since its beginning
is 523, of whom 348 have received a teacher's diploma.
Through the voluntary contributions of the pupils, a fund
has been raised, the interest of which creates three schol-
arships. The Royal Normal School was established on
the same premises in 1864, not only as a preparatory
school for the Seminary, but also with the object of
affording its students an opportunity of gaining some
practical insight into the art of teaching. This school is
much frequented, and, although the instruction is not
gratuitous, it admits fifteen free pupils and five for a lim-
ited fee.
Including the Seminary and the Wallin School, there
are altogether in the metropolis eight high schools

202
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
women
for young women, with a total number of 1,800 pupils
and 250 teachers.* Though they all aim to offer to
a good and thorough education, they are
conducted on somewhat different principles — one ad-
mitting more liberty in the choice of studies and
allowing the subjects to be independent of each
other; another keeping more strictly to the regular
courses. Two of them, the Wallin School and the
girls' Lyceum, have added gymnasium classes to their.
curriculum, where the pupils are prepared for the
matriculation examination,t which authorizes them to
pursue their studies at the two universities (Upsala and
Lund) of the kingdom. Besides these eight institutions,
Stockholm has a great many schools on a smaller scale,
which offer good educational advantages.
Even in the provinces, much has been done of late
to promote female education. Gottenburg has six girls'
high schools, the most important of which was founded
in 1867 by an association, the funds collected for that pur-
pose amounting to 35,000 crowns.Upsala has three very
good schools, and there is, in fact, at the present time
(1883) no provincial town of note which has not one or
more high schools due to private munificence, or sup-
ported by the community. Most of them are in charge
of graduates of the Royal Seminary at Stockholm, which
is thus extending its beneficial influence all over the king-
years
* In 1881, Stockholm had a population of 176,745.—R. O.
+ No student is allowed to matriculate at either of the Swedish universi-
ties without having previously passed a preliminary examination, called the
students' examination, showing his competency to pursue university studies.
-R. O. This is also the American and English system, but is not adopted
in many continental countries. The word “gymnasium " in this sentence
is employed in the sense of high school.-T. S.
† A Swedish crown equals about 27 cents.-T. S.
1

SWEDEN.
203
dom. Several good and well-organized boarding-schools
are also to be found in the country. Notwithstanding
the many efforts that have been made to procure for girls
the same educational advantages which boys have long
enjoyed-gratuitous instruction in schools established
by the State--they have as yet met with only par-
tial success. At the meeting of the Diet in 1873, the
government asked for a grant with which to establish
high schools for girls in four provincial towns, but the
request was negatived. However, 30,000 crowns were
voted to support private schools already in existence.
This appropriation has gradually increased to 70,000
crowns, and makes it possible to furnish free tuition to
many scholars in straitened circumstances.
Besides the institutions already mentioned, there are
Courses of Lectures for young women who desire to pur-
sue advanced special studies. The Classes for the higher
education of women, established by Miss Jenny Ros-
sander in 1865, have proved quite useful in this respect,
enabling even young female teachers to supply defects
in their education. More than a thousand women have
profited by them. Owing to divers circumstances, these
classes have lately been discontinued, but others are
springing up in their place, and in some of the schools
above mentioned, advanced classes have been established
for those students who wish to continue one or more
special branches.
In 1870 women were admitted to the universities, and
in 1873 they were allowed to take the same academic
degrees in arts and medicine as male students. Upwards
of fifty young women-twelve in the single year of 1883
--have passed creditably the matriculation examination.
Only a limited number have, however, pursued studies at

204
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
the universities, and still fewer taken academic degrees.*
One of the latter is a teacher in a boys' school at Stockholm.
At present (January, 1883) there are four female students
in Upsala, all belonging to the philosophical or arts fac-
ulty;ť two in Lund studying medicine, and one in the
Stockholm Medical School (Carolinska Institutet). It is
with satisfaction I add that they are treated with perfect
deference by their fellow-students of the other sex. There
are three scholarships for female students, all founded by
private persons—viz., one at the University of Upsala,
another at the University of Lund, and the third at the
Medical School in Stockholm.
In 1867 a course of instruction for the training of nurses
for the sick was opened at the University Hospital in
Upsala, under the superintendence of a lady who had gone
through the Nightingale Institution for the training of
nurses at St. Thomas's Hospital in London. Several
women have followed this course in order to fit them-
selves for the position of matrons in hospitals and in-
firmaries. Similar courses were organized in 1877 in Got-
* This is doubtless due in part to the fact that it is a novelty and that the
practical advantages do not as yet correspond to the exertion. The number
of students and graduates is, however, steadily increasing.-R. O.
+ One of them, Miss Ellen Fries, took, in the spring of 1883, the degree
of doctor of philosophy, and defended her thesis, which treated of the
diplomatic transactions between Sweden and the Low Countries during the
reign of Charles X., in an able and spirited manner before a large audience.
Some days after, the graduating ceremony (capping, as it is called in En-
land) took place with customary solemnity, and Miss Fries received her
diploma and the laural crown, the insignia of her new dignity. She was
accompanied home by her fellow-graduates, a delegation of students offered
her a magnificent banquet and the choir of the musical society gave her a
beautiful serenade. About the same time another of the female students
passed the examination of candidate of philosophy, which is preliminary to
the doctorate.-R. O.

SWEDEN.
205
:)
tenburg, and in 1882 in Stockholm. In the hospital
belonging to the Deaconesses' Institute, which was estab-
lished at Stockholm in 1851, and accommodates upwards
of fifty patients, all the attendance is performed by
“deaconesses with the assistance of one physician, and
most of the medicine used is prepared by them. A
school for poor children, a home for destitute children, a
reformatory for women, a reformatory school for girls,
and a school for the training of maid servants, owe also
their existence to this institution.
Women have had access to the Royal Academy of Mu-
sic, at Stockholm, since 1854; in fact there are instances
of their having been admitted as early as 1795 and 1821,
though this permission was afterwards withdrawn. The
instruction is given by professors of both sexes. Many
women profit by this privilege and pursue musical studies
with success. For instance, the examination for organ-
ists, including harmony, singing, playing of the organ and
piano, has been passed with credit by a large number of
female students. The examination for musical director,*
which covers a period of five years' study, and which in-
cludes, besides the subjects already mentioned, counter-
point, the history and ästhetics of music, instrumentation,
the piano, violin and violoncello, was passed some years
ago by Miss Amanda Maier, who also obtained the best
certificate for the organ.
The Swedish capital contains many special schools
which are frequented by women. The Royal Academy
of Fine Arts was, in 1864, made accessible to female stu-
dents, but the number being limited to twenty-five, many
* The passing of this examination is preliminary to the competitive
examination for several posts, such as leaders of orchestras, of military
bands, teachers at the university, etc.-R. O.

206
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
aspirants are annually turned away. The Industrial
School was first opened to women in 1854. About 800,
of whom a large proportion pursue technical studies, at-
tend yearly this institution, and are allowed to compete
for prizes. The telegraphic school, founded by the Gov-
ernment, has many female pupils. There are more than
a dozen commercial and calligraphic institutes which ad-
mit them. Several are conducted by ladies. The Royal
Central Gymnasium is open to women who desire to teach
or study gymnastics. As early as 1820 female pupils were
admitted to this institution, and about 1864 a regular
course of training was established for women. More
than one hundred have obtained diplomas and gain their
livelihood as teachers of gymnastics.
Stockholm, Gottenburg and Lund have each a lying-
in hospital for training in midwifery. The instruction
is free, and includes obstetrics with and without instru-
ments, the nursing of children, etc. The number of women
who pursue the complete study of instrumental obstetrics
increases yearly, as they are more entitled to public con-
fidence, and are consequently in greater demand. Swed-
ish midwives were allowed the use of instruments as early
as 1829, and experience has shown the wisdom of this
measure, for to this may be ascribed the slight mortality
in childbirth. The number of practicing midwives in
Sweden is upwards of 2,200.
I now turn from higher and special instruction to the
subject of elementary and popular instruction. Sweden
has five normal schools for primary school mistresses,
which are much frequented. To these were added, in 1867,
classes for teachers of infant and children's schools, where
future school mistresses may have the opportunity of ac-
quiring the art of teaching. There are also twenty-four

SWEDEN.
207
normal schools devoted entirely to the training of teachers
for infant schools. Primary schools for boys and girls are
found everywhere in the country as well as in the cities.
They are counted by thousands, and are of three kinds :
stationary schools, of which there are about 3,600; am-
bulatory schools, about 862; and infant schools, about
4,300. Since 1870 have been established high schools for
young peasants, which furnish more advanced instruction
than that given in the primary schools. In nine among
them there are also classes for girls, and the pupils—
about two hundred in number—are especially educated
with the view of becoming good housewives. Industrial
and sewing schools for poor children, where instruction is
given gratuitously in spinning, weaving, sewing, etc., are
very common in the country as well as in towns. In
Stockholm there are four institutions for the training of
maid servants, the oldest being the Murbäck Institute,
which was founded in 1747. Similar ones are also found
at Gottenburg and other cities. All over the kingdom
numerous children's homes are met with. Among the
earliest establishments of this kind is the one founded by
the Princess Eugénie in the Island of Gothland, near her
summer residence. The children are received at an early
age, pursue the same studies as in the primary schools,
and are taught in addition needlework and domestic em-
ployments.
I shall complete this long list by a brief mention of
three other classes of schools. Sweden possesses several
dairy schools, especially at the agricultural institutes,
where women are taught the management of farms and
dairies, the care of cattle, etc. The State grants annually
3,000 crowns for this purpose.
It is not an uncommon
thing in Sweden for women to take charge of the dairy

208
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

cattle on a farm as well as to do the indoor work of the
dairy. Sunday schools, where religious instruction is
given to poor children, and mending schools, where poor
girls are taught to repair their clothing properly, are
thickly scattered throughout the kingdom, and are under
the charge of young ladies.
Swedish women themselves have been unsparing in
their efforts to procure for their sex the advantages of a
good education, and it is in a large measure due to their
perseverance that many of the above mentioned schools
have been founded or made accessible to female pupils.
The Home Review (Tidskrift för Hemmet) is also an im-
portant factor in this grand result. This periodical, which
has always been a warm and energetic advocate of women's
interests, was founded, in 1859, by Lady Sophie Leijon-
hufoud, at present the Baroness Adlersparre, and by the
author of this sketch. It was started anonymously, but
having attracted public attention, the identity of the edit-
ors could no longer be concealed. During the first years
the editors were almost entirely thrown on their own re-
sources, but gradually they enlisted the co-operation of
many able writers, both male and female. After an
existence of a quarter of a century, it may be said that
this review has done a good work, for to it is unquestion-
ably due much of the progress which has been made
in the educational and social position of Swedish women.*
The author of this sketch retired from the editorship
of the Review after the lapse of nine years, but she
has never ceased to contribute to its pages. The
Baroness Adlersparre then became sole editor, a posi-
* Mrs. Olivecrona might have gone farther and said that this periodical
and the group of liberals who supported it exerted an influence throughout
all Scandinavia. See the chapter on Denmark which follows.-T. S.

SWEDEN.
209
tion which she still fills with great talent and untir-
ing energy Besides her literary work, the Baroness
Adlersparre has been active in promoting reforms in the
condition of her sex in other directions. Thus she estab-
lished, in 1869, the copying office, which threw open a
vast field of labor to women who there find remunerative
work in copying and translating. In 1874 she founded the
association of the friends of women's domestic industry,
and through her exertions the first school for the training
of nurses was organized, in 1867, at the university hospi-
tal in Upsala. To her efforts is also due the Ladies'
Reading Room at Stockholm, which has been in exist-
ence since 1867, and whose object is not only to diffuse a
taste for good reading, but also to put it within the reach
of persons with limited means.
The Home Review does not offer the only instance in
Sweden of the participation of women in periodical litera-
ture. Our magazines and newspapers count many able
female writers among their contributors, and a number
of women have successfully filled the post of editor. We
have, also talented authoresses, among whom none are
more worthy of remembrance and honor than Mrs. Lenn-
gren (1754-1817), whose poetry is unsurpassed in humor
and elegant versification; Freddrika Bremer (1801–1866),
known and beloved throughout the civilized world; the
Baroness von Knorring, Mrs. Emily Carlén, Mrs. M. S.
Schwartz, and Mrs. J. Wettergrund.
The fine arts are much cultivated by Swedish women.
Music is studied with predilection, as is evidenced by the
many far-famed Swedish singers, as, for example, Jenny
Lind, Louise Michaëli (1830–1875), and Christina Nilsson,
and by the large part that this accomplishment holds in
the general system of education. We have some female

210
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

composers of vocal music, and for the violin, piano and
orchestra. One of the harpists in the orchestra of the
opera
is a lady.
The first Swedish woman in this century who dis-
tinguished herself as a painter was Sophie Adlersparre
(1808–1862), sister-in-law of the Baroness Adlersparre.
Many of the difficulties against which she had to
struggle have gradually been removed, and female artists
occupy to-day a respected position. Several of them,
such as Amalia Lindegren, Agnes Börjeson, Josefine
Holmlund, Sophia Ribbing, and Adelaide Leuhusen,
are known and admired even beyond the limits of their
native land. Sculpture, the noblest and most difficult
of the fine arts, is also cultivated by some female
amateurs, among whom a member of our royal family,
the Princess Eugénie, holds an eminent place. Mrs. Lea
Ahlborn has been engaged, since 1853, as engraver of
medals in the royal mint at Stockholm, and enjoys a high
reputation in this vocation. At the Royal Academy of
Sciences women are often employed to draw and paint
Swedish plants for scientific purposes, and since 1860
female designers have been engaged in the archives of
Swedish maps. Wood carving is executed by women
with skill and taste. Sophia Isberg (1819–1875), one of
the first among these artists, was the daughter of a poor
tailor. She had great natural talent, although it was
never duly cultivated. Her workmanship was, however,
distinguished for great variety of ideas, often historical,
and also for an elaborate execution. She received prizes
at exhibitions in Stockholm, Gottenburg, Paris, London,
and Vienna. Several of our best photographers are
women, and xylography, lithography and engraving af-
ford employment to many female artists.

SWEDEN.
2II
The legislative power has co-operated with the advo-
cates of woman's emancipation, not only in increasing the
opportunities for obtaining instruction, but also in pro-
viding new means of self-support, all the more neces-
sary since machinery has deprived women of many
kinds of work formerly performed by them. Thus, to
cite a few examples, the following laws have succes-
sively conferred on Swedish women new rights. In 1845
equality of inheritance for son and daughter was estab-
lished and the wife was given the same rights as the hus-
band to the common property.* In 1846 women were
granted the right to practice industrial professions and to
carry on business in their own name. In 1853 and in 1859
laws were passed enabling them to be teachers in the
primary schools. In 1858 they were allowed to claim
their majority at twenty-five, if they found it desirable—a
proviso which was removed in 1863, when they were un-
conditionally declared of age at twenty-five. In 1861 they
were permitted to compete for the situation of organist in
the State church and to practice surgery and dentistry on
producing proofs of competency. In 1863 minor posi-
tions in the postal and telegraphic service were, with cer-
tain restrictions, opened to them. In 1864 their rights in
trade and industrial pursuits were enlarged. In 1870
they were admitted to the universities after having passed
* As soon as the marriage ceremony is performed the property of husband
and wife is united, and each party has an equal share in it. The mere act of
marriage renders the property of both parties common, with the exception
of inherited landed property. At the death of one of them it is divided
into two parts, the one devolving on the surviving spouse, the other on the
heirs of the deceased. Country real estate is not included in this division.
The landed property, inherited either by husband or wiſe, goes to the
children, if there be any. If there are none, it descends to the next heir of
the deceased. R. O.
1


2 1 2
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
the students' or entrance examination, and to the medical
profession, after having produced requisite proofs of
ability. In 1872 women of twenty-five obtained full
power to dispose of themselves in marriage (the father's,
brother's, or relative's consent having heretofore been
necessary).* And in 1874 married women became entitled
to manage that part of their private property set aside
for their personal use in the marriage contract, and to
control their own earnings.
The civil law of Sweden is in many respects more
liberal than that of other countries in its treatment of
married women, not only allowing them equal rights with
their husband to the common property but conferring on
them at his death one-half of this property, with the ex-
ception of the country real estate inherited by him. This
law has long been in use, but just and judicious though it
be, it has, however, proved impotent to protect married
women from the evil consequences resulting from the hus-
band's mismanagement of the common property or from
his spendthrift habits. To remedy this, a society for pro-
tecting married women's private property was formed
in 1871 by Mrs. E. Anckarsvärd and Mrs. Anna Hierta-
Retzius. This society aims at procuring for a married
woman the lawful right of administering and disposing
of her own private property, whether inherited or ac-
quired, so that it may not be lost by the maladministra-
tion of the husband or seized to pay his debts. A sum
of 3,000 crowns is awarded as prizes for the best essays
on a projected law for this purpose.t
* The nobility held out longer. It was not until March 14, 1880, that a
resolution was passed at a meeting of noblemen yielding the privilege of act.
ing as sponsors for their own daughters.—R. O.
+ This society would secure for Sweden a law similar to that which went

SWEDEN.
213
The efforts to enlarge the field of women's work have
also secured the co-operation of the general public. Many
females now find employment in professions formerly
only open to males, as, for example, clerkships in private
and savings banks, in joint-stock and insurance companies,
in business and railroad offices. Almost all the larger
shops have female cashiers. There are instances of
women acting as superintendents of branch departments
of private banks, and in one town the treasurer is a lady.
The engagement of women in these callings is continually
gaining ground. In 1880 there were 5,892 business
women in Sweden, 3,101 of whom were in business on
their own account. In this same year more than 1,900
were engaged in industrial pursuits, 650 of whom were
owners of factories and workshops. During the past few
years almost all trades and industries have been opened
to women. Even in mechanics they are not wholly
without representatives. Some very ingenious machines,
an apparatus for tuning organs and harmoniums, an im-
provement on Grover & Baker's sewing machine, a con-
trivance for making nets, the patent of which Norway has
bought for a considerable sum, bespeak female inventive
genius.* Many women are watchmakers, one having even
into effect in England on January 1, 1883. The Swedish wife, however, is
in a very different position from the English wife, for the former has equal
rights with the husband as regards the common property, though not equal
control over it.-R. O.
* “Women are accorded every talent except that of inventing. This is the
opinion of Voltaire, one of the men who has been the most just to women
and who knew them best. But, however, if men capable of inventing were
alone to have a place in the world, there would be many a vacant one even in
the academies." --Condorcet's Works, vol. ix., pp. 18, 19. In 1872 the
French Academy of Sciences awarded Miss Caroline Garcin a prize for the
invention of an automatic sewing machine.--Leroy-Beaulieu's “Women's
Work in the Nineteenth Century," p. 461. Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage, in an

214
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

are women.
received a prize at a London exhibition. Two sisters are
successful as goldsmiths in Stockholm. There are female
shoemakers, lace-makers, glovers, bookbinders, japanners,
mother-of-pearl workers, rope-makers, glaziers, hatters,
comb-makers, painters, turners, upholsterers, confectioners
and bakers, who carry on these various trades on their
own account. Most of the weavers employed in factories
There are female type-setters, and some
printing offices are owned and managed by women. At
the china manufactories of Gustafsberg & Rörstrand a
great deal of the work, particularly modeling and enamel
painting, is performed by women. From Dalarne, one of
the northern provinces, we get many clever female gar-
deners.
Among the many efforts of women to be of service to
their own sex, I shall cite but two or three examples.
The Governesses' Mutual Annuity Fund, founded in 1855
by Miss Deland, aims to provide a small annual income
to aged lady teachers. At fifty-five the shareholders
receive an annuity of nine per cent. on the paid invest-
ments, which have increased by the adding of the interest
to the capital, and by the acquisition of the investments of
contributors who have died before the prescribed age. On
January 1, 1882, the capital of this society amounted to
190,713 crowns. The institution is entirely managed by
women, the board of trustees consisting of nine ladies.
For the disposal of such products of female workmanship
as do not generally belong to the industrial market, a
salesroom, called the “Bee Hive,” was opened at Stock-
holm in 1870, under the patronage of several ladies. This
interesting little pamphlet entitled “Woman as Inventor,” removes what-
ever misgivings the two greatest philosophers of the eighteenth century may
have entertained concerning woman's inventive genius.-T.S.

SWEDEN.
215
effort to assist females in straitened circumstances, by
affording them an opportunity to dispose of their work
profitably, has proved highly successful. During the
twelve
years of its existence, the Bee Hive has sold
goods to the amount of 218,000 crowns. Similar estab-
lishments have sprung up in several provincial cities.
The third example is the women's societies which dis-
tribute among the poor, who cannot otherwise find em-
ployment, spinning, weaving, knitting and sewing work.
Among the many benevolent societies and charitable
institutions for the aid of suffering womanhood may be
mentioned the Society for the Relief of the Poor, at Stock-
holm, founded and patronized by the Queen; societies for
the promotion of female industry, created by the late
Queen-Mother ;* the Lotten Wennberg's Fund for the
destitute, founded by the late Queen Louisa † in memory
of the philanthropist Miss Lotten Wennberg (1815–1864),
whose life was devoted to the needy and unfortunate of
the capital; the Friends of Poor Children, a society under
the patronage of the Princess Eugénie £; the Patriotic
Association, which originated with the late Queen Louisa,
and aims to induce the working classes to provide against
old
age and times of need by making small investments in
insurance companies; the Home for Released Female
Prisoners, established in 1860 by the present Queen & with
the view of assisting women punished for crime to reform
and redeem their character; the Crown-Princess Louisa's
Hospital,| for sick children ; a Home for poor elderly
Josephine, consort of King Oscar I., deceased 1876.—R. O.
+ Consort of Charles XV., died 1871.-R. O.
# Daughter of King Oscar II.-R. O.
& Sophie, princess of Nassau.-R. O.
| It was founded under the patronage of Queen Louisa, while still crown-
princess.-R. O.
1

216
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
ladies, quite a magnificent establishment, founded and
endowed in 1873 by the late Queen-Mother, Josephine,
in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of her ar-
rival in Sweden, and dedicated to the memory of King
Oscar I., her late consort; another Home, with the same
end, due to the exertions of Countess von Schwerin, and
liberally endowed by Freddrika Bremer, has been in ex-
istence since 1862; a Deaf and Dumb Asylum, established
in Stockholm in 1861, and an Asylum for Idiots (the
first of its kind in Sweden) in the country, dating from
1866, owe their origin to women of small means and
modest position; a temporary Home for maid-servants
in want of employment, opened in 1877, and a Home for
incurable children, established in 1881, both due to the
untiring exertions of the Princess Eugénie, who entirely
devotes her life and means to benefit suffering humanity.
There is in Sweden a society based on the same princi-
ples as the British and Continental Federation, and with
the same end in view. It has both male and female mem-
bers, the latter being particularly zealous to promote
the cause they have embraced. To their efforts are
thus due several institutions whose object is either
the rescue of those of their own sex who have already
been led astray, or the prevention of sin and misery, by
providing work for unprotected and destitute females.
In connection with the former I may mention the Home
for Destitute Women, established at Stockholm in 1881 by
Mrs. Andersson-Meijerhelm, where many women find shel-
ter, food, work, and even clothing, and, upon leaving, are
provided with good places or remunerative employment.
The objects of this association are also embodied in the
temporary Home for young girls who are out of work,
which was opened at Stockholm, in 1881, by Miss Nord-

SWEDEN.
217
vall, a fund for giving assistance or loans to needy females,
and several register-offices for working women, where ad-
dresses and references are left, and where employers may
apply when in need of hands. In the spring of this year
(1883) a bazar was held at the capital in behalf of a
Home for aged maid-servants. There are many more
associations and institutions in the varied fields of philan-
thropy, due to the benevolence and energy of women, but
the above mentioned may be considered as fair speci-
mens.
The domestic industry of the peasant women consists
chiefly in spinning and weaving for family use. In the north
of Sweden, however, where the soil is favorable to the cul-
tivation of flax, there is an extensive linen industry; the
linen there manufactured by hand forms an important
article of internal commerce. In one of the central prov-
inces, yarn and textile fabrics of undyed wool are pro-
duced in considerable quantities, and the women of that
region travel about offering their wares for sale. In
another of the central provinces, white and colored stuffs
of cotton and wool are manufactured by hand in the peas-
ant homes. This industry is very general. Contractors,
as a rule wealthy peasants, furnish the raw material, pay
small wages for the work, and the goods are carried all
over the kingdom by peddlers. Knitting also forms a
part of domestic industry. The peasant women knit not
only stockings for the use of the family, but even warm
and strong jackets for seafaring men. In some provinces
curiously-worked and highly-ornamented worsted mit-
tens are made by the women. Another branch of in-
dustry, lace-making, is limited to certain parts of the
country. It flourishes mostly in Wadstena (Östergöt-
land) and vicinity, and comes down from the olden time,

218
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
when it constituted one of the chief occupations of the
sisters of the far-famed nunnery of Wadstena, founded
by St. Brigitta in the XIVth century. The late Queen
Louisa, consort of Charles XV., encouraged and revived
this industry, which had gradually degenerated, but now
produces fine specimens of workmanship. Even in Da-
larne, in the north, and in some of the southern provinces,
lace-making exists, but is only carried on for the use of
the inhabitants themselves, who employ it to ornament
their national costumes. It is to be regretted that these
costumes are gradually passing away, as they are the
means of promoting greater variety in domestic handi-
work. Where they are still worn the women generally
display more taste and skill in their handiwork as shown
by carefully-executed embroideries and richly-colored
textures,
These specimens of elaborate work are not confined
to the costumes, but are also to be seen in curtains, cush-
ions, carpets, etc., serving to decorate the walls of the
cottage on festive occasions, and frequently handed down
from generation to generation. Many Dalecarlian wo-
men are skilled in making ornaments of hair, such as
chains, bracelets, brooches, etc., which they peddle on
foot, not only in Sweden, but also in the neighboring
countries.
Even Lapland exhibits proofs of female industry.
Women not only make all the garments worn, which con-
sist partly of a coarse worsted material and partly of the
skin of the reindeer, but they also manufacture shoes.
They ornament their costumes with curiously-woven,
gaudy-colored belts and a richly-embroidered bib, called
åtså-leppa, on which they greatly pride themselves. A
kind of zinc wire is used for embroidering, but their com-


SWEDEN.
219
mon sewing thread is made of the sinews of the reindeer,
carefully twisted together.
As the directors of the Vienna International Exhibi-
tion of 1873 wished to see the female industry of the
respective countries represented, a committee of our
ladies undertook to arrange a section for women's work
in the Swedish department of the Fair. The object
of this committee was to collect specimens of all the
different kinds of work suitable for display. In order
to form a more correct judgment about the articles
contributed for this purpose, a preliminary exhibition
was held in Stockholm in the spring of that year. Many
hitherto little-known or observed productions of female
handiwork, especially that of the peasantry, attracted
considerable notice. This gave rise to an association
called the Friends of Women's Domestic Industry (Han-
darbetets vänner), which was organized in the spring
of 1874, with a view to promote and develop female
industry on the basis of native art. This association,
which has met with much encouragement, is endeav-
oring to save from oblivion ancient patterns and modes
of workmanship, and to introduce new ones based upon
this early art. The society gives employment to a con-
siderable number of women, and has received and ex-
ecuted orders not only for the home market, but even for
Russia, England, Germany, and Austria. Among its pat-
ronesses are the present Queen and the Crown Princess.
Associations for promoting domestic industry (Hushåll-
ningssällskap) exist all over the kingdom, and have been
very successful in carrying out this object among the
country people. They employ many female teachers, who
give instruction in different kinds of weaving, basket and
straw work, not only to the children in the country

220
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
The en-
primary schools, but also to peasant women.
couraging results of these efforts may be noticed at the
annual exhibitions of these associations.
I have left until the last the few words I have to say on
the question of the political rights of women, for little
progress has been made in this direction. However, in
many
affairs relative to the municipality, women vote on
the same terms as men; as, for example, in the choice of
the parish clergy and the municipal councillors, (stads-
fullmäktige), and in the naming of the electors of the
county council (landsting), which elects the members of
the Upper Chamber. As regards women's admission to
the complete elective franchise, which would confer upon
them the right of voting for members of the Diet, no
demands have been made in this direction nor any meet-
ings held for this purpose.
The rapid sketch, which I have just given of the means
of education and the spheres of activity now accessible
to Swedish women, proves that the efforts made for the
amelioration of their condition have not been in vain.
Far from being limited to a minority, more or less nu-
merous, these beneficial results have become the property
of women of all classes of society, who at present enjoy
advantages, which throw open to them new fields of work
and knowledge, and which, in the not distant future, must
render them intellectually, civilly and politically the
of men,
equals

DENMARK.
221
CHAPTER VII.
DENMARK.
BY KIRSTINE FREDERIKSEN.
[Miss Kirstine Frederiksen was born February 6, 1845, on the Isle of
Laaland, belonging to Denmark, in the Baltic Sea, and was educated at her
father's country seat in the midst of a large family. She visited London in
1870, examined carefully the great charitable institutions of the English
capital, and on her return home published an account of her impressions.
Two years later Miss Frederiksen traveled in Italy and Switzerland, and the
result of her sojourn in the former country was a sketch of Syracuse entitled
“A Capital of the Remote Past." Soon after this Miss Frederiksen went to
live in Copenhagen, where she has always taken an active part in all that
concerns the improvement of women. For five years she was at the head of
the Copenhagen Women's Reading Room, mentioned in the following
sketch, and has been since 1875 a member of the Board of Managers of the
Female Drawing School in that same city. In 1878 Miss Frederiksen passed
the State examination for short-hand writing, the only Danish woman who
has done so up to the present time, but was refused, on account of her sex, a
position on the staff of stenographers of the Rigsdag, or Diet, by the presi-
dent of the Landsthing, or Upper House. The following year she passed
the State teachers' examination, and received an appointment in the public
schools. Miss Frederiksen has contributed, to various home and foreign peri-
odicals, translations from the writings of Frances Power Cobbe, the late Pro-
fessor Jevons and Emile Laveleye; original essays on Mrs. Browning and
William E. Channing, on the woman question, and on educational and
pedagogic subjects.]
The first thing to strike the student of the woman
question in Denmark is the complete absence of any di-
rect participation by women in the political affairs of the
country. In the Danish Constitution of 1849, which

222
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
established universal male suffrage, nothing is said of the
political rights of the other sex. In municipal and school-
board elections the same thing is true.* Women can exert
only an indirect influence through their husbands and
brothers. But, it must be added, Danish women have not
shown any very strong desire to exercise these privi-
leges.t
The liberal movement which swept over Europe in 1848
was felt in Denmark, and had a beneficial effect on the
legal condition of women in our country. Thus, in 1857,
a bill was passed making them of age at twenty-five, when
men also reach their majority, and the laws concerning
inheritance became the same for both sexes.
The principle of community of goods in marriage, or,
as it is called in the Napoleonic Code, communauté de
biens, $ has been in vogue for two centuries in Denmark.

* In Iceland, which is a dependency of Denmark, unmarried women and
widows, if they are householders, vote at municipal and school-board elec-
tions. This reform was brought about in 1882.-K. F.
+ In 1660 a Rigsdag, or States-General, was convened at Copenhagen, and
the four estates-nobles, clergy, commons, and peasants-voted together for
the last time, the result being the conferring of absolute power on the king.
On this occasion the nobles not only voted for themselves, but for their absent
relatives, including their mothers and sisters, who probably held property in
their own right.-K. F.
# The “community of goods” is a species of partnership between the
husband and wife. The property owned by each at the date of their mar-
riage, except their lands, and all that may be subsequently acquired by
either of them, except lands inherited or donated, are brought into and con-
stitute the common fund. This fund is chargeable with the debts of each
existing at the commencement of the marriage, and with those subsequently
contracted by the husband ; and he alone possesses the right to its control
and management.
This same partnership system has been adopted
by the civil code of Louisiana, and to a partial extent by the statutes of Cali.
fornia.—John Norton Pomeroy, Johnson's Cyclopædia, article “Marriage."
-T, S.

DENMARK.
223
But the term is a misnomer, for the husband alone has the
control of the property and the income, so that the “com-
munity” consists in the wife giving up her all to the hus-
band. Every attempt to change this law has been, and is
still, considered an attack on the sacredness of the marriage
relation. But the eyes of the public have been opened of
late by numerous lawsuits—the publicity of our judicial
proceedings is of recent date—to the abuses resulting from
this unjust arrangement. Discussions on this subject in sev-
eral international Scandinavian law congresses have awak-
ened Danish jurists to the importance of reforms, and, after
the repeated efforts of Mr. Fredrik Bajer, a member of the
Folketing, or Lower House, who was backed by a petition
from several thousand women, a law was passed in the
session of 1879–80 which gave to women the control of
their own earnings.* This step in advance was followed
by another in 1881, when the Minister of Justice was
authorized, by a clause in the budget, to legalize gratuit-
ously marriage settlements, thus abolishing the heavy
fees attending such acts and rendering them easier and
more frequent. We may say, however, that the general
tendency of Danish law is to place married women, both
as regards the control of their property and children, in
the absolute power of the husband. .
In close connection with this question is the important
subject of the employment of women. The belief, which
is especially strong in every nation of Germanic-Gothic
origin, that domestic duties are the proper and only
sphere of women, has been handed down to us from our
ancestors. Two influences have modified this prejudice:
* Mr. Bajer writes me from Copenhagen, under date of February 6, 1883:
“ The complete text of this law may be found in the Annuaire de législation
étrangère, publié par la Société de Législation Comparée, Paris, 1881."-T. S.

224
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
the necessity of procuring better paid work for single
women and the example set by foreign nations, as Swe-
den, for instance. The State and the municipalities have
employed women for the past twenty years, and we find
them to-day in the postal, telegraphic and railroad ser-
vice, in banks, in the government departments, and in
the private offices of newspapers and merchants. But
the higher posts are still exclusively reserved for men.
Women have been refused employment as parliamentary
stenographic reporters on account of the political asso-
ciations which surround the position, as if more harm
could come from taking down a speech in short-hand in
parliament, than from reading the same speech in the
newspapers or listening to it from the galleries. It is
scarcely necessary to say that women are paid less than
men. This is the case, for instance, in the public schools,
where women have taught since 1860, where they perform
the same labor as men with the full approbation of the
authorities, and where they receive a similar pension after
a service of a certain number of years.
University education is highly valued in Denmark, and
the State has striven for centuries to improve it. In 1875
women were admitted to the University of Copenhagen-
the only one which exists in Denmark—and are allowed
to take degrees in every department except theology.
The higher and lower forms of instruction—the primary
school and the university—are thus open to women.
But
the whole intermediate stage, the vast field of secondary
and professional instruction, depends entirely upon pri-
vate initiative. It has, therefore, been a serious check to
the higher education of women, that everything except
the most elementary instruction has been until recently
exclusively monopolized by men. The State supports thir-

DENMARK.
225
teen gymnasia, or boys' colleges, but entirely neglects the
other sex.
In 1881, a young girl, who wished to prepare
herself for the university, applied for instruction in the
upper classes of one of these boys' colleges in the country,
but after considerable delay the application was refused.
But Danish women have made noble efforts to fill
up
this
gap in the system of female instruction, and the greater
part of the talent and energy of the sex has been devoted
to this end. Natalie Zahle (1826– --), holds a promi-
nent position in this field. In 1883 Miss Zahle exercised for
the first time the right of conferring degrees—a great nov-
elty in the history of education in Denmark. Her Institute,
which was founded at Copenhagen in 1851, besides giving
instruction in various branches of knowledge, embraces a
normal school, and has established recently a preparatory
course for those wishing to pursue university studies.
This large establishment, which, in my opinion, is not in-
ferior to similar institutions in other parts of Europe, is
almost entirely managed by women, who give instruc-
tion in the highest, as well as in the lowest, branches.
Our professional schools for girls are due to women and
are directed by them. Such, for example, are Miss Caro-
line Testman's Girls' Commercial School, and the Drawing
School and Institute for Arts and Industry, under the man-
agement of Mrs. Charlotte Klein. The latter was founded
in 1874 when women were refused admission to the Royal
Academy of Arts at Copenhagen. Both of these institu-
tions are at the capital. Housekeeping schools for the
instruction of servants and ladies in domestic economy
are found at Copenhagen, and exist also in the country,
for the benefit of peasant girls.
Besides these professional schools, women are also ad-
mitted to the Folkehójskole, a peculiar outgrowth of the


226
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
patriotic movement which swept over Denmark during
the first half of this century, and which has spread to
Sweden and Norway.* There are at least seventy of
these schools in Denmark. Men and women of the high-
est culture, for the most part disciples of the poet and
reformer, Grundtvig, have, especially since the unhappy
Sleswick war in 1864, when the existence of our nation-
ality was threatened, delivered semi-annual courses of lect-
ures to the grown-up youth, in order to arouse in them an
enthusiasm for the language, literature and history of their
native land. Grundtvig planned the Folkehojskole, the first
school being established in 1844. One of his followers,
Cald, extended the benefit of the instruction to peasant
girls. It was not until 1864 that the system was generally
accepted in Denmark and received aid from the State.
That deeply-rooted prejudice against educating the two
sexes together has prevented even these liberal-minded
teachers from lecturing to men and women at the same
time. Co-education exists only in the country primary
schools, and it is considered a sign of progress that the two
sexes are separated in the cities.
Danish women have always taken an active part in
charitable work. Ilia Fibiger (1817–1867), a noble-minded
and highly gifted lady, although far from rich, opened her
*“ The idea was to throw away all finery, all that had not vigor and
breadth enough to become public property ; to make religion and patriotism
the basis of civilization, and living influence and practical consequence the
test of all its elements ; and then by an extensive scheme of education to lift
the whole mass of the people up into this reconstructed civilization. And
this idea was accepted with such an enthusiasm, and its realization inau-
gurated with such success, that the small tablet on which the Danish people
records its life is, in this moment, one of the most interesting parts of the
great picture of modern civilization.”—Clemens Petersen, in Johnson's
Cyclopædia, article “ Danish Language and Literature.”—T. S.

DENMARK.
227
own house to seven orphans, and in 1867 founded a sort
of infant asylum which has since been widely imitated. In
1874, Jægerspris, the country seat of Frederick VII., was
bequeathed, along with a large fortune, by his widow, the
Viscountess Danner, for the foundation of an educational
institution for abandoned little girls, and it has since be-
come the grandest charitable establishment in Denmark.
Miss Fibiger also took a prominent part in the movement
for the introduction of women into the sick-room, and set
a good example by offering her services as a nurse in one of
the hospitals of the capital, during the cholera epidemic of
1853. The innovation grew in favor with physicians, but
it was not until 1875 that a systematic organization of fe-
male nurses was introduced into our hospitals. There are
training schools for female nurses in the provinces, so that
the profession may now be considered open to women. But
it is a very humble position that these faithful nurses fill,
for the thought has never been entertained of confiding
to them the management of even the most insignificant
hospital. It is only at the Copenhagen training school,
founded in 1862, that the directress occupies an independ-
ent and responsible post. In 1876 a branch of the Red
Cross Society was established at Copenhagen.
Turning to woman in literature, we meet for the third
time the name of Ilia Fibiger, one of the most character-
istic personages of modern times. Here, too, she appears
as a thorough woman. In poetry and prose she speaks
out plainly in favor of the free development of her sex
according to the laws of nature, and she teaches that the
true woman is not only to be found in the drawing-room
but also in the garret and cellar. Most of the women who
since 1848 have made a name in the literary world have
been animated, like Ilia Fibiger, partly by an interest in

228
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
the emancipation of their sex and partly by patriotic enthu-
siasm. Thus, the works of Pauline Worm (1825---) dis-
play an almost masculine vigor, whether the author points
out with indignation in the novel how young women's
talents are trampled upon and smothered through preju-
dice, ignorance and stupidity, whether she sings in verse the
praises of her country, or attacks in sharp polemics those
religious doctrines which in her opinion undermine the
patriotism of the nation. The whole life of Mathilda
Fibiger (1830–1872), the sister of Ilia, was a martyrdom
to the independence and liberty of women.
The cannon
of the war of 1848 between Denmark and Sleswick awak-
ened her whole soul. Her model was Jeanne Darc, and all
her powerful literary talent was consecrated to the cause
of the admission of women into active life. She fell un-
questionably before the resistance which her ideas met
with and which her sensitive nature could not support.
Athalia Schwartz (1821–1871), by her earnest writings on
the question of female education, did a great deal to pre-
pare the advent of the new era in women's instruction
now dawning on Denmark.
If we look back to the past, Danish women of letters
present much the same characteristics as those of other
nations. Biographical and psychological subjects seem to
have been their favorite themes. In the early part of the
century we have the excellent descriptions of every-day life
among
the
upper
classes by Mrs. Gyllembourg (1773–1856),
the mother of the poet Hejberg; Mrs. Hegerman Linden-
crone (1778–1853), and others. The correspondence of
Kamma Rahbek (1775-1829), the Danish Récamier, with
the leading men of her time, gives us a better insight, than
can be found elsewhere, into the inner life of the golden
age of our literature. In the eighteenth century, it is

DENMARK.
229
*
likewise the correspondence of Charlotte Dorothea Biehl
(1731–1788) which unravels for the historian the tangled
diplomacy of the epoch. The memoirs of the unhappy
Eleonora Christine (1621–1678), daughter of King Chris-
tian IV., who passed twenty-two years of her life in prison,
depict in an admirable manner the peculiar mixture of
grandeur and coarseness of the time, and form a unique
memorial of the seventeenth century. At a still earlier
period many Danish gentlewomen collected large libraries
in their castles, and rendered a real benefit to literature by
preserving and copying the poetry of the Middle Ages.t
Danish women have not as yet accomplished much in
the fine arts. It is worthy of note, however, that, in the
theatre, where they earliest got fair play, women are by no
means inferior to men, but have so distinguished them-
selves that there is every reason to presume, if it had not
been for the impediment of language, names such as Anna
Nielsen (-1856) and Johanne Louise Heiberg (1812–
-) would certainly have been known beyond the limits of
our little country. Besides the late highly gifted Eliza-
beth Jerichau-Bauman, who, though born a Pole, was a
Dane by adoption, the young Danish school of painting
now in process of development contains female artists of
great promise.
* Eleonora Christine fell into disgrace on account of her great and touch-
ing faithfulness to her husband, Carpito Ulfeldt, who was charged, not with-
out cause, with treason to his country and his king. The reigning queen,
Sofie Amalie, whose husband was the half brother of Eleonora, was jealous
of her rare gifts, both mental and physical. This was, in fact, the real cause
of her long iniprisonment.-K. F.
| It may not be out of place to mention here the remarkable fact, that
probably the most prominent personage who ever sat on the Danish throne
was a woman, Margrethe, who died in the year 1412, the reigning queen of
Denmark, Norway and Sweden.-K. F.
230
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

Among the professions where Danish women have yet
to conquer a place is journalism. They have already par-
ticipated in discussions in the public prints, but have
generally thought it necessary to conceal their personality
under a pseudonym. When, in 1845, for example, Marie
Arnesen, a girl of twenty, wrote under the name of Val-
gerda a vigorous open letter to the aged Professor Arndt,
of Bonn, to correct his statements concerning popular
feeling in Sleswick, she was most earnestly entreated by
her friends not to risk her reputation, by acknowledging
her identity with the authorship of this polemic.*
Denmark has produced several journals devoted to the
interests of women and edited by women. The Friday
(Fredagen), issued from July, 1875, to 1879, was conducted
by Mrs. Vilhelmine Zahle, sister-in-law of Miss Natalie
Zahle, whom I have already mentioned. It was a bold,
radical little sheet. The name was probably taken from
the Woman's Journal and Friday Society (Eruentimmer Tid-
enden og Fredagsselskabet), which appeared at Copenhagen,
in 1767, under the anonymous editorship of a woman. The
aim of this paper was to improve the condition of women
in the limited sphere in which they then moved. The
Woman's Review (Tidsskrift for Kvinder) began to appear
in January, 1882, and is still (1883) in existence. Its edi-
tor, Mrs. Elfride Fibiger, has recently associated with her
Mr. Friis, a very earnest friend of the women's movement,
who has given a more progressive turn to the paper.
It
now advocates women's suffrage,-the first journal in
Denmark to take this radical step.
* The same thing is true of continental Europe generally. In France, for
instance, several of the most popular contributors to the Revue des deux
mondes, Temps, Figaro, and other leading Parisian periodicals, are women
who sign their stories and articles with a masculine or fanciful name.-T. S.

DENMARK.
231
It is still more uncommon for our women to appear on
the public rostrum ; but here too a beginning has been
made. Among others, Pauline Worm, but more es-
pecially Benedicte Arnesen-Kall (1813-—), the author-
ess and the sister of Marie Arnesen, have recently, on
the platform, brought several subjects successfully be-
fore the Danish public.
One of the most striking signs of progress among Dan-
ish women are the societies which they have formed dur-
ing the last ten or twelve years. In 1871 a society aux-
iliary to the Geneva International Women's Rights
Association (Association internationale pour les droits des
femmes)* was organized, and was soon afterwards trans-
formed into a national association. This organization
still exists. As admittance to the Athenæum, the prin-
cipal reading-room of the metropolis, was refused to
women in 1872, a reading-room for their special use was
established. This reading-room, as well as the drawing
and commercial school for women, although their creation
is due entirely to private munificence, have recently re-
ceived some aid from the government. In 1876 a So-
ciety for the Protection of Animals was formed, chiefly
through the vigorous exertions of Mrs. Julie Lembcke, and
in 1877 an association for the improvement of morals,
closely connected with the British Federation opposed
to the legalization of prostitution. The Baroness Lili
Stampe is the soul of this society.
The examples of individual women striving to do
something to advance the interests of their sex are more
and more frequent. They have come forward with pro-
positions to modify the marriage ritual in a way more in
* For an account of this organization, see the chapter on Switzerland.
T. S.
232
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
keeping with the dignity of the sex, and have founded
prizes for essays on subjects concerning the woman
question. We also meet on every hand girls struggling
through all manner of difficulties in order to secure the
benefits of a higher education. It is plainly evident that
Danish women are weary of the part allotted to them in
the old society, a part well characterized by the saying
attributed to Thucydides, that the best that can be said
of a woman is, that there is nothing to say about her.
I began with the admission that the positive fruits of
the women's movement in Denmark are not very con-
spicuous; I must close by expressing the belief that the
future development of the reform will find in this country
a well-prepared soil. A lady who once visited Denmark,
and who had participated actively in the women's move-
ment in her own land, remarked : “After living in Den-
mark, I understand why you Danish women are so pass-
ive,-you are too well off.”' This judgment is quite
correct. A comparatively humane spirit reigns among
all classes in Denmark. Abuses have never been so great
that they have cried aloud for correction. Peasant women
are not field-laborers, and scandalous lawsuits in the
higher circles are infrequent. Hence it is that our women
move so slowly, and at the same time act so earnestly
when once their minds have been opened to the new
doctrines.
It is beyond the scope of this short sketch to enter
profoundly into a history of the origin of the women's
movement in Denmark. I shall, therefore, treat the sub-
ject but briefly. The young Mathilde Fibiger, in her
“Letters from Clara Raphael” (Clara Raphael Breve)
which appeared in 1850, was the first to awaken an
earnest discussion of the woman question. This great


DENMARK.
233
subject had been treated up to that time only with laugh-
ter and mockery by its opponents, and with timid sym-
pathy by its friends. For twenty years thereafter the
agitation seemed to sleep. But reports came to us of the
activity of the English women; the writings of that origi-
nal Norwegian author, conservative and radical at one and
the same time, Camilla Collett, penetrated Denmark; we
learned that in Sweden some of the best men pleaded
our cause, and, when the struggle for our national exist-
ence ceased for a moment, after 1864, public opinion on
the woman question was found to have changed. The
sympathetic utterances of the greatest poets of the north
—Björnson, Ibsen, Hostrup—have, perhaps, done more
than all else to awaken an interest in the subject. The
Swedish Home Review (Tidskrift fór Hemmet) has also
exercised considerable influence in Denmark.* But if
some progress has been made during the last ten years, it
is probably due in no small measure to John Stuart Mill's
celebrated book, " The Subjection of Women,” which was
translated into Danish in 1869 by Georg Brandes, the well-
known critic, and widely read throughout the country.
It was from the educated women of the middle classes
that issued the demand for better instruction and better
paid employment for their sex, and it has been thought
that the movement would keep within those limits. But
women are human beings: give them an education and a
competency, and they must have all the rest.
* For an account of this journal, see the chapter on Sweden.-T. S.

234
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

CHAPTER VIII.
FRANCE.
BY THE EDITOR.
CONDORCET, whom Mill, in his “Autobiography,” pro-
nounces," one of the wisest and noblest of men," spoke
out repeatedly and plainly on the eve of the French Rev-
olution in favor of the rights of women. His “ Letters from
a Bourgeois of New Haven to a Citizen of Virginia"
(Lettres d'un bourgeois de New Haven à un citoyen de Vir-
ginie), which appeared in 1787, contain an able plea for
women's suffrage, and his essay “On the Admission of
Women to Citizenship” (Sur l'admission des femmes au
droit de cite *) sounds like an article in the Boston
Woman's Journal or the London Englishwoman's Review.
But the great philosopher did not stand alone. Miche-
let paints a vivid picture of the celebrated orator and
member of the Convention, the Abbé Fauchet, speaking
in 1790 for women's rights, with Condorcet among his
listeners, in the circus, which once stood in the middle of
the Palais Royal.t The Abbé Sieyès, Saint Just, and
other leaders of the epoch, have left eloquent words in
support of women's emancipation.
The press of the Revolution was not silent on the sub-
ject. Besides the numerous tracts, pamphlets and even
* This essay appeared in the Journal de la société de 1789, for July 3, 1790.
† Les femmes de la révolution, p. 74.

FRANCE.
235
r
books which were written for and against the question,
several newspapers came out warmly in favor of extended
liberty for women. The Orateur du peuple, the Chronique
du mois, which printed articles. by Condorcet; the Bouche
de fer, in which Thomas Paine sometimes wrote; the
Journal de l'état et du citoyen, the Cercle social, and other
journals, took up the discussion in a friendly spirit.
But this movement did not spend itself in words alone.
The Assembly and the Convention determined to ame-
liorate the condition of women. The proposed code of
the Convention, drawn up by Cambacérès, placed married
women on an equality with their husbands, which leads a
high legal authority to say, that “such a work of civil
legislation was never elaborated in any age or among any
people.” * In the great question of primary instruction,
to cite one more example, the Convention treated alike
both boys and girls.
But far more interesting and remarkable is woman's
own part in this effort for emancipation.
She was
no passive spectator.f The “ Petition of the Women of
the Third Estate to the King" in 1789, is very well writ-
ten and deals chiefly with the lamentable position of
* Emile Acollas, Le mariage, p. 98. This is a very able and liberal little
book, which presents the whole subject of marriage, both in its legal and
moral bearings, in a very instructive and broad-minded manner.
+ The historians of the French Revolution have never done full justice to
the women of that epoch, sometimes through prejudice and often because of
the obscurity which surrounds the subject. As an instance of this datter
fact, Michelet (Les femmes de la révolution, p. 112) says: “We unfortunately
know but little of the history of the women's societies; it is only in the acci.
dental mention of the newspapers, in biographies, etc., that we find some
slight traces of them.” Lairtuillier (Les femmes céièbres de la révolution),
has done something toward filling this gap in the literature on the Revolu.
tion.

236
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

women
in the
the field of work. * Another petition
of this same year prays for women's civil and political
rights and their admission to the States-General, while
still another begs that they be placed on an exact equal-
ity with men, and that even the pulpit be opened to
them-not a slight request in a Catholic country. The
petitioners did not hesitate to solve the most difficult so-
cial questions. Remember that your happiness is ab-
solutely dependent upon that of women," they said to
the National Assembly; "the only way perhaps to render
it mutually unalterable, is to promulgate a decree obliging
men to marry women who have no dower.” “The number
of these documents makes them more significant and im-
portant," says M. Amédée Lefaure, and, I may
the same authority, they are all the production of women
themselves. +
But woman's activity was not confined to petitions.
Mlle. d'Orbe, who, as president of one of the women's
clubs, pronounced an admirable funeral oration on Mira-
beau; the Marchioness of Fontenay (Mme. Tallien), “the
woman who saved the city of Bordeaux from massacre,”
add on
* Some idea of the industrial position of women prior to the Revolution may
be gained from this paragraph by Condorcet (Sur l'admission des femmes au
droit de cité): “Before the suppression of the jurandes [the governing bodies
of the old trade corporations] in 1776, women could not acquire the maîtrise
[the right to the complete exercise of a trade) of a milliner and of other call-
ings, unless married, or unless a man lent or sold them the use of his name,
in order that they might obtain the privilege. It is quite singular that a
woman could be regent in France, but, until 1776, she might not be a mil-
liner at Paris.” Millinery is one of the few occupations which women have
latterly gained from men,
+ Le socialisme pendant la révolution. This book is most liberal in its
treatment of the woman question, and contains very curious information con-
cerning the part women played in the upheaval of 1789.

FRANCE.
237
says Legouvé,* “and snatched Paris from the Reign of
Terror;" Théroigne de Méricourt, who shouldered the
musket in the revolutionary cause ;t Rose Lacombe, the
leader of the women's clubs; Olympe de Gouges, the
author of the “Declaration of the Rights of Women,"
and of a score of volumes on all sorts of social questions,
are a few of the less known names of a long list of women,
who in courage, generosity, breadth of mind, extravagance
and acts of savagery, even, were unsurpassed by the men
of the epoch.
Either singly or in mass, women were the authors of
some of the most important episodes of the Revolution.
The initiative act of the struggle, the famous petition of
the Champ de Mars, which demanded that “neither Louis
XVI., nor any other king,” should be recognized, was
drawn up by a woman, Mme. Robert, née Kéralio. In the
* Histoire morale de la femme, p. 398.
+“The ballot and bullet argument,” as it has been called, is often brought
forward against women's suffrage. If you vote, you must fight, say the op-
ponents of the enfranchisement of women. The defenders of women's polit-
ical claims then cite the large number of women who, in all ages and in all
countries, have borne arms. An obscure but very striking example of a
would-be female warrior recently came to my notice. Mlle. Julie Jussot, of
| Vergigny, in the department of the Yonne, was placed on the official birth-
register under the masculine name, by mistake, of Jules. On reaching
twenty-one recently, she received a communication from the mayor of her
commune, informing her that the moment for military service had arrived.
She responded promptly, but on ſearning her sex, the authorities erased her
name from the list of conscripts. In a letter to me, which, by its style and
hand-writing, betokens a woman of considerable education, Mlle. Jussot
says: “In regard to the conscripts' flag, I demanded permission to carry it,
for one's heart ought always to be French, when the defence of one's country
is concerned. If the day of revenge comes, although I am not a man, I as.
sure you, sir, that France may count on me to defend her soil.” This senti-
ment has the true ring of a Jeanne Darc.
# Michelet, Les femmes de la révolution, p. 188.
238
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
It was
storming of the Bastille and at the fête of the Federation,
Michelet pronounces women the prime movers.
their energetic conduct which crowned with success the
events of the 5th and 6th of October, 1789, and brought
Louis from Versailles to Paris. A French historian has
truly said: “Women were the advance-guard of the Rev-
olution." *
Thus the advocacy of great men, and the activity and
vigor of women themselves, seemed in the early days of
the Revolution to portend the opening of a new era for
the female sex. But the authors of the revolt wished
only to use the women for the advancement of their own
ends. No sooner was the insurrection gotten well under
way,
than they deserted their worthy coadjutors. In the be-
ginning they encouraged them in the foundation of clubs,
and applauded their ardor in the cause, only to abolish
these clubs, check this ardor, and finally thrust them back
into their old position when the end was gained. Mira-
beau, Danton, Robespierre, et al., soon put a period to
this women's movement. The Republic was gradually
merged into the Empire, which was the coup de grâce of
the aspirations of the women of 1789. The Empire not
only dissipated their day-dreams, but it fastened the Napo-
leonic Code about their necks. This was a fatal moment
for women's interests. The general public had not for-
gotten the many disorders in which they had participated,
and was unfriendly. The codifiers were dry old fol-
lowers of the Roman law, and Bonaparte, woman's evil
genius, was all powerful. The spirit with which he en-
tered upon the task may be judged by this remark to his

* Les femmes de la révolution, p. 24.
+ Legouvé, Histoire morale de la femme, p. 405.

FRANCE.
239
colleagues : “ A husband ought to have absolute control
over the actions of his wife; he has the right to say to
her: madam, you shall not go out; madam, you shall not
go to the theatre; madam, you shall not see such or such
a person.”*
Then came the Restoration and its philosopher, M. de
Bonald, who pronounces the ipse dixit, man and
woman are not equals, and can never become so. Di.
vorce is abolished, and an attempt is made by the govern-
ment to re-establish primogeniture.f But this period
contained at least one happy event—the birth of the
socialistic schools, which, if they have sometimes brought
the woman question into bad odor, have also done a great
deal to ameliorate the condition of the female sex.
*
Napoleon's misogyny was fully reciprocated. Mme. de Staël's hatred
of the Emperor is well known. Ségur, (Les femmes), states that the
women disliked Napoleon because of his wholesale slaughter of their sons on
the field of battle. These mothers had perhaps more ground for their antipa-
thy than the high-strung exile of Coppet. One of the bright spots in this dark
period was the appearance in 1801 of Legouve's “Women's Merit” (Le mérite
des femmes), a rather heavy poem to-day, but which had a great success at a
time when women were without friends at court, and few persons were dis-
posed to sing their praises. Even this poetical defence of women was not
allowed to go unanswered. Ménegault published, in this same year, “Men's
Merit" (Le mérite des hommes), in imitation of Legouve's poem, and as a
set-off to it.
+ This would have been a tremendous blow to women, for, as will be
seen further on in this chapter, the French law of inheritance places
daughters on an absolutely equal footing with sons, one of the very few
provisions of the Napoleonic Code which treats women with the same justice
as men.
† An old Saint Simonian, one of the dozen still alive, M. Charles Lemon-
nier, once told me that it was due to the efforts of his sect that women are
employed by the railroad companies as guards at the highway crossings. The
first railroad in France, that between Paris and St. Germain, which was in.
augurated in the early days of Louis Philippe's reign, introduced this custom,

240
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

With the liberal re-awakening of 1830, the woman ques-
tion again came to the front. The socialists, individual
women, societies, and newspapers, began to take up the
subject. Among the women's rights journals were La
femme nouvelle, which appeared from 1832 to 1834, and
the Gazette des femmes, which was published from 1836
to 1838, under the editorship of Mme. Poutret de Mau-
champs. She based her agitation on the Charte or Con-
stitution of 1830, and took the position that, in proclaim-
ing the political emancipation of Frenchmen, the generic
term was used, so that the new charter of liberties neces-
sarily included Frenchwomen in its provisions.*
Mme. de Mauchamps appears to have understood the
importance of attaching some well-known personages to
her agitation. One of the articles is headed, “Men,
Worthy of the Name, who Demand the Civil and Polit-
ical Rights of Women.” Then follows a list of some
Parisian celebrities, and among others, Jules Janin, the
distinguished critic of the Journal des débats, and Châ-
teaubriand. The readers of the Gazette are informed that
the latter “has called and said to us,,' Count me among
your subscribers; you defend a grand and noble cause.
Jules Janin contributes at least one article to the paper, a
fine estimate of George Sand; and Charles Nodier, the
> >
and I never see one of these sturdy women, as the train whizzes by, a
baton at her shoulder, without thinking that the eccentric Saint Simon ac-
complished some practical good in the world.
* Mme. de Mauchamps held that les français, as employed in the Charte,
embraced les françaises, and that tous, chacun, etc., wherever they occur in
that document, refer to women as well as to men. She therefore addressed a
petition to the King, with the following heading : “ Petition of Frenchwomen
to Louis Philippe I., praying that he declare, in virtue of the Charter of 1830,
that he is King of Frenchwomen as he is King of Frenchmen” (qu'il est
roi des françaises comme il est roi des français).

FRANCE.
241
prolific author and member of the Academy, writes a
short book review in one of the numbers. *
Every issue of the Gazette des femmes begins with a
petition to the King and Parliament, praying for reforms
in the Code, for political rights, for the admission of
women to the Institute,+ etc. In the number for January,
1838, a demand was made that women be admitted to the
universities and given degrees. It was forty years before
France would listen to this petition, and what was asked
under the Orleans monarchy is only just beginning to be
granted under the Third Republic. And yet these peti-
tions, ably drawn up, and sensible in their claims, several
times reported and briefly discussed, were heaped with
ridicule in the Chamber and quickly forgotten.
That this movement had attracted a share of public at-
tention is evidenced in many ways. The Gazette informs
us that at one of the elections several voters, instead of
casting their ballots for the candidate, gave them to his
wife, as a protest against the exclusion of women from the
franchise. Mme. Hortense Allart de Méritens, the novelist
and historian, writes to the editor of the approaching
foundation of an “ Association for the Amelioration of
Women's Condition," but I find no further mention of this
* Nodier could not have been under the influence of Mme. de Mauchamps
when he penned for Le dictionnaire de la conversation his paper entitled La
femme libre.
† Alexandre Dumas said in the French Academy a short time ago : “We
frequently, and very justly, invoke the authority of Mme. de Sévigné and
Mme. de Staël, and yet, if these two celebrated women were alive to-day, we
would not give them a seat in our midst. We have, perhaps, been some-
times struck by this contradiction, by this injustice, and we must have said to
ourselves: “As woman can be man's equal in virtue and intelligence, why
may she not also be his equal in society, in our institutions, and before the
law?'”-Report on the Botta Prize, sitting of May 10, 1881.
16

242
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
organization. In September, 1834, appeared the Amazone.
The National Library contains only the prospectus of this
paper, which was to be a daily for “ the political educa-
tion of women," and which was to treat the question in a
serio-comic vein. * The agitation attracted the atten-
tion of Mme. de Girardin, who refers to it several times
in her brilliant“ Parisian Letters ” (Lettres Parisiennes).
Laboulaye's “ Inquiries concerning the Civil and Polit-
ical Condition of Women from the Times of the Romans
to the Present” (Recherches sur la condition civile et poli-
tique des femmes depuis les Romains jusqu'à nos jours), and
Legouvé's “ Moral History of Woman" (Histoire morale
de la femme t), both appeared during the reign of Louis
Philippe, and did a great deal to direct the public mind to
the lamentable condition of women before the law. M.
Legouvé's book, conceived in a very liberal spirit, and
written in a charming style, was soon read all over Eu-
rope.
Equality in difference” (“ l'égalité dans la dif-
férence ") is its key-note. “ The question is not to make
woman a man, but to complete man by woman,” says the
author in another part of the volume.
While this Platonic consideration of the woman question
was in progress, the Revolution of February suddenly
burst upon France, and for a moment it seemed as if the
* Its epigraph was as follows:
Les hommes ne sont pas ce qu'un vain sexe pense,
Ils sont trop étorirdis pour gouverner la France.
+ Although this work was published after the advent of the Revolution
of February, its contents had been delivered as a series of lectures at the
College of France during the last year of the July monarchy. M. Legouvé
is the son of the author of Le mérite des femmes, to which poem reference
has already been made, and, for a Frenchman, holds very advanced ideas on
the woman question.

FRANCE.
243
We were
era of the actual emancipation of women had come at
last. But the magnificent dreams of the Second Republic
were, in so far as concerned women, never realized.
“ In 1848 there was a grand agitation,” Laboulaye once
wrote me, “great demands, but I know of nothing dur-
able or solid on this question.” “ The intrigues and fatal
days of June, 1848, and June, 1849, absorbed public atten-
tion," Jeanne Deroin Desroches* writes me;
men of
influence took little interest in social questions, and espe-
cially that of the emancipation of women. .
finally prohibited from having anything to do with the
political clubs,t and the police aided in the getting up of
meetings and societies of women, such as that of the
Vésuviennes, composed of prostitutes, which burlesqued
everything we said and did, in order to cast ridicule and
contempt on our meetings and our acts.” In a word, the
movement of 1848—and there was a great movement at
this epoch—was swallowed up in Socialism, and Socialism
destroyed itself by its own extravagance.
But the women had some staunch friends at this time.
Victor Considérant, the well-known disciple of Fourier,
was “the only one of the nine hundred members of the Con-
* Mme. Desroches, one of the enthusiasts and martyrs of this period, is
now living at an advanced age, at Shepherd's Bush, near London.
+ It was a Protestant Minister, Athanase Coquerel, the most distinguished
member of the celebrated family of clergymen, the Beecher family of
France, who laid before the Chamber the bill for the exclusion of women
from the clubs. He was very roughly handled for this act by several femi-
nine
pens. See Almanach des femmes for 1852. This curious little publica-
tion, in French and English, was due to the indefatigable Jeanne Deroin.
The first number, which appeared at Paris in 1852, was seized by the police,
and the subsequent numbers, those for 1853 and 1854, were issued at Lon-
don. These modest little annuals throw a flood of light on a very confused
period.

244
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

stituent," writes Jeanne Deroin, “who demanded women's
political rights in the Committee on the Constitution.”
When, in the summer of 1851, it was proposed in the
Chamber to deny women the right of petition in political
affairs, M. Laurent, of the Department of the Ardèche,
M. Schoelcher, the celebrated Abolitionist, the Garrison of
France, and M. Crémieux, opposed the proposition, and
it was defeated.* When the subject of the reorganization
of the communes came up, in November, 1851, M. Pierre
Leroux, the famous Socialistic Radical, offered an amend-
ment to the first article of the bill, to the effect that “the
body of electors be composed of French men and women
of legal age.” He supported his amendment in a speech
which filled three columns of the official newspaper, and
which was received by the Chamber with shouts of laugh-
ter.
The Revolution of 1848 was as fecund in newspapers as
it was in socialistic Utopias. Among the former were
many women's journals. I have run over some of these
and found them highly interesting, often amusing, but
always sincere and earnest. La politique des femmes,
"published in the interest of women by a society of work-
ing women,” as we are informed, and which became, later,
L'opinion des femmes, and La voix des femmes, edited
by Mnie. Eugénie Niboyet, a woman of considerable
literary talent who died in 1882, are, perhaps, two of the
best specimen's of these women's rights' papers.
The French propensity to turn everything to ridicule-
and there was, indeed, much material for its gratification
at this time—found an outlet in La république des
femmes, “the journal of the petticoats" (cotillons), as its
* See the Moniteur, June 24 and July 3, 1851.
| Id., November 22, 1851.

FRANCE.
245
sub-title reads, which appeared in June, 1848, and poked
fun at the women who participated in the public life of
the day.
In April, 1851, M. Chapot proposed in the Legislative
Assembly to restrain the right of petition in the case of
men, and to suppress it entirely for women in all matters
of a political nature. Jeanne Deroin, confined at St.
Lazare as a political prisoner, issued a vigorous protest
from her cell. M. Laurent presented this petition and
attacked the Chapot resolution. A debate ensued, and
the question was adjourned to July 2d. On that date
M. Schälcher, who is to-day a member of the Senate,
offered an amendment protecting women's right of peti-
tion. M. Crémieux, who was later a member of the
Government of National Defence, seconded the amend-
ment, which was finally adopted. The Chapot resolution
was then unanimously rejected.
But the Republic fell, and the Second Empire rose on
its ruins. The women's movement was abruptly checked.
In 1858 Proudhon published “ Justice in the Church and
in the Revolution (La justice dans l'église et dans la
révolution), in which occurs an extended sociologic study
of woman. He favors the androgynous couple as the
social unit, without, however, attributing an equivalent
value to the two parties who constitute it. Man, he says,
is to woman in the proportion of three to two. The in-
feriority of the latter is, consequently, according to Proud-
hon, irremediable. Newspaper articles, pamphlets and
books, attacking this volume, appeared in large numbers,
and among them, Mme. Jenny P. d'Héricourt's “The En-
franchised Woman,” (La femme affranchie), and Mme.
Juliette Lambery's (Mme. Adam) “Anti-Proudhonian
Ideas on Love, Woman, and Marriage ” (Idées antiproud-

246
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
>
honiennes sur l'amour, la femme et le mariage), which Pro-
fessor Acollas pronounces “the most eloquent and the
most peremptory refutation of the absurd opinions of P.
J. Proudhon on woman.” *
The writings of Michelet, Jules Simon, Emile de Girar-
din, Eugène Pelletan, Leroy-Beaulieu, Emile Deschanel,
Mlle. Julie Daubié, and many others, touching upon dif-
ferent phases of the woman question, belong to this or a
little later period. Michelet, in his “Woman (La
femme) and “Love" (L'amour), establishes his famous
theory of the “sick woman (la femme malade); Jules
Simon, in his “ Working Woman" (L'ouvrière); Leroy-
Beaulieu, in his “ Women's Work in the Nineteenth Cent.
ury” (Le travail des femmes au dixneuvième siècle); and
Mlle. Daubié, in “ The Poor Woman of the Nineteenth
Century” (La femme pauvre au dixneuvième siècle), show
up the lamentable industrial position of women ; Emile
de Girardin calls attention to the condition of woman in
the family; while Eugène Pelletan, in his volume entitled
“The Mother” (La mère), demands the suffrage for
women.t The opinions of these thoughtful and liberal-
minded writers had a powerful influence on French public
opinion, and prepared the way for those reforms in favor
of women, some of which have already occurred, and others
of which must follow in the near future, unless the reac-
tionary party once more gets the upper hand.
* Le mariage, p. 35, note.
+" By keeping woman outside of politics, we diminish by one-half the
soul of the country.”—La mère, p. 233. The late M. Rodière, the distin-
guished Professor of the Toulouse Law School, in his “Great Jurisconsults”
(Les grands jurisconsultes), published in 1874, is outspoken in favor of
women's suffrage. See pp. 509-512. His language is the more remarkable
from the fact that he was a strict Catholic, and, at the same time, a repub
lican, a very rare combination in the France of to-day.

FRANCE.
247
one
The women's movement took on a more organized form
during the last years of the Empire, and M. Léon Richer
grouped about himself and his paper, L'avenir des femmes,
which still exists as Le droit des femmes, the more active
friends of the question, and succeeded in securing the
support of many distinguished writers and statesmen.
Under the Third Republic the woman question, like
every other liberal measure, has gained new life and
vigor. At the beginning of 1871, Mlle. Julie Daubié,“
of the worthiest women I have ever known,” says La-
boulaye, announced in the public prints the approaching
organization of an Association for Women's Suffrage, but
died before accomplishing her object. *
In 1874, at the time of the discussion of the new
electoral law in the Versailles Assembly, M. Raudot,
of the Right, proposed that every married elector or
widower with a child should have two votes. Another
deputy, M. de Belcastel, was in favor of the same propor-
tion, but would give the widower two votes whether he
had children or not. The Count de Douhet went still
further: he would give every man, first a vote for himself,
another for his wife, and finally one for each child. The
committee to which these projects were referred accepted
the principle, and article seventh of the bill which they
reported read as follows: · Every married elector, or
widower with children or grandchildren, shall have a
double vote." Although this article was rejected, it
shows that there are men in France who think that wo-
men and the family are not sufficiently represented under
the present electoral system.
*“Mlle. Daubié," Mme. Griess-Traut writes me," was the first female
bachelor of arts in France. She encountered great difficulty in obtaining
her diploma, but succeeded in 1862, I think.”

248
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE,
In the summer of 1878 occurred at Paris the first Inter.
national Women's Rights Congress, due in large part to
the exertions of M. Léon Richer. The Organizing Com-
mittee contained representatives from six different coun-
tries, viz. : France, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Russia, and
America. Among the eighteen members from Paris were
two senators, five deputies, and three Paris municipal
councilors. Italy was represented by a deputy and the
late Countess of Travers. The American members were
Julia Ward Howe, Mary A. Livermore, and Theodore Stan-
ton. Among the members of the Congress, besides those
just mentioned, were Colonel T. W. Higginson, and depu-
ties, senators, publicists, journalists, and men and women
of letters from all parts of Europe. The work of the Con-
gress was divided into five sections, as follows: the
historical, the educational, the economic, the moral, and
the legislative. The proceedings of these different sec-
tions have been published in a volume, which forms a
valuable collection of the most recent European and
American thought on the various phases of the woman.
question. *
About this time was founded the Society for the Ameli-
oration of the Condition of Women, of which Mlle. Maria
Deraismes and Mme. Griess-Traut are the moving spirits.
In 1876 Mlle. Hubertine Auclert, radical, earnest, inde-
fatigable, established a Woman's Rights Society, whose
special aim is to secure the suffrage for women, and in
February, 1881, appeared the first number of its uncom-
promising organ, La citoyenne. Mme. Koppe, who though
poor
in
purse is rich in purpose, published at Paris, from
1880 to 1882, La femme dans la famille et la société, a
Actes du congrès international des droits des femmes ; Paris: Ghio, Palais-
Royal.


FRANCE.
249
little journal which advocated bravely every good reform.
In the autumn of 1882 two new women's rights associa-
tions were organized. M. Léon Richer created the French
Women's Rights League, whose principal object is to im-
prove the legal condition of French women, and Mlle.
Hubertine Auclert converted her Women's Rights Soci-
ety into a National Women's Suffrage Society, whose
aims are sufficiently indicated by its name. During the
past few years, mainly through Mlle. Auclert's efforts,
meetings have been held and petitions signed in favor of
women's suffrage both at Paris and in the provinces. But
the reformers have encountered great opposition. Here
is one remarkable example of this selected from a large
number. M. de Goulard, Minister of the Interior in 1873,
refused to allow Mme. Olympe Audouard, whose voice
and pen have always been devoted to the interests of her
sex, to speak at Paris on the woman question“ for three
Here are two of them : “1. These lectures are
only a pretext to bring together a body of women already
too emancipated. 2. The theories of Mme. Olympe
Audouard on the emancipation of women are subversive,
dangerous, immoral.” *
reasons.”
We have now glanced rapidly at the principal features
* Besides the books already mentioned in the course of the preceding pages,
I give here, for the reader who may wish to examine more thoroughly this
interesting subject, the titles of two short volumes written in a friendly spirit,
and treating the question in a general manner. La femme libre, by M.
Léon Richer ; Paris : E. Dentu, Palais-Royal. Essai sur la condition des
femmes en Europe et en Amérique, by M. Léon Giraud; Paris: Auguste Ghio,
Palais-Royal. M. Richer's L'avenir des femmes (Paris, 4 rue des Deux
Gares), a monthly publication, and Mlle. Hubertine Auclert's La citoyenne
(Paris, 12 rue Cail), also a monthly, give a good idea of current opinion in
France on the woman question.

250
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
of the more radical phase of the women's movement in
France since 1789 up to the present day. I shall next
consider the actual situation, treating it under separate
heads, as follows: 1. Laws; 2. Morals; 3. Religion ;
4. Charity ; 5. Instruction ; 6. Literature; 7. Fine Arts;
8. Industry; 9. Socialism.
The Revolution, as has already been seen, signally
failed," writes M. Léon Giraud, * “ in all that concerned
woman. Especially in establishing her legal status did it de-
viate widely from its principles. This was due in no small
degree to the writings of Rousseau. In his Émile, Rous-
seau discusses the theory of woman considered as a child,
and adopts the principle of virile and non-virile functions
which constituted the basis of ancient Roman law, but
which the jurisconsults of the second and third centuries
of our era had already begun to repudiate.t Curiously
* M. Léon Giraud, docteur-en-droit, is a graduate of the Paris Law School.
His legal studies early convinced him of the necessity of a complete revision
of the laws affecting the family. He gave himself wholly up to this subject,
and sought, in travels in foreign countries, the justification of his own
theories. His work on the “Condition of Woman in Europe and America"
(Essai sur la condition de la femme en Europe et en Amérique) was sent to
the French Academy in 1883, in competition for the Botta prize, and gave
rise to a warm discussion in that learned body. In this synthesis of the
woman question, the author comes out in favor of female suffrage. Hence
the originality of the book and the cause of its ill-success at the Academy.
An earlier volume, bearing the rather odd title, the “Romance of the Chris-
tian Woman” (Le roman de la femme chrétienne), was historical in its nature,
and considered from an entirely new point of view the subject of the conver-
sion of woman to Christianity. Various pamphlets and articles for periodi-
cals preceded these publications. Among the former may be mentioned
Souvenirs of the Women's Rights Congress” (Souvenirs du congrès pour le
droit des femmes), written apropos of the first International Women's Rights
Congress, held at Paris in 1878.
+ Gaius's “Institutes," Book I., $ 190.--L. G.

FRANCE.
251
enough Portalis's preliminary considerations on marriage
in the introduction to the Napoleonic code, are taken in
large part almost verbatim from Émile.* Never, in a
word, was the idea of justice to women more foreign to
any code of laws than to that of 1804.
“Let us first consider married women. In the new
code, as in the old, they lose independence and become
incapable of ownership, with all its rights and privileges.
Of the different matrimonial systems placed by the code at
the disposition of the contracting parties, none guarantees
woman's liberty. Under none may the wife act, in regard
to her property, with the same freedom as the most ig-
norant man. In one case—the system of community of
goods' (communauté de biens)—she is treated as if weak-
minded and in need of a committee;'in another—the system
by which each spouse is left the separate owner of his or
her property (séparation de biens)—she is looked upon as a
prodigal requiring a guardian. These variations of the old
idea, that the wife should be in subordination, are based
on principles borrowed from the common law (coutumes)
of the sixteenth century, and, in certain cases, are even
severer on women than the prescriptions of three hundred
years ago.
“ It is true that the civil code says, with odd naïveté or
singular assurance, that the matrimonial systems which it
presents are only illustrations, limiting in no respect the
liberty of the contracting parties.† But do not believe it.
This pretended liberty is defined by the article which inn-
*
Compare Fenet's “Preliminary Reports” (Travaux préparatoires), Vol.
IX., pp. 177 et seq., and all the first part of the fifth book of Emile.-L. G.
+ The law does not regulate the conjugal union, as regards property, ex-
cept in default of special conventions which the spouses may make as they
* -Civil Code, Art. 1387.
see fit.
* *

252
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
mediately follows, and which informs us that there is a
marital authority, a husband who is the head of the family
in this new code as in the old.* And several other arti-
cles occur farther on in the code, thrice repeating the
wife's subordination, stating what deprivations public
order and morality require of her, and especially divesting
her of that right par excellence of ownership, the aliena-
tion and free disposition of her property.t It may be
understood from this what is meant, when woman is con-
cerned, by those 'imprescriptible’and inalienable' rights
which were the motto of the Revolution; they are the
rights which the husband has over the wife ! This state-
ment must be read twica before it can be believed. But
the tenor of our law, which nobody questions, and the
constant practice of eighty years, leave us no room for
doubt.
“ The right of alienation, which is an inherent attribute
of ownership, and which, according to the economic prin-
ciples of 1789, was so inseparable from the idea of
prop-
erty that the one could not be understood without the
other-even mortmain having been abolished for the simple
reason of its restrictive character—this right is a myth in
so far as it relates to woman. And yet this same woman
*
**
*
*
* The spouses may annul neither the rights resulting from the marital au-
thority over the person of the wife and children, nor those pertaining to the
husband as head of the family.
--Civil Code, Art. 1388.
f
she [the wife separated from her husband] may not alien-
ate her real estate without the husband's consent.
--Civil
Code, Art. 1449. The husband retains the control of the real and personal
property of the wife, and, consequently, the right to the revenues derived
from her dower or from property coming to her during the marriage.
* -Id., Art. 1538. * * * she [the wife] may not alienate them
[paraphernalia] or go to law concerning them, without the husband's con-
sent. * * * -Id., Art. 1576.
*

FRANCE.
253
was solemnly declared, by the reform of the laws of suc-
cession, capable of absolute ownership and of a personal
and exclusive title to public riches. The daughter who,
as Pothier informs us, was formerly passed over in favor
of the sons as regards the greater part if not all of the
estate, inherits equally with the male children according
to the code of 1804, as was also the case in 1792. Neither
distinction of sex nor primogeniture is recognized in our
present laws of descent.* The daughter, who once
counted as a fraction or a zero, is now an integer. This
reform has become a permanent part of our legislation.
When in 1826, under the Restoration, a bill was laid be-
fore parliament for the re-establishment of primogeniture,
the effort broke down coinpletely. But once married,
this same woman ceases to be an owner in the true signi-
fication of the word. Either our law of inheritance is
nonsense or our marriage system an error. We must ac-
cept one or the other conclusion. Our legislators cannot
consistently pronounce such contradictions in one and
the same breath, without displaying an absence of philos-
ophy and logic, to be explained only on the ground of
complete indifference to the best interests of woman.
“ If we now consider the more intimate relations exist-
ing between husband and wife and the authority of par-
ents over children, we find that the dominant idea which
inspires this portion of our code has also been handed
down from the sixteenth century.
Conjugal fidelity is declared reciprocal in a singularly
untruthful article,t and yet the husband and wife are in
* The children or their heirs inherit *
without distinction of
sex or birth.-Civil Code, Art. 745.
+ The spouses owe each other mutual fidelity, succor and assistance. —
Civil Code, Art. 212,

254
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
no respects treated alike. The latter is held strictly to
account for
any moral laxity, under penalty of separation,*
and even of several years' imprisonment,+ while the
former has only to guard against one thing—the law de-
clares it formally-persistent concubinage. It is in fact
polygamy which the law condemns. But the definition
of marriage would have been sufficient to prohibit this.
The wife, therefore, must submit to every license on the
part of her husband until this extreme is reached, and
even then he is only slightly fined.
“ The father alone, as long as he lives, enjoys authority
over the children.. He has custody over them, he may
punish them, he superintends their education ; when they
would marry, it is his consent which must be obtained. T
* The husband may demand a divorce on account of his wife's adultery.--
Civil Code, Art. 229.
† The wife convicted of adultery shall be punished with imprisonment for
at least three months and not more than two years. —Penal Code, Art. 337.
# The wife may demand a divorcę on account of her husband's adultery
when he shall have kept his concubine under the common roof.---Civil Code,
Art. 230.
The first and last of the three foregoing articles are no longer in
force on account of the abolition of divorce, but they are given as showing
the spirit of the code.
§ The husband who shall have kept a concubine under the common roof,
and who shall have been convicted thereof on the complaint of the wife,
shall be punished by a fine from one hundred to two thousand francs.-
Penal Code, Art. 339.
| The child, at whatever age, should honor and respect his father and
mother.-Civil Code, Art. 371. He is subject to their authority until his
majority or emancipation.-Id., Art. 372. The father alone exercises this
authority during marriage.-Id., Art. 373. The last article destroys the
force of the first two,-one of the many absurd contradictions of this much-
vaunted French code.
T The son under twenty-five and the daughter under twenty-one may not
marry without the consent of their father and mother ; in case of disagree-
ment, the consent of the father suffices. --Civil Code, Art. 148. Could any-
thing be more nonsensical than such an article as this?

FRANCE,
255
The mother is regarded legally as if she did not exist.
When she becomes a widow, her inferiority is further em-
phasized, for she is still kept under a sort of marital power
which discredits her in the eyes of her children. This
situation is not justified on the specious pretext of the
necessity of there being a head as between two rivals, and
its character is the more humiliating for this very reason.
The widow is indeed made the legal guardian of her chil-
dren, but her husband on dying may impose upon her an
adviser, without whose consent she cannot exercise the
duties of guardianship,—which amounts to taking away
with one hand what is given with the other.* It is
scarcely necessary to say, that the dying mother possesses
no such prerogatives in respect to the widower. Again,
the widow who marries may see the guardianship of her
children pass completely from her control to that of a
custodian, named by a family council.t Furthermore, the
power of sending children to prison undergoes a singular
modification when transferred from the father to the
mother, becoming less energetic in her hands.
Such are the principal features of woman's position
in the family. But she has other disabilities than those
already mentioned. For example, she may not be a
guardian nor a member of a family council, except in the
ascending line, as mothers and grandmothers; she may
not be a witness to any legal document, nor the publisher
of a political newspaper; she may not call a public meet-
ing.S Nor is this all, but from these facts we readily per-
66
* Civil Code, Art. 391.
+ Civil Code, Art. 395.
# Compare Civil Code, Arts. 376 and 381.
§ This list might be made much larger. Bụt, more important than the
number of these disabilities, is the unwillingness shown by French legis

256
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
ceive what is the legal status of woman in France, and are
able to judge whether the wife and mother, in the narrow
sphere to which she has been relegated, enjoys the influ-
ence and rank which she merits.
“We now take
up
the grave question of the young girl.
And this brings us face to face with the important sub-
ject of affiliation (la recherche de la paternité). Accord-
ing to our code every child born outside of wedlock is
considered to be fatherless, * unless, of his own free will,
the father formally acknowledges his offspring. Statis-
tics show what a poor resource this is for the bastard: it
occurs but once in fifty times.t In no case, except rape,
which is almost unknown in France, can the father of an
illegitimate child be prosecuted. He is under no obliga-
tions to the child any more than to the mother. A prom-
ise of marriage, even when made in writing, counts for
nothing. A cohabitation extending over many years,
even a whole life-time, creates, in the eyes of the law, no
presumption against the man. The same thing is true
of any private papers containing reiterated avowal of
lators to remove any of them. One instance of this is worth citing : In
the month of March, 1881, M. de Gasté introduced into the Chamber of
Deputies a bill making women electors for the tribunals of commerce,
which decide many of the differences arising between tradesmen. The bill
did not pass, and Gambetta, who was then Speaker, seized the occasion to
perpetrate a witticism at the expense of the women. It should be remembered
that in no country of the world are there so many women occupying impor-
tant and independent positions in trade, as in France.
* Affiliation is forbidden.
-Civil Code, Art. 340.
| For valuable details on this subject of affiliation, see the remarkable
report of Senators Schoelcher, de Belcastel, Foucher de Careil and Bérenger,
which was printed in the Journal Officiel of May 15, 1878. See also the
bill of M. de Lacretelle on the re-establishment of turning-boxes (tours)
introduced the same year. It may be added that the Senate took no action
on either of these propositions.-L. G.
*

FRANCE.
257
paternity and of measures taken, either at birth or later,
for the maintenance and support of the child.* A man
may employ every means in his power, short of brute
force, to seduce a girl, but no reparation can be obtained.
Such is the harsh doctrine of our law. The truth of this
statement cannot be questioned. The text of the code,
the preparatory reports and the practice of our courts,
all agree in this interpretation. Since the promulgation
of the Napoleonic code, four score years ago, you cannot
find in the whole history of French jurisprudence one
single case of a man forced to acknowledge his child. Our
ancient jurisprudence contained this maxim : • The
author of the child must support it' ('qui a fait l'enfant
doit le nourrir?).+ What a change from one epoch to an-
other! It could not be more complete.
* The proposition of M. Demolombe, one of our first jurisconsults, to
make affiliation depend on the treatment of the child as one's own (posses.
sion d’état), met with no favor. See Demolombe's Commentaries on Arts.
319 et seq.-L. G.
+ Loysel's “Institutes of Common Law” (Institutes coutumières). —
L. G.
# One example selected from thousands may be given to prove, that not
only are the statements of the text not exaggerated, but that they are even
too mild. M. Alexandre Dumas has just published a powerful arraignment
of the French code in its treatment of affiliation. The pamphlet was called
forth by a recent decision of the French Court of Appeals. Mlle. G-
became a domestic in the house of M. G-, a farmer and married relative
much older than herself. They became intimate and two children were
born. G
Mlle. G— found a place at Paris, when M. G-ceased to aid
her. Thereupon her guardian sued for damages, basing his claim on seduc-
tion, the youth of Mlle. G-, and the fact that her seducer was her rel-
ative and should have been her protector. The provincial court, where the
case was tried, condemned M. G— to pay 6,000 francs. He appealed,
and the Paris Court of Appeals decided on June 28, 1883, that the seduction
had not been accomplished by actionable means, and that M. Gwas
responsible only before “the tribunal of his own conscience.” It reversed
17

258
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

“ And does the State, since it does not hold the
father responsible for his illegitimate children, do any.
thing to supply his place? At the beginning of the cent-
ury, and almost up to the second half, the country un-
dertook on a large scale the care of foundlings, by the
establishment of turning-boxes (tours), which allowed the
unfortunate mother to deposit secretly, and without be-
ing subjected to any formalities, her child in the hands
of those who would care for it. But, strange to say, at
the moment when the turning-boxes were the most nec-
essary on account of the increasing number of abandoned
infants, they were gradually suppressed (from 1840 to
1860). In a word, the State in its turn forsook the chil-
dren and broke the solemn promise, given the mothers of
France in 1811, to repair in part the great injustice done
them, when it relieved the fathers of all the duties of
paternity. Abortion and infanticide consequently in-
creased, until they have reached such a point that the
juries, weary of punishing without producing any effect,
now often simply acquit the culprit. Such is the present
situation : the seducer responsible neither to the child
nor its mother; the latter, if poor, reduced to infanticide
or prostitution.
“ And what does the code do to protect the girl? Al-
most nothing. While it affords man every facility for
the gratification of his passions, it shows an indifference
for woman to be found probably in no other system of
laws. We guard the girl up to the age of thirteen, but
the decision of the lower court, and ordered the poor girl not only to return
the 6,000 francs, but to pay costs. Such inhumanity seems almost impos-
sible at Paris, “the capital of civilization," and in the last quarter of the
nineteenth century. And yet the creation of this abominable code is con-
sidered one of the greatest of Napoleon's honors.

FRANCE.
259
beyond that year she must look out for herself.* The
code does not shield her, but rather shields the man.
From 1832 to 1863, in which year the law was put on the
statute book, the young girl was protected only until the
age of eleven, and previous to 1832, girls of the tenderest
years might be defiled, provided violence was not used.t
Is not the source to be found here of many of the cancer-
ous evils which are fast eating out the life of our social
system?
“ Is woman sufficiently protected when, according to
our penal code and the firmly-established practice of our
courts, the inciting of minors to debauch, even when sys-
tematic and long-continued, is not punishable, provided
the debaucher is seeking to gratify his own passions and
is not acting the part of a pander? # Is she sufficiently
protected when the father, who has made a traffic of his
daughter's virtue, does not thereby lose paternal author-
ity over the other children, who still remain subject to
his exclusive and dishonorable control ? $ Is she suffi-
ciently protected when the husband's adultery is permitted
up to a point where it becomes almost complete impu-
nity? Is she sufficiently protected when our system of
legalized prostitution owes its very existence to the con-
Any outrage on decency consummated or attempted without violence on
the person of a child of either sex under thirteen years of age, shall be pun-
ished with imprisonment *
* * -Penal Code, Art. 331.
| See commentary on Arts. 331 and 332 of the Penal Code.
† Whoever outrages public morals by habitually inciting, aiding or abet.
ting the debauchery or corruption of the youth of either sex under twenty-
one years of age, shall be punished * * * -Penal Code, Art. 334. The
commentary on this article reads : “Art. 334 is inapplicable to him who, in
inciting minors to debauch, is acting for himself and not for others.” Three
decisions of the Supreme Court, supporting this view, are given.
& Compare Penal Code, Art. 335, second paragraph, and Civil Code,
Book I., Title IX.

260
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
stant, unpunished practice of inciting minors to debauch? *
No; it is too evident that so long as the Napoleonic
code thus forgets almost every one of the material and
moral interests of woman, so long will it hang as a mill-
stone about the neck of our France, so bravely strug-
gling for her political regeneration.
“ The divorce question now occupies a great deal of the
public attention of this country, and is very closely con-
nected with the existing system of partial divorce or the
separation of a married woman from the bed and board
of her husband (séparation de corps). One of the chief
reasons given for the re-establishment of divorce, which,
introduced by the Revolution, existed until 1815, is the
effect it will have on this class of women. We have
already seen that the wife's separation from the husband
does not free her from marital power, even when she is
the applicant, which is the case nine times out of ten.
She continues to bear his name, and sees her fortune still
subject in a measure to his control, so that the husband,
if he would take revenge for an adverse judgment, finds
here an excellent opportunity to hector his former wife.
Although our publicists, both those for and against
divorce, have spoken out in opposition to this state of
things, no change has been made.
Another anomaly of this partial divorce was sup-
pressed, but in favor of the husband, it must be said. I
refer to the presumption that the husband was the father
of any children born after the separation, even when all
cohabitation had ceased. Since 1850, however, the hus-
band has only to confront the date of the child's birth
* See Yves Guyot's “ Prostitution ” (La prostitution).-L. G.
† The old maxim put it: Pater is est quem nuptiæ demonstrant.-L. G.

FRANCE.
261
with the date of the separation, to prove that he is not
its father. This reform is perfectly just, but it is a curious
fact that our law-makers introduce innovations only when
their own sex is to be benefited thereby.
“What would be the situation of the divorced wife if,
without any other changes in the code, M. Naquet's bill,
which is the project the most likely to succeed, were to
pass in the Senate as it has already done in the Chamber?
In the first place, the wife would of course be emanci-
pated from the marital power, which is not the case under
the present system as we have just seen. M. Naquet
also places husband and wife on the same footing as re-
gards adultery, which is not now the case. But with these
two exceptions, M. Naquet's bill justifies the apprehen-
sions of its adversaries, even when the wife's interests
are alone considered. Many provisions of the code would
sadly clash with her new liberty. Divorce should be the
coping of any reform of our marriage laws, not the
foundation stone.
“ Let us, in the first place, consider the children. It is
evident that the divorced wife does not obtain complete
control over her children, especially if she remarries. In
this case she falls into the same category as the widow,
whose disabilities we have already noticed. She will still
be subject to the decision of the family council as regards
preserving the guardianship of her children, and will have
less authority over them than the other divorced parent.
Such inequality would cause her to look with disfavor
upon divorce not backed by other reforms, and she
would probably have less and less recourse to it.
“ Furthermore, would not the possibility of divorce be
a temptation to the husband to abuse the powers which
the law gives him over the fortune of his wife? At

262
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
present he is required to at least provide for her wants.
What limit would there be to his depredations if M.
Naquet's bill passes? Many an honest lawyer will admit
that the husband has a thousand ways of ruining his wife
under whatever system they are married. By the disso-
lution of the marriage tie, the husband, after spending
his wife's fortune, could disembarrass himself of her,
while she would not be able to hold him to the slightest
obligation.
“If now we consider the advantages of divorce, we find
an aspect of the question quite peculiar to France. I
refer to divorce in its relations to nullity of marriage,
which modifies in this particular the narrowness of our
civil code. It will be remembered that in France the
civil law and canon law are absolutely distinct. The
causes which make possible the nullity of a marriage are
not the same in the two systems. The first, which is very
severe, admits of but one case,-error concerning the per-
Our courts have decided that this means the mar-
riage of a man or woman to another than the individual
he or she had in view,—a mistake which, it may be said,
Once married, two beings are bound to-
gether for life, whatever their past has been, or whatever
their future
“ Such was not the doctrine of the old canon law. The
church of course held to the principle of the indissolu-
bility of marriage, but of marriage normally contracted
and uniting certain conditions. The theory of nullity
of marriage was very liberal, there being not less than
sixteen cases in which the contract could be broken.
It was declared null ab initio, and thus the doctrine of
indissolubility was left intact, while the present intoler-
* See Civil Code, Art, 180, and the commentaries on this article,
son.*
never occurs.
may be.

FRANCE.
263
able situation, from which there is no escape, was avoided.
By the re-establishment of divorce, so as to recognize
exactly the causes accepted by the canon law, religious
scruples would be gotten over, and those who combat the
Naquet bill from church prejudices would be able to
unite with its advocates. Thus, with the tolerance of
Rome and the consent of the State, divorce might be-
come a living fact again.” *
I next take up the moral condition of French women.
A Paris journalist has written: “ It is not necessary to
go to Constantinople to find the harem : one need not
leave Paris, with this single difference, that instead of be-
ing confined to the narrow walls of a palace, it overflows
the limits of the fortifications.”+ This is no exaggeration.
The vital statistics published each week in the daily
papers—to cite but one of many proofs—establish only
too firmly the truth of this statement. I select at hazard
one of these official reports. During the sixth week of
1882 there were 1,268 births at Paris, of which 937 were
legitimate and 341 illegitimate. That is to say, nearly
one-third of all the children who come into the world
each week at the French capital are born outside of wed-
lock,—some 17,000 bastards launched on to life annually
in one city of France. In such a state of things the
* The general subject of the legal position of women in France, is briefly
and clearly treated by M. Léon Richer in his volume entitled, the “Women's
Code” (Le code des femmes; Paris: Dentu, 1883). I would recommend, as
a convenient edition of the civil and penal codes, the two little volumes of
M. Rivière (Les codes français; Paris: Marescq, 20 rue Soufflot). The dif-
ferent matrimonial systems are clearly explained in Professor Emile Acollas's
interesting little book, “Marriage" (Le mariage; Paris : Marescq, 1881).
+ M. Albert Rabou, La France, February 9, 1881.
| Le Temps, February 12, 1882.

264
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
France of to-day would do well to imitate the Conven-
tion, which issued the celebrated decree that “
every girl
who supports her illegitimate child during ten years, by
the fruit of her own labor, may claim a public recom-

pense."*
Mme. Emilie de Morsier,t than whom no woman in
France is more competent to speak for the moral condi-
tion of her sex, writes me as follows: “It
may
be thought
surprising that French women have not demanded the
abolition of State regulated vice (police des inæurs) before
advancing their claims for civil and political equality.
Ought not the first protest of woman to be against a law
which makes property of her very person ? Her body is
not her own; under certain circumstances it
may
become
the property of the police, and an object of speculation
for dealers in human flesh, whose business is protected by
this same police. This law condemns women to the life
of a public prostitute under the surveillance of the
authorities.
“Now and then a voice has been raised against the
infamies without name concealed under the hypocritical
expression of the police des mours. Eugène Sue, in his
‘Mysteries of Paris,' stigmatized this official sentine
Legouvé, Histoire morale de la femme. Legouvé also cites the follow-
ing ordinance of the Convention, one of the many examples of the fair treat-
ment of women by that body: “Every mother whose work cannot support
her family, may claim aid from the nation.” Professor Acollas's work,
“ The Child Born Outside of Wedlock” (L'enfant né hors mariage), may be
read in connection with this subject.
+ Mme. de Morsier, besides taking an active part in all philanthropic and
reformatory movements in France, is the translator into French of Miss
Phelps's “ The Gates Ajar” and “Hedged In,” Mrs. Ashurst Venturi's
“ Joseph Mazzini, a Memoir," and of Mazzini's two essays, “ The Duties of
Man” and “ Thoughts on Democracy."

FRANCE.
265
called the 'bureau of morals' (bureau des mæurs*), and
the heart-rending life of the poor Fleur de Marie is no
exaggerated invention of the novelist, but a daily actu-
ality. Mlle. Julie Daubié, in a little tract entitled “The
Toleration of Vice' (La tolérance du vice), indignantly
condemns this infamous system; but this noble woman
died in the midst of her campaign against immorality.
“In 1873 Mrs. Josephine E. Butler arrived in Paris.
She had been for several years at the head of an English
movement, whose aim was to combat this same system
introduced into some parts of Great Britain by act of
Parliament. She held, with good reason, that as this
curse came from the Continent, it should be denounced
and attacked at its source. Mrs. Butler was the first wo-
man who spoke in France before large meetings on this
delicate question, and those who heard her remember the
profound impression she produced.
“ At the same time, a Frenchman, M. Yves Guyot,
spoke out against the iniquity, and began in the press a
campaign, which he continued later in the deliberations
of the Paris municipal council. Having laid the responsi-
bility for these infamies at the door of the prefect of po-
lice, he was condemned to six months' imprisonment, so
that a man was the first to suffer for having championed
the cause of these slaves of vice.
“ Members of the British and Continental Federation
for the Abolition of Prostitution, which owes its origin
to Mrs. Butler, have several times visited Paris to advo-
cate their cause, and the organization of a French com-
mittee was the result, with Mrs. Dr. John Chapman and
* This is the bureau of the police department, where the girls receive
their cards (cartes), and here is the dispensary (dispensaire) where the doc-
tors practice their inspection (visite forcée).

266
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Yves Guyot as presidents. One might have thought that
the movement, once gotten under way, would have grown
in public favor. But such was not the case. Many persons
were, indeed, convinced of the justice of the cause, but as
soon as the novelty of the first impressions wore off, they
fell back into their former state of indifference, and few
passed from conviction to action. France does not yet
know what self-government means. When people ex-
press the desire for a reform, they sit down, fold their
arms, and wait for the government to act. It cannot,
therefore, be said that there has been in this country
a genuine movement of public opinion in favor of the
abolition of State-regulated vice. If M. Yves Guyot had
not kept up the agitation, the question would probably
long ago have dropped out of sight and out of mind.
« The Paris Society for the Improvement of Public
Morals (Comité parisien pour le relèvement de la moralité
publique) follows much the same lines as the Federation,
and is doing a good work.
“The various associations in France for the promotion
of this cause have always been composed of men and
women, but it must be admitted that it is not the femi-
nine element which has predominated. This question, so
essentially a woman's question, does not awaken their in-
terest. It has been said that women make the morals,'
but it would be more correct to say that they accept them.
Through a deplorable frivolity, by a wish to please at any
price, they tacitly accept men's opinions and yield to
their wishes. This culpable complaisance is sometimes car-
ried to such a length, that wives strive to imitate the dress
and manners of a class in whose society their husbands
occasionally find a moment's pleasure, hoping, by debas-
ing themselves, to retain an affection which they fear may
9.

FRANCE.
267
escape them. On the other hand, conscientious women,
religious ones above all, scarcely dare to glance into these
abysses of vice, and, brought up to believe that they
have nothing to do with the outside world, say: ‘These
things do not concern us: men make the laws.' Selfish-
ness, ignorance and prejudice must be great indeed, when
wives and mothers do not see the depth and breadth
of this question... The cause lies in the tacit acquiescence
of women in the current opinions held by men on this
subject of morals. They have accepted their theory of
the necessity of vice, and firmly believe that the house of
ill-fame is a hygienic requisite."*
There is a small body of Catholics in France, including
such men as M. de Falloux, the Bishop of Amiens (M.
Guilbert), and the Abbé Bougaud, who cling to the forlorn
hope of conciliating Rome with the new society born of
the French Revolution. But their efforts have met with
no success, and every day the breach widens, the republi-
* The literature on this subject of public morality, especially that which
treats of the grave question of State-regulated vice, has grown to immense
proportions within the past few years. The Actes du congrès de Genève
(September, 1877) and the Compte-rendu du congrès de Gênes (September,
1880) are rich in information on this subject. The continental organ of the
Federation is Le bulletin continental, a monthly under the editorship of M.
Aimé Humbert. These three publications may be obtained by addressing
M. Humbert, 19, rue du Château, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. La prostitution,
by Yves Guyot (Paris : Charpentier, 13, rue de Grenelle St. Germain), is per-
haps the best French book on the subject. The Westminster Review for
April, 1883, contains a paper written by Dr. John Chapman, and entitled
“Prostitution at Paris," which explains very clearly and fully the system of
police des mæurs as practiced at the French capital. M. Fallot, 17, rue des
Petits-Hôtels, Paris, Secretary of the Comité Parisien, mentioned in the text,
can furnish documents and information concerning the general condition of
morals in France.

268
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
cans and freethinkers on one side, the monarchists and
priesthood on the other.
This freethinking party is strong and active. On the
evening of Good Friday, 1882, for example, occurred twen-
ty-two banquets of “freethinkers and atheists” at Paris
alone, and fourteen more in the environs. M. Léo Taxil's
Anti-Clerical League (Ligue anti-cléricale) and his bold
little paper entitled the Anti-clérical, keep up the
rubadub of agitation. This rebellion against the church
takes on various forms. On June 28, 1881, was founded
the Civil Marriage Society (Société du mariage civil), with
one of the mayors of Paris as its president. The great
question of the separation of church and state is con-
stantly before Parliament, and has called into existence
a society and newspaper devoted specially to the advo-
cacy
of this reform. Another society is exclusively occu-
pied with the propagandism of freethinking doctrines.
“ The question of the enfranchisement of woman and
the recognition of her rights," says Maria Deraismes,* " is
closely connected with the anti-clerical question or free-
thinking movement. Woman, since the commencement
of the world, has been the victim of religious tradition.
It is often said that Christianity lifted woman out of her
* Mlle. Deraismes is one of the ablest lady speakers in France and an ac-
tive leader in the anti-clerical movement. She has always been a zealous
worker for women's rights, was temporary president of the Paris congress
of 1878, and is to-day editor and proprietor of a strong free-thinking organ,
the Républicain de Seine-et-Oise. Mlle. Deraismes is probably the only
woman in France who is a Freemason. Her reception a year or two ago by
the Lodge of Le Pecq, a small town near Paris, created no little sensation,
for it was a double blow at the church, which, prohibiting even its male mem-
bers from becoming Masons, could only look with holy horror on a woman's
entrance into this organization. Mlle. Deraismes was president of the Paris
anti-clerical congress of 1881, in which some of the most important public
men of France participated.


FRANCE.
269
degradation; that before the coming of Christ she was
a mere thing, an object of amusement, an instrument
of reproduction. But this is only a legend and has no
historical foundation. The servitude of woman in antiq-
uity has been considerably exaggerated. The fact is that
she was subjected far less than many people are willing
to admit.*
The advent of Christianity scarcely modified this sit-
uation. The new doctrine condemned one sex to submit
to the other; it taught that woman was made for man,
and
not man for woman. According to St. Paul and all the
fathers of the church who came after him, women should
cover their heads in the churches as a sign of submission;
they are ordered to keep silence, they may not preach, they
are commanded to respect their husbands, because man
* The divine element, according to the ideas of the ancient world, was com-
posed of the two sexes. There were dei feminei, and hence temples sacred to
goddesses, holy sanctuaries where were celebrated mysteries in which men were
not permitted to participate. The worship of goddesses necessitated priest-
esses, so that women exercised the sacerdotal functions in the ancient
world. The wives of the Roman consuls even offered public sacrifices to the
divinities at certain festivals. This important part played by woman in
the religious sphere could not but have an influence on her general posi-
tion. In the Orient she put on the sovereign purple in the absence of
male heirs. The modern world has not done better. Roman law per-
mitted married women to control and enjoy their paraphernal property.
The wife as well as the husband could make application for a divorce. The
dramatic authors of the epoch show us that matrons exercised, when it
was necessary, considerable authority in the home. The more property the
wife had, the more rights she had.-M. D. “It must be admitted, although
it shocks our present customs, that among the most polished peoples, wives
have always had authority over their husbands. The Egyptians established
it by law in honor of Isis, and the Babylonians did the same in honor of
Semiramis. It has been said of the Romans that they ruled all nations but
obeyed their wives. I do not mention the Sauromates, who were, in fact,
the slaves of this sex, because they were too barbarous to be cited as an
example.”—Montesquieu, “ Persian Letters,” letter xxxviii.

270
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
is the head of the family as Jesus is the head of the church.
Who can discover in such ordinances the elements of
emancipation and equality? They are, on the contrary,
a solemn and definitive proclamation of the social inferi-
ority of woman. Christians were so uncertain as to the
real value of woman, and the teachings of Jesus were so
obscure on the subject, that the Council of Mâcon asked
if she had a soul! Although the Virgin Mary occupies
the largest place in the Catholic Church, to the exclusion
of the persons of the trinity, still this preponderance of
the female element in the doctrine and in the service has
not improved the social condition of women.
“ The French republicans of to-day are striving to es-
tablish a democracy, and they encounter on every hand a
tremendous obstacle,—the church. Now of all the allies
of this church, women are the most zealous, the most in-
fluential, the most numerous. They it is who have pro-
longed the existence of a doctrine condemned fatally to
disappear. Remove women from the church, and the
Catholic edifice receives a mortal blow. Our men, who
have so long neglected women, now begin to perceive the
whole extent of the folly of which they have been guilty
in refusing them knowledge. They are now trying to
repair this fault. They are rapidly organizing a system
of instruction for girls which shall be secular, and the
same for both sexes. They see that knowledge is the
source of all liberty.*
* The growing belief among French republicans that the realization or
failure of their efforts to found a lasting republic in this country depends in
no small measure on the women of France, is one of the most interesting feat-
ures of the present political crisis. It has often been said, notably by Mich-
elet, that women gave the death-blow to the first republic and powerfully
aided the victory of the church and old beliefs. The radical publicist, M.
Léon Giraud, one of the most active and intelligent friends of the women's


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Every woman who desires to obtain her rights, or who
wishes at least to escape from tutelage, should second the
freethinking movement. In breaking with the Catholic
legend woman revokes the primordial decree which smote
her, and which has rendered her an object of universal
reprobation. Hence it is that freethinking makes numer-
ous recruits among the sex which seemed doomed to be
forever the
prey of superstition. A large number of
women are members of the anti-clerical societies, which
are multiplying every day and spreading into the prov-
inces. Turning their back on churches, they attend our
gatherings, take part in the discussions and become offi-
cers of our meetings and societies. Among the many
friends of this cause are women distinguished for their
learning, literary talent and eloquence. I have room to
name but a few, such as Mesdames Clémence Royer, Gag-
neur, André Léo, Angélique Arnaud, Jules de La Made-
lène, Edgar Quinet, Edmond Adam, Griess-Traut, Louise
David, Rouzade, Feresse-Deraismes, and de Barrau.
Women participate very largely in charitable and phil-
anthropic work. “I am happy as a French woman,
movement in France, writes me on this subject as follows: “It is a state-
ment which I think true and which I have tried to explain in my book 'The
Romance of the Christian Woman' (Le roman de la femme chrétienne).” In
a speech against the decrees which drove the unauthorized religious orders
from France, Laboulaye said in the senate, on November 16, 1880: “If
you were present at the expulsion of the congregations, you saw women
praying, supplicating. Do you think they will have any affection for the
republic? Hatred of the republic is becoming a feminine hatred, and a
government cannot resist that.” Referring to this speech a few days
before his death, Laboulaye said to me in a laughing mood : “Somebody
has remarked that a government is lost which has the cooks against it, be.
cause they each have a cousin in the army!”

272
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Mme. Isabelle Bogelot* writes me, “ to be able to say
that our beautiful France contains many large-hearted
women, and private charity is extensive.
charity is extensive. There is still
much misery, for it is impossible to remove it entirely.
To obtain the results we desire, and guard women from
dishonor and starvation, is a problem whose solution
must be sought elsewhere than in charity. I shall cite
few of these private charitable organizations at Paris,
which will give an idea of the work throughout France.
“The Philanthropic Society (Société philanthropique),
which was founded in 1780, has been a blessing to poor
women for a hundred years. Among its many benefactors
may be mentioned Mme. Camille Favrę, whose recent
liberality has made it possible for the Society to establish
dispensaries for children, which will soon be opened in all
the outlying quarters of Paris.t The Society for the
Amelioration of the Condition of Women, already men-
tioned several times in this chapter, has charitable aims.
The Society for Released Female Prisoners of St.
Lazare (Euvre des libérées de St. Lazare), founded by
Mlle. Michel de Grandpré, comes to the assistance of
those liberated from this well-known women's prison.
Mme. de Witt has created a folding-room in connection
with the extensive publishing house of Hachette & Com-
pany, which gives employment to two hundred
poor
women. They are fed, and the money which they de-
posit draws ten per cent. interest. Mme. Dalencourt has
organized a society which provides needy women with
* Mme. Bogelot (4, rue Perrault, Paris), who is one of the most liberal-
minded and active friends of the poor and unfortunate, is a member of the
board of managers of the Society for Released Female Prisoners of St.
Lazare (Euvre des libérées de St. Lazare), of which Mme. de Barrau is director.
+ The office of this society is 17, rue d'Orléans, Paris.

FRANCE.
273
work and food at a very reduced price, and assures them
ten per cent. on their savings. Such are a few—perhaps
the most characteristic—of the Paris charitable institu-
tions due to women and for women.”
Among other benevolent works in which women par-
ticipate, may be mentioned the Paris Society for the Pro-
tection of Animals, which counts many ladies among its
officers and members. Female charity is sometimes of a
patriotic nature, as in the case of the Association of
French Ladies, which was founded in April, 1879, and
whose principal object is to care for the wounded in time
The Association has several branch societies in
the provinces and supports schools for the training of
nurses at Paris and in other cities of France.
The sister of charity must not be overlooked, for in
France as elsewhere she is an important factor in benevo-
lent work. It may be said that we have in her the germ
of the female physician, for in the dispensary she is a
pharmacist, and at the sick-bed a doctor. The sister of
charity is, therefore, acting a grand part in accustoming
the public to this progressive step in the medical pro-
fession.*
of war.
* Concerning printed information on French charities, Mme. Bogelot
writes : “ Le manuel des auvres (Paris : Poussielque, 15, rue Cassette), pub-
lished every two years, gives an account of all public institutions and those
of a private nature which have been officially recognized. Manuel des
bureaux de bien faisance, by Molineau (Paris: Marchal et Billard, 27, place
Dauphine), is valuable. Les gens de bien, by Mme. Demoulin, of St.
Quentin, will soon be published and will give the names of all those who
devote their attention to charity in France.” M. Maxime du Camp, of the
French Academy, has well described the public and private charities of
Paris. For the first, see the Revue des deux mondes, June 15th, August ist,
September ist and 15th, 1870, and October 15th and November ist, 1872;
for the second, see the same periodical, April 1st and May 15th, 1883.

274
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
In order to fully appreciate what has been accomplished
in the matter of girls' instruction, we must know what
was its condition when the work began. The situation
previous to the Revolution may be judged by this extract
from one of Mme. de Maintenon's essays on education :
* Bring up your girls of the middle classes as such,” she
says; “ do not trouble yourself about the cultivation of
their minds; they should be taught domestic duties, obe-
dience to husband, and care of children. Reading does
young girls more harm than good; books make wits and
excite insatiable curiosity.” As regards history, Mme. de
Maintenon allows that girls should have a slight knowledge
of it, in order to know the names of their own princes, so
as not to mistake a king of Spain or England for a ruler
of Persia or Siam. But ancient history is proscribed. “I
should fear,” she says, “ lest those grand traits of heroism
and generosity exalt their mind and make them vain and
affected.”
But the Revolution modified French ideas concerning
women's education. A descendant of La Fontaine, Mme.
Mouret, who edited a women's educational journal in
1790, read at the bar of the National Assembly a plan for
the instruction of girls, which was received in most com-
plimentary terms by the president.* It was the Conven-
tion which first spoke out clearly in France for girls'
instruction. But the Convention was too short-lived to
accomplish its work, and war and bad government ad-
journed for many long years the realization of its liberal
plans.

* Dictionnaire de la presse, p. 161.
+ M. Auguste Desmoulins, the radical member of the Paris Municipal
Council, in a speech at Foix, on the occasion of the unveiling of a statue to
Lakanal, September 24, 1882, pointed out how this great Minister of Public

FRANCE.
275
The Empire did nothing for the instruction of women,
and the Restoration was worse than the Empire, for it
was clerical. But the culpability of Napoleon and the
Bourbons is of a negative nature. It is not the same with
Louis Philippe, however. When the July monarchy, in
1833, at the instance of Guizot, created primary instruc-
tion for boys, the girls of France were entirely neglected.
This was positive culpability. It must have been at this
period that Balzac exclaimed: “The education of girls is
such a grave problem-for the future of a nation is in
the mothers—that for a long time past the University of
France has not thought about it!” Efforts have since
been made to remedy this fault, but there are still 3,281
communes which have no primary schools for girls, and
31.34 per cent. fewer girls' than boys' schools in all
France.
The history of girls' intermediate instruction is still less
creditable to the country. Although private initiative
has nobly endeavored to supply a crying want, the State
began to act but yesterday. M. Duruy, Minister of Pub-
lic Instruction under the second Empire, created, in 1867,
courses of lectures for the intermediate instruction of
girls, but it was not until December 21, 1880, after a long
and bitter struggle of three years' duration, that M.
Camille Sée saw his bill become law, and France offered
its girls something more than an elementary training.
Instruction under the Convention, who considered “the education of girls
as indispensable as that of boys,” saw his hopes, blasted in France, realized
in the United States. “It is not sufficiently known," said M. Desmoulins,
“that the vast system of national instruction so brilliantly consummated at
this hour across the Atlantic, is the direct and natural result of all that was
thought out by our encyclopedists, longed for by our grand revolution, and
prepared by the National Convention."-Bulletin de la ville de Paris, Sep-
tember 30, 1882.

276
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
>
“ Our law is at one and the same time a moral law, a so-
cial law, and a political law,” said M. Sée, in the Cham-
ber; "it concerns the future and the safety of France,
for on woman depends the grandeur as well as the decad-
ence of nations."
The manner in which this reform has been received by
French women shows that they were only waiting for an
opportunity to improve their minds. I cannot resist citing
a few examples of their enthusiasm in what has become,
in so far as France is concerned, a second Revival of
Learning. The day before the Rouen College (Lycée*)
opened, in October, 1882, the names of 202 girls were
already on the register. The Amiens College had, during
its first term, 60 day and 40 boarding scholars. At Lyons,
a very clerical city, although the college opened very late
in the autumn of 1882, some 40 scholars were in atten-
dance. When the Montpellier College—the first girls'
college in France—was organized, it had 76 scholars, at the
end of the year more than 100, and during the autumn of
1882 the lectures were attended by 215 girls. The college
at Grenoble began on April 17, 1882, with 47 girls, and in
January, 1883, this number had risen to 112.
This same
tendency is seen in the lecture courses founded by M. Du-
ruy, to which reference has already been made. Whereas,
in 1875, these Sorbonne studies were pursued by 165
girls, in the collegiate year 1881–2 there were 244.
But the Government and the municipalities enter as
heartily into the work as the women themselves. The
Chamber voted, in 1882, ten millions of francs for the
* In the French system of secondary instruction the establishments are
of two classes, those which have a State subvention and those supported en-
tirely by the commune. The first are called lycées, the second collèges. I
use our English word, college, for both classes.

FRANCE.
277
creation of girls' colleges. Rouen, one of the first cities
to demand a college, found that it would cost a million
francs; the municipality forthwith contributed half that
sum and the Government the other half. At the end of
the first year after the promulgation of the Sée law,the
following results had been obtained: The foundation of
a superior normal school for women at Sèvres,* the open-
ing of four colleges, all the preliminary steps taken to the
same end in twenty-six other cities, while similar negotia-
tions had been begun by thirty-eight other municipalities.
To-day (October, 1883)—less than three years after the
Sée bill became law-still greater progress can be reported,
and almost every month a new girls' college is added to
the vast system of public instruction in France.
University education for women was secured long be-
fore intermediate education, due mainly to the fact that
no new schools had to be created. From 1866 to 1882,
109 degrees were conferred upon women in France. There
have been 49 bachelors of arts, 32 bachelors of science,
and 21 doctors of medicine; 98 degrees have been con-
ferred in Paris alone. Many foreigners, especially in
medicine, are found among these 109 graduates, but within
the last year or two-particularly since the Sée law has
created a demand for educated teachers—the number of
French women studying for university degrees has greatly
increased.
* This is a national institution corresponding to the celebrated superior
normal school for men in the Rue d'Ulm at Paris. Its aim is to fit women
to become directors and professors of girls' colleges. It was created July
28, 1881, at the instigation of M. Sée, by a vote of Parliament, and opened
December 12 following, with about 40 scholars, ranging from 18 to 24 years.
In October, 1882, 40 new scholars entered. The course of studies now covers
two years, but efforts are being made to extend it to three years. The
director of the school is Mme. Favre, widow of the celebrated Jules Favre,

278
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
provement."
>>
The history of women's medical instruction in France
is very significant, and shows most strikingly the growth
of public opinion in regard to the higher education of
women generally. In 1864 Legouvé wrote: • The reader
must not think that I desire to see women mingling with
male students on the seats of the law or medical school;
this would indeed be a poor way to provide for their im.
In 1875, Dr. G. Richelot, President of the
Paris Medical Society, styled the study of medicine by
women “that deplorable tendency,' a malady of our
epoch.” But Legouvé has lived to see women sitting on the
same benches with male students without detracting from
the improvement of either sex, and Dr. Richelot's malady
has become an epidemic. There was a time when the
female students at the Paris Medical School were almost
without exception from abroad. But this is not the case
to-day. The first Frenchwoman to take a medical degree
in France was Mlle. Verneuil, who is still practicing at
Paris. She graduated from the Paris Medical School in
1870. Up to 1881 six more Frenchwomen had followed
her example, five taking their degree at the capital, and
one at Montpellier. Since that time several new names
have been added to the list, the last being Mlle. Victorine
Benoît, who was graduated at Paris in August, 1883, with
the highest approval of the board of examiners, com-
posed of such doctors as Potain, Strauss, Rendu, and
Monod.
That the Paris Medical School has not shut its doors
against women, in marked contrast with the
in marked contrast with the action of so
many other medical schools, is due in no small measure
to Laboulaye. He once told me that some years ago
the
question of refusing women admission to the Paris Medi-
cal School was brought up in the Department of Public

FRANCE.
279
Instruction. The matter was referred to him. His re-
port to the Minister was to this effect: The rules of
the school say nothing on the subject; it would therefore
seem the best and the simplest course to require of wo-
men who desire to pursue medicine the same preparatory
studies and the same tests for graduation which are de-
manded of the male students, and thus allow both sexes to
enjoy the advantages offered by the school. This sensible
and just advice was followed, and the question has never
been mooted since.
The co-education of the sexes is not unknown in France,
although the average Frenchman, who has a very strong
repugnance to the system, would be astonished at its
prevalence. There are 17,728 primary schools for both
sexes (écoles-mixtes), nearly one-third of the primary
schools of France, with 633,697 scholars. They are found
in every department, and there are seven in the depart-
ment of the Seine. For the past thirty-two years there
has been an agricultural orphan asylum for the two sexes
(asile agricole mixte) at Cernay, in the Haut-Rhin.
“ These schools," says Mme. Griess-Traut, “have pro-
duced here, as in other countries, excellent results."* In
the universities, co-education is accepted with scarcely an
objection, and every year it becomes more and more a
matter of course among professors and students alike.
In fact, this rapid and hearty admission of women to the
* I take the figures in this paragraph from an admirable article by Mme.
Griess-Traut, in the Phare de la Loire for November 21, 1882. The objec-
tions raised to this primary co-education, even by the most distinguished
educationists of France, are always amusing and often absolutely puerile.
M. Francisque Sarcey even goes to the United States to find arguments
against it. In the Dix-neuvième Siècle for October 19, 1880, he says :
“ The Yankees commence to lose faith in this system, which will soon dis.
appear” (!).
|

280
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
French faculties is one of the most significant and re.
markable social revolutions of recent years.*
“A comparison of the condition of French literary
women of to-day," says Mme. Henry Gréville,+ “with
* Primary and intermediate co-education have become an integrant part
of our American school system, but university co-education is still strongly
opposed by a large class. In France, on the contrary, the first are con-
demned, while the second is now generally accepted. Lumping together
the opinions on this subject held in the two countries, we find the system
approved in the three degrees of instruction, which shows that the objec-
tions on both sides of the Atlantic are only prejudices.
A concise, learned, and very interesting account of women's education in
France, past and present, and more especially of intermediate instruction, is
found in L'enseignement secondaire des filles (Paris: Delalain, 1, rue de la
Sorbonne, 1883), by M. Gréard, one of the leading educationists of France.
This is the latest and most authoritative essay on the subject. Jules Simon's
L'école (Paris : Hachette, 79, Boulevard St. Germain), while ably treating
the whole subject of public instruction, devotes a large portion of
his volume to a rather liberal consideration of women's education. His-
.
toire de l'éducation des femmes en France (Paris : Didier, 1883), by Paul
Rousselot, was awarded the Botta prize in 1883 by the French Academy.
L'enseignement secondaire des jeunes filles (Paris: Leopold Cerf, 13, rue de
Médicis), a monthly, edited by M. Camille Sée, with the co-operation of
Henri Martin, Legouvé, and others, gives, besides short essays on the sub-
ject of women's education, all the current news on the question.
+ Mme. Gréville (whose maiden name was Alice Marie Fleury) is the
daughter of M. Jean Fleury, who was born at Vasteville, in Normandy, and
is now professor at the University of St. Petersburg. She was born at Paris,
Rue de Grenelle St. Germain, October 12, 1842, and is the wife of M. E.
Durand, who was born at Montpellier in 1838. It will be seen, therefore,
that Mme. Gréville is thoroughly French by birth as well as marriage. I
give these details because she has been claimed by other countries, by Switz-
erland and Belgium to my personal knowledge. In 1857 Mme. Gréville
went to Russia and did not return to her native land until after the Franco-
German war in 1872. A few years later her literary career began in the form
of remarkable novels depicting Russian society, and the Revue des deux
mondes, the Journal des débats, and the Temps delighted their readers at one

FRANCE.
281
ence.
that which they occupied during the first half of this cent-
ury, presents at the very first glance a remarkable differ-
What then seemed abnormal, odd, almost repre-
hensible, is now universally accepted without exciting any
comment. In fact, from 1800 to 1850, women who had a
taste for writing sought to excuse themselves before the
public for indulging in this extraordinary caprice, and
some, like Mme. Tastu, Mme. Ancelot, Elisa Merceur,
and Mme. Desbordes-Valmore, succeeded in being par-
doned their mania by dint of good grace, amiability, I
may almost say, humility. Others resembled George
Sand, who came to an open quarrel with all prejudices,
and lived for her art alone. Through the force of genius,
she succeeded in compelling even the most recalcitrant
to accept her, but only after a long and perilous struggle.
Conscious of greatness and indifferent to public opinion,
she was able to alleviate her vexations, but not to remove
them.
“To-day a woman may write on any subject,—on sci-
ence, art, and pedagogics ; she may take up fiction,—every
path is open to her. The public judges her as it would
a man, retaining, however, that fine, almost involuntary
deference, the result of habit and good breeding, which
every Frenchman--whether he shows it or not by his
outward acts—feels for the woman who respects herself.
This notable change, which, relatively speaking, has come
about rapidly, is due principally to the fact that female
writers of the present time do not entertain the same
and the same time with charming creations from this rapid and prolific pen.
But Mme. Gréville is not only a talented and clever novelist, she is also a
broad-minded, liberal thinker on all the great reform and progressive ques-
tions of the hour, and her artistic little house on the heights of Montmartre
is an influential centre for the propagation of modern ideas.

282
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
ideas on literature as formerly. When a woman fifty years
ago boldly took up the pen, she declared herself by this
very act at variance with prejudice. Her avowed object
was glory; she desired that her name should make a
noise in the world. This name, therefore, was rarely a
pseudonym unless circumstances rendered a disguise
necessary. From 1850 to 1880 a change, which has be-
come the rule, took place. In order to enjoy greater
liberty, almost all women who felt themselves pushed
toward literature sheltered themselves behind a pseu-
donym, often a masculine one, whose secret was sometimes
kept for many years. Their glory thus became less per-
sonal, was associated more with the talent than the indi-
viduality of the writer, was freer from alloy, and womanly
dignity gained thereby. There is evidently an advantage
in being discussed under a borrowed, rather than under
one's real name. The family is not touched in the com-
bats of the press, and may, up to a certain point, remain
ignorant of the quarrels of literature, while, at the same
time, the domestic hearth is benefited by the material
rewards of literary labor. No wonder, then, that many
young girls turn toward this new field of work.
“At the same moment that the prejudice against female
authors began to diminish in force, a more substantial ed-
ucation-still far from what it should be, however-pro-
vided these literary neophytes more ample means for the
attainment of their aspirations, which first assumed the
form of verse, so true is it that the impulse to sing, less
definite, more subtle, precedes that of speaking. Many
volumes of poetry with the names of women on the title-
page were born, ran their short course, and died. Then
the movement became more strongly marked, took on
a more precise form, and, after some groping, the feminine


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novel, properly so-called, was produced.* Thereby were
women not only presented in a new light, but were
afforded new means of existence. At the same time,
numerous collections for young people were published,
and a large number of distinguished women made their
first literary efforts in this department. Many continue
to devote themselves to juvenile literature, while others
have gained a reputation in the higher walks of fiction.
"Public opinion changed so rapidly that the expres-
sions, 'feminine studies,' feminine style,' were soon consid-
ered to
carry
with them praise rather than blame, and men
even began to choose feminine pseudonyms at a time when
women were borrowing their noms de plume from the mas-
culine part of the calendar. But so complete a revolution
was not produced without profound causes.
Female au-
thors—to cite the most important of these influences—
were formerly considered, justly or unjustly, to neglect
their homes so as to devote themselves more entirely
to literature. The stockings in holes, the house in dis-
order, the children uncared for, the husband treated as an
unwelcome intruder sapping the inspiration of his spouse,
-all these repugnant details of domestic imperfection had
passed into a proverb and brought literary women, often
unmeritedly, into discredit. When the profession became
the appanage not alone of a few eccentrics, but of a large
recognized class of industrious, poorly paid women, it
was perceived that they were, generally speaking, none
the less good mothers and excellent housekeepers anxious
for the reputation of the home. Their aim in taking up
the pen was commonly to add some dainties to the dry
bread of the daily existence of an aged mother or sick
* George Sand being an exceptional genius should be considered a pre-
cursor, not the creator of modern feminine French fiction.-H. G.

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child, to come to the aid of sons who must be educated,
and daughters who must be endowed. How many cases
might be cited of women who, abandoned by a prodigal,
unquestionably culpable husband, and reduced to the
alternative of choosing between poverty and something
worse, found their salvation in a return to the studies of
their youth. Exhausted strength, the lack of a teacher's
diploma, false pride which cannot brook an employment
after having enjoyed independence, the incapacity to
suffer humiliations never before experienced,—all these
circumstances, singly or united, have often forced from
the soul of a cruelly tried woman, cries of anguish and
passion which have found an echo in the public heart.
'Where have they discovered that ?' is asked. In the tor-
tures of a blighted existence. Hence it is that women have
been able to say things which men would never have
thought of or divined. The public has done them justice,
believing that they do not the less merit its respect for
having discreetly expressed these sufferings. This in-
dulgence has brought into prominence a galaxy of femi-
nine names and surrounded them with consideration and
sympathy. But talent may be germinated otherwise than
by misfortune. Happy souls speak in equally touching
accents. The joys of the family, the frenzy of passion,
and the drama of existence are subjects of study and
reflection as inexhaustible for happy as for sad hearts.
“Thérèse Bentzon, Albane, the delicate author of ‘Mad-
eleine's Sin' (Péché de Madeleine); Juliette Lamber
(Mme. Edmond Adam), Etienne Marcel, André Gérard,
Georges de Peyrebrune, Jeanne Mairet, * Jacques Vincent,
* It is a high compliment to Jeanne Mairet that she should be classed by
Henry Gréville among French authors, a compliment which may be shared
by American women, for the wife of the well-known Paris journalist, Charles

FRANCE.
285
her poems
and many others whose names I omit with regret, have
produced works full of true sentiment and actual expe-
rience, which enable us to study the soul of the women
of to-day as we never could those of the past. Other
female
pens have taken up philosophy and morals. The
delicately penetrating reflections of Mme. Julia Daudet,
full of natural sentiment; the gloomy, merciful
morality of Mme. Blanchecotte, who takes from humanity
its afflictions, which she shares, and, whether in prose
or verse, gives comfort in return; the philosophy (which
rejects an invisible, unknown enemy) of Mme. Acker-
mann, who, standing almost alone in this order of ideas,
has spoken out concerning the nature of our existence in
such clear, energetic language,—such are a few of the
female philosophers and moralists of the France of to-day.
In another department, I may cite those clever women,
femmes d'esprit, Daniel Darc, Ange Bénigne, and Gyp,
worthy successors of Mme, de Girardin.
“The problems of education, many of which are still
unsolved, could not fail to attract the attention of women,
in whom the maternal sentiment is oftenest the most pre-
dominant. Mme. Pape-Carpantier's ideas on this subject
gave evidence of womanly patience and good sense, and
she showed the devotion of an apostle in putting them
into practice. In creating object-teaching in the infant
schools (salles d'asile) she opened her arms, like St. Vin-
cent de Paul, to all the little ones, the hope of the future
and the care of the present. But these arms were not
only her own, they were those of all France. What the
infant asylum (crèche) had done for the first months of
Bigot, is the daughter of Healy, the American artist. Her new novel,
Marca," was highly praised by the Temps, and won a prize from the
French Academy in 1883.

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WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
the baby, Mme. Pape-Carpantier did for the age when
the turbulent child is a danger to himself in the house,
at a time when he is capable of learning a great deal
in the infant-school. Object-teaching produced a large
number of educational works, and gave a start to ju-
venile literature, which was quite backward in France,
although very able women had not disdained to conse-
crate their time and labor to this important branch of
letters. Nothing is more difficult than to address one's
self to the young in language which instructs and im-
proves, at the same time that it amuses. Mme. de
Witt, née Guizot, followed by Mlle. L. Fleuriot, Mme.
Colomb, and many others, gave themselves up to this
work, often so ungrateful, and yet all the more meritori-
ous, as it is harder, less remunerative, and does not com-
mand so much applause as the higher kinds of fiction.
Pedagogics, properly so-called, have found an able ex-
pounder in the
person
of Mme. Coignet. And in propor-
tion as intermediate instruction for girls is developed in
our country, writers now little known will come forward
to elucidate questions as yet but poorly understood. The
number of young women who take degrees in science and
letters increases every year, and scientific literature will
undoubtedly in the near future find among them adepts
of a scientific and philosophic turn of mind, such as Mme.
Clémence Royer, whose works embrace a vast portion of
the human thought of the present time.
During a certain period, toward the middle of the
century, a mystical tendency gave birth to writings of a
lofty inspiration, which by their form almost attained to
poetry. Mme. de Gasparin and Mlle. Eugénie de Guérin
were the high priests of this school. But the current has
changed, and these two meritorious women have left no


FRANCE.
287
disciples. Quite different is the elegant superficial litera-
ture of the society journals, in which the toilets and
pleasures of the fashionable world are described. Mme.
de Peyronny,whose brilliant pseudonym is Etincelle, under-
stands wonderfully well the volatile art of giving form to
that which is as delicate as the wings of the butterfly. To
treat lightly light things is not an easy task, and nothing
is more difficult than to be always clever. A knowledge
of foreign languages plays an important part in our
literature, especially since the war of 1870-'71, and every
book of value published abroad has been translated into
French, generally by women. Although this kind of work
does not admit of great latitude for the development of
any individuality, Mme. Arvède Barine, by a thorough
study of Russian, German and English literatures, has
made a deserved reputation as a specialist in this depart-
inent of literary labor.
“Women have not played a prominent part in French
theatrical literature. I do not mean to say, however, that
they have not the ability and desire to write plays. The
material difficulties, such as the getting up of the piece,
the rehearsals, etc., would be enough to discourage them
even if the directors were not to turn their back upon
them. At a time when the newspapers throw wide their
columns to feminine pens, impresarios cling to the old
prejudice and shut their doors-except in a few extraor-
dinary instances -- against every piece written by a
The case of a lady is cited—and she is probably
not the only one-who, in order to have her play pro-
duced, had to hire a theatre, engage actors, and take upon
herself the responsibility of the whole representation.
She was probably more persevering and had more money
for the realization of her dream than other feminine play-
woman.

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WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
writers, since her example has not been followed. As no
physiological reason has been advanced to prove that
women, who are capable of contriving good novels, are
incapable of making good plays, we may hope that this
last prejudice will soon go to join the others in the ob-
livion of the past.*
“In such a short and rapid sketch I can only give the
principal features of the epoch, and many names worthy
of mention must be passed over for lack of space. This
paper would miss its aim if I were to turn bibliographer.
More important than persons is the movement, which,
starting from a fixed point at the beginning of the cent-
ury, is pushing on toward the hidden future of its close.
In looking back at the first half of this period, it is impos-
sible not to be struck by the marked improvement, during
the past thirty years, in the literary status of French
women. The future has still greater ameliorations in store
for us if we continue to preserve that sense of dignity
which, with very rare exceptions, characterizes to-day the
female authors of France. If, at some gathering of artists
or literati, the eye is arrested by a woman attired in taste-
ful simplicity, if she converses with graceful ease, if she
* The visitor to the Théâtre Français will notice among the large and
interesting collection of busts of famous French playwrights which adorn the
halls and stairways of this theatrical pantheon, the marble figures of two
women, not the least of the galaxy, George Sand and Mme. de Girardin, who
have added many admirable dramas to the repertory of the House of Molière.
Since 1680, when the Français was founded, about sixty plays by women
have been acted. Mlle, Arnaud, whose Mademoiselle du Vigean was given
at the Français for the first time on June 28, 1883, is the latest female
dramatic writer at this theatre. Dramas by women have been produced at
other Paris theatres. The most recent instance is the Autour du mariage,
a comedy in five acts, played at the Gymnase in the autumn of 1883, and
due to the joint authorship of the Countess de Martel (Gyp) and M. Hector
Crémieux.

FRANCE.
289
knows how to listen to the recitations and the music, it is
very probable that this is one of those women of whom
French literature is proud. It was not safe formerly to
entertain such an opinion, but blue stockings have disap-
peared since authoresses daily ply the needle.”
“Somebody,” Mme. Léon Bertaux* writes me, “has
said “Thought, daughter of the soul, has no sex.' A
president of Oberlin College declared in 1867: ‘While
admitting that the two sexes are equally capable, I do
not mean to affirm thereby that there exists no normal
difference between the intelligence of women and that of
men.' This incontestable diversity, this variety in the
essence of expression, renders feminine art the corollary
of masculine art. It is precisely in taking our stand on
this precious result, that we demand for the woman,
who devotes herself to art, those opportunities for ele-
mentary culture afforded by the School of Fine Arts, in
order that she may possess a solid foundation on which
to build her artistic conceptions. If a goodly number of
* Mme. Léon Bertaux is one of the most distinguished of modern French
sculptors. Besides the statues which she has exposed during a long series
of years at various exhibitions, she is the author of a number of monu-
mental works, two frontals of the Tuileries, decorative statues for several
public monuments, and a large fountain composed of eight bronze figures at
Amiens. Mme. Bertaux is the only Frenchwoman who, having taken
three medals in sculpture, is hors concours, that is to say, she may be a can-
didate only for the medal of honor, which is conferred each year at the an-
nual exhibition (salon) on one sculptor. Mme. Bertaux is the founder and
presiding genius of the Society of Female Painters and Sculptors (Union des
femmes peintres et sculpteurs), the earliest organization of the kind in France.
“ The object of this international association,” says Mme. Bertaux, "is
to offer its members annually an opportunity to exhibit their principal works,
to defend their interests, and to afford young talent a chance of making itself
known.”
19

290
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

Swedish women take an honorable position in our ex-
hibitions and treat successfully historical subjects, it is
because they have the means of developing at an early
hour their artistic taste, for Stockholm has a National
School of Fine Arts where women may study from the
living model.*
“The interesting personality of Mme. Vigée-Lebrun
(1755-1842) opens the series of the French female artists
of the century. Marie Anne Elisabeth Vigée, daughter
and pupil of the painter of this same name, whom she
overshadowed, gave evidence in early youth of a great
talent, for art. At seven she is said to have drawn a
man's head, full of promise for the future, and at twenty
she had become celebrated for portraits commanded by
the State. D'Alembert, in the name of his colleagues, gave
her access to all the sittings of the French Academy, and
in 1783, under the absolute monarchy, she was made a
member of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, not-
withstanding the opposition of some of her future asso-
ciates.
“To-day, when the female painter or sculptor is no
longer looked down upon by a prejudiced society, but,
on the contrary, is rather courted for her artistic talent,
is it not strange that the only obstacles which she en-
counters are those thrown in her way by the very institu-
tions which ought to befriend her? Does not common
sense revolt against the check which they place on her
* That Frenchwomen are only waiting for the opportunity to participate
in the valuable instruction of the School of Fine Arts is evidenced on every
hand. M. Emile Guiard, for example, the secretary of the institution which
he mentions, wrote me in January, 1883: “Women are admitted to the
School of the Louvre (École du Louvrej, and every one of our lectures, how-
ever dry they may be, has at least five or six female listeners."

FRANCE.
291
emulation? It is true that no fixed law limits women's
artistic ambition, but a hidden influence, all the more
mischievous because of its disguise, militates against our
success and public recognition. I shall cite but one
example among a thousand. Is there a male artist of the
ability of our great portrait-painter, Mme. Nélie Jacque-
mart, who has not been awarded a first-class medal and
membership in the Legion of Honor?* The directors
of the Department of Fine Arts, who have succeeded each
other from time to time, have been influenced by preju-
dice and arbitrary routine rather than by equity, so that,
since the foundation of the Third Republic, they have
systematically refused female artists this important honor.
The wrong is increased by the advantages enjoyed by men,
for whom the country has smoothed the way, permitting
them, without expense, to reap the benefits of the School
of Fine Arts until their thirtieth year, if necessary, while,
at the same time, the female painters and sculptors pay
their portion of the taxes for the support of an institution
which is an obstacle to them throughout their whole
career.t It is easily understood, therefore, that the female
* Mme. Bertaux herself presents a striking instance of this same injustice.
Sculptors of far less merit were long ago made members of the Legion of
Honor. To fully appreciate the importance of this exclusion, it should be
remembered that these distinctions are very highly valued in France. But
fifteen women, by the way, are members of the Legion of Honor.
† The justice of Mme. Bertaux's complaint can be fully appreciated only
by those who have carefully examined the question. A French male artist
who is not a graduate of the State School of Fine Arts, who is not a member
of the State Academy of Fine Arts, who stands outside of the authorized offi-
cial circle, labors under the greatest difficulties. The annual art exhibition,
which up to 1882 had been controlled by the State, passed, in that year, into
the hands of an independent body of artists (Association des artistes fran-
çais). The prime cause of this change was the desire to escape as much as
possible the evil influence of an official art coterie. If the male artists of

292
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
artist, who is unequally armed for the combat, and whose
honors are not adjudged after the same rules of merit,
occupies only a secondary place in France. These diffi-
culties explained, the talent of the individuals mentioned
in these notes stands out all the more prominently.
“The number of women still living who have received
official medals since 1824 is not less than fifty-five, of
whom three are sculptors and four engravers. The three
sculptors are Mme. de Fauvau, Mlle. Thomas, and the
author of these notes. Mme. Felicie de Fauvau, who
received a medal of the second class in 1827, was one of
that galaxy of romantic artists who substituted for the
bad classic school of the Restoration a rather character-
less style, which may be called-if we may be pardoned
the pleonasm-neo-renaissance. Mlle. Mathilde Thomas,
an animal sculptor of great merit, received a third class
medal in 1881.* Among the forty-eight painters who
have taken medals, the name of Rosa Bonheur is most
France found the yoke unbearable, it is easy to imagine what the female
artists suffer, who have against them not only the State but also the extra-
State organization. It must not be inferred, however, from what has just
been said, that female artists are entirely ignored. The following women
took honors at the Salon of 1883: Second class medal, Mme. Demont-Breton,
who also received a gold medal at the Amsterdam Exhibition of 1883 ;
third class medal, Mlle. Lucie Contour and Mlle. Léonie Valmon ; honor-
able mentions : Mme. Fanny Prunaire, née Colonny, Mlle. Blau, of Vienna;
Mme. Van Marcke-Diéterle, Mme. Hélène Luminais, Mme. Lavieille, Mme.
Marie Bashkirseff, of Russia ; Mme. Signoret, Mme. Bénard, Mlle. De-
lattre, a pupil of Mme. Bertaux ; Mlle. Lancelot, and Mme. Desca, This
list includes painters, sculptors, engravers, etc. The last five names are
those of sculptors. The State purchased the work of two of these artists.
In the summer of 1883, Mlle. Martin finished the bust of Le Verrier, which
had been ordered by the French Academy of Sciences.
* At least one female sculptor has the honor of being represented in the
collection of art at the Théâtre Français-Fanny Dubois Davesnes, the au-
thor of the bust of the once famous dramatist, Marivaux.

FRANCE.
293
widely known, although the talent of a young artist,
Mme. Demont-Breton, whose fine canvas, “The Beach, "
(La plage) secured a second-class medal at the Salon of
1883 and was purchased by the State, places her in the
front rank. Mlle. Bonheur studied under her father, and
her first work seemed to give promise of a sculptor. It
was a fine study in plaster of a bull that thus early revealed
the solid qualities of the future artist.
In 1848 she pro-
duced her masterpiece, ‘Nivernese Ploughing' (Labou-
rage Nivernais), which is found in the Luxembourg, and
in 1865 the Empress bestowed upon her the Cross of the
Legion of Honor.*
“ But there is ground to hope that in a very near future
women will experience in the career of arts a juster treat-
ment; opportunities for study similar to those enjoyed by
men, a school of fine arts, the prize of Rome as a stimu-
lant, and the same artistic and official distinctions. I
should also demand, although this will not be so general-
ly accepted, that women form part of the juries at our art
exhibitions.† The success of the public exhibitions of the
Society of Female Painters and Sculptors proves that the
victory is socially won. The second exhibition, that of
1883, occurred in the Palais de l' Industrie, the same edi-
fice in which the great annual Salon displays its vast in-
ternational art collection. This is an important and sig.
nificant concession. It means that the day is indeed
approaching when Frenchwomen will be on an exact
* I must pass over in silence many female artists of talent, such as Mlle.
Élodie La Villette, the marine painter ; Mlle. Berthe Wegmann, the histori-
cal and portrait painter ; and Mme. Euphémie Muraton, the painter of still
life.-L. B.
+ Mlle. Thérèse Schwartze was a member of the jury on Fine Arts at
Amsterdam in 1883. This is the first time in the history of international
exhibitions that a woman has held such a position.

294
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
equality with Frenchmen in everything pertaining to
that grandest of studies, the Fine Arts.”
“ One of the principal careers open to women," writes
Mlle. Laure Collin,* “is the honorable and modest calling
of teacher, and especially teacher of music, in which de-
partment large numbers have distinguished themselves.
Most of these successful teachers are graduates of the
well-known Paris Conservatory, which is open,
when
vacancies occur, to every woman under twenty,
who
Pos-
sesses the necessary means, and who can pass the com-
petitive examinations. +
* Mlle. Laure Collin, the author of several admirable manuals on musical
subjects, may be considered to be the presiding genius of musical instruction
in the French public school system. She is professor in the Girls' Superior
Normal School at Fontenay-aux-Roses, the Normal School for Mistresses of
the Seine at Paris, and the Normal Courses for Maternal Schools, at
Sceaux and Paris, where she teaches a remarkable and very successful method
approved by the Minister of Public Instruction. Mlle. Collin is also the
author of a history of music.
† As several American girls have already studied with success at the Con-
servatory, and as others doubtless contemplate following their example, I
subjoin some remarks on this institution which Mlle. Collin has been kind
enough to furnish me. “The Conservatory,” says Mlle. Collin, “is a school
of high virtuosity. To keep one's place is almost as difficult as to get ad-
mitted to the school, for it is absolutely necessary, under penalty of expul-
sion, to pass the periodic examinations. This requirement forces talents to
multiply and develop, I hardly know how, for there is no uniform method
pursued, each professor being free to apply his own, if he has one. But I
explain the success of the institution in this wise. There are families of
artists, forming a sort of privileged class, in which virtuosos succeed each
other generation after generation, and the children, while at their play, so to
speak, imbibe good musical traditions. The girls who fill the classes of the
Conservatory come generally from these families. Let us take a student of
ordinary ability and follow her step by step from the moment she enters the
school. If a member of one of the three or four elementary classes, she will
have to undergo the trimestrial examinations, when her progress will be

FRANCE.
295
“France possesses many talented female pianists.
Léonie Tonel—a very exceptional case—was unanimously
awarded a certificate by the Conservatory jury of admis-
sion, her remarkably skilful execution exempting her
from the competitive examination. One of our most
celebrated pianists was Mme. Pleyel, née Moke, a pupil of
Jacques Herz, Moscheles and Kalkbrenner. After playing
with great success in all the capitals of Europe, she be-
came, in 1847, professor at the Brussels Conservatory,
and died in Belgium in 1875. Mme. Farrenc, whose death
occurred a few years ago, was also a pupil of Moscheles,
Hummel and Reicha, and was distinguished as a composer,
writer and virtuoso. In 1869 the Institute awarded her
the Chartier prize for the best compositions of music.
Mme. Farrenc's class at the Conservatory has turned out
ascertained and promotion into the upper classes will follow. Her aim must
now be to secure prizes awarded at the public competitions which occur in
the month of July. These examinations consist in the execution of a piece
of music designated beforehand by the jury, and the reading at sight of
an unpublished piece. The first is the same for all the competitors, but
its interpretation varies according to the style of the different professors,
for it is evident that the pupils of M. Delaborde will give another rendering
than those of M. Lecouppey or Mme. Massart. The fate of the pupil de-
pends upon the result of these public competitions. She may try three times,
a year apart. If she secures, the third year, an honorable mention, for ex-
ample, she has two more trials, but is pitilessly dropped from the Conserva-
tory after two new successive failures. The professors, of course, look with
most favor on pupils endowed with a talent for execution and capable of
shining at these musical tourneys. But it often happens that the unsuc-
cessful students succeed better as teachers than their more fortunate com-
panions. It has been the custom during the past ten years for Mme. Erard
to present the winner of the first prize one of her pianos, while the Pleyels
do the same for the second prizeman. The present director of the Con-
servatory, M. Ambroise Thomas, has introduced many changes in the cuir-
riculum of studies, and to-day the pupils receive a most complete musical
and dramatic education."

296
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
66
a legion of good female pianists. Among our most highly
appreciated contemporaries, I may mention Mesdames
Massart, Josephine Martin, Montigny-Rrémaury, whose
talent for execution is very remarkable, and among the
number of those who have secured a first prize at the
Conservatory, and who follow the modest calling of teacher,
I may name Hortense Parent, who has struck out a new
path and founded a normal school for the piano, which has
rendered great service to extra-State instruction.
Among celebrated singers, who, though dead, are not
forgotten, I may cite Mesdames Cinti Damoreau, Dorus-
Gras, Nau, and Stolz, all of whom became famous at the
opera; Mlle. Falcon, whose magnificent voice, lost, alas !
so soon, has not yet had its equal; Mme. Vandenheuvel-
Duprez, cut down in her prime and at the zenith of her
success; Mme. Cabel, who, although Belgian by birth,
won naturalization on the stage of the Opéra Comique ;
Mesdames Marie Sasse, Gaymard, Darcier, Wertheimber,
and Delagrange; Mme. Gallimarié, who gave such an orig-
inal creation to so many rôles; that eminent artist, whom
we are still permitted to enjoy, and whose style is marked
with such rare distinction, Mme. Miolan-Carvalho;
Mme. Bilbaut-Vancheld, whose first-rate talent imme-
diately placed her in the front rank; and lastly, that brill-
iant singer, eclipsed after shining an instant like a meteor,
-Mme. Adler Devriès.
“I must not forget two celebrated female musicians of
quite different styles, Mesdames Viardot and Ugalde.
* The name of Mme. Adler Devriès, a native of Holland, reminds me of
several other foreigners who have made a reputation in France, as Sophie
Cruvelli (the Baroness Vigier), who gave new life to Spontini's Vestale ;
Krauss, who is to-day our leading operatic singer; the Countess de Sparre
and the Countess Merlin, whose sweet voices charmed drawing-rooms at the
time when Malibran electrified the public at the Italian Theatre. --L. C.
*

FRANCE.
297
Auber said of the latter, “She would have invented
music,' and Charles de Bernard pretended that she must
have been born in a piano. This was indeed almost
true, for Delphine Beaucé (who became at sixteen Mme.
Ugalde), a pupil of her mother and her grandfather,
the composer Porro, won a medal, when six years old, in
a competition, where she performed a part in a com-
position for two pianos. She taught music at nine,
and three years later sang the mezzo-soprano solos in
concerts given by the Prince of Moscow. Her voice
soon developed into a soprano of great compass.
Her
début in 1848 at the Opéra Comique in the Domino noir
created a sensation. Engaged several times by this the-
atre and by the Lyrique, Bouffes, Porte St. Martin, Châ-
telet, she created twenty-one important rôles. Mme.
Ugalde (married in 1866 to M. Varcollier) has for several
years devoted herself to teaching, and no one has had
greater success in forming artists for the lyric stage.
Marie Sasse, for example, is one of her pupils.
“ Mme. Viardot (Pauline Garcia), daughter of the Italian
singer Manuel Garcia, goddaughter of Paër, and sister of
Malibran, is, beyond question, one of the greatest artists
of our epoch. Her sweet mezzo-soprano voice, supported
by a masterly style, has breathed new life into the Orphée
and Alceste of Gluck, which had too long lacked that power-
ful interpretation without which they fail. Mme. Viardot
has been heard in all the great cities of Europe and has
sung in the language of each country she visited. Among
her most remarkable creations are Gounod's Sappho and
Fidès in Le Prophète. She has had for some time a class
at the Conservatory, and is the author of several unpub-
lished partitions.
Several Frenchwomen have taken up operatic com-

298
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

position and some of them have succeeded in it. At
their head stands Louise Bertin, who, shortly after the
appearance of Victor Hugo's · Notre Dame of Paris,'
composed an opera, Esmeralda, the subject of which was
drawn from this book. Mme. Tarbé des Sablons is the au-
thor of two operas, Les Bataves and Les Brigands, founded
on Schiller. Mme. Pauline Thys has written an opera in
four acts entitled Judith, and several operettas which were
well received. Mme. Olagnier composed, a short time
ago, a very original comic opera, Le Saïs, which had a
great success, Capoul creating the principal rôle.*
“ In the symphonic style of composition I must again
mention Mme. Farrenc (aunt of M. Reyer of the Insti-
tute), the author of a symphony which was performed at
the Conservatory and much admired. I may further name
the Baroness de Maistre, the Countess de Grandval,+ who
has composed some fine religious and instrumental music;
Augusta Holmès, who has written a symphony, Les Argo-
nautes; and lastly, Mlle. Chaminade, whose very remark-
able compositions were executed in 1882 at the Pasde-
loup concerts in Paris.
“In ballad music I must recall the names, forgotten to-
day, of Pauline Duchambge, a master in this department
of music, and of that other well-known artist, Loïsa Puget
(Mme. Gustave Lemoine) who followed her. Mlle. Puget
was the author of her own ballads, which she sang with
great charm and spirit. Mme. de Rothschild is the author
* “ If an opera by a woman succeeds, I am delighted, for it is a confirma-
tion of my little system that women are capable of doing everything we do,
with this single difference between them and us, that they are more amiable
than we are."-Voltaire, October 18, 1736, to Mr. Berger, director of an
opera-house.
+ Mme. de Grandval was awarded in 1883 the prize offered by the Min-
ister of Fine Arts at the competition of the Society of Composers.

FRANCE.
299
of a sweet melody which all Paris sang, and Pauline Thys,
whom I have already mentioned, has shown talent for
ballad music. The refined drawing-room of Mme. Mar-
jolin, daughter of Ary Scheffer, was recently charmed
with the melodies of an artist of great merit, Mlle. Wild,
a pupil of Barbereau. Her style is large and pure.
She
has written several masses, among others a pastoral mass,
some remarkable hymns, and pieces for the organ. She
composed almost, at her début, a quatuor for string instru-
ments which won the approbation of masters like Onslow.
“I have spoken of some of the leading female teachers
of the piano, and I have now to mention what we have
done in vocal instruction. Eugénie Chauvot, a pupil of
Duprez, has secured a high place as professor of singing,
and has grouped about her the most distinguished artists.
Mme. Féret, a pupil of Révial, whose poor health greatly
limits her work, has carefully collected the excellent
principles of the master and transmitted them to her dis-
ciples. French women play also an important part in
the musical instruction given in the public and normal
schools. The author of these notes has labored in this
field.* The popularizing of musical instruction has made
great progress in the last few years, and its development
bids fair to soon place France on a level with the nations
the most favored in this respect. I am proud to say
Frenchwomen have contributed to this progress in the
most remarkable and efficacious manner.
“I may say, without exposing myself to the imputa-
* I have witnessed with astonishment the wonderful results of Mlle. Collin's
method, and I do not hesitate to recommend its careful examination to the
teachers in our American schools, where the science of music is too often
sacrificed to the learning by ear of a few patriotic songs.

300
'WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
tion of indulging in national vanity," writes M. Paul
Foucart,* “ that in no other country of Europe does wo-
man, in proportion as her situation requires it, work as
much as in France; that nowhere does she, in every
grade of society, associate herself so closely and effect-
ively with the husband in his efforts to assure the moral
and material prosperity of the family. Those foreigners
who have learned, by a long residence in France, to un-
derstand the country, are powerfully struck by this fact.
'No housewives are more perfect than the French,' says
Karl Hillebrand,+ who, without boasting of being
housekeepers after the German fashion, know how to
superintend domestic affairs with a judicious and firm
hand. Many of them even take the husband's place in
business. Ambitious to the highest degree, passion-
ate under a cloak of coldness, clever in what they under-
take, elegant in appearance, endowed by nature with a
grace carefully cultivated by a skilful education, possess-
ing above all a firm character and a strong will, they
direct husband as well as brother or son, urge him on,
smooth his way, and take all the necessary and difficult
steps to secure his success. In a word, they conquer him
a place in the world and help him to defend it.'
“The most natural and legitimate method of securing
.
* M. Paul Foucart, of Valenciennes, is a close student of industrial ques-
tions in France, and is the author of a pamphlet entitled the “Indus-
trial Function of Women” (Fonction industrielle des femmes), the substance
of which was given as a lecture at Havre in 1880.
t“ France and the French during the Second Half of the Nineteenth
century” (La France et les français pendant la seconde moitié du XIXe
siècle), Chapter 1.-P. F.
# I do not pretend that there are not exceptions to Karl Hillebrand's
complimentary estimate of Frenchwomen, but these exceptions are much
rarer than people generally imagine.—P. F.

FRANCE.
301
that grand desideratum of society, the division of labor,
would be for the women of all classes, supported by the
men, to devote themselves entirely to household duties.
But almost always among the lower classes, women are
forced to seek occupations directly remunerative, which,
on account of the brusque development of the great in-
dustries and the exactions of a fierce competition, compel
them to confide their children to mercenary or charitable
institutions, thus inflicting on the family, in exchange for
insignificant pecuniary gains, incalculable moral losses.
“Without believing that the world is degenerating and
that the ideal of humanity must be sought in the past, I
hold that before the advent of the industrial revolution
born of the general use of steam machinery, the condition
of the women of the lower classes was, in certain respects,
more normal than it is to-day. Manufactories employing
hundreds of hands were then very rare, while many occupa-
tions_spinning, lace making, tulle work, the weaving of
muslin, the reeling and weaving of silk, the sorting, pick-
ing and winding of wool bobbins, etc.,—were followed at
home. In this way women gained at the domestic hearth
a sum which considerably augmented the resources of the
family, without depriving it of maternal care and influence.
If
young girls left the paternal roof, it was only to labor
in the fields, to become servants, or to work as apprentices
in small shops,-callings in which agility, address, or taste
were the all-important requisites.
“ Toward the second third of the nineteenth century
were felt for the first time with all their force, the conse-
quences of a production which developed more rapidly
than the demand, and which occasioned stoppage and
famine where its promoters predicted abundance. Weeks
without work for the husband and misery at home! How

302
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
is the family to be kept from starvation ? Many wives
imagined that the shop, the cause of the evil, might also
prove its remedy. If the husband and wife were both at
work would not the home realize twice as much, at least
in ordinary seasons? And when the hard times came, it
was not probable that all industries would be affected ;
when the shops stopped, it would be rare if both husband
and wife were thrown out of work. Will not life there-
fore be made easier? The answer to this question is found
in the following table, * published in 1882, by the minis-
ter of commerce, which gives the actual wages of those
employed in textile industries in France.

Ordinary
Wages.
Maximum
Wages.
Minimum
Wages.
Spinning
Cotton,
Wool,
Silk,
Hemp and Flax,
1.78
I.71
1.61
1.68
2.29
2.15
2.04
2.19
I.40
I.37
1.34
1.38
-
Averages,
1.69
2.17
1.36
Weaving.
Cotton,
Wool,
Silk,
Hemp and Flax,
2.03
1.82
1.75
1.69
2.66
2.31
2.41
2.19
1.64
1.56
I.33
1.36
Averages,
1.82
2.39
1.47
“ It appears, therefore, that it is for the miserable pit-
tance of one franc and eighty-two centimest that so many
* This table is taken from the “ Statistical Annual of France” (Annuaire
statistique de la France) for 1882.-P. F. The money figures in this and
the tables which follow are in francs and centimes. A franc equals about
nineteen cents, and a centime about a fifth of a cent.
+ About thirty-five cents in American money. It may be considered,
however, that thirty-five cents has the purchasing power in France of at
least fifty cents in the United States.
11

FRANCE.
303
women abandon home and children, thus doing a great
injury to themselves as well as to those women who cling
to the old customs. The competition of the factory has
reduced the price of manual labor in many industries
still practiced at home. Embroidery and hand-made
lace, for example, although they have much declined,
continue to give employment, the first to 150,000, and the
second to about 220,000, women. The pay
of an ordinary
embroiderer in the Vosges has fallen to one franc and ten
centimes, while the apprentice of fourteen, who copies
only simple easy models, earns one-half that amount.*
Still worse is the condition of lace-
makers. At Valen-
ciennes, of which they were formerly one of the glories,
they have entirely disappeared. At Alençon, in Au-
vergne, at Chantilly, at Bayeux, they earn only from one
to one and a half francs, and it is probable that all of
these poor souls will have to soon lay aside their bobbins
unless they wish to die of hunger.
“In the workshops of the small manufacturers the situ-
ation is scarcely any better, as is shown by the careful
investigations made by the Paris Chamber of Commerce
in 1860. At that time 106,310 women were employed in
the various industries of the capital. The Chamber of
Commerce divided them into three classes according to
their occupations and wages :
66
1,176 women earning 0.50
2,429
0.75
6,505
1.00
7,013
1.25
First Division.
( 17,203
* Augustin Cochin, “Monograph on the Workingwoman of the Vosges
(Monographie sur l'ouvrière des Vosges).-P. F.

304
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
66
16,722 women earning 1.50
7,644
I.75
24,810
2.00
7,723
2.25
17,273
2.50
2,055
2.75
7,588
3.00
411
3.25
2,250
3.50
1,264
Second Division.
66
4.00
88,340
278
270
146
73
<
4.50
5.00
6.00
7 to lo
Third Divison.
767
“ If we leave out of the account the first of these three
divisions, composed principally of girls under sixteen and
of women whose aim is simply to add to their own com-
fort or supplement their husband's salary by needle-work,
and who are often lodged and boarded ; and if, for quite
different reasons, we do not take into consideration the
third division, made up of women who enjoy exception-
ally high wages, the second division will alone furnish the
data with which to arrive at the average pay of Parisian
working-women, engaged chiefly in the important de-
partments of tailoring and the manufacture of textile
fabrics. It appears that this average is two francs and
fourteen centimes a day,-a small sum ; greater, however,
than the reality, as M. Leroy-Beaulieu has proved by
pointing out certain elements which had been neglected
in the calculation. *
*“Women's Work in the Nineteenth Century " (Le travail des femmes au
XIXe siècle), first part, Chapter IV.-P. F. Mme. Caroline de Barrau also
has shown, in her able “Essay on the Wages of Women at Paris” (Étude
sur le salaire du travail féminin à Paris) that the average pay of working.

FRA.VCE.
305
“Since 1860, on account of the increased depreciation
of money and the corresponding rise in the price of food,
these figures have gone up a little. But the following
table, taken from the statistical publication for 1882
already referred to, which places Paris side by side with
the capitals of the departments, shows how small this
increase has been :
DAILY WAGES, WITHOUT BOARD, OF A WORKING-WOMAN IN THE SMALL
INDUSTRIES.
I. AT PARIS.
2. IN THE CAPITALS OF THE
DEPARTMENTS.
Usual. Maximum. Minimum,
Usual. Maximum. Minimum.
2.09
1.70
1.69
2.19
3.50
4.00
3.50
4.00
6.00
4.50
2.50
2.50
1.50
I.50
3.00
2.00
1.60
1.62
1.62
2.08
2.06
2.08
2.57
1.47
I.36
I.28
1.35
1.30
1.56
2.03
Washer-women ...3.00
Embroiderers ....3.00
Corset-makers .... .2.00
Dress-makers.. ..2.00
Pantaloon-makers.4.00
Lace-makers......3.00
Artificial flower-
makers ........3.00
Vest-makers .....3.00
Makers of linen
garments ......2.00
Milliners ... ..2.00
Sewers on shoes..3.00
3.50
4.00
1.50
2.00
1.87
1.65
2.45
2.08
I.51
1.32
3.50
3.50
4.50
1.50
1.50
2.00
1.45
1.49
1.83
2.03
2.10
1.20
[.20
1.30
1.66
Averages ....2.80
4.IO
2.00
1.67
2.14
1.35
“ Less 'than three francs at Paris and less than two
francs in the chief towns of the provinces,—such are the
daily wages of working-women in the small industries of
France. And it must be further borne in mind that this
women is far below the figures given in the statistics. She considers it even
under two francs. M. Othenin d'Haussonville (Revue des deux mondes,
April 15, 1883, p. 859) says: “Having noted the large number of women
who earn but two francs or less than two francs, I am led to believe that
Mme, de Barrau is right."
20

306
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
pittance becomes still more beggarly, or is reduced to
nothing, in moments of sickness, during a dead season or
complete stoppage. To the wife, whose husband also
earns something, it is a very appreciable help ; for the
virtuous girl or widow it is scarcely enough to keep body
and soul together; for the woman who has family cares
-aged parents to support, young children to bring up-
it is the source of terrible misery, mendicity or prostitu-
tion.
“Such is the present condition of things in France,
similar to that found in many other countries in Europe.
The picture of the fearful consequences of this situation
has been often drawn, especially by Jules Simon * and
Leroy-Beaulieu,+ and I myself have endeavored to sug-
gest the moral and material remedies for the disorder.”+

French socialism, at all epochs and under every form,
has always been more or less friendly to women. The.
working-men's congresses of late years have passed reso-
lutions in favor of giving women the same pay as men
for the same work, and, in some instances, demanding
their political equality. But the dreams of theorists and
*"The Working-woman ” (L'ouvrière).-P.F. Jules Simon's book tends
to this conclusion: Woman should be the guardian of the domestic hearth,
and man alone should go forth into the world to win the daily bread.
+"Women's Work in the Nineteenth Century” (Le travail des femmes
au XIXe siècle).—P. F.
#" Women’s Industrial Function " (Fonction industrielle des femmes).-P.
F. The State employs women in but one department, if I am not mistaken.
A chief clerk of the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs informs me that 5,500
females are engaged in France in the postal and telegraphic service. They are
paid from 800 to 1,800 and 2,000 francs a year, and at the end of a certain
period are retired on a pension. The sale of tobacco, which is a government
monopoly, is entirely in the hands of women. No man is ever given a
tobacco shop in France.

FRANCE.
307
the resolutions of public assemblies have found their
realization, probably, in but one instance, -the remark-
able Social Palace at Guise.
M. Godin* writes me : "The foundation of the Fami-
listère reposes on principles which are a synthesis of the
practical ideas forced upon the attention of the world by
the St. Simonian, phalansterian and communistic schools
of the early part of this century. But it is above all for
women and children that our creation at Guise has
proved a happy event. The Association of the Fami-
listère is, I think, the only institution which has, up to
the present time, put into practice respect for the rights
of women, who are treated as the equal of men in all the
affairs of life. This idea of the equality of the sexes was
borrowed from Fourier. The Familistère could not
change the laws of French society, but, as members of the
Association, women enjoy all the rights of men. They
may aspire to all the honors at the disposal of the Asso-
* In order not to endanger the success of the Familistère, M. Godin felt
constrained for many years to hold aloof from public affairs. But in 1870 he
broke a long silence by publishing a manifesto, in which he vigorously at-
tacked the Imperial plébiscite of that year and predicted the misfortunes it was
to entail on France. A month later M. Godin was chosen a member of the
Council General (conseil général) of the Department of the Aisne. When
the Franco-German war burst upon the country, he, as mayor of Guise,
firmly protected the interests of the city against the exorbitant demands of
the enemy. Elected in February, 1871, a member of the National Assem-
bly, M. Godin sat five years on the liberal republican (Union républicaine)
side of the Chamber. He retired from national politics in 1876, but has
always retained his seat in the Council General of the Aisne. In the midst
of political and industrial occupations, M. Godin has found time for literary
work. The ideas so briefly treated in the text are fully developed in a
number of valuable volumes on social questions, but more especially in
“Government, What it has Been, What it Ought to Be, and True Socialism
in Action ” (Le gouvernement, ce qu'il a été, ce qu'il doit être, et le vrai socia.
lisme en action).
1

308
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
ciation ; they are electors and eligible ; they may form a
part of all committees and councils. They perform these
duties with faithfulness, and have shown themselves in-
accessible to cabal, which has not always been the case
with the men.
“ In order that women may profit by the social liberty
to which the present current of ideas is leading them, a
change must be made in the system of family life:
domestic economy must be modified and perfected. The
emancipation of women will remain in the domain of
speculation, as long as our institutions and customs im-
pose on the father and mother the entire responsibility of
the care of the family. The Familistère has solved this
problem by assuming the bringing up of the children
from the moment of their birth, so that the mother has
to bestow on them only her milk and caresses, and the
family,its tenderness and affection. But even in the ab-
sence of mother and family the children are not neg-
lected. They always receive the closest attention. At
every stage of their growth the children are under the
eye of the Association. Separated into nine divisions
in nine different rooms, each division has its nurses and
teachers, who give instruction in keeping with the age
of
their pupils. In this way the mother and father can con-
fer on their offspring the delights of family life, without
inflicting on them, at the same time, any of its discomforts.
The care and education of the children—which are the
same for both sexes-being thus assumed by the Asso-
ciation, the duties of maternity are reduced to nursing
during the early months of the child, and the mother is
not hindered from attending to her other occupations.
Women, therefore, find themselves emancipated, in so far
as they desire it, from one of the most monopolizing ob-

FRANCE.
309
may devote
ligations; they recover their liberty and
themselves to work and culture.
“In order to introduce this innovation, it is indispens-
able that the isolated habitation give place to the common
dwelling, the phalanstery or social palace, so that the
bringing up of children may be made a distinct organized
part of the family system. The commune, therefore, must
be architecturally reformed, and all the common household
duties be placed in proximity to the home. It is neces-
sary, furthermore, to bring about the division of domestic
labor; to establish for the children a nursery, infant
schools, primary schools, etc.; to organize kitchens,
laundries, public halls, etc. Only in this way is it possible
to reconcile household duties and family cares with the
exercise, on the part of women, of civil and political
rights and lucrative employments."

310
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

CHAPTER IX.
ITALY,
I.-A GENERAL REVIEW.
BY AURELIA CIMINO FOLLIERO DE LUNA.
[Mrs. Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna was born at Naples, and is de-
scended from a noble family of Spanish origin, her grandfather being a
grandee. At the age of fifteen it was discovered that the young girl had a
fine and powerful voice, and after hearing Ungher she was seized with a
passion for the operatic stage. But her parents objected, and these aspira-
tions after artistic fame were abruptly cut short. Later in life, however,
when a political exile in England, Mrs. Cimino found that her musical
talent stood her in great stead, and singing lessons mitigated the hardships
of a forced residence in a foreign land. In 1846 she married a young
Neapolitan poet, Cimino, and when he was banished two years later for
participation in the revolutionary movement of 1848, she accompanied him
into exile. She now passed several years in England, France, and northern
Italy, and in due season became the mother of ten children. Mrs. Cimino's
literary career began at Milan, in 1857, where she published, in the periodi.
cal Gabinetto di Lettura, some articles translated from the English. She
next wrote for the Italie, a journal founded at Turin, with the co-operation
of the Princess Cristine Belgioioso, and began later her advocacy of woman's
rights by a series of letters to La Nazione and the Rivista Europea, of Flor-
In 1872 Mrs. Cimino founded in that city, under the patronage of
Queen Margaret, then Princess of Savoy, La Cornelia, a bi-monthly, espe-
cially devoted to the moral and material interests of women, which counted
ny distinguished Italian liberals among its contributors. Numerous
family and literary occupations forced Mrs. Cimino to resign the editorship
of the periodical in 1879, when it ceased to exist. Mrs. Cimino is the author
of a novel (Gabriello), “Miramar, or Maximilian of Austria" (Miramar, o
Massimiliano d'Austria), of a volume of travels, “Marshes, Mountains and
Caverns ” (Lagune, Monti e Caverne), of an essay entitled “Idleness in
ence.

ITALY.
311
ture.
Italy" (L'indolenza in Italia), etc. Mrs. Cimino's last work is “Social Ques-
tions” (Questioni Sociali), a collection of scattered essays now forming a
part of the “Library of Social Science” (Bilioteca di Scienze Sociali), which
is being issued at Cesena. Mrs. Cimino has been sent by the Italian govern-
ment on two important missions: the first, in 1878, by the Minister of Pub-
lic Instruction, Coppino, to study the agricultural establishments for women
in France, and the second, in 1882, during the Berti ministry, to visit the
Trieste Exhibition and to make a report thereon to the Minister of Agricul-
This report appeared in 1883 in the Italia Agricola, a periodical pub-
lished at Milan.]
THE emancipation of women is not a modern idea in
Italy,--not a result of the example set by the United States
and England. Italian women, even before they had an
exact notion of their rights, intuitively resisted the laws
and customs which taught that they were ignorant non-
entities, and subject to men's authority. Antiquity shows
us that Roman women had made many steps toward
freedom, under the empire of Augustus, who, perceiving
that high-minded women hesitated to marry because of
the legalized profligacy of the husband, promulgated the
Papian law, which corrected many abuses and encouraged
marriage. Claudius and Septimus Severus continued
the good work, and Justinian, with the assistance of the
Empress Theodora, published to the world his famous
Code, which mitigated the perpetual tutelage to which
women were subjected.* We may add to these facts the
opposition of Roman ladies to a proposition of the
senate to levy on them a severe war tax, which was de-
feated after a speech by Hortensia, daughter of the cele-
brated orator Hortensius, and, like him, noted for her
*“The Emperor Julian accorded to wives the right to apply for divorce, a
privilege which husbands alone had enjoyed since the earliest days of Rome,
so that the least gallant, perhaps, of the Cæsars was the most just toward
women.”—Condorcet, “Letters of a Bourgeois of New Haven to a citizen of
Virginia.”—T. S.

312
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
eloquence; the frequent attendance of women upon the
lectures of the most renowned rhetoricians, and their pres-
ence at the lyceums for the youth. Hence I am permitted
to affirm that, even in ancient Rome, there is evidence of
a movement in favor of the equality of the sexes.
At a later period, during the Renaissance, women dis-
tinguished themselves not only in prose
and poetry,
thereby proving their equality and sometimes even their
moral superiority to men, but they filled with distinction
several of the most important chairs in the universities
of Italy. Although they had no opportunities to study
the sciences and the classics, many, nevertheless, took
high rank in these departments of knowledge. At the
epoch when the famous medical school of Salerno flour-
ished, in the fourteenth century, Abella, a female physi-
cian, acquired a great reputation in medicine and wrote
books in Latin, and in the following centuries women
professed the sciences and the classics in the universities
of Bologna, Brescia, Padua, and Pavia. It is during this
period that we encounter the names of Bettina Gazzadini,
of Mazzolini, whose bust is found among those of the
most distinguished savants in the anatomical museum
of Bologna; Laura Bassi, who lectured on physics in
Latin ; Marie delle Donne, Elena Cornaro, Clotilde Tam-
broni, and the celebrated Gaetana Agnesi, whom no
women and few men have ever equaled in the extent and
profoundness of her learning and in the goodness of her
heart. I shall not speak of the beautiful Novella di Andrea,
of Laura Cereta-Lerina, at twenty professor of metaphysics
and mathematics at the University of Brescia ; of the cele-
brated Neapolitan, Martha Marchina, professor in a Ger-
man university, an honor enjoyed at that epoch by Italian
women alone; of Pellegrina Amoretti, of Isotta da Rimini,

ITALY.
313
and of so many other heroic souls who, toiling in isolation
and surmounting unheard-of difficulties, ever protest-
ed with word and pen against the inferiority attributed
to their sex, and finally won the admiration of men.
The liberal ideas of to-day, which have made Italy a
new, powerful and free people, find an echo in our women,
who, in this national regeneration, feel more keenly their
own subordination and inferiority to men. Along with this
desire for general equality is a growing demand for the
practical education of women, which will open to them
lucrative careers and make it possible for girls, standing
alone in the world, to support themselves. Here it was
that the example of America and England was useful to
us; while we were still under foreign domination and
ignorant of the solidarity of sex, Anglo-Saxon women
were freer and more united. Almost immediately after the
formation of the kingdom of Italy, courageous women
arose, able orators and writers, such as Anna Maria Moz-
zoni, Malvina Frank, Gualberta Alaide Beccari, and many
others. The last-named lady founded at Venice La
Donna, a journal now published at Bologna, which, al-
though a little exaggerated in tone, has done much to
awaken women to a consciousness of their rights and to
bring their demands to the attention of the public. A few
years later I established at Florence La Cornelia, which
counted among its contributors, besides talented female
writers like the Princess Dora d'Istria, distinguished jurists
like Gabba, Forlani, Mauro Macchi, Urtoller, and others,
who treated with marked ability the legal side of the
question. The periodical was honored by the patronage
of the Princess Margherita, now Queen of Italy, which
shows that our young sovereign was early favorable to
the new ideas.


314
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Pressed on by the liberal spirit of the time, the govern-
ment began to make some concessions. In 1866 the
widow, or the wife in the absence of the husband, was
given the control over her own children, and the married
woman in certain cases was secured in the management
of her personal property. Thus the barbarous principles
of the Roman law concerning the family, so opposed to
the dignity of the mother, were in some measure modified.
In 1876 a committee of the Chamber, of which the deputy
Peruzzi was chairman, reported a bill in favor of confer-
ring on women the right to vote on municipal and provin-
cial questions (voto amministrativo), a privilege which they
had formerly enjoyed in Lombardy and Venice under
Austrian rule. This bill was reintroduced in 1883 by
the Depretis ministry, and will soon come forward for
discussion.* On the eve of its fall, the Bonghi ministry
laid before the State board of education (consiglio supe-
riore) a plan for the establishment of government normal
schools, which gave Domenico Berti, who presided, the
opportunity to enlarge the scope of the bill, by includ-
ing high schools and professional schools for women. An
anterior decree of the same minister had opened the uni-
* The l'aris Temps, of April 7, 1883, gives the substance of the new law
concerning the voto amministrativo—which must not be confounded with
political suffrage, or the right of electing members of the Chamber of Depu-
ties about to be submitted to the Italian Parliament. The first clause de-
clares that “all citizens of both sexes, who know how to read and write, are
electors.” The justice of this measure is recognized by many Italians who
are far from considering themselves friends of the women's movement. A
resident of Turin told me recently, that he knew a lady who owned almost
the whole of the land in a certain township, but who had to submit to see
her interests cared for or abused—the latter generally being the case-by
her own tenants, members of the municipal council. They could cut roads
through her estate, they could levy taxes on her-in a word, they had her
completely in their power, while she, their proprietress, could not lift a finger
in her own defence.-T.S.

ITALY.
315
versities to female students. Thenceforth Italian women
could obtain a professional education and pursue the
higher branches of knowledge.
The professional instruction of women was first advo-
cated by Laura Mantegazza, who founded the earliest
professional school in Milan, and who was ably seconded
by the Marchioness Tanari and Alessandrina Ravizza.
These distinguished ladies understood that scientific or in-
dustrial instruction, that is to say, a training which made
self-support possible, was the real key to the woman ques-
tion; that material independence, united with a higher
moral and intellectual education, was the surest way of
putting an end to the social inferiority of women. These
ideas found influential friends among those in power. The
director of the telegraphic service, Commendator d'Ami-
co, began to employ females, in spite of the violent oppo-
sition of some narrow-minded men. The Minister of
Public Instruction, G. Coppino, wished to open a new
field to female activity by establishing courses in agricult-
ure for women. In 1878 I had the honor of being sent to
France by the government to study the agricultural schools
of that country, and to prepare an official report thereon.
Although this useful reform has not yet been realized,
the conduct of the minister offers a striking example of
the interest taken in the woman question by our leading
statesmen. Not less remarkable was the mission confided-
to Miss Anna Maria Mozzoni by M. de Sanctis, a mem-
ber of the ministry at that time, to represent the govern-
ment at the International Women's Rights Congress,
held at Paris in 1878. Among the best known ministers
* Miss Mozzoni is one of the ablest and most active leaders of the
women's movement in Italy. She is the author of several thoughtful publi-
cations on the various phases of the woman question, and is an eloquent

316
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
and ex-ministers of Italy who, although not all members
of the same political party, are more or less friendly to
the women's movement, may be mentioned the names
of Domenico Berti, Cesare Correnti, Pasquale Mancini,
the distinguished Italian professor; De Sanctis, G. Cop-
pino, Ubaldino Peruzzi, Marco Minghetti, and Dr. Ber-

orator, as I can vouch, having listened to her opening address at the Paris
congress mentioned in the text. But her grandest oratorical effort was the
speech delivered in February, 1881, at the Universal Suffrage Congress of
Rome, when she offered and supported a resolution in favor of women's
suffrage, which was carried by a large majority. (See the Free Religious In-
dex, of Boston, May 19, 1881, where I gave a complete translation of this
speech.) Miss Mozzoni wrote me from Milan in August, 1882; “Since
1878, when I published my little pamphlet on the Civil and Political Con-
dition of Italian Women’ (Delle condizioni civili e politiche delle Italiane)
nothing has changed, except that the progress of socialism is slowly liber-
alizing public opinion on the woman question, and that the number of
female students in the universities increases every year. The develop-
ment of the higher education of women is checked by the difficulties
attending their admission to the gymnasiums, which depends entirely upon
the good-will of the professors. I had to make a vigorous personal effort in
order to secure a place for girls in the Milan gymnasium. When it was
perceived that my friends in the Chamber intended to interpellate the min-
istry on the subject, the authorities yielded, and to-day girls may pursue their
studies at our State schools. During the year 1881-2 there were twenty-
five female students at the Milanese School of Fine Arts, several of
whom have shown remarkable talent. Public opinion in northern Italy is
more advanced on the woman question than the actual situation would
seem to warrant. Our women are very intelligent, and there is a tendency
among them-especially at Milan-toward liberal ideas. The extraordi-
nary density of the population in this portion of Italy will be for a long
time to come a great impediment to their admission to industrial pursuits
and public employments. The most insignificant post is sought after by
scores of capable men who are very jealous of aspiring women. Public
opinion does not rebuff women who seek employment, but it does not aid
and encourage them. In a word, we advance slowly. People know that
we are in the right, they recognize the justice of our claims, and hold us, who
preach the new doctrine, in esteem. But the generation which gov-

ITALY.
317
tani. To this list of our advocates may be added many
members of Parliament and writers of talent and reputa-
tion.
These liberal-minded men of Italy have been well
seconded in their efforts in favor of our sex by some
distinguished women, who have not looked on with fold-
ed arms.
I shall not attempt to enumerate the period-
icals, the books, the societies and the labors due to these
champions of their own cause. The roll is too long. But
I may remark, that many generous ladies have opened at
their own expense primary and industrial schools, as for
instance the Antona Traversi Infant School (Asilo Anto-
na Traversi) near Pavia, the Comparetti Raffalowich
School in Venice, both named after their foundresses, and
the school at Burano, near Venice, established by the
Countess Marcello and the deputy Fambri, where instruc-
tion is given in the making of Venetian point lace
(punto di Venezia)—an art which was almost lost.
This institution now employs several hundred women,
and has restored life to a little spot on the verge
of
decay.
erns to-day fought for liberty ; it was not brought up in liberty. Since the
unification of Italy, we have gained a point or two in the code. Divorce
and affiliation stand high on the calendar of Parliament, though I am aware
that they will not be passed without a long struggle. The Senate, the nobil-
ity, the clergy, the queen—who is very devout, very aristocratic and not very
intelligent—hesitate at every reform measure. There will be another hard-
fought battle over the proposed administrative suffrage, but I think we
shall here come off victors. The League for the Promotion of Women's In-
terests (Lega promotrice degli interessi femminili), of which I have the honor
to be president, was founded at Milan in 1881. It is a very active organi-
zation, and counts among its members senators, deputies, priests, professors
of the university, distinguished writers of both sexes, and a large number of
working-men and women.”—T. S.

318
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE,
Before closing this brief sketch, I desire to mention with
deep gratitude the name of the man who first lifted
up
his voice in the Italian Parliament to defend and protect
women.
Salvatore Morelli deserves the veneration of
every Italian woman. His first book, " Woman and
Science” (La donna e la scienza), dedicated to Antona
Traversi, was animated by a just and noble spirit, too
radical, however, to meet with universal approbation.
When he entered Parliament, Morelli, with the same
courage, constancy, and radicalism, demanded the com-
plete emancipation of women. Conservatives laughed,
and many friends of our movement trembled for the cause.
Ably seconded by Mancini, he succeeded in securing for
women the right to testify in civil actions, a dignity which
they had not previously enjoyed, although, by an absurd
contradiction, they could be witnesses in criminal cases,
convict of murder by a single word, and send the criminal
to the scaffold. One of Morelli's last public acts was a
divorce bill, which was examined by the Chamber. Guarda-
sigilli Tomman Villa, the then Minister of Justice, was
inclined to accept it, but death, which occurred in 1880,
saved poor Morelli the pain of seeing his proposition
rejected. An appeal to women has been made to raise a
modest monument to Salvatore Morelli in memory of his
good deeds. *
The reforms called for by Morelli and the other leaders
of the Italian women's movement have not all been
granted; some have not even received serious attention,
But I make no doubt, that in a few years the woman

* The editor of this volume has been requested to receive subscriptions to
this fund in America and Europe outside of Italy. Such subscriptions will
be acknowledged and forwarded to the committee in Italy. They should be
addressed to Theodore Stanton, 59, rue de Chaillot, Paris, France.

ITALY.
319
question will be better understood in this country, will be
regarded from a more elevated standpoint, and will obtain
more general and more hearty support; for, if we turn to
the past, we are astonished at what has already been ac-
complished in this direction.

320
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
II. THE EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENT.
BY DORA D'ISTRIA.
[The Princess Hélène Koltzoff-Massalsky (Dora d'Istria), born Princess
Ghika, first saw light at Bucharest. In 1849 she married Prince Alexander
Koltzoff-Massalsky, of the elder branch of the Rurikowitchs, descendants of
the founders of the Russian Empire, and lived for some time in intimacy
with the court. Dora d'Istria is also the niece of Prince Gregory IV., the
first to introduce into Wallachia the liberal institutions of modern civiliza-
tion, while the members of her own family, the Ghikas, were among the most
distinguished princes, or hospodars, of that country. An Italian journalist
and author, Giovanni Boglietti, has well described the cosmopolitan char-
acter of Dora d'Istria when he says that she is “ Albanian by family origin,
Romanian by birth, Greek by alliance, and still more by sympathy, and,
lastly, Russian by marriage." Boglietti might have added that Dora
d'Istria is French by language, for, although versed in a large number of
modern tongues, she prefers to write in French, and is Italian by adoption,
since, while Austria bore down on Italy with an iron hand, she boldly pro-
claimed, as early as 1856, the idea of Italian unity, which then seemed an
idle dream to statesmen, and took up her residence at Florence, where she
still lives. * Dora d'Istria has traveled widely in Europe, the Orient, and
the United States, which she visited in 1880 ; has published numerous ac-
counts of her journeys, and is an honorary member of the French Geograph-
ical Society. Her first publication, “Monastic Life in the Greek Church'
(La vie monastique dans l'église orientale), was produced in 1855, and has
since been followed by a large number of historical, political, social and
literary works. She has written largely on the woman question. Her
“Women in the Orient” (Les femmes en Orient) is a very valuable contri-
* Bartolomeo Cecchetti, director of the archives of Venice, wrote in 1868:
“The cause of nationalities finds in Dora d'Istria one of its most valiant and
indefatigable supporters. The Greeks, the Albanians, the Romanians, and
the southern Slaves, must admit that, if their history has been made intel-
ligible and accurate, and questions most essential to their political and
social future have been set forth so strongly that they have only to await
an occasion and the means in order to attain their development in a happy
and durable manner, it is due to this illustrious writer."

ITALY.
321
bution to this obscure subject, and her “Women by a Woman" (Les
femmes par une femme), is a very able, complete, and remarkable book.
Her voice and pen have also been employed in opposing war. The well-
known author, Carlo Yriarte, has said of Dora d'Istria: “She is Parisian like
Gavarni, Italian like Belginoso, Spanish like Larra, German like Goethe,
Russian like Pouschkine, Wallachian like a Ghika, and Greek like Bozzaris
or Lord Byron, with whom she divides the honor of having received from
the Athenian Parliament the rights of 'Grand Citizen.'"]
DURING the age of the Italian republics, the women of
Italy were famous for their learning. The brilliant and
learned author of the “Literary History of Italy” (Histoire
littéraire d'Italie), the Frenchman Ginguené, says that
his compatriots can scarcely endure seeing women in
the robes of the Muses, much less resign themselves to
their putting on the doctor's cap. Italians were not so
narrow. A tradition of the fourteenth century relates,
that Dota Accorso taught at the celebrated university
of that proud Bologna, whose device was Docet. In the
fifteenth century Laura Cereta-Lerina was a professor of
the University of Brescia. Padua, which occupies an
exceptional place in the annals of learning, saw Helen
Comaro Piscopia teaching philosophy in its university,
and Novella di Andrea, as beautiful as learned, filling ad
interim her brother's chair of the canon law. The large
number of female poets shows how general was the culti-
vation of letters among women.
In the sixteenth cent-
ury, so rich in illustrious women,” as Rosalia Amari
has truly said, there was scarcely an important city in
Italy which did not possess its poetess. Ariosto does not
hesitate to promise them immortality in the twentieth
canto of the “Orlando Furioso,” and Ginguené is sur-
prised at this “extraordinary number of female poets.
The Italian language itself, which speaks more emphat-
ically on this point than any theorizing, created a long
21

322
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
list of words, still lacking in the French, like poetessa,
autrice, dottoressa, while in the fine arts occur pittrice and
scultrice.*
With the fall of the Italian republics and the domina-
tion of the foreigner, the season of intellectual women
came to an end, and, if it had not been for the church,
one-half of the Italian people would have been condemned
to total ignorance. The history of the Roman church
shows that every monastic order strove to create a female
branch, Catholicism understanding much better than many
of its rivals, that all propagandism which does not include
women can never produce very great results. From this
epoch dates the creation of those various religious orders
for the education of girls, which still exist, and which, if
not so much needed in the nineteenth century, did a good
work in their day.
Two facts, which have occurred in recent years, are des-

* Sismondi is not mistaken when he goes still further and says, that " at
Rome, women, while trying to please, were eager for authority.” They did
indeed often strive to rule the State and the papacy, which at this period had
already become a power. Two patrician women, Theodora, and her daughter
Marozia, disposed of the tiara during sixty years.-D. I.
.-D. I. Professor C. F.
Gabba, of the University of Pisa, gives in the appendix to his remarkable work
on the “ Legal Condition of Women ”(Della condizione giuridica delle donne),
a most valuable list of the distinguished women of Itlay and other countries.
The roll is very long and very brilliant. This work cost Professor Gabba
two years of incessant labor, and is, in many respects the most complete
treatise on the legal position of women that has ever been produced. He is
now busy on the second volume, which will discuss the philosophical, po-
litical and social aspects of the woman question. The first edition, issued
in 1861, a small octavo pamphlet of less than two hundred pages, was the
earliest publication on this subject which appeared in Italy. Oscar Greco's
“ Bibliobiography of the Italian Authoresses of the Nineteenth Century
(Bibliobiografia femminile italiana del XIX secolo), an octavo of over 500
pages, published in 1875, gives a list of not less than 418 Italian female
writers. -T.S.
23

ITALY.
323
tined to exercise a growing influence on the Latin
nations of Aryan and Iberian origin. Anglo-Saxon civil-
ization carried into North America tends more and more
to diminish the intellectual inequality (the greatest of
inequalities) of the two sexes. In the United States I have
myself seen that women are capable not only of grasping
intermediate instruction, but of participating in the ad-
vantages of a higher education. It is, therefore, possible
to predict that the day must come when science will no
longer be any more the monopoly of a sex than of a caste.
At the same time, in the greatest of the Slavonic states,
in Russia, woman has secured a body of rights which she
does not yet enjoy in any other Christian nation. She
may reign, vote, and control her own fortune. It is diffi-
cult to refuse to those who exercise such privileges, the
necessary education which will teach the best use to be
made of them. Hence Russia is gradually organizing for
women a broad system of higher education.
Intellectual equality being admitted by the most power-
ful of the states of young America, and political and civil
equality not being denied by the largest empire of old
Europe,
it was only natural that the Latin nations, to
whom Rome had given the same civilization and the same
religion, should at length become convinced that they had
much to do for the instruction and education of women.
Italy especially feels this influence, receiving into her
midst, as she does each year, foreign women seeking a
milder sky among celebrated cities embellished by master-
pieces of art. It is impossible that the women of this
beautiful land should not experience a certain sentiment of
emulation, when they perceive that, in the capitals which
have supplanted Athens and Rome, their sisters are be-
coming day by day more deeply initiated into the knowl.

324
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
edge of which the century is so proud. Italian states-
men begin to feel that the dignity of the country demands
a reform in this matter. It is said that Cavour was seri-
ously thinking of ameliorating the condition of women,
and he was too intelligent not to perceive that instruction
was the first step in this direction. If this devoted patriot
was unable to realize all his plans, his successors have not
thought it possible to accept the situation left by the ab-
solute governments. Since the creation of the kingdom
of Italy, each successive ministry has not only given much
attention to primary instruction, but has endeavored to
organize a system of intermediate instruction, which
should confer on girls the privileges hitherto enjoyed
only by boys.
Before the revolution which made a kingdom of Metter-
nich's "geographical expression,” the state of public in-
struction was not the same in all the provinces. The
violent reaction, corresponding with the epoch of the
famous concordat made by Pius IX. and Francis-Joseph I.,
dates only from 1856, when girls' schools were attacked
with special fury. Napoleon I. had created at Milan, the
capital of his kingdom of Italy, a girls' college. The
Austrian government, which succeeded that of France,
went further. From 1822 to 1830 it organized fourteen
intermediate and one thousand and forty-four primary
girls' schools. These figures will, with good reason, seem
very insignificant in the United States, but in Italy they
were so exceptional, that Austria may boast of having
been the first to take an interest in the instruction of her
female subjects,-an interest which contrasted sadly with
the shameful disregard of the Italian princes.
Little disposed to follow the example of Austria, the
Sardinian government could not shut its eyes to the con-

ITALY.
325
duct of France, which did not inspire the same repugnance
as the Germanic nation. Beginning under Louis Philippe
with the reform of primary instruction for boys, and com-
ing down into the Second Empire with the same thing
for girls, France exercised an immense influence on the
educational problem in Italy; for during that period, it
must be borne in mind, France was the oracle of the
Latin nations. When the king of Sardinia, throwing
down the gauntlet to Austria, adopted the line of policy
which was destined to transform him into king of Italy,
the school question came to the front. The Casati law
(November 13, 1859,) attempted to introduce into the
provinces, which then obeyed Victor Emmanuel II., the
same principles which Guizot had made triumph in
France under Louis Philippe. Girls, however, were not
forgotten in Italy in 1859, as they had been in France in
1833. The girls' primary schools were exclusively con-
fided to female teachers, and normal schools for the prep-
aration of such teachers were to be established. The
illiteracy among women and men were not much better
off in this respect—showed the crying need of the reform.
In spite of the efforts made in Piedmont and Lombardy,
one-half of the population in the north and centre of
* The Casati law renders primary instruction compulsory. Every father
or guardian who neglects to send his boy or girl to school, subjects him-
self to a penalty. This law, however, must be considered a pure ideal which
liberated Italy opposed to the Italy of absolutism. The lack of money not
only renders difficult the foundation of schools, but it is a great obstacle to
securing teachers, A salary which scarcely supports life, and no pension for
old age, do not present very seductive prospects. If these drawbacks are taken
into account, there need be no surprise at the poor progress made in the
department of instruction since the foundation of the kingdom of Italy. Al-
though the Italians have not yet been able to introduce the Casati law
into every part of the country, it must never be lost sight of, if they wish to
regain their former rank among nations.-D. I.

326
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

Italy, and almost the totality in the south, were steeped
in absolute ignorance. In Piedmont and Lombardy, the
most cultivated provinces, there were 450 persons out of
every 1,000 who could not read ; 493 in Modena, Parma,
Tuscany, the Marches and Perugia ; and 938 in the king-
dom of the Two Sicilies.
Intermediate instruction, such as it is, is not an inno-
vation in the Italian peninsula.* However, the country is
beginning to understand better the necessity of it, and
there is a growing tendency, scarcely noticed prior to the
unification of Italy, to spread its benefits wider and wider.
The convents were not content to give the daughters of
the rich a simple primary education, and the Italian rulers
of foreign origin felt the importance of creating establish-
ments for girls' intermediate instruction. Thus, the Bour-
bons founded at Palermo in 1779 an institution for girls
(Educatorio femminile Maria-Delaide), Napoleon, at Milan,
aº royal girls' college (Collegio reale di fanciulle), as I have
* Professor Gabba sends me the following notes : “A large number of
private schools, which furnish a very good education, are found in several
of the Italian provinces, and especially in Lombardy. Some of these insti.
tutions—particularly those of Milan-enjoy an ancient and well-merited
reputation. The State supports six schools of a high intermediate order
called educandati, where girls from seven to eighteen years of age receive a
careful training. Verona, Milan, Florence, and Palermo have each one of
these institutions, while Naples has two. A girls' gymnasium was opened a
few years ago at Florence by a private society. The cause of education is
greatly aided by the normal schools for the training of primary and inter-
mediate teachers, one of which is found in almost every provincial capital.
They are generally supported by the State. Among the State normal schools,
that at Florence is the most important, as it has a 'superior course for per-
fectionment.' It is a significant fact that, of the 2,000 young women who
graduate annually from these schools, at least two-fifths do not intend to
become teachers. They are the daughters of well-to-do parents, sometimes
of the aristocracy, studying simply for the improvement of their own minds."
-TS

ITALY.
327
already said, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1823,
another girls' institute (Instituto della S. S. Annunziata).
But the bad administration of the absolute govern-
ments, which bore sway in Italy through force of arms,
had in time checked the realization of the ideas of the
founders of these institutions, as was proved by the in-
spection made in 1865, by command of the Minister of
Public Instruction, Natoli. The 200,000 francs at the
disposal of the most celebrated of these establishments,
to cite but one example, educated only 30 girls. It was,
therefore, found necessary to reform these schools and
to create new ones more in harmony with modern ideas.
I shall terminate this sketch with a few.words concern-
ing the higher education of women. No law of the king-
dom now hinders women from entering the Italian uni-
versities and taking degrees. A short time ago, to cite
but one example, a Russian lady, Miss Paper, passed the
examination for doctor in medicine at the University of
Pisa, took her diploma, and is to-day practicing with suc-
cess at Florence. *
The efforts made in the Latin countries to emancipate
women from the heaviest of servitudes, that of ignorance,
-have they been as discouraging as we should be led to
believe by the theories of Prudhon and Michelet? The
answer may be best given by a man who had a long expe-
*“Higher scientific instruction for woman is not neglected in Italy,"
writes Professor Gabba. “It may even be said that more has been done in
this direction in Italy than in several other European countries. Our uni-
versities are open to women as listeners and students. Several, during the
past few years, have taken the doctorate of medicine and the doctorate of
literature. Besides the universities, a superior girls' college was established
at Milan in 1861 and at Turin in 1866. A law of June 25, 1882, established
at Rome and Florence a Superior Normal School for Women with twelve
State scholarships. The curriculum covers four years.”—T. S
1

328
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
rience in matters of education, and who had studied the sub-
ject in both the old and new world. “It has been asked in
Italy, as often among us,” says the late M. Hippeau, “why
young men, who have finished their classical studies, gen-
erally write much worse than girls who have received an
instruction which is less complete and erudite. Among
the questions put forth by the last (Italian) Commission
of Inquiry was this: Whence does it arise that in what
concerns composition and style, girls' schools present an
incontestable superiority?'”* The inspectors in their re-
ports to the Minister of Public Instruction unanimously
affirm, that the female pupils are much superior to the
males in the normal schools, as regards discipline, applica-
tion and progress in their studies.t
* L'instruction publique en Italie. Enseignement secondaire, VI.-D. I.
+ This fact contradicts all that has been said about women's intellectual
inferiority, which forms the base of M. Renan's theories. The celebrated
physiologist, Karl Vogt, in his “Studies of Man” (Leçons sur l'homme), has
shown that the skull of the French of the Middle Ages was much smaller than
that of the contemporaries of La Fayette. It is evident that exercise of the
encephalon has developed that organ, as the arm is fortified by action and
the leg by locomotion. Before pronouncing woman an inferior species, a
simple transition between “man and nature,” as Michelet has said, it would
perhaps be better to wait and see if intellectual culture may not have on her
the same effect as on the men of “ the good old time.” The late Dr. Kurz,
the eminent historian of German literature, who had also great experience as
an educationist, states in an article on women, published by the Illustrirte
Zeitung, June 23, 1860, that in Germany, where all the children of both sexes
attend the primary schools, he had never been able to signal any difference
intellectually between the boys and girls of the working classes and peas-
antry. But, on the other hand, he found that as one rose in the social scale, there
was an increasing change in favor of the male sex. He thought this was due
to the limited number of women taking part in intermediate instruction, and
their complete exclusion from the lectures of the University. I have ob-
served the same thing in Italy, where the boys and girls of the cities, who
have pursued the same studies in the primary schools, do not differ in intelli-
gence, while among the upper classes and aristocracy, the women often seem

ITALY.
329
When the aristocracy of Italy cease to send their
daughters to the convent, when the primary and inter-
mediate schools are more largely attended, then we shall
certainly see re-born in this country the era of great
female scholars.
to belong to another nation and epoch, so lacking are they in the intellectual
culture of the age.-D, I.

330
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
CHAPTER X.
SPAIN.
BY CONCEPCION ARENAL.
[Mrs. Concepcion Arenal de Garcia Carrasco was born in 1820, at Ferrol,
Galicia, Spain. Her father was a distinguished patriot, who threw aside
his books for the sword when the war for independence broke out in 1808.
On the return of peace, he suffered persecution under the despotic government
of Ferdinand VII., because of his liberal ideas, and died in exile at an
early age. After the death of her father, Concepcion went with her mother
to Madrid, and began in private her own education, which has ever since
been her chief care. In 1847 she married Fernando Garcia Carrasco, an
able lawyer and author, and one of the earliest writers on the Iberia, the
most important political newspaper of that period (1853–’5), to whose columns
she often contributed leading editorials. In 1860 the Madrid Academy of
Moral and Political Sciences awarded the first prize to Mrs. Arenal's remark-
able work, “Benevolence, Philanthropy and Charity” (La Beneficencia, la
Filantropia, y la Caridad).* Her next publication was entitled “ Poor Vis-
itor's Manual” (El Manual del Visitador del Pobre), an excellent little book,
which has been translated into five foreign languages.
“The Woman of
* Mrs. Rosario Zapater de Otal, of Madrid, gives me the following account
of the awarding of this prize. “Public opinion in Spain,” says this talented
lady, “ forces women to associate their real name as little as possible with
their writings. If they participate in a literary or scientific competition, this
prejudice has to be taken into the account, or they may not be allowed to
enter the lists. Mrs. Concepcion Arenal, a very remarkable author, had re-
course to a subterfuge when she took the prize of the Madrid Academy.
Several able essays were presented, but it was found, when the envelope was
opened, that the successful one came from the pen of Mr. Fernando Angel
Carrasco y Arenal, Mrs. Arenal's son, a boy of ten! A month later the
mother acknowledged to the Academy that she was the real author of this
admirable production.”—T. S.

SPAIN.
331
the Future” (La Mujer del Porvenir) takes the ground that the assumed
inferiority of women is only a result of old prejudices and injustice, and has
no foundation in fact. Mrs. Arenal has written a great deal on penitentiary
science, and on this subject is pronounced by Dr. Wines “ an authority in
her own country and in Europe.” Her “Essay on International Law”
(Ensayo sobre el Derecho de Gentes) is the first and only work by a woman in
the Biblioteca Juridica, a collection emanating from the most distinguished
Spanish jurisconsults. Among Mrs. Arenal's other productions, may be
mentioned two volumes entitled “The Social Question " (La Cuestion So-
cial), and "
Popular Instruction " (La Instruccion del Pueblo), which was
“crowned " in 1878 by the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. She is
the founder and principal contributor to the fortnightly review, The Voice of
Charity (La Voz de la Caridad), which is now in the twelfth year of its
publication at Madrid. As a poet, one of her anti-slavery poems gained the
first prize from the Spanish Abolition Society. During the recent civil war
in Spain, Mrs. Arenal was the secretary of the Red Cross Society. “The
Woman at Home ” (La Mujer de Su Casa) is the last production of this able
pen. This little volume, conceived in a most liberal spirit, appeared in
1883.]
In this sketch of the present condition of Spanish
women, I shall treat the subject under seven heads, in the
following order: 1. Work; II. Religion ; III. Instruc-
tion ; IV. Legislation-civil, administrative and criminal;
V. Public Opinion; VI. Morals; VII. Progress.
I. The Spanish woman is a very imperfect manual
laborer, so that for this and other reasons her work is not
highly valued and is poorly paid. Without any opportu-
nities for an industrial education, she is forced to take up
with kinds of handicraft which do not require it,-un-
skilled, brute labor, where it is perfectly well known she is
very inferior to man. In the trades which are considered to
belong especially to her sex, such as sewing, embroidery,
dress-making, millinery, and the like, she is neither clever
nor tasteful, and is excelled by the women of other coun-
tries, whence are introduced on a large scale into Spain

332
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
ornamental needle-work, ready-made clothing, cravats,
etc. It is impossible to estimate even approximately the
value of these articles imported into the country, but it is
certain that the sum foots up many millions. Nor is this
all. Foreign milliners and dress-makers, who supply the
wants of the elegant classes of society, are found in all our
large cities.
At the same time our own women lack employment, and
enter into a deadly competition in the very
limited num-
ber of occupations left to them by foreign superiority and
masculine exclusion. Indeed the army of needle-women
is so large that their pay often falls to a figure scarcely
credible, and is always too low to supply the physical
wants of the laborer. Unfortunately I do not, therefore,
exaggerate the situation, when I qualify this competition
as deadly, for incessant toil which does not procure suffi-
cient food and a decent lodging, ruins health and hastens
death. The condition of needle-women who do not own
sewing-machines—still a very numerous class-is worse
than that of their more fortunate sisters as regards earn-
ings, though probably their health is better. Statistics
do not give the number of obscure victims who sink
slowly away, but, from personal observation, it seems to
me that women cannot be the motor of the sewing-
machine without great harm to their health. Factory-
women are about as badly off as needle-women; they
earn scarcely enough to keep body and soul together,
for they are paid like apprentices, and the supply is so
great that they are without work a large part of the
year. As regards brute labor, in the fields, mines, etc., a
woman is compared to a young boy, and, although in
some cases she performs as much and even more work
than a man, she is paid far less.

SPAIN.
333
If Spanish women have no trades, or at least if those
which they exercise are very poorly compensated, they
have no profession either, for how can we apply this term
to the lowest branch of teaching, at a salary which does
not support life? And, with the exception of a few large
cities, such is the situation of school-mistresses through-
out Spain, unless they have other resources than those
gained in the class-room.
As artists, Spanish women fare little better than as
sewing-women and school teachers. Custom and lack of
knowledge shut against them architecture and sculpture.
As painters, they make some copies and decorate fans,
boxes and faience, but works of real merit are exception-
ally rare. About the same thing is true of music. It is
only in the great cities that a few women support them-
selves by giving piano lessons. At this moment I am
aware of no actress or singer of distinguished talents
in our theatres, while I know that their pay is very low.
Our women are ignorant of the sciences, and if, as is very
rarely the case, they acquire some scientific knowledge,
as medicine for instance, they may make no use of it as a
means of subsistence, for public opinion and the law of
the land present insurmountable obstacles.
This unfortunate state of things is due to many and
different causes which may be reduced to the four follow-
ing: 1. Want of education ; 2. Force of custom; 3. Un-
limited competition; and 4. Disdain of public opinion.
1. If the elementary education of boys is neglected, the
condition of that of girls may be imagined. It may be
said that girls do not go to school in Spain, or if they do,
it is only to learn to read badly, and to acquire a super-
ficial acquaintance with rudimentary studies, which the
mistress, almost as ignorant as her pupils, can scarcely

334
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

teach. This is true even in towns of some importance,
where alone girls' schools exist. Such an education, if it
indeed deserves the name, renders women unfit for any
but the most material kind of work. They are seldom
taught trades, they have no industrial skill, so that their
labor is of an inferior quality.
2. Custom, without reason but with great obstinacy, shuts
out women from the most lucrative occupations and
trades, and even from those for which they are peculiarly
fitted by nature. Delicate mechanical arts which do not
require strength, and other crafts which demand exacti-
tude, patience, and assiduity, are practiced exclusively by
men, without there being any justification for this on the
ground of women's intellectual inferiority, since those who
hold that they are wanting in intelligence, are obliged to
admit that they have enough for many occupations which
custom refuses to let them undertake.
3. This limitation of the field of work for women pro-
duces a plethora in those paths which lie open to them,
and, as I have already said, a deadly competition is the
consequence. As the working-woman finds nobody to
protect her, as labor associations are unknown, and as
she cannot sell directly to the consumer, she becomes
the prey of the speculative middle-man, and when the
latter is a shop-keeper, she may be considered a real vic-
tim of competition.
4. The contempt of public opinion is another reason
why women's industry is so poorly remunerative and why
they are paid less than men for the same work. It is not
true that competition always renders products cheap, and
that the degree of cheapness depends upon how much the
supply surpasses the demand. Spain offers several exam-
ples to the contrary. But for the sake of brevity I shall

SPAIN.
335
not cite them, and shall simply say that, the effects of
competition not being neutralized by the good-will of
public opinion, Spanish working-women toil for a beg-
garly return. Thus the economic condition of our women
is most deplorable, and though I am perfectly well aware
that these same evils are shared in common with the
working-women of Europe generally, I also know that
in the more advanced countries the field of female indus-
try is not so contracted and participation in manual labor
not so discredited as in Spain. If the misfortune is not
limited to this land, it has here attained greater gravity
than elsewhere.
II. I now pass to the second division of my subject:
Is the Spanish woman religious? This question may be an-
swered by a Yes or by a No, depending on what is under-
stood by religion. According to my own definition of the
word, I do not hesitate to respond in the negative. Span-
ish women, as a rule, are not religious, though there are
of course exceptions. They are devout, pious, supersti-
tious; the worship, the rites, the form, the superficial, are
everything; the depths and heights of true religion, its
soul, its genuine constituents, are little or nothing. Re-
ligion of this sort does not exercise much moral influ-
ence on its devotees, contributes but little toward their
improvement, and in some instances even becomes an ob-
stacle in the way of all amelioration. It is noticeable that,
among the women who consecrate themselves to God, as
they say, appearances and formalism are regarded as
more important than moral considerations. This fact is
more applicable to the nuns who come from the middle
and upper classes than to those sprung from the people.
The sisters of charity, who do some good in the world,

336
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
are, with few exceptions, recruited from the masses, while
young ladies enter the cloisters and spend their existence,
not so much in efforts to benefit suffering humanity, as
in the performance of rituals and in contemplation, a plan
of life which, we may say in passing, is not very effective
for the regeneration of the sinners whom they gather to-
gether.
III. Education in Spain is at a very low level, much
lower indeed than foreigners suppose, who, after an ex-
amination of the statistics, found their conclusions on the
attendance at the elementary and intermediate schools and
at the universities, instead of on the quality of the instruc-
tion given in these institutions. If men are poorly trained,
if a university degree stands for a privilege and not for
the intellectual calibre of him who holds it, what must be
the education of Spanish women can be easily imagined.
In girls' schools—where they exist—the major part of
the time is employed in manual branches, and it is an ex-
ception if the school-mistress knows how to read intelli-
gently, to write without violating the rules of orthography,
and to explain the most elementary parts of arithmetic.
In the institutions frequented by the children of the upper
classes, the course of studies embraces a little geography,
history, piano and French, which are taught in a very
superficial manner. Nothing resembling solid instruction
is given, and even this poor beginning is soon forgotten,
for on leaving school our women generally read only
novels and religious books. It is now becoming possible
to find some young girls who write passably well and who
understand the simpler rules of arithmetic, but it is still
often difficult to obtain a secretary or treasurer who can
keep clearly and correctly the minutes and accounts of a

SPAIN.
337
charitable society. At a recent competitive examination
for the position of principal of a normal school, which, be-
cause of a relatively large salary attached to it, ought to
have been and was much sought after, the majority of the
candidates gave proof of the greatest ignorance, and when
it is stated that they held teachers' diplomas and that
many
of them are at the head of schools, the little value
of academic degrees and the shameful deficiency of our
educational system become painfully evident.
There are
exceptions, but, speaking generally, the Spanish mistress
ought to attend school herself.
IV. I shall next touch upon the laws, beginning with
those of a penal nature, which in Spain, as is more or less
true of all countries, are in contradiction to the civil, po-
litical and administrative usages in all that concerns
women.
While the latter close against them the civil
service, the professions, public life and in some cases pro-
nounce them minors, the former always consider them
perfectly responsible beings and never admit their sex to
be an extenuating circumstance for softening the severity
of a penalty. In Spain, the only distinction made in their
favor is that female prisoners have beds and are never
chained, alleviations not enjoyed by men.
The administrative and school regulations exclude
women from the civil service and from all callings except
those of teacher in the lowest schools, vendor of postage
stamps, stamped paper and tobacco—a government mo-
nopoly—and telegraphist, when a husband, father, or
brother is engaged in the same occupation.
The civil position of women is not the same in all parts
of Spain; in some provinces they are more favored than
in others, especially when they become widows. But
22

338
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

everywhere the law falls into a strange contradiction when
it touches the rights of married and single women. The
latter, on reaching their majority, enjoy the same privi-
leges as men in regard to property, and, like them, may in-
herit, will, let, sell and buy. But the moment they marry,
they return to the condition of minors. The husband
controls everything, without having to render
any account
of his stewardship. He may lavish on concubines the
patrimony of his wife, while she cannot dispose of a far-
thing without his consent. If the husband, who is a father
and a soldier or employed in the civil service, abandon
his wife and children, she may obtain, after fulfilling a
certain number of requirements, the end of which is often
never reached, a small portion of his pay. The law is
again inconsistent when the wife, who, while the husband
lives, stands on such an unequal economic footing with
him, once a widow, comes in for half of the acquest—that
is, the increment, during the marriage, of the common
fortune—which on her death goes to her heirs. Within
the past few years a step has been taken in the direction
of the civil equality of the two sexes, and the widow now
enjoys paternal authority over the children.*
The girl who is a minor and would marry, must have
the consent of her parents and guardians. But if they
refuse, she may, after complying with certain legal forms,
dispense with it. A Spanish woman lays but little stress
on the religion of her husband, provided he consents to
go through the form of receiving the sacrament. If, which
is very rare, the fiancé holds to a religious belief other
* The Spanish woman confers upon her husband the titles of nobility and
the other privileges attached to them which she possesses at the moment of
her marriage. The wife always retains the family name received from her
father and places it before that of her husband.-Mrs. ZAPATER DE OTAL.

SPAIN.
339
than the Catholic, and if he is honest enough to admit it,
this circumstance does not form an obstacle to the mar-
riage, except in the eyes of Rome. Neither the fiancée
nor the family abandon the projected union on this ac-
count, and it is only old women who never saw such scan-
dalous proceedings in their day, and young women, who
perhaps would be but too glad to secure the heretic for
themselves, who are shocked, and deplore the impious
act.
Divorce does not exist in Spain, and the same thing
may almost be said of partial divorce, a menså et toro,
because of the difficulties which lie in the way of its con-
summation and the disfavor with which it is regarded by
society. Abandonment, on the other hand, is very easy
and very common, for the husband may desert his wife
and children without running the risk of any punish-
ment.
It is scarcely. necessary to say that Spain confers no
political rights on women, although—the Salic law never
having obtained in the Pyrenean peninsula—a queen may
rule the nation,
V. In its treatment of women, Spanish public opinion
may be likened unto a flood whirling along in its current
a helpless body, driving it hither and thither and finally
swallowing it up. How much ability and intelligence,
what a vast part of the moral and intellectual life of our
women, is sterilized and annihilated by erring public opin-
ion! In this division of my subject I do not wish to con-
sider the opinion of men alone, but, as it has an influence
incomparably greater than that of women, I shall take it
up first and dwell on it more at length.
Spanish men generally entertain sentiments of consid-

340
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
eration and respect for mother, wife and sister, and pater-
nal love also has a favorable effect on their ideas of women.
But when untouched by feelings of tenderness, the sex
falls very low in their esteem. They consider women their
inferiors in everything and look down upon them with the
disdain of veritable oppressors. Although, as I have just
said, affection and chivalry sometimes outbalance con-
tempt and neutralize or soften it, man does not form an
exception to the rule, but despises what he considers
beneath him and oppresses what he despises.
In a country where brute force is still greatly preponder-
ant, muscular feebleness is necessarily looked upon as a
serious defect, and, if we examine the subject carefully
among the people, the largest and coarsest part of the
nation, we find that this is the origin of man's arrogating
to himself superiority in everything. Among the upper
classes, man cultivates his mental faculties and strength-
ens his whole character. Religion, which has but little
influence on him, and which might neutralize the frivol-
ities to which the existence of woman is condemned, not
only does not effectively combat these evils, but sometimes
even increases them. Thus man finds himself clothed
with advantages whose importance he exaggerates, and
which, though not natural, are positive. Armed with
these odds, he drives woman from all skilled and lucrative
occupations, while she, degraded in the economic, and be-
littled in the intellectual sphere, may forsooth inspire
tenderness, interest, compassion, but cannot command
respect. As neither love, generosity, nor anything can
take the place of justice when masses of individuals are
concerned, he who persistently refuses it, oppresses, how-
ever much he may varnish and gild the yoke. And this
is the very way public opinion treats Spanish women.

SPAIN.
34 1
Prompted by the Epistle of St. Paul,* man, under the
most favorable circumstances, surrenders his rights only
for harmony; he does not recognize those of woman.
We know how often he prefers his privileges to concord
and yields nothing, so that dissension instead of peace
reigns, with the advantage, whether in marriage or outside
of it, on his side.
The natural affections and refined sentiments which
distinguish some men, who are not satisfied with the con-
descensions of a slave, establish equality in the spiritual
domain and strongly affect the other spheres of life. But it
may be truly said that man oppresses woman when he
does not love and protect her. As workman, he drives
her from the most remunerative trades; as thinker, he
will not suffer her to cultivate her mind; as lover, he may
trifle with her affections; and as husband, he may desert
her with impunity. Public opinion is the real cause of all
these wrongs, because it makes the laws or because it
violates them.
But my readers may ask, Have not the liberal-minded
men of Spain a higher ideal of woman? Several circum-
stances must be taken into account in answering this
question. Our enlightened men, in the first place, are
too few in number to exert an influence on the public.
Again, though their minds are open on certain subjects,
they are very ignorant on this woman question. They
recognize in woman only the female, and nourish the illu-
* I would not have anybody surpass me in tenderness, respect and enthu-
siasm for the Apostle of Men, whose precepts and advice relative to women
were an inmense progress for his time, although they are to day behind the
age, Love, charity and kindliness constitute a powerful and indispensable
social factor. They are auxiliaries of justice, but they cannot supplant it,
Permanent peace does not spring from the yielding of one's rights, but from
recognition of, and respect for, the rights of others.-C. A.

342
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
sion, which is akin to folly, of pretending that she is a
reasonable being without exercising the reason. However
strange this statement may appear, it is true of a large
number of men, even of those who have received some
education.
There is still a third class among our liberals who differ
from the preceding more in theory than in reality. They
make a speech or write an article on the necessity of edu-
cating women, but they do nothing in order to lift their
wives and daughters out of ignorance. What are the ele-
ments of this contradiction ? Perhaps there enter into it
in equal proportions indolence, carelessness, the love of
superiority, a lingering doubt as to the capability of
women to receive a solid education, and an uncertainty
as to whether it might not harm them, for there is ordina-
rily a long lapse of time between the theoretical accept-
ance of a new idea and its penetration into the mind and
soul with a resulting effect on the conduct. Many men who
favor women's education and are working industriously
for this end, belong to this category. They are ever ask-
ing themselves the question, Have women the intellectual
capacity for a sound education, and if so, may it not be
dangerous to give it to them? There are men, on the
other hand, who are thoroughly convinced of the neces-
sity and possibility of imparting to the female, the same
development as to the male, mind, and who are doing
their utmost to popularize this idea. But, as I have al-
ready said, their number is too small to make a permanent
impression on public opinion, which continues to deny
woman's aptitude, to consider the cultivation of her mind
an evil, and to refuse her the means for her intellectual
improvement. It is evident that a society which judges
thus, or to speak more exactly, which decides thus, must

SPAIN.
343
oppose even the consideration of women's rights, and
especially their participation in public affairs.
All these currents, tainted with error and injustice, are
found united in the spirit which governs the relations be-
tween the two sexes, where the law is often silent or a
dead letter, and where public opinion misleads and plays
the despot. It is considered but natural that the hus-
band, who makes the money and who knows something,
should be at the head of the family, and no objection is
made if he pass from this rôle to that of a tyrant, pro-
vided his tyranny be not too brutal. Nobody, as a rule,
blames him for a partial and moral abandonment of his
family; and absolute desertion, which is very common, is
not anathematized. The frequency of this last sin can-
not be explained except on the ground of the complicity
of public opinion, which pronounces the law wrong and
renders it null.
If public opinion does not condemn him who sets at
naught his duties as a husband and father, the base acts
of the lover awaken, of course, no honest indignation, but
rather feelings of contempt for the victim. If the woman
who has been betrayed and abandoned is a mother, if she
finds it impossible to nourish her children, and they perish
in misery, if they become idlers and criminals, or if she
yields to despair in any of its forms, even in suicide, he
who has been the cause of these crimes and misfortunes
does not see his future blasted,—is not censured by society.
The woman, crippled by the shutting against her of the
highways to self-support, disarmed for the battle of life,
must be strong in herself, must master her affections, her
instincts, the natural propensity to believe in him who
loves her, who is able to protect her, and who promises
to do so. The sin of the strong is called triumph, that

344
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
of the feeble, fall; and public opinion, which leads the
latter to destruction, spits on her and tramples her under
foot once she is down.
It should be remarked, that this same public opinion
which abandons and scoffs at weak women, whose faults
have many extenuating circumstances, looks with favor
on some whom it ought to denounce. Elegant adulter-
esses, whose loose morals seem to add to, rather than de-
tract from, their social success, are well received and even
applauded if they are rich, stylish and pretty, or if they
are set off with a title. It sometimes happens in aris-
tocratic circles that the most unrestrained immorality
defies public opinion, laughs at it, so that adultery be-
comes not a tragedy but a very comedy.
Though women are refused the vote, they have a cer-
tain opinion and influence on public affairs. The dictum,
that those who are born in slavery are born for slavery,
may be applied in part to Spanish women, who, bred in
ignorance, are more disposed to censure than praise those
of their sex who strive after knowledge. They are early
taught to accept the intellectual superiority of
they tolerate it. But their conduct is not the same when
they have to do with educated women. They turn their
backs on them, ridicule them and think to see only danger
to the domestic hearth in this feminine book-learning.
This belief is generally sincere, although of course there
is no foundation for the alarm, and, being fortified by that
of the great majority of men, it augments the difficulties
which lie in the way of the instruction of women.
In the moral domain women's opinion has a still more
deplorable effect, for in all that concerns the relations
between the two sexes, it becomes an accomplice in the
iniquities of men. No matter how scandalous a man's life
men, and

SPAIN.
345
may be, it does not militate against his success, but, on
the contrary, it rather favors him in his love affairs and
secures him a more advantageous marriage. A rake,
whose intrigues are town talk, is more acceptable and
makes a more brilliant match than a young man of good
habits, who spends in work the time devoted by the other
to dissipation and vice. The profound moral
perversion
of our women which this situation reveals, is the result,
the résumé, the quintessence, as it were, of all the influ-
ences which conspire to their detriment. The women'
who thus encourage the vicious by marks of preference
are not themselves immoral. Their conduct in all other
respects may be irreproachable,—which only brings out
in still bolder relief the deterioration of their taste and
reason. And to this complacent tolerance of the vices of
men, is often found united a Puritanical severity for those
of their own sex, thus completing the acts by which they
contribute to their own injury.
Besides these influences, which may be called special
and direct, there are others of a general nature which
conduce not less to the errors and misfortunes of women.
The atmosphere in which they live, pervaded with mate-
rial pleasures, and the delights of vain luxury, where
pov-
erty, however honorable, is looked down upon, and where
riches are adored, often regardless of how they were ob-
tained, is a powerful cause of this unfortunate situa-
tion.*
VI. The reader, who has reflected a little on what has
been written in the preceding pages, will not find it diffi-
* I may say here once for all, that there are honorable exceptions to the
various strictures on Spanish society which I am forced to make throughout
the course of this sketch.-C. A.

346
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
1

cult to guess what will be said under the head of morals;
for if women stand on such a low plane in education, art
and industry, and are so despised by public opinion, they
cannot occupy a very high moral position.
The birth rate shows 5.55 illegitimate to one hundred
legitimate children. One woman is sent to prison for
every twenty men, while there is one female convict for
every 21,000 inhabitants. But, as the terms of imprison-
ment extend over several years, the actual criminality is
much less than this statement would seem to indicate.
Prostitution is very prevalent, and there are few coun-
tries where this cancerous disease is more widespread
than in Spain.
The love of luxury occasions a veritable ravage among
Spanish women, and becomes alternately the cause and
effect of immorality. It absorbs the resources which ought
to be devoted to necessary wants or to charitable pur-
poses; it troubles domestic peace, sacrifices honor and
smooths the way to prostitution ; it enters the most hum-
ble homes and is often found allied with misery. In view
of all the circumstances which surround our women, this
weakness is easily explained, and, though not an enigma,
it is none the less a misfortune for themselves and for
their country.
The terrible woman, that type dreamt of or invented by
travelers, and who might be described as “the female of
the Spanish brigand," does not exist. There are women
among our criminals, but they are just like those of other
countries, neither braver, more wicked, nor more romantic.
It is true, I am ashamed to say, that a great many of our
women frequent bull-fights, but they are from the lower
classes and the aristocracy,—the ladies of the royal family
among the number. They belong to the badly dressed

SPAIN.
347
vulgar, and to elegant society. There are exceptions,
but this is the rule.
When we wish to determine the moral condition of a
people or a class, we generally proceed in a manner which
produces inexact results. By the aid of statistics and
other means, we discover the infractions of law and moral-
ity, we count the crimes and vices, and then we conclude
that virtue is in an inverse ratio to this sum. But our reck-
oning is not correct. This is a double-entry account: its
debits are bad acts, its credits, good acts. If we neglect
the latter, our sheet does not balance.
Spanish women, through no fault of their own, are not
given all the credit which they deserve, and are not per-
mitted to gain all that of which they are capable, because
their sphere of action is very much restrained and conse-
quently the sum of their social merits is diminished. Men
generally prefer in their wives and daughters only the do-
mestic virtues, so that a lady often declines participation
in a charitable work because the husband objects to her
membership in a society or association. It is not sur-
prising, therefore, that women who unite for benevolent
purposes are subjected to criticism and ridicule, although
the development of female usefulness is thus unwittingly
stunted. Men are chiefly to blame for this, yet the other
sex often unite with them to laugh down those of their
number who may band together for charity.
When we consider how many noble movements and
lofty aims, which owe their origin to women, are opposed
and wrecked by hostile public opinion ; when we observe
the fearful moral depravity of the nation, we are some-
times led to ask how it is that Spain continues to exist
and even progresses, slowly though it be. The cause,
which seems almost inexplicable, is found in the solid

348
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
virtue, proof against every attack, of a strong nucleus of
women of the lower and middle classes, who, with merit
known of God alone, and of which they themselves are
generally unconscious, give to a social fabric, almost ready
to fall, the cohesion necessary to its preservation, and
powerfully contribute to render the moral atmosphere, if
not entirely salubrious, at least breathable.*
my sub-
VII. I shall now take up the last division of
ject, viz., the signs of progress in Spain, which, more
meagre than I could wish, will be treated in the same
order as the foregoing part of this sketch.
The gradual growth of our national industries has
opened to women new fields of labor in the factories, and
female operators, under certain restrictions already men-
tioned, are often employed in telegraphic offices, where
however, they are paid less than men for the same work.
The number of female teachers is rapidly increasing, and
a recent law places infant schools under their exclusive
charge. Some years ago, musical instruction was entirely
in the hands of foreigners; but to-day, many of our
women follow this profession at Madrid, and earn far
* Generosity is the cardinal virtue of the Spanish lower classes. The
wife of the laborer shares her mite with the poorer neighbor. It often hap-
pens that, when a friend or an inmate of the same house dies and leaves
young
orphans, women, as needy as they, divide among themselves, amid tears and
sobs, the homeless children “ that they may not have to go to the asylum," and
from that moment they become as their own. When, on the occasion of some
terrible inundation or other calamity, appeals are made to public bounty,
it is a touching spectacle to see these poor people deprive themselves of the
very necessities of life in order to contribute something. This conduct is
all the more praiseworthy as their names will not appear in the newspapers
and be lauded in the drawing-rooms. Woman is the soul of this noble
generosity. The workman's wife does not lay away; what is left over each
day is given to those who want, so that it is rare under these humble roofs
to find any provision made for the morrow.-Mrs. ZAPATER DE OTAL.

SPAIN.
349
more than they could in occupations considered “proper
for the sex.”
Progress is noticeable in the religious sphere. As it is
an indisputable fact that the funds of the church have
diminished, that the revenue from the sale of quadrigesi-
mal indulgences is decreasing, while, on the other hand,
the population and riches of the country are increasing, it
is evident that the priesthood is losing its hold on the
nation. This is especially true of our women, for, if they
still believed that the purchase of these bits of paper was
a question of eternal salvation, they would buy them in
spite of the ridicule of husbands, fathers, and brothers.
But it is plain that they no longer think so; indulgences
are becoming a drug in the market, and consequently
faith in their efficacy is dying out. I am told that many
priests no longer ask women at confessional if they have
bought these bulls, and I believe that this prudent course
is getting to be quite common. The full significance of
this fact comes out when we remember, that the precept
thus set at naught is enunciated by an absolute power,
by an authority infallible in Catholic eyes, whose wisdom
and justice is of God himself, and disobedience to whom
is punished by eternal damnation. I have never heard of
a marriage not being celebrated because the groom held to
a belief different from that of the bride, or because the
former professed no religion at all, which is very frequently
the case. If the husband is kind, the wife is satisfied with
her choice, and does not think him lost if he declines to
attend mass, to confess, and if he eats meat when she eats
fish. It is true that the monks and Jesuits have returned
to Spain, and that they still have a very strong hold on the
women of the wealthier classes, but we who are advanced
in life can testify that their influence, especially that of

350
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
the monks, is not what it used to be. To-day, they do
not mingle with the people; they do not find every house
open to them; they do not interfere in all family affairs, as
we well remember was their wont. I might cite examples,
which have come under my personal notice, to prove that
the religious fanaticism of Spanish women is no longer
what it was, nor what some still imagine it to be.
Although the ignorance of our women is deplorable,
when we compare the instruction they have with what
they ought to have, we must admit, however, that prog-
ress in this direction has been made in all classes of
society, whether we consider the increased number of
female criminals who can read and write, or those ladies
who have learned French, geography and grammar. This
improvement is observed in country and city alike, and
especially at Madrid, where, in the schools founded by the
Association for the Education of Women, * nearly five hun-
dred girls pursue courses in pedagogics, commercial stud-
ies, modern languages, painting, etc. This instruction,
for the most part gratis, is given by professors who devote
their time and strength to this noble object without
receiving any remuneration,-worthy continuators of the
grand work of the founder of the Madrid High School
for Women,+ Fernando de Castro, of blessed memory,
one of the most philanthropic men I ever met,who so loved
mankind that his name should be known in every land.
Nine hundred and eighteen girls attended the session of
1880-I, of the School of Music and Declamation at Madrid,
* The various publications of this admirable and active association ſur-
nish very full and complete information concerning the whole subject of
the educational situation of Spanish women. The secretary, César de Egui-
laz, may be addressed as follows: Asociacion para la Enseñanza de la
Mujer, Bolsa, 14, Piso segundo, Madrid. -T. S.
+ This institution was established in 1869.-C. A.


SPAIN.
351
and the number has since increased. A few years ago, a
School of Arts and Trades was founded at the capital, and
women were admitted to the classes in drawing. In 1881
one hundred and thirty availed themselves of this privi-
lege. In 1882 one hundred and fifty-four female students
were present at the institutions (institutos) throughout
Spain for intermediate education. The co-education of
the sexes, therefore, is not unknown to us. Valencia,
Barcelona, Gerona and Seville each counted sixteen, while
the single girl at Mahon discontinued her studies on the
ground that she preferred not to mingle with boys. At
Malaga, the only female aspirant for the bachelor's degree
took seven prizes, and was “excellent” in all her studies.
During the academic year 1881–2 twelve women attended
lectures in the Spanish universities. The three at Madrid
were all working for the doctorate, and one has passed
the necessary examinations; the two at Valladolid were
occupied with medicine, while at Barcelona five were
studying medicine, one law, and one pharmacy. Three
of the medical students have passed their examinations,
but, instead of the degrees, which are refused them, they
are granted certificates, which do not allow them to prac-
tice.
The recent creation of two periodicals devoted to the
question of female education, and the exclusion of male
teachers from the infant schools, as has already been
noted, are small but significant signs of progress. I may
also mention in connection with this subject that Spain
possesses some scholarly women and several female writ-
ers, especially poets, who hold a high place in current
literature. *
* Francisca Lebrixa, daughter of the celebrated grammarian and historian
Lebrixa (1444-1532), often filled her father's place in the University of

352
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Public opinion is progressing, as is evidenced by the laws,
and especially by the educational reforms, which are the
exclusive work of men. The Council of Public Instruction,
a consulting body holding by no means advanced ideas,
was called upon a short time ago to decide whether the
university certificates conferred upon women could be
converted into regular degrees, which would entitle the
recipients to the privileges attached to these titles. The
learned council discussed, hesitated, tried to decide the
question, but finally left it in a situation which was neither
clear nor conclusive. This hesitancy and vagueness are
very significant: a few years ago a negative decision
would have been given promptly and in the plainest
terms.
Public opinion seems to be changing for the better in
its ideas of what ought to be the relations between the
two sexes; and, although this transformation is very slow
and almost imperceptible, there are indications, which I
omit for the sake of brevity, which prove that here, too,
I may report progress.
In the moral sphere, it may be said that female crimi-
nality appears to have diminished and the number of nat-
ural children to be less, when the increment of the
popu-
lation is taken into account. My own opinion is that
Alcala, and Beatriz Galindo, of Salamanca, was called “the Latin ” (“'la
Latina"), because of her thorough knowledge of that tongue. Both of these
women, as well as Isabel de Losa, of Cordova, who was a great theologian,
were versed in the ancient languages and were real savants. Among the in-
tellectual women of our own day I may cite the celebrated Fernand Cabal-
lero, whose admirable descriptions of Spanish life, translated into several
tongues, are known and admired throughout Europe, and the Infanta
Maria Isabel, the eldest sister of King Alphonso, who, by her private vir-
tues and her vast acquaintance with art, history and the languages, is one of
the most cultivated princesses of Europe. --MRS. ZAPATER DE OTAL.

SPAIN.
353
Spanish women are better than they were, if we compare
those of to-day with those painted in the history and lit-
erature of the past. A nation's moral condition cannot
be determined by its vices alone; we must also consider
its virtues. If a great number of our women are still on
the same low plane as their progenitors, more of them
have risen to a higher level; that is to say, although the
bad may be as bad as of yore, the good are better. This
conclusion is based on observations extending over a
period of forty years, and I believe it unquestionably true.
There may be those who will accuse me of painting my
country in too dark colors, or of allowing my sincerity to
run away with my patriotism. What harm would there
be in softening the picture a little, they will say, just as
he who is blind of one eye offers the faultless side of his
face to the artist? My answer is, that never have I tried
or wished to separate patriotism from truth and justice;
and, furthermore, if this volume, international in its
nature, is to be useful, it must be true. It must be his-
tory, not romance, so that from a comparison of cer-
tain facts, exact and valuable conclusions can be drawn.
If this object is not attained, it will not be because the
notes on Spain are wanting in accuracy. The Spanish
collaborator, with the proverbial nobility, hidalguia, of
her race, has told the truth, disagreeable though it be,
with a frankness which reveals strength and gives hope
for the future.
23

354
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
CHAPTER XI.
PORTUGAL.
BY RODRIGUES DE FREITAS.
[Mr. Rodrigues de Freitas was born at Porto, January 24, 1840. From
1855 to 1862 he was a student at the Polytechnic Academy of his native
city, where he took several prizes and was graduated as a civil engineer. He
became a professor at this institution in 1864. Mr. de Freitas was elected
a member of Parliament in 1870, 1871, 1878 and 1880, being the first repre-
sentative of the republican party to enter the Portuguese chamber of depu-
ties. He has written for several newspapers, and especially for the Porto
Commercial (O Commercio do Porto). His principal works are: “Notice on
Portugal ” (Notice sur le Portugal, Paris, 1867); the “Social Revolution"
(A revoluçað social, Porto, 1873), an analysis of the doctrines of the Inter-
national; “Elements of Book-keeping” (Elementos d'escripturaçað mercantil,
Porto, 1882), and a treatise on political economy which is now (1883) in
press.]
An English traveler, who visited Portugal in 1789,
thus described Portuguese women: “They are gener-
ally endowed with excellent qualities. They are chaste,
modest, and extremely attached to their husbands. None
of them would think of leaving the house without first ob-
taining his permission or that of his family. In order that
not even the shadow of a suspicion may rest upon them,
men, even when relatives, are not permitted to enter their
apartments, or to sit near them in the public parks. Their
lovers, therefore, rarely enjoy the pleasure of seeing them,
except at church, the only spot.where sighs and signs of
affection may be manifested. In spite of the greatest

PORTUGAL.
355
vigilance on the part of the duennas, lovers sometimes
succeed in exchanging notes, but so adroitly that one
must be a lover himself to perceive it. The altar boys
are often the bearers of these tender messages. On
leaving the church, it often happens that the lovers' hands
meet, as if by chance, in the same holy-water basin, are
pressed together with a secret joy, and exchange notes.
Ladies rarely go out for a promenade, unless it be to the
neighboring church, which they visit regularly at least
once a day. Weddings are very expensive, and are often
the ruin of the poorer classes. Women are economical
and sober, generally drinking only water. This dieting on
the part of Portuguese women has a singular effect on
their complexion ; they are pale and wanting in vivacity.
Their style of dress scarcely changes throughout a whole
century. The lower classes of both sexes are passionately
fond of ornaments, fish-women often adorning themselves
with gold necklaces and bracelets."*
If this picture is correct, what great changes have been
wrought in a century among Portuguese women, and es-
pecially among those of the cities! As regards dress,
Paris styles prevail in Portugal, although somewhat mod-
ified and stamped with a strong Portuguese character.
Imported fashions have succeeded in driving out the na-
tional costume, except from the interior of a few provinces
which are in imperfect communication with the cities.
And even here it is doomed to soon disappear.
The Portuguese are not an economical people. There
are very few savings banks, and aid societies are rarer still.
And yet many women will pinch themselves in necessary
* This citation is translated from a French edition of James Murphy's
“Travels in Portugal,” which will account for any discrepancies between
it and the original text.-T. S.

356
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
expenditures so as to be able to spend more on dress.
Wives and mothers, who have no time to see to the bring-
ing up of their children, to look after the kitchen, and to
aid their husbands, often destroy their lungs and eyes in
toiling for long hours that they may array themselves
after the newest modes. The peasant women continue to
buy jewelry, which happily often proves a valuable resource
when misfortune comes. The middle classes of the cities
do not care so much for the precious metals, and waste
very
little
money on them.
Their chief aim is to dress
fashionably, and to pass themselves off as rich. The pale-
ness and inactivity of which the English traveler speaks,
are still found in the large cities, and especially at Lisbon,
among those women, who, though poor, wish to appear
wealthy. This unhealthy and vulgar rage for show pro-
duces at the capital the greatest physical and moral ray-
ages. Some people hold that this wanness and wasting
away are due to the bad sewerage of Lisbon. It is quite
true that the waters of the Tagus are not always eau de
Cologne, and that the subterranean pipes do not perform
their work thoroughly; but the chief source of the evil is
not under the ground, but in the head. The conduits of
the mind are not pure; in some instances they have never
been cleansed; and if this head be a woman's, if this
woman is without education, or has received a completely
false one, if she or her husband does not possess wealth,
to what lengths may not this monomania for luxury carry
them? For a few strips of goods the stomach is left
empty. Greater sacrifices than even health are made ;
life itself is shortened and rendered useless.
Lisbon suffers much more than any other Portuguese
city from this diseased condition of women's ideas and
habits. It possesses an excessive number of public func-

PORTUGAL.
357
tionaries on small salaries, who feel obliged to spend as
much as they can in order to keep up a social position.
Although the old nobility has almost disappeared, the
rich commoner takes its place, and is only too eager to
display his wealth. Above this class is the court, which
is passionately fond of luxury. The Queen Maria Pia,
daughter of Victor Emmanuel, prides herself on being the
most elegant lady of Portugal. She has the true bearing
of a sovereign, and dresses in exquisite taste, but she sets
a bad example. In 1882 the king and queen of Spain
came to Portugal. Although the Spanish court is far
richer than our own, the Portuguese queen surpassed the
queen of the neighboring country by the magnificence of
her robes and diamonds. On this occasion the pawnbro-
kers of Lisbon loaned a very large sum of money, which
was spent, it is said, by the families who participated in
the extraordinary fêtes of this occasion.
These facts pour a flood of light on the domestic life of
Portuguese women, who, having recently acquired a little
liberty, are laboring under the difficulties always experi-
enced in a society not yet emancipated from the evils of
long centuries of prejudice. It is not astonishing, there-
fore, if the frivolities of Paris are more conspicuous in our
society than the grand qualities of the French capital, —
if its faults are more generally imitated than its virtues.
And yet Portuguese women have good natural instincts,
and parents give much more attention to-day than for-
merly to the instruction of their daughters.
once considered dangerous to teach girls to read and
write. But such opinions are entertained no longer.
This change, however, has not been entirely in the right
direction. Our young girls are taught to play the
piano, to sing, and to speak two or three foreign lan-
It was

358
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
guages, of which French has the preference. But the
course pursued is mechanical and uniform. It does
not vary with the capacities of the scholar; it does not
aim, above all things, to develop the faculties; and it has
no regard for woman's mission as housekeeper, wife and
mother. The result is, that after marriage, wives gener-
ally lay aside their books and soon forget all they have
learned.
However, the progress which has been made, in spite of
everything, is really remarkable. Public opinion being no
longer what it was thirty or forty years ago, it seems to
me that the weary tentative period is now approaching its
end, and a better understanding of what ought to consti-
tute female education and instruction is taking its place.
Primary instruction is compulsory for boys and girls be-
tween the ages of six and seven. The course of studies
is the same as that generally pursued in primary schools.
Good female teachers are quite rare, and the school-
houses, except those in some of the large cities, are very
bad. Portugal possesses but two normal schools for the
training of female teachers—one at Lisbon, and another,
established in 1882, at Porto. On October 31, 1880,
there were 320 public primary girls' schools, including
those of the adjacent islands of Madeira and the Azores.
Of the 820 female teachers, but 43 were graduates of the
normal school at Lisbon-the only one which then existed.
The census of 1878 reveals the lamentable ignorance of
Portuguese women. The female population of Portugal
is 2,374,870, of whom only 254,369 can read and write,
while 2,1 20,501 can do neither. Perhaps these last figures
are too high, but it is an unquestionable fact that female
instruction, especially in the country districts, is greatly
neglected.

PORTUGAL.
359
There is not a single intermediate school for girls in all
Portugal. In 1883 the Portuguese Parliament took up
the subject of intermediate instruction, and discussed the
question in relation to women and the progress in this
lirection realized in France during the last few years. A
deputy, opposing the reform, recalled the words of Jules
Simon, pronounced in a recent sitting of the Council of
Public Instruction at Paris : “We are here a few old men,”
remarked this philosopher, “very fortunate, gentlemen, in
being excused from having to marry the girls you pro-
pose to bring up.” Our Minister of the Interior, who
has charge of public instruction, followed, and declared
that he was in favor of the establishment of girls' colleges.
“It is true,” he continued, “that M. Jules Simon con-
siders himself fortunate in not having to marry a girl
educated in a French college, but I think I have discov-
ered the reason for this aversion. He is getting in his
dotage, otherwise he would experience no repugnance in
proposing to such a girl, provided, of course, that, along
with an education, she was at the same time pretty and
virtuous.” The Chamber laughed. And such is the
situation to-day: the minister favorable to the better in-
struction of women, while neither ministers nor deputies
make a serious effort to bring it about.
This dark picture is relieved, however, by one or two
bright touches. There are many private boarding schools
where families in easy circumstances send their daughters,
who learn to speak several languages, are taught a little
elementary mathematics and geography, and acquire a
few accomplishments. Some of the pupils of these insti-
tutions
pass
with credit the examinations of the boys'
lyceums or colleges. Article 72 of the law of June 14,
1880, on intermediate instruction, reads as follows: “Stu-

360
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE,
dents of the female sex, who wish to enter the State
schools, or pass the examinations of said schools, come
within the provisions of this law, except as regards the
regulations concerning boarding scholars.” That is to
say, girls enjoy in the State intermediate schools the
same privileges as male day scholars. Many girls have
availed themselves of this opportunity to pass the lyceum
examinations.
Women are admitted to the Royal Conservatory of
Music at Lisbon, and also to the courses on midwifery in
the medical schools of the capital and Porto. These
courses cover two years and furnish a theoretical and
practical knowledge of the elements of this science. Mid-
wives, however, may not employ instruments, except in
the presence of a male surgeon.
I shall next consider briefly the legal position of women
in Portugal. Women, like men, reach their majority at
twenty-one. Emancipation is a consequence of marriage
contracted after the sixteenth year, and when all the
legal formalities have been observed. The minor may
also be emancipated by the father, or, in default of the
father, by the mother, and in default of both, by the
family council. In the last case the minor must be
eighteen years old. The control of the wife's personal
property belongs to the husband, but she may make a
reservation, which gives her the right of receiving and
freely disposing of one-third of the income of that prop-
erty. Under the marriage system known as the “com-
munity of goods," the wife may contract debts without
the authorization of the husband, if he is absent or inca-
pacitated, provided the object for which the debt is in-
curred will not admit of a delay for the return of the hus-
band or for his rehabilitation. In these two cases the

PORTUGAL.
361
absence or incapacity of the husband-the wife controls
the common property, but she cannot lawfully alienate
the real estate without the authorization of a family
council. The husband has the right of disposing freely
of the common chattels. But if he gives the away
without the consent of the wife, the sum thus lost will be
charged to the husband in the common fund. The con-
sent and accord of both parties is necessary to alienate or
mortgage real estate, even when it belongs to one of the
two parties. In case they cannot agree, the courts may
decide the question. The husband cannot go to law con-
cerning questions of property or the possession of real
estate without the consent of the wife.
Debts contracted during the marriage without the con-
sent of the wife, must be paid out of the husband's own
funds. His portion of the common property is alone
affected by such debts after dissolution of the marriage,
or after partial separation (séparation de biens in French
jurisprudence). An exception is made in the case when
the debts were incurred for the benefit of the “commu-
nity,” or in the absence or incapacity of the wife, and
when the circumstances will not admit of a delay for her
return or rehabilitation.
Under the “dotal system,” the husband may dispose
freely of the dower, unless the marriage contract contains
a stipulation to the contrary. But when the union is dis-
solved for any cause, he must restore the whole fund to
the wife. The dotal real estate is inalienable, except in
the following cases: 1. To endow and establish the com-
mon children ; 2. For the repairs of other dotal property;
3. To pay the debts of the wife, or of him who endowed
her, anterior to the marriage ; 4. To procure family neces-
sities, which could not otherwise be had; 5. To exchange

362
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

it for something of equal or greater value ; 6. For public
expropriation; 7. Where the property is indivisible with
third parties. Outside of these cases, the wife may revoke
the alienation of dotal real estate. There are cases when
she may even do the same as regards chattels.
The civil code requires of husband and wife mutual
fidelity and assistance. The wife especially owes obe-
dience to the husband. She is obliged to live with him, to
follow him, except to a foreign land, and not to publish
any writings without his consent. She may, however,
obtain from the courts, in case of unjust refusal on the
part of the husband, the right to publish her produc-
tions.* She may not go to law without the consent of
the husband, except to preserve and insure the rights
which belong to her, to take measures against the hus-
band, and to exercise her rights concerning the legitimate
children, or the natural children belonging to her and a
man other than her husband. It is scarcely necessary to
add, that the husband's consent is not required if the wife
is prosecuted criminally.
Our code does not recognize divorce, properly so called,
a vinculo matrimonii. Marriage is a perpetual contract.
The wife, however, may demand the separation from the
bed and board of her husband, a mensa et toro, or, as it is
known in French law, séparation de corps et de biens, for
the following causes: 1. For adultery on the part of the
husband which becomes a source of public scandal, or
when he introduces his mistress into the common home;
2. When the husband is condemned to prison for life; 3.
For grave cruelty and bodily injury. But, notwithstanding
* The married authoress may not publish her writings without the consent
of her husband. But an order from the courts, in case of unjust refusal,
will suffice.--Art. 1187, Portuguese Civil Code of July 1, 1867.-R. F.

PORTUGAL.
363
this partial divorce, conjugal relations are always per-
mitted between the separated parties. Adultery on the
part of the wife, whether it become a subject of public
scandal or not, is sufficient ground for the husband to de-
mand a separation.

364
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
CHAPTER XII.
BELGIUM.
BY ISALA VAN DIEST, M.D.
1)
[Miss Isala Van Diest began her medical studies at Bern, Switzerland, in
April, 1874. In order to prepare herself for the new work, she had already
spent some time in Germany, mastering the language, mathematics and
Latin. “I had a strong taste for the sciences,” Miss Van Diest writes me,
“ and especially for chemistry, which opens such a vast field for theorizing,
and I determined to take the degree of doctor of sciences." This she did in
1876 at Bern, and next turned her whole attention to medicine, securing the
degree of M.D., in May, 1879, from the same university. Her thesis for
the doctorate of sciences was an “ Essay on the Gonolobus Condurango'
(Etude sur le gonolobus condurango), a substance much praised in America
for its curative effects on the cancer; that for the doctorate of medicine was
entitled, “Hygiene in Prisons" (Hygiène des prisons). “I chose this sub-
ject simply as a pretext," Miss Van Diest says, “in order that I might ex-
pose my views concerning man's responsibility for crime, and that I might
have an opportunity of criticising the repressive system in vogue in the Swiss
penitentiaries.” Besides these two theses, Miss Van Diest has published
anonymously some essays on social questions. “Conscious of the great
moral influence which the physician who relieves physical suffering exercises
over women,” Miss Van Diest remarks, “I decided to study medicine as a
means of opening their hearts to me, and of exhorting them to throw off
their apathy, to help each other, and to demand the rights which belong to
them. My efforts are very limited, the struggle has only begun, and I shall
probably not live to see the end. But if it be permitted me only to see the
question taken up in every country, and above all in my native land, where
such powerful causes are at work to hold women in subjection, I shall die
happy, certain of the triumph of our cause in a not too distant future." Miss
Van Diest is the first and only female physician in Pelgium. But she can.
not secure the authorization which will allow her to practice. “I fear that
I shall soon be obliged to give up the fight,” she wrote me recently, " and

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go to France, England or Holland, unless I wish to lose the fruit of all my
studies."']
THE situation of woman in Belgium is about the same
as in France. The manners and customs of the two
countries resemble each other, and the same code, which
regulates the conduct and rights of civil life, governs both
nations. In Belgium, even more so than in France, the
condition of the women of the lower classes is very unfor-
tunate. In our great industrial centres, woman at the
tenderest age
becomes the slave of the most brutalizing
labor. Who has not witnessed with sorrow in our manu-
facturing cities the stream of workers—poorly dressed
women and children, with their pale, wan, thin faces-
moving slowly on and disappearing behind the gates of
our factories? Shut up in these prisons from early morn-
ing until night, with scarcely an hour's repose during a
long day, they breathe a foul, mephitic atmosphere, sur-
charged with miasma, steam and dust. Placed in the
midst of the deafening noise of the machinery, the whirl-
wind of belts, flies and wheels, the slightest imprudence
or thoughtlessness, a misstep, may cost the loss of a limb
if not of life itself. Our large cities contain many such
cripples of labor.
Family life does not exist for these miserable creatures.
Constantly separated from her children, how can the
mother give them the necessary care ? Poverty and
fatigue plunge her into such a state of moral and physical
helplessness, that she can do nothing to improve the lot
of her offspring. As soon as the child is old enough, he
follows his mother to the factory. These poor children
receive no instruction. Their mental, like their physical
development, is entirely sacrificed because of the miser-
able pay which their week's toil produces. Death reaps

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WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
a rich harvest here, and those who chance to escape its
ravages are etiolated from their earliest youth.
From a moral point of view, the workshop is a loath-
some centre for women. Ignorant, with no idea of the
difference between right and wrong, without a check or
guide, how can these poor souls resist vice? Is it neces-
sary to describe all the terrible consequences and endless
sufferings and misery which such a condition entails on
girls of the lower classes ?
Many well-known voices have been repeatedly raised in
Belgium to protest against this state of things. Several
other countries long ago regulated by legislation the
employment of women and children in factories. In
Germany the minimum age for the constant employment
of children is ten years, while in France it is twelve years.
No such law exists in Belgium. Nearly ten years ago, at
the instigation of the Royal Academy of Medicine, a bill
was laid before our Chamber of Deputies concerning the
employment of women and children in factories. But up
to the present time (1883) it has never been acted upon.
The National Hygienic Congress, held at Brussels in 1852,
the
press and a large number of savants and publicists
have demanded, and are still demanding, a reform in this
direction. But all in vain. As far back as 1843 the govern-
ment ordered an inquiry concerning the labor of women
and children in the mines. Competent authorities were
consulted, chambers of commerce, engineers and medical
commissions, and all recommended their exclusion from
this terrible field of work. The report revealed all the
sad evils of the situation. It established beyond question
what everybody had already said and repeated a thousand
times, viz., that women are not made for the hard labor
of miners, that their employment in the mines is the

BELGIUM.
367
cause of unspeakable depravity and disorder, and that it
has as a result the degeneration of the population. The
report of the medical commission of the Province of the
Hainaut declares, that those who employ women and girls
in mines are guilty of an abuse which disgraces humanity
and which no pretext can justify. Years have passed
since then, but the demands and protests of our own
countrymen and women, as well as the examples set by
foreigners, have accomplished nothing,—a striking instance
of the difficulty which a question of humanity and justice
encounters in the effort to prevail over an evil.
The poor girl of the country is also sacrificed. There,
too, her toil is a source of speculation and her interests
are quite forgotten. Many townships of Flanders have
their convents which, while pretending to be schools for
instruction in reading, writing and the catechism, are in
reality only workshops where little girls are taught to
make lace. Children as young as five or six years of age
are kept, during long weary days, seated with a large lace-
pillow on their knees, leaning over their work, the chest
doubled, and toiling without a rest. Many of these young
laborers here contract the germ of a fatal malady. Hap-
pily the progress of industry and modern invention has
dealt this trade a heavy blow and it is slowly disappearing
from the number of female occupations. Some years
ago it was not uncommon to see, in the streets of our
country villages, poor women, who had been brought up
in the convents, busy at lace-making before daybreak in
order to gain their bread. At present the pay is so small
that it does not suffice to support them, and the industry
is now limited almost wholly to religious establish-
ments.
Such a situation, like that of the employment of women

368
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
and children in factories and mines, demands energetic
protective measures. But that this reform may be radi-
cal and produce all the fruits legitimately expected, it
should be combined with a law rendering instruction
obligatory.
If we mount a round higher in the social ladder, we
meet with the woman of the lower middle class, la petite
bourgeoisie. Although she is not the slave of the factory,
she is an industrious worker, has a calling, keeps store, ex-
ercises a trade. Often by her activity, her labor, her
strong will, her real genius for order and economy, she
becomes, more than man, the bread-winner and sup-
port of the family. She nourishes love of home and
transmits to the children the ideas of duty and virtue.
Possessing some instruction herself, she endeavors to de-
velop their minds. The father is busy with his occupa-
tions far from home, and in the hours of repose seeks
for amusement outside of the family circle. The mother
is more with the children; she brings them up and is
their guide. And yet this woman, often the real head of
the family, is kept by the law in a condition of perpetual
tutelage. But I need not dwell upon the general ques-
tion of how the married woman is treated by the Napole-
onic code; the subject is too well known.* One point,
however, which has struck me most painfully, I would
briefly touch upon here. The code takes great care to
save the fortune of the wife when it is endangered by the
prodigality of the husband : when her dower is in peril,
she may demand a “ separation of goods " (séparation de
biens). But in order to ask for this separation, the wife
must have a dower (dot); in other words, she must belong
* See the chapter on France, where this topic is ably handled by M.
Léon Giraud. -T. S.

BELGIUM.
369
at the moment of the marriage, to a well-to-do family, which
can bestow on her a dower. The code has entirely over-
looked the poor wife, who, by her own industry, has
slowly acquired a little sum. What protection does the
law afford her against the prodigality and dissipation of
the husband? None whatever. The separation of goods
-whether there be a dower or not—would frequently be
a blessing to many families. Under the present law, a
husband may dissipate in a single day the hard earnings
of a long life-time, without the wife being able to lift a
finger in her own defence. Is this not a sovereign injus-
tice?
And what will-power, energy and tenacity of purpose
women must have in Belgium, as elsewhere, in order to
secure a little footing in the world! Women's work is
very poorly paid. The larger number, if not all, of em-
ployments, trades, and professions are monopolized by
men. Women are generally considered incapable of doing
anything The example of other countries, however,
has modified this situation, and the liberal spirit of our
government has removed barriers which shut women out
from certain employments. A good beginning has been
made. In certain cities of Belgium, women are admitted
to the postal and telegraphic service. But the circle of
their activity should be enlarged, so that a greater num-
ber might have the means of procuring an honorable and
independent position. Let us hope that the advantages
already obtained will encourage further progress in the
same direction.
To give women work is to save them not only from
starvation but from vice. Recent lawsuits, the discussions
of the press, and various publications, notably those of
the Brussels Society of Public Morality (Société de moral-
24

370
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
ité publique*), have revealed misery and shame which
would never have been suspected. A woman who has
once fallen finds herself, under the régime of legalized
prostitution which exists in Belgium, in such a position
that it is almost impossible for her to break from her
chains. That noble woman, Mrs. Josephine E. Butler,
well said at Neufchatel: “This modern slavery, with its
train of atrocities, is an outrage, not only on women,
but
on all humanity ;” and M. Emile de Laveleye, the emi-
nent Belgian publicist, has also remarked: “ Persons ob-
ject to the State charging itself with the instruction of
the people, and deny still more strongly its right to pro-
tect women against excessive labor which destroys their
health, and yet these same persons tolerate the State
enrolling women by force in the ranks of the army of
legalized debauchery.” The legalization of vice appears
to me to be such an odious thing, and the powers put in
the hands of the police are so excessive, that I cannot
understand how the abuse, once pointed out, is suffered
to continue.
Mounting one more round of the social ladder, we reach
the opulent commoner, or bourgeoise, and the aristocratic
lady. Although these women form two very distinct
classes in society, meeting but never mingling, the instruc-
tion and education which they receive and the influence
which they exercise in their respective centres, are very
much the same. I think I may say that, with few ex-
ceptions, this influence is null, and may be taken as the
measure of the moral and intellectual development of
* This society is the representative in Belgium of Mrs. Butler's association
for the abolition of legalized prostitution. Its secretary is the liberal-minded
publicist, M. Jules Pagny, of Saventhem, and its president, the distinguished
professor of Liege, M. Emile de Laveleye.-I. van D.

BELGIUM.
371
these women.
We find here no brutalizing toil, no pre-
carious existence, no worry about the daily bread, which
fetters body and mind and checks the proper develop-
ment of both. But, while difficulties which embarrass the
upper classes are not the same as those with which the poor
are forced to contend, they are none the less disastrous,
and greatly modify the advantages of position and fortune,
which might make it possible for the girl and wife to
become strong, original individualities, capable of under-
standing their mission and of fulfilling it intelligently.
The daughters of the fashionable world are early seized
upon by the convents. The religious sisters, whose duty
it is to instruct and prepare these young girls for the ex-
istence awaiting them outside of the cloister walls, have
no idea, or at least a very wrong one, of real life, which
they know only through the medium of exaggerated or
false narratives, or the dim recollections of their youth.
The sentimental and imaginative faculties are abnormally
developed, to the utter neglect of sound reason and the
practical things of this earth; and in this condition they
are taken from their seclusion and launched into society.
Provided with a very poor stock of knowledge, some pre-
cepts of conduct which they never find means of apply-
ing, and with a few accomplishments, they give them-
selves up to a round of fêtes and pleasures, until the object
to be accomplished-finding a husband—is attained. If
the girl is not very attractive, if wanting in energy, or
if her education has destroyed what little she ever had,
she will accept the first man who presents himself fulfill-
ing the conditions required by her family, and from
parental tutelage will pass to that of her husband,
doomed to live and die a perpetual minor. But if per-
chance she wakes up one day to a full consciousness of
1

372
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
her position, and perceives the extent of her misfortune,
how this existence which she has thoughtlessly accepted
weighs upon her! She will revolt perhaps, seek amuse-
ment and endeavor to find some compensation for her
painful lot, unless the grand duties of maternity come to
sustain her, to console her and to fill the void in her heart.
Thus, following different routes, we find at both ends
of the social ladder the same result: woman's intelligence
neglected and left in a state of infancy. I fear it will be
a long time, if we may judge by the present condition of
things, before our Belgian girls, in imitation of their
aristocratic sisters of England, will themselves rise up
and assume as high a rank in the intellectual sphere as
that which they hold in the social world.
A word remains to be said concerning the admission
of women to the walks of higher education, and notably
to the study of medicine. There existed in Belgium
some years ago a law which required students who would
enter the university, to pass the examination of graduate
in letters (gradué en lettres.) Candidates for this degree
were expected to know how to translate Greek and write
Latin. But as there were no schools where girls could
study the dead languages with the thoroughness of boys,
who were trained six years in the classics, the former
were almost entirely shut out from enjoying the advan-
tages of an university course. This graduat, however, no
longer exists, and the entrance of women into our univer-
sities is now possible. Female students are found to-day
at Brussels, Liege and Ghent, but their number is still
very small. It was in 1880 that the first woman entered
the university of Brussels, but it was not until 1883 that
their admission became general. They pursue, for the
most part, scientific studies, thereby securing more lucra-

BELGIUM
373
tive positions as teachers, and pass their examinations for
graduation with success. The higher education of women
is still an open question in Belgium, and there are those
who oppose it. But the experience of Switzerland, Eng-
land and France, not to mention other countries on both
sides of the Atlantic, answers victoriously all objections.
And does not the long list of the world's distinguished
women prove that the female sex is capable of the high-
est intellectual culture? Not to go outside of belles-
lettres, and the limits of Belgium, we have Miss Nizet,
Marguerite Van de Wiele, the Countess de Kerchove de
Denterghem, the Loveling sisters, Mrs. Courtmans, Mrs.
Van Ackere, and many others.*
The progress of modern ideas tends to destroy day by
day the prejudices which still exist in Belgium against
the emancipation of women. We are far from the time
when woman was a slave and grave bishops in council
doubted whether she had a soul. Let us hope that the
age is past when woman can be left in ignorance, and
that soon the means will be no longer lacking by which
she can elevate herself to the intellectual level of the
other sex.
Then will Belgium enjoy all the other re-
forms, and woman will become the equal of man in every
department of life.
* Mr. Emile de Laveleye, writing me from the university of Liege in Jan-
uary, 1883, said: “Our female students have not yet taken their degrees.
But as they are working very hard, I have no doubt they will be successful.
But co-education will not be so exempt from danger here as in America. Our
morals are very inferior to yours.” Mr, de Laveleye, in an interesting little
pamphlet entitled, “University Education for Women ” (L'instruction su-
périeure pour les femmes, Bruxelles, Librairie Européenne, 1882), gives an
account of the movement in favor of female instruction in Belgium. These
pages show that many of our American Universities could learn lessons in
liberality from their sister institutions of Belgium.-T. S.

374
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE,
CHAPTER XIII.
SWITZERLAND.
BY MARIE GEGG.
[Mrs. Marie Gogg, whose maiden name was Pouchoulin, was born at
Geneva in 1826. Her family, which is of French origin, was driven from
Dauphiné by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and took refuge in
Switzerland, where, for several generations, its members have belonged to
the Genevese bourgeoisie. She early showed intellectual tastes, and, while
still very young, devoured a mass of good books, especially histories. At a
later period, she mastered the English and German languages. The troubled
period of 1848–1854 drove many political refugees from different countries to
Geneva, and among the number Mr. Amand Gogg, who was condemned to
death for contumacy by the courts of his native land, the Grand Duchy of
Baden. The subject of this sketch married the proscribed German, and
then began the life, often so hard and so full of vicissitudes, of a political ex-
ile. They lived successively at London and Geneva; in 1862, after the
amnesty, they returned to Baden; the year 1866 found them at Bienne, and
in 1868 Mrs. Gogg settled definitely at Geneva. By her travels, study and
own experience, she perceived the unfortunate situation of her sex; and,
although greatly occupied with the education of her three sons, determined
to devote her life to the amelioration of women's condition. What she has
done not only for the women's movement, but for humanity in general, is
modestly told in the course of the following pages.]
TO GIVE an account of the progress made in the ideas
of a people is always difficult, and especially so in regard
to the development of the Woman Question in Switzer-
land, for our little country has, up to the present moment,
remained almost a stranger to this important subject; or,
if its attention has been turned in this direction, it has
been much more as an indifferent or mocking spectator

SWITZERLAND.
375
than as an interested actor. I, therefore, hesitate to un-
dertake the task. The difficulty is still further increased
by the division of the nation into twenty-five cantons,
each one of which has had, until very recently, * its own
legislation, its purely cantonal code; so that an innovation
introduced into one canton was confined to its narrow
boundaries, and was often regarded with astonishment by
the sister cantons. The primitive cantons,t and especially
the Catholic ones, have lagged behind the Protestant can-
tons, which, in their turn, outstrip one another in the
race for progress. Geneva, for example, whose popula-
tion, composed of varied elements, is directed by the
descendants of those superior emigrants who fled the
political and religious persecutions of the last centuries,
has always stood at the head of the Protestant cantons.
Although subject to the Napoleonic code, Geneva has
never known that debasing principle of the French law,
the tutelage of women, which existed in the other cantons,
even in intelligent Vaud, where it was not done away
with until 1873,# and which was in force in several other
cantons as late as 1881, when a federal law abolished it
throughout all Switzerland.
It is scarcely necessary to explain that the law of the
tutelage of women, assuming without question their in-
tellectual and moral inferiority, kept them all their life,
no matter what their intelligence, education and social
position might be, under a masculine protectorate of some
* The new federal constitution of 1874 consolidated a large part of these
separate laws.-M. G.
+ The primitive cantons are the three which began the formation of the
confederacy: Uri, Unterwald and Schwytz, and those which joined them
soon afterward, as Lucern, etc. They are all Catholic.-M, G.
# This reform was due to the activity of the Solidarity (Solidarité), the
Women's Rights Society, which will be spoken of further on.-M. G.

376
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
sort. Thus the father or the husband, and in case both
were dead a son, if of age, or a friend, or even a stranger,
might, according to his own will or pleasure, grant or
refuse a woman the enjoyment of her own revenues. In
a word, it was a mark of degradation put upon women
from the cradle to the grave, not to speak of the danger
with which this law threatened their material interests,
the guardian of their fortune being thus legally tempted
to use what was not his own—a temptation to which more
than one succumbed—so that the numerous examples of
women ruined by the very persons appointed to protect
them, long ago proved the injustice of this state of things.
Since the laws of a people are generally the reflection
of its customs, its beliefs, its aspirations, we may say that
Geneva, whose statute-book is pervaded by a spirit of very
great liberality, has shown, in its treatment of women, re-
markable generosity and breadth of mind, when compared
with the conduct of states living under an almost similar
code, but which have been held back by despotism and
ultramontanism. For example, Geneva preserved divorce
when France re-established the indissolubility of mar-
riage ;* Geneva accorded to married women the control
of their own fortune; granted them the right to deposit
and draw their savings from the bank without the author-
ization of the husband; created more than 30 years ago
excellent intermediate schools for girls; and opened the
university to women in every department.
* The possibility of divorce has somewhat ameliorated the condition of
women in Switzerland, when compared with their condition in other countries.
The divorced woman regains, which is not the case everywhere, the control
of her own property, and the right to her own earnings, and often, depend-
ing upon the causes of the divorce, the entire education of her children. -
M. G.

SWITZERLAND.
377
However, notwithstanding these liberal measures, which
denote a breadth of mind among our law-makers in keep-
ing with the age, Switzerland, taken as a whole, has been
one of the least disposed of European countries to accept
the idea of the civil emancipation of women, and much
less the conferring upon them of political rights. From
1848 to 1868 the claims of American women were looked
upon here as the height of extravagance. Yet Switz-
erland has given to the world so large a number of
distinguished women that it is unnecessary to defend
before public opinion the, proposition of female in-
telligence.* But belief is one thing, and practice is an-
other. Between the admission of women's intellectual
capacity and the logical application of rights which natur-
ally result therefrom, yawns a vast abyss of prejudice
and injustice. The echo of the demands of which we
have just spoken rarely crossed the ocean to trouble the
minds of our thinkers, and the general public was com-
pletely ignorant of them. From time to time some news-
paper, for lack of other material or for the amusement
of its readers, would tell how the women had assembled
in the United States, at New York or elsewhere, to
demand emancipation." This word emancipation,
thrown out on the public without any limitation of its
meaning, gave a wrong impression as to the aims of these
women, and created an unfortunate prejudice against
them and their claims. But ideas are like flowers
whose seeds are scattered far and wide. The
The germ de-
posited in America in 1848, although its growth was
difficult, finally took root in Europe, English women,
66
* Further on in this chapter I give the names of some of my country-
women who have distinguished themselves in letters and the fine arts.-
M. G.

378
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
supported by the celebrated economist Mill, who had just
given to the world his grand book, the “Subjection of
Women,” began to see and understand all the evils pro-
duced by the legal subjugation of their sex, and estab-
lished a National Society for Women's Suffrage. Ger-
many also had its awakening in 1865, at almost the same
time as England; but German women, in also forming a
National Society, overlooked their civil and political
rights, and began by the improvement of the educational
and industrial condition of their sex.
In March, 1868, Switzerland, in its turn, began to move.
At that date I published a letter in the United States of
Europe (Etats-Unis d'Europe), inviting the women of all
nations to form a society, which might serve as a bond of
union between them and promote their common interests.
In 1867 I was present at the Peace Congress held in that
year at Geneva, and was struck with the advantages result-
ing from the meeting of all those superior men, come
together from the four quarters of the globe to protest
against war, and who, for the most part unknown to each
other, now became acquainted, discussed the questions
which interested them and finally separated, but not until
they had created the International League of Peace and
Liberty. Why should not women imitate this good ex-
ample, and also assemble to consider their rights and to
found an international society? This simple and natural
idea was the origin of the invitation sent forth in the
spring of 1868. In July of this same year the Women's
International Association was created, and I was elected its
first president. The constitution of the new organization
limited the membership of the central or executive com-
mittee to women, and this committee forthwith set to
work. One of its first acts was to address a letter to the


SWITZERLAND.
379
central committee of the International League of Peace
and Liberty, which had announced its next meeting in
September at Bern, asking that women be admitted to
the congress. After a long discussion, the president of the
committee, Gustave Vogt, of Bern, now a distinguished
lawyer and journalist of Zurich, replied, that not only
would women be admitted to the congress, but that the
last day-Saturday, September 26th-would be given up
to those women who wished to speak, adding that“ it was
not by gallantry, but by a sentiment of real justice, that
the League afforded women an opportunity to make
known their claims.” This society, therefore, has the
honor of being the first in Switzerland to admit women
into its midst as equals.
Although, during the whole week, the Bernese public
had followed the proceedings of the congress with deep
interest, the session of September 26th may be said to
have awakened the greatest curiosity. The platform and
the body of the house were filled to overflowing. “The
women are going to speak to-day; it will be funny," was
whispered in the crowd. But the crowd was mistaken.
It was not funny, but eloquent. The audience was car-
ried away by the very simplicity of the statement, and by
the truth of the reasoning. Mrs. Virginie Barbet, of
Lyons, and the author of this sketch, in the name of the
association of which she was president, exposed from dif-
ferent standpoints the reasons which militated in favor of
women's rights. They were listened to with deference
and sympathy; they were even applauded; and—a detail
worthy of note, for it is really extraordinary, when we re-
member the state of public opinion in 1868—not one voice
in that vast assemblage was raised to combat the conclu-
sions of these two women. Several members of the

380
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

League, of different nationalities, came to their support,
and proposed that henceforth women be admitted to
membership in the organization on the same terms as men.
The vote in favor of the resolution was unanimous. *
The brilliant manifestation at Bern drew attention to
the association, and adherents came from all sides. It
may be said that from 1868 to 1870, there was in all coun-
tries great enthusiasm for the question of women's rights.
It was like an awakening of the public conscience. Every-
where distinguished men and women were discussing the
subject, and whether they spoke for us or against us, they all
helped to let in new light on this important topic. During
these two years, the association, responding to a real de-
mand of the hour, had the honor of rallying around it
many noble minds, and of affording a common center for
their efforts and longings. When, therefore, the associa-
tion held its first general meeting, on March 27, 1870, it
counted fifteen strong local societies, each representing the
needs of the country and canton where it existed. At this
meeting, which was very largely attended, I, as president,
* It may be added that the International League of Peace and Liberty has
ever since continued to be an ardent friend of the women's movement, not
only in Switzerland, but throughout the world ; and Mr. Charles Lemonnier,
of Paris, editor of its organ, Les Etats-Unis d'Europe, and elected its presi-
dent two years later, both of which posts he still (1883) holds, has never let an
occasion pass to say a good word for us.-M. G. The central committee, at the
close of the Bern congress, not only chose Mrs. Goegg one of its members, to
which position she has been re-elected each year, but she was afterward
made treasurer of the League, member of the board of administrators of the
journal, and publisher. These facts prove both the liberal spirit of the asso-
ciation and the capacity—so often denied-of women for business.
“ They
(women) are perhaps better fitted for administrative work than men,”
Michelet (Les femmes de la révolution, p. 314). “ The Revolution, which
renewed everything, in opening active careers to men, should certainly have
employed women in sedentary callings. I find one woman among the
clerks of the Committee of Public Safety.”—T. S.
," says

SWITZERLAND.
381
read a report on what the association had accomplished.
(1.) The organization of the fifteen societies just referred
to. (2.) A petition to the Swiss National Council, which
was never granted, asking for the recognition by the
constitution of Switzerland of the equal civil rights of
women. (3.) A petition, which was supported by Emilio
Castelar in a fine speech, to the Spanish Cortes, at the
moment when its members were called upon to draw
up a new constitution, demanding that women be repre-
sented in the State. (4.) A petition-read amidst the
applause of the whole left-to the Italian Chamber of
Deputies, asking the Minister of Public Instruction to
provide laic instruction for girls. (5.) A petition to the
Grand Council of Geneva, praying for the creation by the
State of a girls' orphan asylum similar to that for boys,
which was done a few years later. (6.) A petition to the
English Parliament, in concert with Mrs. Josephine E.
Butler and her English society, requesting the repeal of a
recent law tending to legalize prostitution in England.
With the object of advancing the young movement, I es-
tablished, at my own risk, a bi-monthly, the Women's Four-
nal (Journal des femmes). But this was a violation of
that good old Latin motto, festina lentè, and, at the end of
a few months, the paper suspended publication. Swiss
public opinion was not yet ready to support such a
venture.
It may be pointed out here, that, except in England,
all the women's societies created in Europe had, up to the
time of the organization of the International Association,
refrained from touching the question of the political rights
of women. The Swiss association, on the contrary, always
included this subject in its programme. But, unfortunately,
at the moment when our efforts were meeting with suc-

382
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
cess, and the future was full of promise for the cause which
we advocated, the terrible Franco-German war broke out,
and, for various reasons unnecessary to go into here, I felt
constrained to resign the presidency, and the association
came to an end.
Two years later, when peace and calm began to reign
again, a group of women, faithful to the ideas which had
united them in the International Association, resolved to
begin anew. A call was therefore issued, convoking, for
June 9, 1872, the friends of the movement at the house of
Mrs. de May de Rued, at Bern.*
The Bern reunion gave birth to a new society, the Soli-
darity (Solidarité), whose name signified the spirit which
ought to unite all women. Mrs. de May de Rued was
made president, and Bern was fixed upon as the seat of
the Central Committee. Mrs. de May de Rued, who was
Bernese, was known for her articles in the newspapers on
the different codes of the Swiss cantons, and enjoyed
well-merited reputation in her native city. The Solidar-
ity began immediately to organize auxiliary societies, and
to agitate. In the spring of 1873 the society, through
Miss Mathilde Boisot, president of the Lausanne branch,
petitioned the Grand Council of the Canton of Vaud for
the abolition of the tutelage of women, and were rewarded
by having their prayer granted, the petition receiving the
support of several Vaud deputies. Unfortunately the
* This circular letter was signed by the following women: Josephine E.
Butler, Liverpool ; Caroline de Barrau, Paris; Marie Goegg, Geneva; Fanny
Keller-Dorian, Mulhouse ; Julia Kühne, Stettin ; Christine Lazzati-Rossi,
Milan ; Mrs. de May de Rued, Bern; Marianne Mentzer, Dresden; Louise
Roeder-Wiederhold, Jerusalem ; Rosalie Schönwasser, Düsseldorf; Caroline
Varesi, Milan; Mathilde Boisot, Lausanne; Maria Bosak-Hauke, Geneva ;
Louise Estève, Serignan; and Mathilde Hunziker, Aarau (Switzerland.) -
M. G.

SWITZERLAND.
383
health of Mrs. de May de Rued permitted her to hold the.
presidency but a year; at the general meeting of 1873 she
resigned, and died two years later.
On the resignation of Mrs. de May de Rued, I was
pressed to take the vacant position, but again declined,
as I had done the previous year, and urged the committee
to accept Miss Mathilde Boisot, who had long devoted
her time and talent to the cause, and who had succeeded
in creating a strong society at Lausanne, But Miss Boi-
sot had in the meanwhile become Mrs. Dumas-Boisot,
and the claims of married life rendered it impossible for
her to perform the duties of president of the Solidarity.
At a meeting at Geneva, September 15, 1875, I succeeded
Mrs. Dumas-Boisot, and my election was renewed annu-
ally until 1880. During these five years, aided by a few
faithful friends, I published a quarterly, the Solidarity
Bulletin (Le bulletin de la Solidarité), which was very
well received, and which, besides containing articles whose
aim was to popularize the subject of women's rights, gave
a general account of what was being done in this direc-
tion in other countries. But for financial reasons it was
again found necessary to give up the periodical, and on
September 20, 1880, the society and the journal ceased to
exist. “The dissolution of the Solidarity,” said the pres-
ident in her farewell speech on this occasion, “ought not
to discourage us, but ought rather to cause us to rejoice, for
all the national women's societies which have been cre-
ated recently in different countries prove that the Soli-
darity has succeeded in its work, and we have only to
retire before the present movement, which has everywhere
taken on a national character, an evident sign of its de-
velopment and its force."
Such is the history of the women's rights organizations

384
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
in Switzerland. Since the fall of the Solidarity no attempt
has been made to establish another national association.
What is the cause of the indifference or inertia of Swiss
women in a matter which concerns society and themselves
in so high a degree? There are many. The principal one,
perhaps, is the reluctance which a woman feels to take a
new step in a little center where everybody knows his
neighbor. In France, England and America the women's
movements have begun generally in large cities, where
one is not a slave to what people say and also where
friendly co-operation is more easily secured. But Switzer-
land is composed only of big villages and small cities.
Again, more so in Switzerland than elsewhere, the term
“emancipation " was confounded with immorality. This
fact was so well known, that our women's societies have
always substituted for this terrible word, the term “equal-
ity of rights.” But the stigma has nevertheless remained
attached to the agitation, and great moral courage and a
profound conviction of duty have always been necessary
to decide a woman to take up this question in Switzer-
land. In the great countries just mentioned, eminent
men associate themselves with the movement, and the
women's societies enjoy the support of lawyers, deputies,
and senators. This has never been the case in Switzer-
land. Not a man holding an official position, cantonal or
federal, has come to our aid and publicly approved our
efforts to secure equal civil rights. Our isolation is con-
sequently complete. Another impediment to our success
has been the impossibility of working toward a common
end. The differences of nationality, of religion, and of legis-
!ation in the various cantons have produced a variety of
customs, habits and characteristics, which are extremely
dissimilar, and which render Switzerland a composite hav-

SWITZERLAND.
385
ing but one solid bond of union, but a very solid one,—a
mutual veneration for the federal flag. How can anything
be accomplished under such circumstances, where, instead
of one obstacle, twenty-five must be gotten over one after
the other?
Two or three other societies, though not devoted espe-
cially to women's rights, have, nevertheless, done much
to better the condition and open the minds of women.
The Swiss Society for the Public Good (Société suisse
d'utilité publique), which has branches in almost all the
cantons, has often touched upon the woman question and
the measures that ought to be adopted to enable women
to gain an honorable livelihood. It is regretable, how-
ever, that the noble and devoted members of this society,
so earnest in their desire to see women gain material
independence by remunerative employments, are strongly
opposed to the idea of women's equality before the law.
The British Federation (Fédération britannique) has its
central committee at Neufchatel under the direction of
Mr. Aimé Humbert, a very able and liberal-minded
man, who would broaden the scope of the society if
the matter rested with him alone. But, such as it is, the
British Federation is an excellent organization, due to
the initiative of that philanthropic woman, Mrs. Joseph-
ine E. Butler, who attacks that basest form of prostitu-
tion, the connivance of government, the legalization of
vice, the establishment of infamous regulations, which,
while they weigh on women, do not punish men. Besides
these two admirable societies, Switzerland contains a large
and varied number of charitable associations, many of
which were created and are directed by women.*
* Among Swiss ladies the most widely known for their active charitable
work, I may mention the following: At Geneva, Mesdames Butini, Eynard,
33

386
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Our women have distinguished themselves in literature
and the fine arts. Among the large number of female
writers whom Switzerland may point to with just pride, I
shall mention only a few of the more celebrated, for I
might fill whole pages with the names of contemporaries
who are pursuing with success the vocation of letters. It
is scarcely necessary for me to say that their productions
are healthy, moral, and instructive; that their aim is not
only to interest and amuse, but to improve and elevate.
Mme. de Staël, whose mother was Vaudoise and father
Genevese, belongs unquestionably to Switzerland; Mme.
Necker, the mother of Mme. de Staël; the Baroness
de Montolieu, author of more than a hundred volumes,
and Miss Frossard, may represent Vaud; Mesdames
Necker de Saussure, Tourte-Cherbulier, de Gasparin,
Geisendorf, Pictet de Seigneux, and Berthe Vadier,
Geneva; Mesdames Alice de Chambrier, and Franel,
Neufchatel; Mesdames Anna Rothpletz, Sophie Haller,
and Maria Dössekel, Aargau; Mesdames Pestalozzi (née
Anna Schultess, wife of the celebrated educationist),
Spirry, and Zehnder, Zurich; Maria von Berg, St. Gall;
and Marie Walden, Bern. Such is a brief list of the
literary women of Switzerland, past and present. I am
aware that I have overlooked many, perhaps some of the
best.
In the fine arts, I may cite among sculptors the Princess
Colonna, née d'Affry, celebrated under the name of Mar-
cello, and a native of the canton of Freiburg; and Miss
Thérèse Rey, of Geneva. Among painters, I select the
names of Mesdames Rath, Couronne, Mérienne, Vouga,
Annevelle, Lenoir-Poulin, Genecand, Tronchin-Calendrini, Munier-Romilly,
Gaussen, Ritter, and Vernet; at Neufchatel, Mrs. Aimé Humbert ; at Zurich,
Mrs. Trudel ; in Vaud, Mrs. Germond.-M. G.

SWITZERLAND.
387
Landesmann, Lagier, Munier-Romilly, Hébert, Stry-
jenska, L'Hardy, Annen and Lamunière, who have been,
or are still, known at Geneva for their talents in various
styles; Mrs. Elizabeth Kelly, St. Gall; Mrs. Maria Cus-
ter, Winterthur; Mesdames Stockar-Escher and Fries,
Zurich; Mesdamés Lennziger, and Tschiffeli-Christern,
Bern; and Mrs. Favre-Guillermod, Neufchatel.
In October, 1872, I sent a petition to the Grand Council
of Geneva, asking that women be admitted to the Uni-
versity of Geneva on the same footing as men. The
state of public opinion on this subject in Switzerland, and
especially in Geneva, may be judged from the fact that,
fearing to compromise the demand if I acted in my own
name, or in that of the Solidarity, the petition was pre-
sented as coming from the “mothers of Geneva," Our
prayer was granted. The following table gives the num-
ber of female students who have pursued their studies at
the Geneva University:
Medicine.
Letters.
Total.
I
Year. Sciences.
1876–²77....... I
1877-'78.....
1878–79....... 3
1879-'80...... 5
1880–81...... 6
1881-'82....... 8
1882-'83. ...... 12
4
2
4
7
6
8
4
5
9
13
14
21
I
This table shows that the number of students is stead.
ily increasing.* The list of female graduates up to
* But still more interesting is the fact that, with one single exception, all
of the female students have pursued scientific or medical studies rather than
those of a literary nature. The experience of the University of Geneva,
therefore, seems to contradict the position taken by Professor John LeConte,
M. D., late President of the University of California, when, referring to co-
education in that institution, he says: "I think the young women show a

388
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
December 31, 1882, gives nine bachelors of science, phys-
ical and natural, and one doctor of medicine.* In Ger-
manic Switzerland, at Zurich for example, the number
of female students is much larger than in the universities
of Romanic Switzerland, and they are for the most part
preference for and attain a greater proficiency in the classical and literary
branches of study. With a few exceptions, they seem to have an aversion
to mathematical studies, and to those branches of exact science which involve
the application of mathematics. This is true not only in relation to the
higher branches of mathematics, but likewise in relation to the elementary
mathematics (algebra, geometry, trigonometry,) required in the classical and
literary courses. Our experience here seems to me to fortify the a priori
deduction that the physical organization of the female has a reflex influence
on the intellectual manifestations of the sex.” (“The Admission of Women
to the Universities," p. 9.) It is to be noted that the half-dozen other college
presidents who give their testimony on co-education in this little pamphlet,
issued in 1883 by the New York Association for Promoting the Higher
Education of Women, do not share the opinion of President LeConte,
which is, however, that of many friends of this movement. My own study
of the question, both in Europe and America, does not lead me to accept
President LeConte's conclusions, and the reader of this volume will notice,
in the course of its pages, several instances as strong as this of the Univer-
sity of Geneva, which go to prove that men and women are intellectually the
same.
While correcting the proofs of this chapter I have met with a re-
markable declaration to this same effect. Ernest Legouvé, of the French
Academy, referring to a recent competition for fellowships in the Uni-
versity of France, says : “A very singular fact, which is worthy of atten-
tion, was produced at this examination. The papers of the scientific can-
didates were greatly superior to those of letters. This result contradicts a
very general opinion, which I myself have strongly supported, viz., that
scientific studies, the abstract sciences and mathematics, must hold a sub-
ordinate place in women's education, because they are incompatible with the
nature of the female intellect. We have been mistaken.”—(Temps, October
21, 1883.) —T. S.
* The rector of the University of Geneva, Mr. G. Julliar, writes me, under
date of February 8, 1883: “Our female students are principally Russians.
Besides the diploma of doctor of medicine given by the University,
the Confederation confers a medical degree on examination. This degree
has been taken by three women, who passed their examinations very well.

SWITZERLAND,
389
Russians.* The admission of women to the University
of Nuefchatel dates from 1878, but few have profited by
the concession, Fifteen ladies, non-matriculates, have
listened to a course of lectures on general history and the
history of modern literature, and one female student has
matriculated, but up to the present time (May, 1883) no
degree has been conferred on a woman.
.
. . Some of the courses of lectures of the Faculty of Letters are attended
by unmatriculated female students who are freely admitted on payment of a
fee. A great number of ladies profit by this opportunity, but they pass no
examinations and take no degrees. Up to the present time, the presence of
women in our University has occasioned us no inconvenience, except in some
lectures of the medical school, where the subjects are not always of a nature
to admit of their treatment before mixed classes.” Professor Pflüger, of the
University of Bern, writing me under date of April 27, 1883, says : “Since
February 2, 1876, up to the present time, thirty-five women have taken de.
grees at our medical school.
The courses are, on an average, attended each
semester by from twenty-five to thirty women, while from three to six fe-
male students follow the lectures on philosophy and letters. The presence
of women at our university has occasioned no serious inconvenience, and
many of my colleagues favor it. As for myself, I have no objection to the
education of women, but they would probably appear to better advantage in
other departments of study than medicine. I have occasion sometimes to
lament the insufficiency of their preparatory instruction and their not par-
ticipating in the examinations, so that I never know just what they are
capable of."-T. S.
* Unfortunately the statistics of the University of Zurich from 1873 to
1883 have not yet appeared. They are being collected, however, and will
be published in the autumn of 1883, on the occasion of the semi-centennial
celebration of the foundation of the University.-M. G.
33*

390
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
CHAPTER XIV.
RUSSIA
BY MARIE ZEBRIKOFF.
92
[Miss Marie Zebrikoff was born in 1835, at Cronstadt, her father being an
officer in the navy. She received a home education, which was broadened
by extensive reading, and she published in 1868 her first critical essay, a
review of the female characters of Leo Tolstoi's “Our Grandmothers.'
Similar articles followed, and the works not only of Russian authors but of
Spielhagen, Auerbach, Shelley, George Sand, George Eliot and the other
English female novelists, were criticised by Miss Zebrikoff's keen intellect
in the pages of such periodicals as the Contemporary Annals (Otechestvennya
Zapiski), Herald of Europe (Viestnik Evropy), The Word (Slovo), The Act
(Dielo), and The Week (Nediclia). From 1875 to 1880 Miss Zebrikoff was
at the head of an educational review, and at the same time edited, trans-
lated and compiled many English, French, and German books, as, for example,
Mrs. Ellet's "Women of the American Revolution ” (compiled with an his-
torical essay as a preface) ; “ The Three First Years of a Child's Life"
(Les Trois Premières Années de l'Enfant), by Bernard Pérez, (translated);
John Morley's “On Compromise ” (translated with an essay); “ The Emile
of the Nineteenth Century,” (L'Emile du XIXe Siècle), by Alphonse Es-
quiros (translated), and "The New Life" (Neues Leben), by the late Berthold
Auerbach. One of Michelet's histories, translated by some ladies, was edited
and introduced to the public by Miss Zebrikoff in aid of the courses for the
higher education of women-mentioned in the following pages--of whose
exective committee she is a member. Miss Zebrikoff is a contributor to
many educational periodicals, and is the author of some children's books.]
An American woman-Miss Blackwell—was the first
to open to her sex the untrodden path of medical
science; a Russian woman, Miss Nadiejda Souslova, was

RUSSIA.
391
the second.* Nearly twenty years have elapsed since
that day, and Russian women have given many shining
proofs of their ability, their perseverance and their cour-
age, and have won academic distinctions in numerous
universities of Europe. This remarkable innovation, in
a field considered too rough for women's weak feet and
forbidden them by popular prejudices, which, alas! are
still too strong, has been a source of great astonishment
alike to every friend and enemy of the woman question.
I have often been asked, in my travels in Germany and
Switzerland, the following question: “How is it that
Russia, which by no means occupies the foremost rank in
European civilization, is first in this matter of women's
emancipation ?—for no country in the Old World can vie
with Russia in this respect." The answer to this ques-
tion cannot be given in a line, but requires an explana-
tion of some length.
Every new movement, however slight it may be, has
its roots deep down in the national life. The great and
successful impulse of Russian women toward scientific
education is due to causes which spring from the political
and social state of the country. Russia, although she
came later than the other nations of Europe to work in
the vineyard of modern civilization, has reaped certain
benefits from this very tardiness. Hers is the lot of the
youngest brother, who strives to emulate the best quali-
ties of his seniors, but whose eyes are open to their defects,
* Miss Souslova, daughter of a peasant who had acquired some fortune,
was the first Russian woman graduated in medicine at a foreign university,
Zurich. Graduates of foreign medical schools, in order to practice in Russia,
must submit to an examination in that country. Miss Souslova passed her
Russian examinations so brilliantly that she astonished our medical celebri-
ties, and has since won the reputation of being a very able physician. She
has a very large practice in St. Petersburgh.-M. Z.

392
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
errors, and faults, and who grows wiser by their experience,
seeking a lofty ideal which they have yet to attain. This
lateness, therefore, has assigned to Russia a peculiarly
important part in the work which the other nations are
called
upon to perform.
Although the historical antecedents of the United
States and Russia are as widely separated as the poles,
the former being freedom-seeking Europe removed from
its old dwelling-place to a new one, still there are some
striking points of likeness between the Russian Autocracy
and the American Republic. The most remarkable of
these resemblances is that both countries are thoroughly
democratic. We may in some respects apply to Russia
the following sentiments addressed by Goethe to the
United States :
Amerika Du hast es besser
Als unser Continent das alte,
Hast keine verfallenen Schlösser
Und keine Basalte,
Dich stört nicht im Innern
Zu lebendiger Zeit
Unnützes Erinnern
Und vergeblicher Streit. *
We have had no feudal aristocracy which made women
slaves and victims to the dynastic interests of the family,
and which, though modified by the vivifying breath of the
eighteenth century, is still a formidable stumbling-block
to the advance of liberty and equality in Europe. In spite
of the old barriers dividing the nobles from the merchant
and peasant classes, Peter the Great himself could not
* America, thou art much happier than our old continent; thou hast no
castles in ruins, no fortresses; no useless remembrances, no vain enmity
will interrupt the inward working of thy life. (Den Vereinigten Staaten in
Sprüche in Reimen).—T. S.

RUSSIA.
393
engraft primogeniture upon our institutions. The nobility
clung to the democratic custom of dividing the property
equally among all the sons, so that no hereditary aristoc-
racy was called into life. Women were thereby benefited.
When there are no male heirs-that is, no sons- -the
property is divided equally among the daughters, and the
mother receives one-seventh of the real estate and one
quarter of the personal property. The widow or orphan
daughters do not run the risk of being driven from their
father's house, as is the case in England when an estate
goes to a male heir of a collateral branch.*
The question of woman's emancipation was first openly
discussed by our newspapers and became a factor in Rus-
sian progress when the chains of the serfs were broken on
February 19th, 1861. The spirit of liberty and equality is
like rising water: it cannot mount in one portion of
society without reaching the same level in every part.
In England, to take another example, the women's move-
ment sprang into life when the emancipation of the work-
man became a burning theme in the press, in public meet-
ings and in parliament. But the woman question in Rus-
sia has not yet emerged from the ideal phase, and can
boast of but very few practical victories,scarcely more
* There are many other examples of the democratic spirit in Russia.
Before the time of Peter the Great all government offices were held by men
of noble blood. The aristocracy (boyars) and the gentry (dvorianstvo)
divided among themselves the few positions which then existed in the crown
service. Since Peter the Great, not birth but education has been the neces-
sary qualification. The son of a peasant, merchant or mechanic, if he has
been educated at an intermediate school (gymnasium), is a candidate for a
place under government. Since the abolition of slavery, in the last reign, all
Russians have been placed on the same level of equality. There is but one
exception, -peasants, workmen, and small shopkeepers may be punished
with the rod.-M. Z.

394
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
than three. Our women are mistresses of their own
fortune; they participate in the choice of members of the
municipal council and county assembly, through the
agency of a male friend or relative who represents them
at the polls, and they enjoy the means of securing a higher
education, wrung by their own brave efforts from the
reluctant hands of society and the bureaucracy. The
first two privileges have come down to Russian women
from the centuries, while in liberal England they have
only recently been secured, and in republican France they
are utterly unknown.*
Notwithstanding these advantages, the condition of the
Russian woman as regards the relations between parents
and children, and husband and wife, is that of a dependent
being. As a daughter, she is in the absolute power of
her parents until their death. On reaching her majority,
she does not become free to act and think for herself.
Her lot is complete obedience, except in the two cases
where the parents incite their daughter to crime, or order
her to do an illegal act. And even here, everything is
against the daughter. She must prove the truth of her
allegations before the courts—a very difficult proceeding
where it is the vogue to surround all criminal actions with
mystery, and witnesses are in bad odor.t. The text of the
Russian law is explicit. The authority of parents over
their children ceases only with death, except in the case
of a son entering the crown service or when a daughter
* Miss Zebrikoff might have added that the same thing is true of the
United States as a whole, democratic and republican though they be.
T. S.
+ Russian law considers women's testimony of less weight than that of
A clause in the code reads : “When two witnesses do not agree, the
testimony of an adult outweighs that of a child, and the testimony of a man,
that of a woman.”—M. Z.
men.

RUSSIA.
395
marries, for, as the law reads, “one person cannot reason-
ably be expected to fully satisfy two such unlimited
powers as that of the husband and that of the parents.”*
Obedience to parents, therefore, cannot be required of a
married daughter to the same extent as of her unmarried
sister.
Parents have the right to punish the rebellious child,
and both the secular and ecclesiastical authorities are
armed by the law with power to aid them. On a simple
request made by the parents, without any judicial exam-
ination, the child may be sent to the house of correction,
sentenced to hard labor, or confined in a monastery, there
to undergo religious discipline in the form of vigils, fasts,
and prayers, and to be subjected to hardships scarcely
less severe than those of the house of correction. Happily
Russian society has outgrown these barbarous laws, and
instances of their application are extremely rare, and
always occasion a great hue and cry. They are, however,
sometimes enforced. Ten years ago the newspapers told
of three men, one thirty-five, the other two seventeen and
twenty years respectively, who were sent to the house of
correction for four months, not as a punishment for the
very grave crimes of which they were guilty-one of them
had nearly committed murder in a fit of intoxication—but
simply, on the demand of their parents, to restrain them
from going to greater excesses. The youth of seventeen
and the man of thirty-five were imprisoned at the instance
of a widowed mother, a poor music teacher, struggling for
her own and her daughter's sustenance, while the third
owed his confinement to a widow of seventy, who trem-
bled for the future of her youngest son.
* Volume X. of the Russian Civil Laws.-M. Z.

396
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
It will have been noticed that the Russian mother is on
a footing of equality with the father in exacting filial obe-
dience. The slave of yesterday may be a tyrant to-day,
if a mother whose husband allows her some freedom of
action, or if a widow. It will also have been observed
that the same submission is required of the son as of the
daughter, except when the former enters the service of
the State. Neither may marry
may marry without the parents'
consent. In but two provinces of Russia-Pultava and
Chernigoff—a daughter, on attaining the age of twenty-
one, may take legal measures to force her parents to con-
sent, and then only when the father or mother is guardian
of the property belonging to her.* Women, however,
derive but little benefit from this law, as it is applicable
only to those who possess property, and who have lost
one of their parents, so that the surviving parent is the
guardian of this property; or to those who, both parents
living, have inherited property.
If the girl is not free in her choice of a husband, the
parents cannot force her to take a husband against her
will. If she may not marry the man of her choice, she can
at least remain single. Peter the Great established this
law prohibiting marriage where one of the contracting
parties objected. The priest may not begin the ceremony
if the bride declares that her parents have forced her to
groom.
But it must be borne in mind that the
assertion of this right requires no small amount of moral
courage on the part of the young girl, who, after the
accept the
* Pultava and Chernigoff were a part of Little Russia, formerly an inde-
pendent state of Zaporogue Cossacks, who, to escape from the thraldom of
Poland, submitted to Russia on the condition that their laws and customs
should be respected. This is the origin of the exception referred to in the
text.-M. Z.

RUSSIA.
397
public scandal occasioned by such a declaration, must
return to parents irritated at her disobedience, and, as
their conduct proves, wanting in all true affection for her.
But to-day such marriages never occur among the edu-
cated classes,-a proof of progress in civilization, and at
the same time of independence among our young women.
The Russian marriage laws are a little less severe than
those of Catholic origin. Civil marriage is unknown.
Marriage is a religious rite—a sacrament—and is indissol-
uble except on three or four grounds. A great and salu-
tary victory will be gained when the marriage laws of
Russia are radically reformed. Ill-usage and immorality
are not considered sufficient causes for divorce. By mar-
riage, a woman becomes the subject of an autocratic lord.
With the exception of her dowry—for she is the absolute
mistress of her own fortune—the wife is in the full power
of the husband. If her choice proves unhappy, she must
bear her lot. Her husband may be a dissolute drunkard,
immoral, dishonest; bụt she remains his wife. If he ill-
treats her, she may have him cast into prison by complain
ing to the justice of the peace, but she is still his wife
when the term of punishment has expired. The law
does not here recognize any ground for divorce.
There are but four cases in which divorce is granted in
Russia. The first is physical incapacity for marriage
either on the part of the wife or the husband, and in the
latter case the wife must prove her virginity after three
years of married life. The second is adultery by the hus-
band, which must be established by two witnesses present
at the moment the crime was committed, a requirement
which renders proof of infidelity almost impossible. The
third is the disappearance of the husband for a period of
five years. In this case the wife may apply to an ecclesi-
34

398
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

astical council for the annulment of the marriage. But
this court is as dilatory as it is venal. The divorce is
granted only when the husband fails to answer the sum-
mons of the court, and the slightest rumor that he has
been seen or heard of in some quarter, often protracts the
proceedings to such an interminable length, that the poor
wife loses both the bloom and strength of youth. The
fourth and last ground for divorce occurs when the hus-
band is deprived of his civil rights and is exiled to Siberia.
The wife may follow her husband, but all children born
after the father's disgrace are considered to belong to the
lowest class in society, though the wife and the children
born before his condemnation preserve their social posi-
tion. When the wife, taking advantage of her husband's
degradation, applies for a divorce, the religious authorities
grant the request, and the secular power gives her a pass,+
* Russian society is sharply divided into four classes, rising one above
the other. The last and lowest is made up of peasants and the petty shop-
keepers of the towns. They are looked down upon by all the other classes,
and are subjected to corporal punishment for delicts. The wife who accom-
panies her husband to Siberia may see him and her children subjected before
her own eyes to the degrading penalty of the rod.—M. Z.
+ A pass is an official paper giving the name, rank, profession, etc., of the
holder of it. Every Russian subject must have a pass. On arriving in any
town, in changing lodgings and the like, the pass must be sent to the police
to be viséed. When a woman marries, she is inscribed on her husband's
pass, and if she wishes to visit another town, she must obtain a pass from him.
Otherwise she may not leave him. This document is generally worded as
follows: “I give this pass to my wife that she may inhabit any city or village
she chooses.” It depends entirely upon the husband to name the term for
which the pass is good, and when it expires, the wife must return or get it
renewed. The daughter stands in the same relation to her parents as the
wife to the husband. They give her a pass, which is registered by the
police and stamped. Among the working classes, the wife and daughter
often obtain their pass only after paying a stipulated sum to the husband or
parents.-M. Z.

RUSSIA.
399
stating her new condition. She
may
then re-marry. To
the honor of Russian wives be it said, that few seek for a
divorce under this fourth head, but rather, on the contrary,
many share the lot of their exiled husbands, or remain
behind only in order that their children may receive an
education which could not be found in some remote Sibe-
rian village. The via dolorosa—the highway to Siberia-
has often witnessed men staggering on under the weight
of heavy chains, while their wives, with infants at the
breast, follow on foot or in rough open carts.*
The Russian civil law recognizes a separation between
husband and wife, but this must not be confounded with
divorce. It occurs only when both parties consent to it,
and neither has the right to marry again. The law gives
the daughter to the father and the son to the mother, on
the ground that the stronger should support the weaker.
When the wife is without fortune, the husband is obliged
to furnish the means for her maintenance and for the
maintenance and education of the children, if there be
any. If the wife willfully leaves her husband, he may
force her to return to him, and if necessary call upon the
police for aid.
If a man of cruel nature, he may compel
her to submit to an escort of armed policemen along with
the vagabonds and criminals who are being conveyed
from one prison to another. The late Third Section, or
department of secret police, which has left behind it
throughout all Russia such a loathsome and dreaded name,
* It is worthy of note that in this fourth case the church departs from its
principle of the indissolubility of marriage, binding the wife to her husband
for weal and for woe, and accepts the considerations of the civil law. It may
be added that a marriage is null when unlawfully contracted, when the
bride's protest was disregarded, when the man was married under a false
name, etc.-M. Z.

400
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
had at least one redeeming feature, in that it frequently
shielded women from brutal husbands. Often has its
occult power snatched from the tyrant his victim whom
the ecclesiastic and secular laws did not protect, and
forced him to give her a pass which allowed her to live
unmolested. If, on the other hand, the husband deserts
his wife, she may claim from him enough money to sup-
port herself and children.
The pecuniary independence of the Russian woman-
for she is mistress of her own fortune, as I have already
stated—has led to her obtaining the few other privileges
which she enjoys. As she owns property, she pays taxes,
and therefore participates in the choice of the members
of the municipal council (gorodskaya ouprava) which ex-
pends her money.* Women do not go to the polls them-
selves, as I have said before, but are represented by some
male relative or friend who votes for them. They choose
in the same way the members of the county assembly,
(zemstvo), who appoint the board or committee which
supervises the public affairs of the county.
These rights possessed by Russian women must not be
measured by a European or American political standard.
The powers of the municipal and county assemblies may
* The advocates of women's rights in the United States have been proclaim-
ing for forty years that “taxation without representation is tyranny,” while
Russia, the land of autocracy, has been practicing this fundamental princi-
ple of justice since the days when we were colonies. Here, as in many other
places in this book, Americans will notice that in our treatment of women
we are often far behind what we are pleased to call “effete monarchies.”
-T. S.
† Mrs. Worden, Seward's sister-in-law, adopted a somewhat similar plan.
She required all the men who worked on her farm near Auburn to vote as
she wished, for, being a taxpayer and yet a widow without father or son, she
felt that she ought to be represented at the polls.--" History of Woman
Suffrage,” I., 462.-T. S.

RUSSIA.
401
be likened to those of a housekeeper or an intendant of a
great estate; they gather the taxes and expend them on
schools, hospitals, roads and canals. But they may make
no laws, vote no supplies, in a word, do nothing to change
the ordained order of things. Yet the gorodskaya ouprava
and the zemstvo, although they have no voice in legis-
lating for the nation, nor even for their own province,
county, or town, exercise a great influence in their narrow
circle, and are a step toward self-government. Before
their creation, the work which they now perform was in
the hands of a crowd of government agents (tchinovniks),
who were an absolute plague to the country.
American women ask for participation in the enactment
of the laws which they are bound to obey. But Russian
women cannot make such a lofty demand, for men even
do not enjoy this right. We can feel, however, that
politically we are almost the equal of men, although we
may not, like them, deposit our own votes and are not
eligible to either of the public bodies of which we are
electors. *
The Russian peasant women are in a much worse state
than the women of the upper classes. They must obey
not only the laws of the empire, but those of custom-
a sort of common law—which vary in different provinces.
Their lot is hard and miserable in the extreme, and our
renowned poet, Nekrassoff, has given a vivid and pa-
thetic picture of it in his poems. In Great Russia, that
is, in all the provinces of north, east, and middle Russia,
where the system of the village “ commune” exists, these
laws of custom protect women in some respects.
* Universal suffrage does not exist in Russia. The ownership of property
or the payment of a certain tax is the necessary qualification of an elector.
Every woman who meets this requirement, votes.-M. Z.
34*

402
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
In these village communes, the land is considered to
belong to all the inhabitants in common. The village
council (mir), after the lapse of a certain period of years,
,
divides the fields and meadows into lots, according to
the number of families and the size of each family. A
numerous household receives a larger lot than a small one.
The father may not sell or mortgage his lot, but it is his
for tillage until the new period of division comes round.
If he concludes to abandon his peasant state and become
a merchant or denizen of a town, his land reverts to the
commune, though his cottage, cattle, furniture, harvest,
carts, implements, etc., are considered to be his. The
principle in the communes of Great Russia is this: the
land belongs to the tiller of the soil, but only so long as
he tills it.
This idea, firmly planted in the mind of the people,
sometimes redounds to the advantage of the peasant
women. When an industrious wife is tied to a worthless
husband who is undermining the prosperity of the family,
she complains to the mir, which often transfers the lot of
land to the wife, who thus becomes, de facto, the head of
the family. When a widow can, by her own and her chil-
dren’s exertions or by the aid of a hired man, cultivate her
late husband's lot, she becomes its owner and has a voice
in the mir. There are numerous examples of women
continuing to represent the family, even after the eldest
son has reached his majority. When a member of the
commune enters the army, his wife is provided with a lot
of land, if she is ready to cultivate it. An orphan girl, if
she declares her intention not to wed, demands a similar
favor. Girls generally marry in another than their own
commune and rarely bring a husband into it, for other-
wise, in either case, the new family would have to be

RUSSIA.
403
given a lot, which would lessen the extent of the existing
holdings.
This mir is a powerful and important little body. It
often acts as a judge in quarrels between husband and
wife; sees that the land is well cultivated ; that the taxes
are paid; and it names the school boards and the school
patrons and patronesses.* I recall a curious instance of
one of these patronesses, who, the daughter of a rich
peasant, could neither read nor write, and who, with
tears in her eyes, related how her father had forbade
her acquiring these elementary branches of knowledge.
But once appointed patroness by the mir, the father
could no longer check her, and she finally learned to read
and write by daily intercourse with the scholars in the
school-room. The Russian mir, however, must not be
thought, from these few instances of liberality, a friend of
women's emancipation. It is only too ready to lend a
helping hand to parents or husbands when they desire to
crush the spirit of independence in daughter or wife.
Some communes unite, form what is called a voloste,
and choose judges, who are appealed to in the case of
small delinquencies, family differences, petty thefts, etc.
I know of instances where this peasant justice has been
favorable to women; as, for example, where a wife, de-
claring that she would drown herself rather than return
to her husband, this volostnoy tribunal obliged the latter
to give her a pass, so that she might earn her own liveli-
hood as a domestic. Such decisions, although perfectly
binding in the eyes of the peasants, are in reality illegal,
are
* There three sorts of elementary schools as regards their origin : those
founded by the government, by the zemstvo, and by private individuals.
When the peasants create one of the third class, they choose a patron or
patroness who has leisure and money to devote to the school.-M. Z.

404
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
as they are in opposition to the written code of the
empire. No regularly-constituted court of justice could
compel a husband to give his wife a pass, unless he chose
to do so of his own free will.
Among the peasants, the bride's preferences are seldom
heeded by the parents when they arrange her marriage,
and it is but poor consolation that the bridegroom is
treated in the same way. She must accept her fate, and
bear it patiently unto death. In the words of Pope,
slightly changed,
She is but born to try
The lot of man,--to suffer and to die,
She cannot take advantage of the divorce law in the few
cases already mentioned, for the legal, medical, and other
expenses are too large for a peasant woman's purse.
Divorce is available to her only when her husband loses
his civil rights.
The subject condition of Russian women is one of the
principal causes of the rapid growth among the people of
certain radical Christian sects, some of which resemble in
-many particulars the American revivalists and Anabap-
tists. The despotism of the family drives the peasant
woman to these sects, which teach that there can be
no domestic ties de jure where none exist de facto, and
that it is degrading to observe the letter when the spirit
is dead. She flies from her home, and lives under an
assumed name, lest she be dragged back to her former
servitude. She feels raised to a condition of equality
and independence by her faith in a religious doctrine,
and ardently embraces the new belief. The maiden, or
woman married against her will by the State church,
having once thrown in her lot with these enthusiasts,

RUSSIA,
405
may marry among them,
them. Until within the last two years
Russian law did not recognize these marriages, and de
jure the wife was always free to leave her sectarian hus-
band, without his being able to restrain her. In some of
these sects, the husband and wife stand on an equal foot-
ing, and the marriage lasts as long as both parties are sat-
isfied. On entering the conjugal state, they declare their
intention before the elders of the church, and on sunder-
ing the union, they do the same. Until very recently
these sects were persecuted, and many a peasant woman,
by her devotion and heroism, has shown herself worthy
of the martyr's halo. Women often preach, and the
greater number of these religious bodies are distinguished
for a high moral level, purity and tenderness of domes-
tic life, which is all the more remarkable, when it is
remembered that an entire dissolution of all family ties is
permitted by some of their peculiar doctrines.
Besides the sects just mentioned, there are others of an
ascetic nature, in which the women take vows of chastity
and consecrate their lives to nursing the sick and study-
ing the Bible. A new sect has very recently sprung up,
whose distinguishing feature is the exaltation of woman.
She is placed above man because she can give birth to
another immortal being. Her pain and travail are so
great, that exempting her from all other physical suffering
and annoyance would be but a poor reward ; she is enti-
tled to the deepest gratitude and reverence of mankind. *
* It is not the Russian sectaries alone who award women a higher place than
that generally given them. In 1506, C. Agrippa wrote a treatise entitled,
“On the excellence of woman above that of man.” (Legouvé, père, Mérite
des femmes, p. xlii.) Toussenel, says M. Pelletan, “ has appealed to physi-
ology to prove the superiority of woman to man.” (La mère, p. 362.) M.
Valentin de Gorloff, the young French African traveller, has said: “The

406
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Certain writers who have studied these religious phenom-
ena, speak with great admiration of some young girls
gifted with remarkable oratorical talents and wonderful
depths of mystical thought. The sects to which they
belong seek sanctity in the acts of every-day life. A
member of one of them—a psalm-reading old maid-said
to a proud bishop riding in a carriage: “Christ went bare-
footed.”
The spirit of the Russian sectaries in favor of the
emancipation of women shows what a vital hold the
woman question has on even the lowest orders of our
national life. What the upper and educated classes of
women seek in the sciences, higher education, and the
liberal professions, the poor, ignorant peasant women find
in mystical religion.
The subject of women's emancipation was first called
into life among the enlightened classes of Russia, about
the year 1840, by the writings of George Sand. The new
ideas were confined to a narrow circle of thinkers and
authors, and continued in a latent form until the freedom
of the serfs caused them to burst forth with renewed
force. No agitation can be pure gold: there must be
some alloy in it. Errors were mingled with the young
movement, and enmity and calumny magnified the de-
mand for freedom into a cry for the destruction of the
family. We have grown wiser by the faults committed
at the inception of the struggle, and to-day our claims
can be considered subversive only by those who wish
men of the Touareg tribe are not allowed to have more than one wife, and
she possesses the greatest influence, not only in domestic but in political
affairs. The Touareg women are far more highly educated than the men.
They can read and write well, they possess some musical talent, and their
poems are celebrated in the desert.” (London Times, weekly edition,
April 28, 1882.)-T. S.

RUSSIA.
407
women to be ignorant and spiritless slaves. The Russian
woman seeks knowledge and the professions, not for the
purpose of destroying the family, but that she may serve
it the better. She does not ask emancipation from duty,
but emancipation from chains. The freedom she yearns
for is not the freedom of giving loose rein to all the whims
of unprincipled fancy. She wishes to have the liberty of
marrying whom she will, of breaking the bond which
binds her to an immoral husband, of enjoying every
facility for earning her own livelihood, and of removing
all obstacles thrown in the way of acquiring knowledge
which may open to her the highest positions in life.
She desires to be no longer a zero in public affairs, but
an active working force.
The reforms of the last reign gave a great impetus to
the movement for women's independence, though this
was not one of the results intended. The bureaucratic
reform caused the discharge from the public service of
hundreds and thousands of office-holders and govern-
mental agents; and their daughters, who up to this time
had lived in a state of more or less ease, were now thrown
suddenly out upon the world to support themselves.
The liberation of the serfs had the same effect. Before
this reform was accomplished, a vast number of small
land-owners found they could make more money by teach-
ing their slaves trades than by cultivating their fields.
So they increased their slaves, instructed them in all
kinds of mechanical work, hired them out in the towns,
and required of them an annual payment of from twenty
to thirty rubles,* and in the case of a skillful hand even
a larger sum. When emancipation came, the masters re-
* A ruble is worth from seventy-five to eighty-six cents, depending on the
coinage.-T. S.

408
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE,
ceived an indemnity for the lots of land given by them
to the slaves employed in agriculture, but no compensa-
tion was made them for the artisan slaves who gained
their liberty at the same time. The landlords were
entirely unprepared for this revolution, and were forced
to hire laborers and buy machines to do the work which
formerly cost them nothing. Many of them were ruined,
and their daughters had to shift for their own livelihood.
Thus, hard necessity made welcome the notion of women's
independence, which without these two influences would
have long remained in the realms of theory, for no idea
ever triumphs in actual life without the way being pre-
pared for it by economic causes.
But it is in the field of education that the greatest
progress has been made. The difficulties that this move-
ment has encountered and at last overcome would require
too much space for enumeration, and could be understood
in their full significance only by Russians, or by those
foreigners who are well acquainted with the country.
They show the importance of the victory, and are a happy
omen for the future.
The vastness of the Russian Empire and the paucity of
its population are in one respect favorable to this move-
ment. Russia is sadly lacking in intellectual workers.
The numerous villages disseminated throughout her wide
plains want teachers and physicians. The professional
emancipation of women is not therefore threatened by
that inveterate opposition observed in densely peopled
countries which annually disgorge into America their
surplus of population. Our zemstvo needs and
pays
for
the education of physicians in the woman's medical
school at St. Petersburg, and for teachers in the various
normal schools of the country, on the condition that the

RUSSIA.
409
women who enjoy these scholarships serve five
years
the
county which grants them. This scarcity of brain force
constrains even the government to further the cause of
women. We had a striking example of this in the re-
cent struggle with Turkey, when the war department was
only too glad to avail itself of the assistance of female
physicians for the army.
The moral and intellectual power of women is recog-
nized not only by the progressive, but also by the retro-
gressive, element of Russian society, and the latter class
does not hesitate to use it. When, in 1867, three ladies,
delegated by some of their own sex, requested the late
Minister of Public Instruction, Count Tolstoi, to establish
university lectures for women, they were met by a decided
refusal. Thereupon the professors of the St. Petersburg
faculty, taking advantage of their right to lecture in
public, opened, under the auspices of a committee of
ladies who managed the enterprise, a course of lectures,
which, while not so considered officially, were in fact
instituted for women. Although these lectures were
attended by both sexes, women alone were allowed to
use the library and cabinets in connection with them, to
be examined if they wished, and to receive certificates
from the professors. Ten years had not elapsed when the
same minister who, in 1867, forced the scheme for the
higher education of women to begin life under the guise
of public evening lectures, acquiesced in the plan of insti-
tuting at St. Petersburg superior courses for women.
Count Tolstoi wished to introduce into Russia his clas-
sical system-a profound study of the Greek and Latin,
in imitation of the German gymnasiums—but not having
the necessary number of teachers, on account of the aver-
sion of the youth to pursue the classics to the extent he
35

410
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
desired, the minister hoped to render the idea popular by
having these languages taught in the girls' schools. So
women were invited to acquire Latin and Greek, in order
to fill the new positions; and thus was Count Tolstoi
glad to avail himself of women's learning, and thus was
he brought over from an enemy to a very reluctant friend
of women's higher education.
The honor of the initiative step in this movement be-
longs to Mrs. Konradi. In 1866 she addressed a letter to
the members of the association of natural and physical
sciences, which met that year in St. Petersburg, request-
ing them to do something for women's university educa-
tion. Her letter met with warm sympathy, and from that
moment our men of science* have taken an active part in
the work, so that to-day Russian women may pursue
their studies not only at the capital, but also at Moscow,
Kief, Kasan, and, in a word, in almost all the provincial
cities where universities exist.
The curriculum of studies at St. Petersburg is very ex-
tensive, and is divided into two grand divisions,—the his-
torical and literary, and that of the natural sciences and
mathematics. The latter embraces anatomy, physiology,
botany, zoology, chemistry, physics, geology, mineralogy,
* The chemist Louguinin subscribes annually five hundred rubles to the
St. Petersburg courses for women, and Professor Bestoujeff is always ready
to assist needy girls who cannot pay the tuition fee of fifty rubles a year.
The celebrated professor of physiology, Siechenoff, has lectured in aid of a
fund for a physiological cabinet for women, while Professor Miller, Professor
Ovsiannikoff, and others have contributed money. Mr. Mendeleieff, pro-
fessor of chemistry, and Mr. Vagner, professor of zoology, have lectured in
our courses without pay. All the other professors offer their services at the
modest charge of two hundred and fifty rubles a year for one hour, five hun-
dred rubles for two hours, and so on. The same spirit is shown in the other
university centres. In Moscow the literary and historical courses are super-
intended by Professor Guerié, who founded them.-M. Z.

RUSSIA.
411
astronomy, cosmology, and mathematics even in the
highest branches. Lectures on agricultural chemistry are
delivered to those women who are preparing themselves
for agricultural pursuits, and a series of lectures on the
civil law is given annually. The same studies with modi-
fications are pursued in the other towns.
The courses for women in St. Petersburg were opened
in 1878. The students are divided into four classes, each
class representing a year's work. An examination occurs
annually for all the classes. The first examination for
graduation took place in the summer of 1882, when
ninety-nine young women secured degrees in the literary
and historical department, and sixty-four in the scientific
department. About nine hundred students attend these
lectures every year, and up to September, 1882, two hun-
dred and one new matriculations had been registered for
the session of 1882-3.* These numbers are all the more
remarkable when it is remembered that as yet women
derive no practical advantage from these long years of
study, for, while the aim of the courses is to fit graduates
for positions in the higher classes of girls' schools, men
alone may fill them. Every man who desires a place in
the intermediate schools must pass a teacher's examina-
as men.
* These figures prove that women desire a university education as much
This fact is almost universally accepted in the United States,
though, as a general rule, it is only just beginning to dawn on the conti-
nental mind. Few American universities can boast of as many students
and annual graduates as this St. Petersburg institution. The curriculum
of studies destroys another objection to women's higher education almost
as prevalent in the new world as the old, viz., that women are not
capable of pursuing the same studies as men. If now the St. Petersburg
reformers could only bring about co-education-a very easy step it would
seem under the circumstances—they would be on the bigh road to the ideal
educational system of the future.-T. S.

412
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
tion before the university authorities. Now our courses
prepare women for these very examinations, from which,
however, they are excluded. The professors of the Uni-
versity of St. Petersburg, and the members of the com-
mittee superintending the women's courses, have pe-
titioned the government to admit women to the teach-
ers' examinations. No answer has yet been given, but
when it comes, it will doubtless be a favorable one, for a
refusal would leave unsatisfied one of the most crying
wants of Russian education.
The intermediate girls' schools (gymnasiums, as they are
called), though they are far from perfect, are evidently con-
sidered a pia desideria in France, for a short time ago
the
French government sent a commission to Russia to study
them. They owe their origin to the late Empress Maria
Alexandrovna, who modeled them after the German Töch-
ter Schulen. The course of studies covers seven years, and
embraces the Russian, French, and German languages;
arithmetic, and the rudiments of the sciences; but falls
far short of what is needed for entrance into the univers-
ity. This
gap
has to be filled by private study, and
herein lies the grave defect of these schools.
The Minister of Public Instruction has established girls
gymnasiums which lengthen the course of studies to eight
years. These schools, although a thorough reform of the
scope of their instruction is needed, have done a great
and good work in spreading knowledge through the
middle classes of Russian society, without, however,
bridging the break just mentioned.
Government institutes, founded by the Empress Cath-
erine II., and patterned after Madame de Maintenon's
Maison de Saint-Cyr, of the time of Louis XIV., were
the only girls' intermediate schools which existed in

RUSSIA.
413
Russia previous to the gymnasiums. Unlike the latter,
class distinctions are observed in these institutes. Some
of them receive the daughters only of the hereditary
nobility, or of military and civil officers of high rank,
while in others are educated girls from the families of the
lesser nobility, of rich merchants, and of clergymen. The
pupils are shut up in these schools from the
age
of seven
or eight, until they reach their sixteenth, seventeenth, or
even eighteenth year, and during this long period they
seldom leave them, except on great holidays, and at the
summer vacation. The instruction is superficial, and the
scholars go forth entirely unprepared for real life. The
gymnasiums are much preferable, as they do not sepa-
rate the girl from her family, and from the active, practical
world without.
Considered from a pedagogic standpoint, the gymna-
sium can fit its pupils only for the primary schools or for
the lower classes of the gymnasiums. The government,
in order to complete this deficiency, established, some
time ago, a series of courses on pedagogics, which cover
three years, and prepare teachers for the middle classes of
the gymnasiums. This action was taken after the pre-
sentation of the petition asking for the admission of
women to the teachers' examinations, which thus seems
to have had some effect on the authorities.
The highest professional instruction for women is given
in the medical courses, which began in a way that may
appear strange to those not acquainted with Russian life.
A young woman gave fifty thousand rubles for this object,
but the sum was not large enough to cover all the ex-
penses of the proposed school, and the undertaking would
have fallen through if the War Department had not come
to its aid. The Minister of War patronizing the medical
35*

414
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE,
education of women seems odd at the first blush. But
his conduct was in fact very natural and very practical.
The Academy of Medicine was already under the super-
intendence of the Minister of War, its chief aim being the
education of surgeons for the army and navy, and, as it
occupied a very large building, a part was handed over to
the women for lecture rooms and clinics.*
The tentative of the government was very timid, not
to say amusing. The female graduates were to be called
“learned midwives;”+ they were to study only the dis-
eases of women and children; and when they went forth to
practice the healing art, women and children were alone
to be their patients. But the Minister of War builded
better than he knew. The professors were real men of
science, and found it impossible to keep within the
narrow limits prescribed by the government. They gave
a full course in medicine, added a fourth year, and then a
fifth
year,
threw open the wards of the hospitals to their
new pupils, and, in a word, treated the women just as they
treated the men. And Russia was soon a thousand-fold
* Since these lines were written the medical instruction of women at the
capital has entered upon a severe crisis. Recent reforms in the War De-
partment call for economy, and the Minister has been forced to refuse the
usual subsidy and to close the hospital and clinics. The St. Petersburg
municipality offers to take the women under its protection, and furnish
them a building and a hospital. Nothing is yet decided in the matter.
The women who are now (October, 1883) studying will be allowed to
finish their course, but no new students will be received. A public sub-
scription, in aid of the Women's Medical Courses, has been opened at the
capital. A women's medical college is about to be founded at Moscow, but
it will, unfortunately, be far less complete than the St. Petersburg courses.
-M. Z.
+ This was the term used in the government plan, and was meant to dis-
tinguish the women who had received a scientific medical education from
ordinary midwives.-M. Z.

RUSSIA.
415
repaid for what it had done. Twenty women followed
the army in the last war, and gave admirable proofs of
courage, skill, and tenderness on many battle-fields and
in the hospitals, amid the ravage of the typhoid fever.
The late emperor, who witnessed their conduct, always
entertained a high opinion of them.
There are now in St. Petersburg fifty-two female physi-
cians, and about two hundred and fifty in all Russia,
although it is not yet ten years since medicine was
opened to women. Many Russian women have also pur-
sued their medical studies abroad in the Universities of
Zurich, Bern, and Paris. I may also mention as among
the professional institutions frequented by women, a
school for the training of nurses, and two schools of
midwifery in St. Petersburg, and one in Moscow. Wo-
men also study obstetrics in many of the hospitals.
I shall say nothing of the School of Painting at St.
Petersburg, which owes its foundation to an association
of artists and friends of art, and which receives students
of both sexes; nothing of the Industrial Gymnasium,
where girls are taught various trades, and which is a crea-
tion of the government; nothing of the good work done
by the Froebel Society of St. Petersburg; nothing of the
association formed two years ago at the capital for the
establishment of girls' industrial schools, and to which one
lady contributed 20,000 rubles,—but shall hasten on to
the more important subject of the employment of women.
The elementary public schools offer our women the
largest field of work. But the pay is so poor that men
generally seek other callings, though there are many per-
sons of both sexes who devote their lives to this humble
occupation. The rôle is a difficult one and requires great
fortitude and self-sacrifice, and yet many young girls take

416
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
it
up with genuine ardor. In some remote parts of Rus-
sia the schoolmistress is cut off during the long winter
months from all intercourse with the world. She toils
many hours each day for a beggarly reward; sees no
books, reviews nor newspapers; lives in a log cabin de-
prived of all comforts; eats coarse food, and very
seldom
enjoys the society of persons of equal culture. And yet,
notwithstanding all this devotion and acknowledged
ability, the teacher's profession is, in the case of women,
stunted in a most lamentable manner. They may in-
struct in elementary schools and in the lower classes of
girls' gymnasiums and institutes, they may be governesses
in private families, but they may aspire to nothing
higher.
In medicine, we find similar restrictions. Although
they pursue all the studies and pass all the examinations,
women are not physicians in the eyes of the law. They
may treat the diseases of women and children, but that
is all. In the country, where there is often no male phy-
sician within the distance of fifty miles, our women
might have employment and confer immense blessings
upon the poor peasants of both sexes.
Some years ago
a woman passed a brilliant examination and defended
with success a thesis on the diseases of the eye. But she
could not become an oculist. And yet women, by the
delicacy and flexibility of their fingers, are far better fitted
physically than men for this calling. There have been
instances of some of the medical inspectors in the prov-
inces interfering with the practice of medicine by women,
although invited by the zemstvo to come into their midst,
by prohibiting the apothecaries to put up a prescription
emanating from a female physician.
Some time ago an attempt was made to open the

RUSSIA.
417
law to women. After the reforms in our judiciary and
the establishment of the order of advocates, some law
offices employed women. Professors were invited to lec-
ture on law before the women's courses at St. Petersburg,
and some women went abroad to study the science in
foreign universities. But the government forbade law-
yers to accept their services as clerks, and the movement
was nipped in the bud.
The government employs women only in the Fourth
Section, the Department of the Empress, which directs
the girls' gymnasiums and institutes. Women also find
something to do in the railroad and telegraphic service.
In the latter department they perform the hardest
work, receiving and sending telegrams, while the much
easier and better paid positions, as chief clerks and the
like, are closed against them. Female telegraphists are
paid only from twenty-five to forty rubles a month.
Women have yet to fight their way into the republic of
the sciences. No woman has ever received a degree in our
universities, while those who have been more successful
abroad—and the list is long and brilliant-have asked
in vain to be permitted to pass the examinations and de-
fend the thesis for the degree of master of sciences. No
positive law exists which bars women from securing uni-
versity honors, for such a case was never foreseen. This
fact is considered to be favorable to the claims of female
aspirants. Mrs. Kovalevsky* and Mrs. Litvinova, doctors
of mathematics of foreign universities, are now prepar-
ing themselves for the degree of master of sciences. If
this stronghold is once gained, women will have the right
to become professors in the superior courses for women.
* Mrs Kovalevsky has just (October, 1883) been appointed privat-docent
at a college in Stockholm, and will lecture on mathematics.—M. Z.


418
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
There are many fitted for this career by their talents and
learning who cannot enter upon it for lack of these de-
grees.
The scientific societies are more liberal than the univer-
sities. They do not shut their doors in our faces. The
law society of St. Petersburg counts among its members
Miss Evreinova, who took her degree of doctor of laws
at Paris. The medical society is not afraid to affiliate
with female physicians. Miss Nadiejda Skvortzova, whose
ability has been recognized by the Paris medical celebrity,
Dr. Charcot, is one of the women more recently received
by this society.
It is in literature alone that women stand on the same
footing with men.* This success depends entirely upon
their talents. No certificate or degree here obstructs
their path. But if a woman would enter journalism, if she
would be the editor of a political or scientific newspaper,
the case is different. When Mrs. Konradi, whom I have
already mentioned in connection with women's higher
education, and who is well known by her writings, wished
to edit The Week (Nediclia), a political journal, permis-
sion was refused her by the censor of the press, and she
had to put her husband forward as the nominal editor,
though he was in no respect qualified for the position.
Women may be editors of educational reviews, children's
papers, eclectic magazines, and the like, and they may
* They are paid the same as men. The best known female writers receive
as high as two hundred rubles for sixteen printed magazine pages, containing
from 30,000 to 40,000 letters. The average remuneration is fifty, sixty,
or seventy rubles, depending upon the reputation of the author and the popu-
larity of the magazine. Many women support themselves by translating, but,
as Russians are generally proficient in foreign languages, the market is over-
stocked and the pay is fifteen rubles or less for sixteen printed pages. The
price for scientific translations is twenty-five rubles.-M. Z.

RUSSIA.
419
act as publishers of newspapers, reviews and books without
having to make application to the censor. There are at
St. Petersburg four or five children's papers and educa-
tional reviews which are edited by women, and one or
two literary and political periodicals which are pub-
lished by them.
The novel is the branch of literature in which Russian
women have gained the highest reputation. After the
two renowned names of Tourguéneff and Leo Tolstoi,
the greatest novelist of which our literature can boast is a
woman, Krestovsky,* the pseudonym of Mrs. Nadiejda
Zayontchkovsky. During a long literary career, which ex-
tends over a period of about thirty years, she has given to
the world a large number of tales and novels of first-rate
merit, and presents the rare example of a genius which,
instead of weakening by the advance of age, grows
in strength and depth. I know of no woman in European
literature who is her equal, an opinion which is generally
accepted. She may be compared to George Eliot.
Inferior to the Englishwoman in the profundity of phil-
osophical thought, she surpasses her in the warmth and
vividness of her pictures. Her short stories are much
better than the long ones, and all aim to depict some
phase of Russian society. They are pervaded by the
spirit of one seeking a lofty ideal, of a great-hearted
patriot bleeding for the woes of her country, a lover of
all that is pure and humane, a hater of all that is base and
tyrannical. Many of Krestovsky's best pages have not
been made public for political reasons. The freedom
* Krestovsky (pseudonym) is, as I have said in the text, an authoress.
There is also a man, whose real name is Krestovsky, who writes sensa-
tional novels in which he paints in very dark colors the young generation
striving for liberty and women seeking their emancipation. There is not
much danger, however, of the two writers being confounded.-M. Z.

420
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
with which she lays bare the faults of our society may
appear to be poor patriotism to those who take a narrow
view of this feeling, and who too often magnify their own
personal vanity into a national sentiment. There is a
Russian proverb which reads: Who loves well, chastens
well. But the dire necessity of chastening is a source of
deep moral suffering.
This feature of Russian character, as reflected in our
literature, is generally misunderstood, and yet it is one of
the surest signs of our progress. It is a proof that the
conscience of the nation is not lulled to sleep by self-
adoration, but wide awake to the duty of striving to attain
the loftiest ideal of human perfection. Russian society
does not present the same comparative uniformity of level
which, in spite of all the differences of parties, opinions
and classes, exists in Europe and America. With us,
one may see side by side representatives of the ideas of a
hundred years ago, of the present century and of the
ages to come, when the opinions which now count but few
adherents will receive the right of citizenship in the
world. Russian progress may be compared to an army's
painful march through deserts and swamps, where the
vanguard is so far in advance of the main body that it
is supported with difficulty, but pushes bravely on with-
out noticing those who fall by the way. It often happens
that even in the narrow circle of the family, mem-
bers are found as widely separated one from the other
as this vanguard from the main army.
All Russian
authoresses of any reputation march in this vanguard.
The retrogressive party can boast of no woman's name
distinguished for thought or talent. Severin, the pseu-
donym of Mrs. Nadiejda Merder, Mrs. Olga Shapir, Mrs.
Smirnova, and many others, have all published their works

RUSSIA.
421
in the pages of progressive magazines. Vesseniev, the
pseudonym of the late sister of Mrs. Zayontchkovsky,
who was as sympathetic a writer and who wielded even a
bolder pen, never contributed a line to the organs of the
statu quo.
In other departments of literature I may cite the names
of Mrs. Manasseina, author of many scientific articles on
medicine and physiology, and of an excellent book on the
physical training of children ; Mrs. Alexandra Efimenko,
who has written many interesting essays on the Russian
mir and the laws of custom among the peasants ; Miss
Catharine Nekrasoff, who has published essays on
Russian folklore; Mrs. Vodovasoff, the author of a very
important work for the young, “The Life of European
Peoples ” (Jyzn evropeishih narodow), and of many other
children's books; Mrs. Olga Novikoff, friend of Mme.
Adam of the Nouvelle Revue, who has, besides maga-
zine articles, printed a work on Russia ; and the late Mrs.
Vernadsky, who published some twenty years ago a book
on political economy, which is now forgotten, but was very
honorably mentioned in its time. The tales of Ukrayna
(Little Russia) by Marco Vovchok, the pseudonym of Mrs.
Marie Markevitch, are a plea in favor of the political
rights of the peasant classes, and are full of pathetic
beauty. Some of them have been translated into French.
I must not close this partial list of our female authors
without mentioning one of great promise, but whose bril-
liant career, just opening, was suddenly cut short by
death. Mrs. Sophy Bruloff was the daughter of Professor
Kavelin, and in early childhood showed remarkable tal-
ents. Later she developed a strong taste for history,
was sent abroad where she studied historical subjects with
the greatest assiduity. She has written some very able

422
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
essays on historical questions, and was making the pre-
paratory notes for a great work on the epoch of Cath-
arine II. when she died, at the early age of twenty-four.*
The Russian women's movement has one character-
istic feature in which it differs from the similar move-
ments elsewhere,—it is ever true to the ideas of progress.
Whilst in other countries we sometimes see women striv-
ing for their own rights alone, for their own well-being,
and in their eagerness to secure them, only too prone to
make themselves the instrument of the church and con-
servatism, Russian women do not separate their cause
from the great cause of human progress. The Jesuits
in Europe have well understood, in their struggle for
the preservation of old prejudices, what a powerful arm
they should find in women equal and independent mem-
bers of society and at the same time subservient to the
will of the order. In England many Tories and high
churchmen voted with Mr. John Stuart Mill in favor of
women's suffrage. No retrogressive element in our
society can count upon the aid of one woman battling
for equality. The women who muster under that banner
are quite satisfied with their dependent, inferior position,
and pronounce as heresy every utterance for the emanci-
* Mommsen, in a note to me, referring to this female historian so full of
promise, says: “The question is not, if women are capable or not, of high
proficiency in every branch of learning, but if the average standing of man's
and woman's capacity for these researches is equal or not, and this question
cannot deal with exceptions.” Montesquieu appears to answer the German
historian when he says: “The powers (of the sexes) would be equal, if their
education were too. Test them (women) in the talents which have not been
enfeebled by the way they have been educated, and we will then see if we
are so strong" (Lettres Persanes, lettre xxxviii.) L. Aimé Martin wrote, a
half century ago : “ It is in spite of our stupid systems of education that
women have an idea, a mind and a soul.”—T. S.

RUSSIA.
423
pation of their sex. Russian women who have risen to
the consciousness of their right to knowledge and inde-
pendence, consider these blessings as means with which to
serve the people and improve the condition of their native
land.


424
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
CHAPTER XV.
POLAND,
BY ELISE ORESKO."
*
[Mrs. Elise Oresko, née Pavlovska, was born toward the end of the first
half of this century at Grodno, where she now resides. The young girl was
placed by her parents under the care of nuns, who gave her an education
which they did not intend should produce a woman of letters. Married
when a mere child, she was rather checked than encouraged in her bent,
which revealed itself at an early hour. Shortly after 1863 the periodicals of
Warsaw began to publish stories and poems signed by her name, and in a
few years the Polish people perceived that its national literature was enriched
by a new writer of exceptional talent, whose pen was untrammeled, vigor-
ous and original. She wrote and studied at the same time. Study sustained
and increased her powers, and to-day Mrs. Elise Oresko occupies the place
of honor in contemporary Polish literature. Her field is the novel which
depicts customs ; but she does not neglect science for romance, nor fear to
speak out plainly concerning the questions of the day. In the domain of
science she prefers philosophy, as is shown by her Patriotism and Cosmo-
politanism (Patryotyzm i Kosmopolityzm), which appeared in 1880. This
work gives evidence of vast stores of information drawn from a close study
of solid authors like Buckle, Draper, Spencer and Darwin, whom she grasps
and utilizes. Her reasoning is logical and compact, and her style is clear.
* Mrs. Oresko in a recent letter, concerning the publication of this sketch,
says : “ On account of the peculiar spelling of my name, which foreigners
can neither decipher nor pronounce, please be kind enough to print it
Oresko and not Orzeszko. The former is more easily pronounced, and
does not affect the Polish of the name." I give this explanation lest it may
be thought by some that I have changed the orthography inadvertently.
-T. S.

POLAND.
425
She defends patriotism, which she considers not as hostile to cosmopolitanism
but as the foundation of it, for cosmopolitanism is itself an expression of that
condition of the future in which peoples will no longer nourish mutual enmities.
In the mean while it is patriotism, as much an historical as social product,
which constitutes the moral safeguard of nations. Such is the dominant idea
of Mrs. Oresko's able book. Philosophy is also the foundation of her im-
aginative productions. Just as the chemist treats the elements of which he
composes a new body, so she, in all her novels—and the number is large-
blends together into a harmonious whole the various parts of the question she
wishes to bring out. The new creation of Mrs. Oresko is a philosophic idea,
bearing ordinarily on a social topic, which she advances and demonstrates.
She is not contented with dramatizing a situation, with tangling and un-
tangling a plot of more or less interest for the amusement of idlers. Her
stories are advocates in action ; she pleads the cause of the unfortunate, the
disinherited, the injured, of those who suffer and know not their duties nor
their rights. Now it is a woman who struggles against the social current
and is overpowered in the uneven contest (Martha) ; again, it is a family
unable to comprehend the new lot which has befallen unhappy Poland,
and is lost in the labyrinth (Eli Makover and Rodzina Brochwiczow); or it is
young women, admirably endowed by nature, who, meeting with so many
obstacles, one mistep following another, finally stumble into the wrong
path. It must be admitted that what she narrates, describes and vivifies is not
gay; she likes dark colors; but the colors speak, implore, and at the last
page
of each of Mrs. Oresko's works the reader is forced to ask himself :
Whose fault is it? The question is answered. Among the disinherited, she
has chosen the disinherited par excellence—the Jewish population, which
forms almost ten per cent, of the inhabitants of the former Republic of Po-
land. The Jews, who established themselves in the country centuries ago, at
the time of the merciless persecutions to which they were exposed in Europe,
multiplied and remained in the same state as at the moment of their coming.
Steeped in ignorance and superstition, strangers, defiant, hostile, they
formed a separate social order which was but superficially understood by the
Christian population, Mrs. Oresko sets herself the task of studying this caste,
of examining into their mysteries and their misery, with the hope of discov-
ering the remedy. There are, perhaps, few persons in Europe who under-
stand the Jewish problem in its very essence so thoroughly as the author of
Meir Ezofowicz, a remarkable novel, in which the condition of this inter-
esting people is described with photographic fidelity. Her theme is the
awakening of aspirations toward civilization—an awakening which will come,
and is, in fact, coming in the midst of an ignorance as profound as it is
superb and proud. The hero, a very young man, turns his face, toward the


426
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
light and struggles against the influence of those about him who are ruled
by the rabbi. The latter character, a great cabalist, disdaining everything
which is not connected with cabalism, and not knowing even the language
of the country in which he lives; the melamed* slovenly and quick-tem-
pered ; the grandfather and the great-grandmother of the hero, as well as the
hero himself, all show admirable correctness of observation and appreciation
on the part of the artist who has created them. The author introduces us
into the midst of an unknown world, deeply interesting in many ways to
those who love to study the life of by-gone ages. Europe little imagines
what ethnological, sociological and archæological riches lie hidden in her
bosom. Meïr Ezo fowicz reveals some of them in the attractive dress of
a story of great artistic merit, which the French public will soon have the
opportunity to read and enjoy in a translation. Mrs. Oresko has still a long
literary career before her. She is young, active, courageous and enterpris-
ing. Her presence in the liberal and progressive party is a powerful acquisi-
tion to that body. Her pen is
is as useful as agreeable, and her work is intel-
ligent, influential and durable. In any literature Elise Oresko would occupy
a high place and be a source of deep delight. t]
IN the first quarter of the present century there lived
in Poland a great writer named Clementine Hoffmann
née Tanska. She was not a genius like Mme. de Staël or
George Sand, although her literary ability, which was
almost mediocre, attained nearly to genius through a pro-
found knowledge of, and a noble devotion to, public inter-
ests. In her numerous works she speaks out plainly
against the worship of foreign lands, which was spreading
in an exaggerated form among the wealthy classes; against
the low moral and mental plane on which our women
moved, given up to coquetry and idleness; and she strove
to correct these faults by appeals to patriotism and civic
* Jewish argot for the master of a Hebrew school.-E. O.
+ This admirable little biographical notice of his distinguished literary
compatriot is written for its place at the head of this chapter by my friend,
Mr. Z. Milkowski (“T. T. Jez”), one of the best known of Slavonic novel-
ists, whose numerous works are now being translated into French, and
whose fame will some day, I am sure, cross the Atlantic.-T. S.

POLAND.
427
virtues. She declared that the nation needed all its forces
to rise again, or at least to escape total obliteration. One
of these forces was woman.
Woman's mind, therefore,
ought to be more fully developed and her ideas of domestic
life more elevated. This last demand touched a chord
ever sensitive in Polish women, and Clementine Hoffmann
was but faithful to the past in recalling to her sex their
numerous and important duties, and especially those of
the family circle. Thus her writings, telling only what
the best of Poland already knew, were everywhere heart-
ily welcomed, and, by their appeals to a glorious by-gone
age, enjoyed an enormous popularity. As late as 1850
the works of Clementine Hoffmann were the Bible of our
women, and, though to-day they no longer meet the
demands of the hour, and are quite neglected, the influence
which they exerted throughout a long period of years has
been rich in good results. They snatched Polish women
from complete degeneracy and prepared them for the
grand possibilities of the future.
Clementine Hoffmann had quite a large number of
female literary contemporaries, some of whom were dis-
tinguished for their talents, and all for the intelligent inter-
est which they took in public affairs. It has in fact
become such a fixed characteristic of Polish literary
* It may be interesting to mention that when Clementine Hoffmann was
dying, she expressed the wish that her bones might be laid in the cathedral
of Vavel, at Cracow, where are buried the great men of Poland. Modest
and undervaluing the merit of her life-work, she asked for an humble spot.
The request was granted; her heart was placed in this Polish Westminster
Abbey, and a little tablet on the wall near the door bears this inscription :
“To the talented author and brave citizen.” This brief epitaph is as sig-
nificant as it is touching. It stands as the symbol of the part-no ordinary
one, as the student of our history knows-performed by Polish womanhood
in this Pantheon of national toil and glory.-E. O.

428
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
women, that when even ladies of noble birth take pen in
hand, instead of selecting as their theme a chronicle of
their own charming but frivolous existence, they prefer
to treat questions of a political and social nature.*
Besides the invocation by leading female authors of the
old spirit of woman's participation in the public interests
of the Commonwealth, Roinanticism formed another
powerful factor in this awakening of Polish woman.
The poetry of this school, addressing itself to the people,
the richest source of its inspiration, drew general atten-
tion to an element of the nation neglected until then,
and democratized a society to which the nobles had given
an aristocratic turn. Furthermore, even by its exaggera-
tion of fancy and passion, Romanticism combated materi-
alistic tendencies and urged upon mankind a healthier
ambition, more elevated pleasures and nobler aims than
the tranquil enjoyment of riches and the gratification of
vanity.
Along with the writings of Clementine Hoffmann, the
poetical works of Adam Mickiewicz, and that galaxy
of Romantic bards who revolved about this sun, have
been the mental food of several generations of Polish
* There are many examples of the truth of this statement. For instance,
Anna Iablonowska, née Princess Sapieha, wrote many large volumes on the
condition of the Polish peasantry, and nobly practiced what she preached by
freeing all the serfs on her vast estates and establishing for their use hospitals,
schools, printing-offices, libraries, etc. Anna Mostowska, née Princess
Radziwill, and the Princess Isabella Czartoryska are two more illustrations
of this fact. The latter has published a great deal on agriculture, is the
author of the best popular history of Poland, and has founded at Pulavy (an
estate and château which formerly belonged to the family), a museum of
archæology and art, with this inscription at the entrance : “The Past for
the Future.” The Princess de Wirtemberg, née Princess Czartoryski, who
was in her day the first of Polish novelists, may also be cited in connection
with this subject.-E. O.

POLAND.
429
women. It is true that this nourishment, like everything
else in this world, has produced good and evil results.
The latter, which have survived even unto this day, form
at this moment one of the greatest obstacles in the way
of the struggle for the emancipation of women. But in
frowning on the petty vanities of women, which hold too
prominent a place in contemporary life, and by directing
the attention of our sex toward the people, Romanti-
cism brought them over to the study of serious questions,
to Democracy, so that to-day they are prepared for the
solid, broad, democratic existence of the near future.
The third and last influence came from occidental
Europe, Poland had a traditional affection for France,
and was in direct communication with Germany, so that
our society readily received the new truths sent to us from
the West, The idea of the emancipation of women,
although confused and defective, reached us through the
widely read novels of George Sand, while German philos-
ophy, with its many followers in Poland, also had an
effect on our women. Here, as elsewhere, along with much
that was good and sensible in the young movement, was
mingled much that was bad and ridiculous. For one
woman ennobled by the consciousness of her rights and
true dignity, there were a dozen erring Lélias talking
nonsense, or female adventurers who quoted Léone Léoni
or Jacques to justify their thoughtlessness and their
vices. But the few well-balanced minds, who proclaimed
the new faith with good sense and energy, snatched their
countrywomen from that state of nothingness with which
they were threatened by society and education. They
stand forth as shining examples to their contemporaries,
for it is they who have modified public opinion and
opened untrodden paths to the women of the future.

430
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
About 1840 the movement entered a new phase in
Poland: a singular and remarkable group of women, the
Enthusiasts (Entuzyastki), who represented the good and
some of the bad elements of the three influences just
mentioned, came upon the scene Although the Enthu-
siasts did not form a regularly constituted association,
they acknowledged as leader a female writer of great
talent, but still more distinguished for her force of char-
acter, Kazimira Zmichowska, whose pseudonym was
Gabrielle, and who grouped them about her and inspired
them with her own ardor. Freedom of thought and
conscience, the independence of women, their rights in
education and industry, love of the people, patriotism,
and contempt of public opinion as long as it opposed these
ideas by word or act,—such was the doctrine which they
taught by pen, speech and the example of their own lives.
Courageous even to insolence—as is often the case with
novices, and especially with feminine novices—they some-
times went too far; in philosophizing at random, they
often fell into error; and by imitating men in gesture and
dress, they brought ridicule upon themselves and their
cause. They were women of the purest lives; and while
they believed in human perfectness through knowledge,
labor and love of mankind, they were far from being
Mystics. They professed for the most part a very liberal
Christianity, which bordered on freethinking, and de-
manded equality before the law for both sexes and for all
classes of society. They spoke out boldly for popular
liberty when the people were sunk in slavery, and for
women's right to knowledge and professional labor at a
time when the question of the emancipation of their sex
was scarcely ever mentioned. From this noble group
sprang a large number of enlightened teachers, writers

POLAND.
431
and philanthropists who have done a good work for hu-
manity.
Toward 1863 the Enthusiasts had become very numer-
ous. They were well acquainted with each other, as they
often assembled at chosen places and kept up an extensive
and frequent interchange of letters. But they disap-
peared with the storm—the insurrection of 1863—which
broke upon our country. Some did not survive it, others
died soon afterward, while the few who remained led a
life of retirement. There are, however, now and then in-
stances of Enthusiasts who still take an active part in the
progressive movements of their country. Mrs. Bara-
nowska, for example, the wife of the distinguished phy-
sician of Warsaw, is still the centre of a body of young
people of both sexes, who come to her for encourage-
ment, advice, books, and even pecuniary aid. By her
breadth of mind, her philanthropy, and her elevated pa-
triotism, Mrs. Baranowska stands to-day one of the best
representatives of that noble band under whose influence
the modern advocates of women's rights in Poland passed
their childhood or early youth. In fact, it may be truly
said that we are the descendants of the Enthusiasts who
prepared public opinion to receive the ideas which we
now proclaim.
The vividest imagination could scarcely picture to
itself the rapidity with which the most radical changes oc-
curred in Poland in the short period of about two years
(1863 and 1864). Never, perhaps, in the history of any peo-
ple, has so much been destroyed and set up in so brief a
time. It
may
be said that the flames of the revolution-
ary conflagration, and the means employed to extinguish
them, gave birth to a new world. During a decade, how-
ever, we thought only of the ruins of the past. Nobody

432
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
had the heart, the leisure, or the force to look the situa-
tion in the face and to begin work anew. There was no
society,-only the débris of a society. All was chaos.
After the lapse of several years, about 1870, the Rus-
sian rule grew less implacable, and the Polish nation, by
mere force of habit, became more accustomed to their
situation. Fear diminished, and another generation
sprang up. A fresh life began, and a new treatment
of social questions. In the foreground stands out that
grand reform, the emancipation of the peasantry, with
all its material and moral consequences. It was a blow
at the nobility; from simple consumers they became
producers. It opened new careers to the lower orders,
dignified toil, and rendered society democratic. The
Russian Government had shut the court and civil service
against Poles, so that the nobles, driven from their lands,
were forced into commerce,-until then entirely in the
hands of Jews. Here was another democratic result.
Again, although the idea of nationality had not perished,
we now determined to keep it alive, not by revolutions,
but by industry, by activity in the callings which despot-
ism still left open to us. The new society recognized as
its foundation the people, the family, education, agricul-
ture, and industry. Liberal ideas commenced to take
possession of the public mind.
These great changes affected women as well as men,
and gave a new turn to their aims and existence. But,
of all these mutations, there was one which especially
ched women. Marriage is much more difficult in Po-
land than elsewhere. In the period immediately follow-
ing the revolution of 1863 the country lost one-half of
its male population, for besides those who died on the
field of battle, or were sent into exile, many emigrated to

POLAND.
433
foreign lands. For ten years a marriageable man was a
rarity in Poland. Since that time, however, the numeri-
cal relation between the two sexes has become more nor-
mal, although the contraction of the old fields of activity,
and a lack of thorough acquaintance with the new, still
throw great obstacles in the way of marriage. Certainly
in no country are there so many men who remain celibates
in spite of themselves, and so many women who, through
the impossibility of matrimony, are compelled to earn
their own livelihood.
There are, therefore, many good reasons why Polish
women should have free access to every calling, and the
public recognizes the fact. Since 1870 a marked move-
ment in this direction has been noticed in the press, which
is the only medium in Poland for the expression of opin-
ion, and the principal instrument of propagandism. This
great subject of women's education and I use the word
in its broadest sense—is one of the chief topics of discus-
sion in our periodicals, and, although there are differences
of opinion on the question, all parties unite in demanding
better instruction and more lucrative employment for the
female sex. Some hold that their education need not
extend beyond domestic requirements, the science of
teaching, and a knowledge of a few trades, while others
would fix no limit to their culture and activity. There
are extreme conservatives and journalists who oppose
these reforms, but their number is so small, and their in-
fluence so insignificant, that they are far outweighed by
our moderate liberals and radicals, who favor the move-
ment. The writings on this subject, very numerous and
widely circulated, are from the pens of Polish authors
of both sexes, or translations from foreign languages.
Mill, Legouvé, Laboulaye, Daubié, Paul Leroy-Beau-
28

434
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
The po-
lieu,* etc., are read by most Polish women either in the
original or in translations. Hence arises new enthusiasm,
fresh energy, which the native leaders strive to direct.
Since 1809 the civil law of the Kingdom of Poland +
has been the Napoleonic code, while the other Polish prov-
inces of the Czar are subject to Russian law.
sition of women under the Napoleonic code is well known:
it departs from the custom of the middle ages by giving
them an equal share of the patrimony, while it keeps
to this same past by making married women perpetual
minors. Russian law is, in one particular at least, not as
fair toward women as French law, since it gives the
daughter but a fourteenth part of the paternal inherit-
ance, thus sacrificing her rights to the profit of her
brothers, and since, in case of her death without issue, her
brothers and their male descendants alone inherit her
property, to the complete exclusion of her sisters and
their descendants, male or female. But, on the other
hand, Russian law is more just than the French code in
its dealings with the property rights of married women,
who, on reaching their majority, at twenty-one, have com-
plete control of their fortune.I
Women's subordination is brought out still more
clearly than in the laws by their lamentable educational
and industrial position.
In Poland, as elsewhere, the system of education is di-
* The productions of these French writers which treat of the woman
question are mentioned in the chapter on France.-T. S.
† At the division of Napoleon's Grand Duchy of Warsaw at the Congress
of Vienna in 1815, the eastern and largest portion was formed into what
Alexander was pleased to call the “Kingdom of Poland,” and annexed to
Russia. -T. S.
# This subject of the Russian law in its relation to women is discussed
more fully in the chapter on Russia.-T. S.

POLAND.
435
vided into three stages, viz., elementary, intermediate and
university. Of the three, it is only the first which is the
same for boys and girls; the second is neither so wide-
spread nor so complete for the latter as for the former;
and the third, although exisiting for women in Russia, is
quite unknown in Poland. If a Polish woman would pur-
sue university studies, she must go to St. Petersburg, or
to the universities of western Europe.
The belief in the natural inferiority of women is most
deep-rooted in the lower classes. Although girls as
well as boys in the Kingdom of Poland are commonly
given the rudiments of an education, this is almost never
the case in the Polish provinces. The peasant will send
his boy to school, but only the influence of enlightened
and progressive public opinion can save his girl from
growing up in complete ignorance, and in localities where
no such pressure exists, the instruction of the female
peasantry is entirely neglected. The Polish peasant
woman is well described by Legouvé in his “Moral
History of Women,” when he calls her “
a primitive
soul in a vigorous body attenuated by toil.” In the
Polish provinces of Austria, where the system of popular
education has improved, departure from this prevailing
type is not uncommon ; in the Kingdom of Poland a slow
modification is in progress; but in the other provinces it
persists in its immobility. The situation is better in the
cities. A larger proportion of girls attend school, and
the opinion that they should know how to read and
write is more generally held. In fact, a girl ignorant
of these rudiments would be a rare exception in our
cities.
I now take up intermediate education. The number of
girls' gymnasiums responds better to the public demands

436
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
than is the case with those for boys. In the latter in-
stance there are more pupils than seats in the class-room.*
But it must not be imagined from this fact that girls do
not seek an education as eagerly as boys. They are often
taught at home or in private boarding schools, which are
under the supervision of the government, and which have
the same course of studies as the boys' gymnasiums. Ad-
ministrative centres, like Warsaw and Wilna, possess sev-
eral girls' gymnasiums, and each provincial town has at
least one, while the number of pupils in these establish-
ments varies from one hundred and fifty to five hundred.
The curriculum embraces the modern languages, the
sciences, history, etc., and these institutions might be re-
garded as fulfilling their office sufficiently well, if only the
methods of teaching were better and if the spirit which
pervades them were more practical, more elevated and
more liberal.
But, perhaps, their greatest fault is the
utter neglect of the Greek and Latin languages, so that
their graduates are not prepared for the universities of
Russia and western Europe.
A better education is afforded by the girls' boarding-
schools, which, although under the supervision of the
government, as has just been said, are managed by pri-
vate individuals. Warsaw possesses a dozen such institu-
tions, and every town of the kingdom, however small, has
* There is a singular Russian custom in Poland of limiting the number of
scholars which a gymnasium may receive. For example, the gymnasium of
such or such a city is allowed to have 300, 400, or 500 pupils, and each
class 30, 40, or 50, as the case may be, but when this quota is filled all ap-
plicants are driven to seek admission elsewhere, or—which is generally the
case-to return home. This practice is not regulated by law, but is a tem-
porary measure applied to those parts of the empire which are in disgrace, and
depends entirely for its enforcement upon the good or ill will of the ministry
and their representatives in the provinces.-E. O,

POLAND.
437
at least one. They are completely wanting in the prov-
inces, for the reason that it is there unlawful for Poles to
teach, so that those unfortunate portions of Poland must
send their daughters to us for education.
There are two reasons why these private schools are
superior to those of the State. In the first place, although
everything must be taught in the Russian language, the
professors are Poles, and consequently take a deeper in-
terest in the instruction of their countrywomen than could
be the case with the foreign teachers—the Russians-
of the State schools; and, in the second place, these in-
stitutions are founded and directed, almost without excep-
tion, by women of a high intellectual and moral order,
and are animated by a lofty spirit of patriotism and duty.
Some of them have a wide reputation and count among
their professors many of the most distinguished savants
and authors of the country, but their expensiveness and
the long distances which separate Warsaw—where the
best of them are found—from the other parts of Poland,
render these excellent seminaries accessible only to the
well-to-do classes.
The higher education of women. In pronouncing these
words I am prompted to put on sackcloth and ashes; for
throughout all Poland there is not one single institution
for university instruction. It is true that the subject has
been discussed at great length in the periodical press of
Warsaw; it is true that in 1879, on the occasion of the
celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the literary début
of the famous writer Kraszewski, it was proposed to
open, in connection with the university for men at
the capital, a similar establishment for women; and
it is also true that the government might be prevailed
upon to give its consent and that the opponents of

438
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
the measure are so few and feeble that they could do
but little to check it. But, for three important rea-
sons, nothing substantial has as yet resulted from all these
projects and all this agitation. In the first place, the
rge amount of money necessary for the foundation of
such an institution is an insurmountable obstacle; and
even if this were partially gotten over by annexing the
creation to the men's university, the expenses would still
be too great for a society scarcely risen from its ruins.
If there were a representative body of any kind, a
congress, a parliament, a diet, to take the initiative in
raising subscriptions, the matter would be more easy of
accomplishment; but, unfortunately, no such thing exists
in Russia. The second circumstance which militates
against the measure is a hesitation on the part of even the
most progressive minds, as to whether it is best for society
and women themselves to increase a class, which, owing
to the exclusion of men from the judicature, the civil
service and the profession of teacher, has created an intel-
lectual proletariat scarcely able to keep body and soul
together and forced to seek in Russia and occidental
Europe the livelihood which cannot be found at home.
The third objection—a serious one to every true Pole-
is that, in the proposed university, instruction would have
to be given in the Russian language. These are the
principal reasons, backed by several minor ones, why the
higher education of women is entirely wanting in Po-
land.
But the current in favor of women's intellectual devel-
opment sweeps on in spite of these barriers. Every year
hundreds if not thousands of our girls leave Poland to
pursue their university studies in Russia or the West.
Zurich has its Polish female students, the Sorbonne at

POLAND.
439
Paris counts many in its lecture-rooms,* and from all
parts of Europe come reports of the taking of university
degrees by Polish women. But it is the Russian capital,
only thirty-two hours from Warsaw and twenty hours
from Wilna by rail, which is the Mecca of these thirsters
for knowledge. Far from home, in a strange, large,
expensive city, with small means and a poor prepara-
tion, these brave girls surmount difficulties which are
often almost overwhelming. Public opinion in Poland
does not favor this practice, the press discourages it, and
families regard it as a misfortune. But this does not
mean that society is opposed to the higher education of
women per se. No, far from it. We recoil at the dangers
and sufferings to which our girls must be subjected; we
know too well the evil influences of foreign capitals, and
we fear lest their patriotism diminish. The facts prove
that these objections are well founded. The only female
physician in Poland was educated at Zurich. The
graduates of the St. Petersburg Normal School and the
Bestugew institute have been forced to seek in Russia the
employment refused them in Poland, where the law does
not permit them to teach, while those who prefer home
to a perpetual expatriation have had to accept other
* My own acquaintance with the Latin Quarter confirms this statement.
M. Zévort, of the Department of Public Instruction, on the occasion of the
recent establishment of the Superior Normal School for Women at Sèvres; took
a young Polish girl from her studies at the Sorbonne and made her a teach-
er of mathematics in that institution. Another Pole, Mrs. Abdank, née
Wscieklica, invented an admirable electric lamp in the winter of 1881-2, while
attending lectures on mathematics and physics. Miss Antoinette Milkowska,
daughter of the novelist Milkowski, was busily at work for her baccalaureate
when she was named professor at the new girls' lyceum at Lyons, while
Miss Tomaszewicz, sister of Mrs. Dr. Tomaszewicz-Dobrska, mentioned
farther on in this sketch, is still attending lectures on mathematics and
physics.—T. S.

440
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
work than that originally chosen. But these last have
not toiled at their books in vain. The presence in society
of a group of superior women, with minds broadened by
serious studies, and with characters strengthened by trials,
elevates the intellectual level not only of their sex but of
the nation in general, and acts as a spur to public opinion.
They are the pioneers who smooth the way for further
progress. Aye, more than pioneers, they are martyrs, for
they cannot use their talents, nor gratify the noble longings
of mind and heart. The number of these women, who
are grander, braver and more industrious than happy,
is quite large in Poland. It is difficult to be exact, but
those who have received a higher education in the estab-
lishments of St. Petersburg during the past ten years may
be counted by thousands.
I shall now consider the opportunities afforded educated
women to use what they have learned. No law closes
the civil service to them, but so strong is custom in the
Russian bureaucracy that a woman could not obtain even
the most humble position. An exception to this state-
ment must be made in favor of the telegraphic service. In
1878 thirty females were employed in this department at
Warsaw alone, who received from five hundred to fifteen
hundred rubles,--very high salaries when we consider the
general pay of women. But I must add that these thirty
fortunate individuals were Russians. The railroads be-
longing to private companies sometimes employ females
in clerical capacities, but the instances are very rare, and
are encountered only in the Kingdom of Poland. In
these directions, therefore, there is but little encourage-
ment.
The teacher's profession offers in the Kingdom of Po-
land a better field for the employment of women. The

POLAND.
441
primary and private boarding-schools contain many female
teachers, and, although the pay is beggarly, and the work
hard and disagreeable, the positions are eagerly sought
and admirably filled. The salary of the female teachers
in these private boarding-schools is much lower than that
of the male teachers. The latter command from one to
three rubles an hour, while the former can earn but be-
tween fifty copecks and a ruble.* The most famous liter-
ary women cannot obtain more than a ruble. Thus the
highest price paid women is the lowest in the case of
men.
But what is said here is true only of the Kingdom of
Poland. In the rest of the vast Polish territory under
the sway of the Czar, Russians of both sexes may alone
fill these positions. Thus, driven from the State schools
and the boarding-schools, which, it will be remembered,
are under the partial control of the government, female
teachers with official diplomas, and those without
these diplomas—the latter as ignorant as they are
poor-crowd into the field of private instruction, where the
supply being much greater than the demand, the pay is
low. A woman may earn in the city, perhaps, six
hundred rubles a year,-a sum which can scarcely keep the
wolf from the door. The highest price paid is fifty co-
pecks an hour, and the lowest is often but ten copecks. If
we subtract one hundred and fifty days (Sundays, holi-
days, and vacations) from three hundred and sixty-five,
we find that a teacher works two hundred and fifteen
days; and if she is in the school-room eight hours each
day, and receives ten copecks an hour, she will have
earned at the end of the year just one hundred and sev-
very low.
* A copeck is worth about three-quarters of a cent, and a ruble, about
seventy-five cents.-T.S.

442
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
enty-two rubles! This is a pitiable return for hard work
and weary toil often performed by those who, if it were
not for political causes, might secure an honorable and
lucrative place in society.
Medicine, literature, and the fine arts are accessible to
women if they are not discouraged by the obstacles which
lie in the way of a preparation for these callings.
In medicine, besides a foreign diploma, the candidate
must be a graduate of the St. Petersburg Medical School.
It is true that the same rule holds good for men, but I
have already shown how much more difficult it is for
women to fulfill these conditions. What has become of
the Polish female medical students at the Russian capi-
tal? One practices at Riga and another at Polock.
Where are the rest ? It is a difficult question to answer.
Three or four years ago Mrs. Tomaszewicz-Dobrska re-
turned from Zurich to Warsaw, and is still the only female
practitioner in the Kingdom of Poland. Her success is
evidenced by the increasing number of her patients, which
equals that of the most celebrated physicians of the Po-
lish capital, and which shows that society, far from op-
posing the innovation, heartily approves it. I must add,
however, that this friendly disposition of the public is due
in no small measure to the admirable conduct of Mrs.
Tomaszewicz-Dobrska, who knows how to unite sim-
plicity with learning, and modesty with independence.
The diseases of women and children, and the great de-
mand for female physicians in the country, where men do
not willingly go, open a grand field of lucrative work for
our sex, which will doubtless be quickly filled when the
difficulties blocking the way to a medical education are
removed.
Polish women take an active part in letters, especially

POLAND.
443
in the departments of poetry, romance, criticism, peda.
gogics, and children's literature. Here, again, the lack of
facilities for education is a serious obstacle, but, never-
theless, some of our female novelists have gained the first
rank, in the opinion of both the public and competent
critics, and enjoy a popularity and exert an influence
which, in both cases, is very considerable.* There are
newspapers at Warsaw which women have edited for the
past sixteen years, and which have much weight with the
public. The lyceum platform is very popular in Poland,
and female lecturers—for the most part authors-are gen-
erally as successful as men. The remuneration for liter-
ary labor is, as a rule, the same for both sexes. As trans-
lators, women perform more work than men; but in
scientific literature, with the exception of pedagogics,
they play a very insignificant part.
Here, as in the rest of Europe, the dramatic art offers
a lucrative employment to women. Many of the actresses
and prime-donne who have made distinguished reputa-
tions in Europe and America are Poles. Painting is fol-
lowed by several well-known female artists. Some of our
great painters admit women to their studios, but the
School of Fine Arts at Cracow is not open to female stu-
dents. Mrs. Madeline Andrzejkowicz, one of our artistic
celebrities, has endeavored to supply this want by estab-
lishing recently at Warsaw a school of painting for
women.
I shall next touch upon the industrial professions, where
great progress has been made since 1870 in the interest of
both sexes. Industrial or professional schools have been
founded with the best results. The first was established
at Warsaw in 1874, and up to 1880 it had been attended
* Mrs. Oresko is herself the best example of what is said in the text. -T.S.

444
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
by seven hundred and forty-three pupils, of whom three
hundred and sixty-five were from the capital, and three
hundred and seventy-eight from the provinces. Ten of
the graduates have opened similar, though more modest,
schools, while seventy-six have created shops owned and
directed by themselves. Thus, from one single industrial
school have sprung in six years ten schools and seventy-
six shops, not to speak of the graduates which it has
sent forth, who earn their livelihood by means of the
trades learned in this institution. Women flock to these
schools from the provinces, since, for political reasons,
none exist outside of the Kingdom of Poland.
Many private individuals are interested in this indus-
trial movement. Mrs. Marie Lubienska, for example,
gives lessons in engraving and painting on glass to ten
pupils at her own house in Warsaw, while Mrs. Gabriel,
who spent a long time abroad studying lace-making, now
offers in the same city free instruction in this beautiful
art. A school of lace-making, recently opened at the
capital, had ninety applicants for admission on the first
day, which proves that our women are fully awake to the
need of an industrial education.
Among manual occupations, sewing holds the same
place as teaching among the intellectual pursuits,—that is
to say, the supply is greater than the demand, and the
pay is, therefore, very low. Needle-women of ordinary
skill, for example, earn only about eight rubles a month
on plain sewing. The female workers in artificial flowers,
of whom there are some two thousand at Warsaw alone,
are much better paid than needle-women. The publishing
department of newspapers, book-binderies, photographic
galleries, and other callings, employ women. They are
frequently at the head of business houses, and often act

POLAND
445
as clerks and bookkeepers, while many circulating libra-
ries, and several large and well-known book-shops at War-
saw are managed by them. Many Polish women are
devoted to agriculture, and they have often gained prizes
for fruits, vegetables, seeds, cattle, and silkworms at the
Warsaw agricultural and industrial exhibitions. Women
have also made a creditable appearance at these exhibi-
tions in artificial flowers, gloves, book-binding, shoes, lace,
embroidery on silk, painting on porcelain, etc.
The unfortunate condition of Poland as a nation ren-
ders the political emancipation of women impossible.
Even the entrance of women into the government civil
service is met by the great obstacle that three-fourths of
the men are also shut out of the departments because
of their nationality. Complete legislative impotence, ex-
cessively limited means of propagandism, lack of a broad
system of popular education, the right to teach taken out
of the hands of Poles,—such are a few of the causes why
so little progress has been made in the woman question
in Poland. But our liberals and advanced leaders of
thought are exerting every effort to remove these im-
pediments to national and individual development, and
the future is full of hope for Polish womanhood.


446
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
CHAPTER XVI.
BOHEMIA,
BY ELISE KRÁSNOHORSKÁ.
[Miss Elise Pech, known in Bohemian literature by her pseudonym, Krás.
nohorská, was born at Prague in 1847. Her father was a varnisher and sign-
painter. She acquired the rudiments of an education in a private school, but
as there were then no institutions in Bohemia for the more advanced instruc-
tion of girls, she was forced to give up the cultivation of her mind for the train-
ing of her fingers: she began to learn needle-work. A friendship for the
celebrated novelist, Caroline Světlá, decided her career: the humble sew-
ing-girl became an author. Elise Krásnohorská has given to the world
the following original works: Three volumes of poems, a score of novels,
a dozen librettos and other dramatic writings, stories for children, bio-
graphies, literary criticisms, essays on different phases of the woman ques-
tion, and treatises on music and pedagogics. Since 1875 she has been
the editor of the Woman's Journal (Ženské Listy), a monthly published at
Prague, and has just produced a complete metrical translation of the great
national poem of Poland, Pan Tadeusz, by Adam Mickiewicz. Miss
Krásnohorská is at present one of the collaborators of the grand illus-
trated work, “Fohemia" (Čechy), a topographical, historical, and pictorial
description of her native country.]
AFTER its terrible disasters, Bohemia, towards the end
of the eighteenth century, had already disappeared from
among existing nations. Joseph II., the most remark-
able of the Austrian emperors, in assuming the crown of
Bohemia, in addition to his other royal diadems, little
dreamt of the future which awaited a people, on whose
tomb he thought to plant the torch of civilization and

BOHEMIA.
447
1
reform through the medium of the German tongue and
the German intellect. The rays of this funereal torch
pierced to the heart of the nation, and the burning pain
awakened it to a new life. And while it was believed
that serfs, beggars, and vagabonds alone composed this
people, Bohemia was seen to rise again in the person of
her noblest sons—thinkers, poets, savants, champions
and martyrs of patriotic enthusiasm.
At their side stood Bohemia's women, who performed
their part in the regeneration of the humiliated race.
How repulsive these noble efforts were to the prejudices
of a denationalized society is painted by Caroline Světlá,
the most celebrated of our writers, in a true and touching
manner in her excellent novel, “The First Bohemian
Woman” (Pruni Cěška). Many educated women threw
themselves into the combat for the restoration of the ver-
nacular tongue to the family and society, and came gen-
erously to the aid of those patriots who, having sacrificed
everything to the struggle for nationality, found them-
selves reduced to poverty or, after the unfortunate effort
of 1848, condemned to imprisonment and exile. Dobro-
mila Rettig, Bohuslava Rajská, the nun Maria Antoinette,
Vlastimila Růžičková,—women of letters; Maria Čacká,
the tender poetess of maternal love; but above all, two
persons of remarkable intellect and the grandest merit-
the noble Polish-Bohemian, Honorata z Wišniowskich
Zapová, and Božena Němcová,—are a few names selected
from a long list of women, who took an active part in the
battle for the resuscitation of their native land.
At a meeting of Bohemian women, called together to
ask for the pardon of the political prisoners of 1848, the
high-minded Honorata, wife of the Bohemian writer,
Charles Zap, carried away by enthusiasm, proposed the

448
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
establishment of the Slavonic Women's Society, for the
education of girls in the spirit of Bohemian patriotism.
In 1855 she accomplished this object, but scarcely was
the school, which had been the darling dream of her life,
opened, when it had to be closed on account of the
founder's broken health. This excellent woman died on
January 4, 1856.
Her contemporary, Božena Němcová, who was born
in 1820 and died in 1862, was a superior writer. Her lit-
erary career began by a collection of folk-lore composed
in a most graceful style. She also produced a considera-
ble number of exquisite short stories, and at a later pe-
riod that fine novel, “The Grandmother” (Babička),
which has been translated into Russian and French, and
which depicts the ancient customs of Bohemian family
life in such a charming manner, that this single work suf-
ficed to give the author a prominent place in the litera-
ture of her country.
Němcová had not yet passed away when a genius,
more brilliant and rarer than her self, blossomed forth
in our midst. Caroline Světlá was born in 1830, and,
since the beginning of her literary life in 1857, she has
been the successful and adored guide of the intellectual
movement in favor of Bohemian women.
Her eloquent
poetry, her moral courage and energetic activity in de-
fending and propagating every noble and salutary idea,
have brought about many useful reforms and popularized
more than one sterling principle. In her novels, Světlá
paints with the most delicate art the inward life and aspi-
rations of the nation's heart, in contradistinction to
Němcová, who dwells rather on external qualities. She
prefers extraordinary and remarkable characters, the em-
inent personages of our history, to those general and com-

BOHEMIA.
449
mon types so often described. She has a broad and
highly cultivated mind, a warm heart and a rich imagina-
tion. Truth, virtue, patriotism, an ideal future compensat-
ing all the wrongs humanity has suffered, -such is the
spirit which animates those beautiful, fascinating crea-
tions, full of life and strength, drawn by the powerful
pen of a woman who was as grand a poet as patriot and
novelist. She it was—and this is not the least of her
merits—who introduced the woman question into Bohe-
mian literature.
Her sister, Sophia Podlipská, an author of distinguished
talents, who possesses less imagination and fire than
Světlá, and whose acute mind has a tendency towards
philosophical meditations, has produced stories, novels
and didactic works full of charm, soul and exquisite ideas.
Her writings, which enjoy the highest respect of every-
body, have a special attraction for the young girl and the
mature woman, who love to reflect on her experiences.
Besides her novels, Podlipská has written many charming
children's stories and several treatises of great value on
pedagogics.
These two sisters are at the head of a large and able
group of literary women, such as Renata Tyrš, who has
written very learnedly on the fine arts; Stránecká, whose
beautiful productions give promise that Moravia will find
in her its Němcová; Bohumila Klimeš, who devotes her-
self to similar studies; the poets Irma Geissl, Božena
Studnicka, Albina Mráček and Berta Mühlstein; the
novelist Věnceslava Lužická, who, like Maria Riegr,
Anna Bayer, M.D., Julia Gintl and Clemence Hanuš, is,
at the same time, a writer on moral and educational sub-
jects; the sisters Dora and Milina Hanuš, Maria Čer-
vinka, and many others, who occupy themselves with

450
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
1
travels, biography, etc.; the sisters Augusta and Amelia
Šlechta, who are known not only as authors but also as
designers and wood engravers; and, among the large
number of translators, Eliza Peška, the actress, who
has translated and adapted an astounding quantity of
dramas.
The Bohemian theatre owes much to women, who
as playwrights and actresses hold a high rank. Odile
Sklenář-Malá, a tragedian of magnificent talent, of ele-
vated taste and an earnest and captivating enthusiasm,
stands first among our singers and actresses. Girls who
wish to prepare for the stage must pursue their studies
in private, or in the Prague Conservatory of Music, where
the singers for the opera are trained,—the only public in-
stitution of this kind in Bohemia.
The opportunities for women's education in Bohemia
are most lamentable. The Prague Academy of Fine
Arts does not admit women, though an intermediate
school of design and painting, established at the capital
by the government a few years ago, is open to them.
The universities are closed to female students.* The
same thing is true of all polytechnic, industrial, commer-
cial, agricultural and mechanic art institutions, and of
all intermediate schools. Their doors are firmly barred
against girls. In a word, the State did nothing, until
very recently, for the education of Bohemia's daughters
after they left the primary schools. Almost everything
* Qur laws not only refuse to give women a higher education, but they
will not allow them to use the learning acquired in foreign universities.
Julia Keck, M.D., and Anna Bayer, M.D., who were graduated in
Switzerland, may not practice medicine in their own country. There is but
one female dentist in Bohemia, Mrs. Simon, who has met with success at
Prague.-E. K.

BOHEMIA. .
451
they learn beyond the a, b, c's is due to private enter-
prise.*
It was not until 1863, that the Prague municipal council
decided to open, at the expense of the city, a high school
for Bohemian girls. It is a beautiful building, and what
is more important, it is well endowed. This foundation
called for imitation, and most of the other cities of
Bohemia followed the good example set by the capital.
Then the general government began to show signs of
waking up to its duty, and in 1867, a normal school for.
Bohemian girls was established at Prague, where only a
German one had been up to this time. To-day there are
three schools of this kind in Bohemia and Moravia.
Associations of women look after the other branches of
girls' education. The Society of St. Ludmila, for exam-
ple, has attempted at Prague a school of porcelain paint-
ing. Caroline Světlá founded in the same city in 1871 a
society for the industrial and commercial education of
Bohemian girls, composed of two thousand women, whose
donations, augmented by municipal and governmental
subventions, support a school frequented by over five hun-
dred pupils, the greater part of whom pay no tuition fee.
Those who are graduated with credit are found positions.
Encouraged by the generous aid of the Bohemian Medi-
cal Association, the society conducts a school for the
training of nurses, the first ever established in the em-
pire. This organization, which has done so much to dis-
arm prejudice, has a monthly organ, the Woman's Jour-
nal (Ženské Listy), devoted to the women's movement,
and edited by Elise Krásnohorská.
* Among the great number of these private institutions for girls may be
mentioned those of Mrs. Amerling and Miss Peška, which are the best at
Prague for earnest and patriotic work.-E. K.

452
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
As teachers, women are employed only in the element-
ary schools, and receive the same pay as men.* They
also find occupation in the government postal and tele-
graphic service, but the field of women's work is excess-
ively restricted in Bohemia.
Charity in a thousand forms is the object of most of
the other associations. Those composed entirely of
patriotic Bohemian women, are devoted mainly to sup-
plying clothing, books, etc., to needy school children of
both sexes, to founding infant schools and crèches, to the
education of orphans, to the opening of soup-houses
where the hungry poor may live cheaply, to the shelter-
ing of the homeless, etc., etc. The Red Cross Society
has branches among our women, and reading-rooms,
lecture clubs and musical societies are common.
The moment it was seen that the spirit of Bohemian
nationality was invincible, the disdain of its enemies gave
place to intense hatred, and there began a bitter struggle
to snatch the education of the youth from the hands of
our race. But Bohemia's women came to the rescue of
our threatened language and patriotism, and these nu-
merous societies have accomplished not only a grand
charitable and educational work, but they have been an
important agent in keeping alive the idea of our nation-
ality.
Charity and instruction unite in the aims of the Amer-
ican Club of Bohemian women, founded at Prague by
Mr. Vojta Náprstek, a liberal-minded patriot, who, like
* When I asked Miss Krásnohorská if there was not some mistake here—if
it were really so that schoolmistresses were paid the same as school-masters,—
she replied with apparent surprise : “Of course, the same." In spite of our
famous common school system, we find Bohemia our superior in this particu-
lar. How long will it be in the United States before we may answer this
same question with Miss Krásnohorská's" of course?"-T.S.

BOHEMIA.
453
his philanthropic mother, the late Mrs. Anna Náprstek,
has devoted his fortune to the public good by enriching
the industrial museum created by her, and by succoring
the poor to whom she had been a generous benefactor.
Mr. Náprstek had spent several years in the United
States, where he had witnessed the remarkable
prog-
ress of the women's movement, and, on returning to his
native land, he wished to introduce among us the ideas he
had so much admired on the other side of the Atlantic.
Such was the origin of the American Club of Bohemian
women. Every Sunday, instructive lectures are given in
its roons, and during the first years the subjects were
principally drawn from the brilliant examples set by the
United States in this question of women's emancipation.
Under the auspices of this club, Mr. Náprstek organized,
some twenty years ago, an exhibition of sewing machines,
which were unknown at Prague until that time, and here
were given the first lessons in their use. He has also
opened to the members of the club his polyglot library,
containing many literary treasures, and his beautiful col-
lection of objects of art.* It will thus be seen that Mr.
Náprstek has every reason to be proud of the nickname
which has been given him of “the women's advocate.”+
* Some idea may be obtained of the difficulties which progress encounters
in Bohemia, when it is known that this admirable club is not allowed to enjoy
all the rights of an association, but is forced by the government to endure the
restrictions of a sort of private society.-E. K.
+ A lady writing me from Prague says: "The Club has always been in a
most flourishing condition although it has never had a constitution or by-
laws to hold it together,—nothing but the one bond of philanthropy. At
first it had not even a name. But outsiders began to call its members the
Americans,' because they adopted American improvements in their homes.
The appellation was accepted by the Club as an honorable title, and from
that time it formally called itself the 'American Club.'”-T. S.

454
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.

Indeed Bohemian women need an advocate. We have
already perceived that they have many rights to conquer,
but there are still others which have not yet been men-
tioned. The Austrian code, for example, is not free from
contradictions in its treatment of our sex, Thus, while
the testimony of a woman is considered valid in criminal
cases of the gravest nature, she may not sign as witness
the simplest civil document. Again, if she be a widow
with children, she has authority over their tutor, with the
title of maternal tutor, and yet she may not be the tutor
herself. The ancient law of the kingdom of independent
Bohemia, on the other hand, recognized women as tu-
tors. But the Austrian code is just to us in all that re-
gards the rights of possession, inheritance, etc., where we
are placed on the same footing with men. Dissolution
of marriage is permitted, but divorced persons may not
remarry.
The electoral law of the empire—and what I say
here
holds good for the whole monarchy as well as for Bohe-
mia—treats women more fairly than is the case in other
European countries. They have a voice in the munici-
pal, provincial and national elections, though a male citi-
zen duly authorized by them casts their vote. With this
single reserve—a very important one, it must be confessed
women are politically the equal of men. At
Prague, however, this is not the case. The Bohemian
capital preserves an ancient privilege which is in contra-
diction to the Austrian electoral law, and which excludes
us from the elective franchise.
Universal suffrage does not exist in Bohemia, nor for
that matter in the empire, but the payment of a certain
amount of taxes confers the right to vote.
I do not
enter into the details of the electoral law, which is some-
our

BOHEMIA.
455
what complicated, which has its exceptions and contra-
dictions, and is in fact an apple of discord in Austria in
more than one respect; but, speaking generally, it may
be said that a woman who owns property, who is in
business, or who pays taxes, may designate a citizen,
possessing her confidence, to represent her at the polls.
Our women are satisfied with this system, and prefer
it to casting their ballots in person. .
It may be said, also, that women are eligible to office,
or at least that there is no law against their accepting it,
while there are instances of their having done so. In
southern Bohemia, a short time ago, a countess was
chosen member of a provincial assembly (okresní zastupi-
testvo) with the approval of the body, on the condition
that she should not participate personally in its delibera-
tions, but should be represented by a man having full
power to act for her.*
But I cannot close this short sketch without devoting
at least a page to the German element in Bohemia.
There exists at Prague a society of German women for
the promotion of industrial and commercial instruction, a
lyceum for German girls, a normal school for the prepa-
ration of German school-mistresses, and several private
institutions for the education of girls. A women's indus-
trial society, composed partly of Germans and partly of
Bohemians, is also found at the capital, while the two
races work side by side in several charitable societies, etc.
Encouraged by the prosperity of the Bohemian training
school for nurses, which has already been mentioned, the
* At Agram in Croatia (Austria) a woman was elected some time ago
member of the municipal council, and no objection was made. Of course
these cases are very rare, but they have their significance.-E. K.

456
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
German women founded a similar institution, which,
however, has not been so successful, because those
who consecrate themselves to the care of the sick come
from the people, and cannot profit by instruction given
in German.
German society at Prague is not composed of the va-
rious classes of the population, as is the case with Bohe-
mian society, but it is chiefly made up of shop-keepers
and merchants, the greater part of whom are Jews, whose
influence is felt in all the German business life of
Bohemia.
Public opinion is, in one particular at least, and for
economic reasons, favorable to women's emancipation.
The population of Bohemia contains two hundred thou-
sand more females than males, and the efforts to render
the former capable of self-support are naturally encour-
aged. But this fact does not check the presumptuous
from declaring, in Bohemia, as elsewhere, that women
have less ability than men, and that the work of the
former is inferior to that of the latter. A still graver
charge is that women are too accessible to illiberal and
reactionary influences, and that therefore they should be
refused admission into posts of importance. In order to
prove for all time that these assertions are false, it should
be the task of those of us whose minds are open to the
light to elevate our sex to a true comprehension of prog-
ress, liberty and patriotism, so that the full powers and
noble qualities of Bohemian women may be known of
all men.

THE ORIENT.
457
CHAPTER XVII.
THE ORIENT.
BY KALLIOPE A. KEHAYA.
[Miss Kalliope A. Kehaya was born at Broussa, a city of Bithynia, in Asia
Minor, of a noble family, her grandfather being a very conspicuous citizen,
whence the name Kehaya or representative. Her father followed a commer-
cial career in this same city. Kalliope was educated in Athens at the estab-
lishment of the American Philhellenist, Mrs. Hill, between whom and her-
self sprang up a warm friendship which still continues, and she entered later
the Arsakion, the National Seminary for women, where she took her diploma.
Miss Kehaya spent two years in London, and on returning to Greece was
placed at the head of Mrs. Hill's college. For three years she performed
the duties of secretary to the board of managers of an industrial home for
the poor, which she was instrumental in founding at Athens. In 1874 she
visited France, and, on the invitation of the Greek ladies of Marseilles, lec-
tured before five hundred persons in that city. She was invited to Con-
stantinople this same year to take charge of a Greek seminary for women,
and in 1875 became principal of the Zappion, a grand female college in this
same city, which position she still holds. Since her connection with the
Zappion, Miss Kehaya has done considerable literary work. At the end of
each scholastic year, she delivers an oration, which is published annually
under the title of “Educational Memoirs, Serving as a Vade Mecum to the
Students of the Zappion.” “A Refutation of Lefèvre's 'Philosophy of
Socrates,'” and four lectures delivered in the hall of the Hellenic Syllogos
of Constantinople belong to this period. Miss Kehaya is also the author of
a work entitled the “ Elevation of Female Character," a "Manual of Domes-
tic Economy," and a course of lectures, the “ Duty of Nurses,” given under
the auspices of the Greek Women's Association of Athens, of which she
was the founder.]
As COMPACT, national unity is entirely wanting in the


458
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Orient, I cannot write of the situation in this portion
of Europe as has been done in the preceding sketches,
where the social life of England, France, Germany, etc.,
has, in each instance, been treated as a united and homo-
geneous body. I am obliged to make a distinction be-
tween the women of independent Greece and the Chris-
tian Greek women still under a foreign yoke—although
they are intimately linked by the same language and
religion, the solid foundation of Greek nationality-and
then to discriminate between these two classes and Ori-
ental women in general, by which I understand the Otto-
mans, Armenians, Jews and Bulgarians. I shall say but
little concerning these latter races, for their women are in a
state of lamentable inactivity which offers almost nothing
worthy of record.
“The Ottoman woman," writes a Greek who has
studied Turkey very closely, “ on account of the religion
of the Koran and the life of the harem, cannot be looked
upon as either a wife or a mother. It is true that she
has some good qualities which might make her a worthy
member of society; but her ignorance, her humiliating
position, and her exclusive and sensual existence dwarf all
development and destroy every hope of amelioration.
These poor souls often possess a poetical mind, which is
always of a lyrical cast, and they sing of love and its re-
lations. The chief amusement of their days is the read-
ing of Arabic fables which dwell on the harem and the
various aspects of polygamy. They are so wrapped up
in their religious beliefs that they forget their duties
toward their fellow-beings, although many are distin-
guished for sentiments of philanthropy and hospitality.
They generally love luxury and are delighted with pre-

THE ORIENT.
459
cious stones and rich cashmeres. Their manner of dress-
ing is unique. Its chief aim is to hide every part of the
body, and especially the face. Some time ago great
efforts were made to introduce European fashions into
Turkey, but the innovation met with little favor, on the
ground that they were wanting in taste and elegance.
Many Ottoman women, especially among the rich fami-
lies, are striving to completely reform the national
dress and to have intercourse with the women of other
religions. It is no uncommon thing to see these bold
innovators taking a walk through the markets, the public
gardens, in the streets of the Pera, or rowing on the Bos-
porus; but as many disturbances have resulted therefrom,
the ecclesiastic and civil authorities have several times
vigorously enforced the old customs. There are exam-
ples-unfortunately too rare—especially in the harems of
certain distinguished pashas, where earnest attempts have
been made to establish true family life, and where the
children are brought up under the care and eye of their
parents by European governesses, either French, English
or German, from whom they learn not only European
languages but European habits.
“ Although the establishment of girls' schools among
the Mussulmanic population has been tried, social preju-
dices and religious fanaticism have rendered the attempt
abortive; so that Ottoman women, often remarkable for
mental power, are debased intellectually as well as socially,
and find in the material and common things of life their
only occupation. For all these reasons, the moral situ-
ation of Turkish women is far from perfection, although
there are many noble natures who long for progress and
reform. But fanaticism condemns everything to mortal
stagnation. It can be easily imagined, therefore, that

460
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
their civil condition is lamentable and their political posi-
tion utterly insignificant. In the country, however, where
the Turks lead an agricultural life, the women work in the
fields with the men, and are therefore better off than their
sisters of the cities.”
Armenian women are a curious compound of different
elements of education. The national language, which
until very recently had no literature of its own, is cor-
rectly spoken only by the learned few who study its per-
fectionment, while the Turco-Armenian tongue, the
ordinary vehicle of speech, renders intellectual and moral
instruction difficult and imperfect on account of its pov-
erty. Domestic life presents numerous odd and strong
contrasts. Many rich families of Constantinople have
European governesses for their children and adopt Euro-
pean dress, but this change being not the slow and
natural growth of years but sudden and forced, the
real Armenian character shows itself in spite of western
fashions and education. Thus there is often a striking
difference between parents and children. Most fathers
and mothers walk awkwardly with toes turned in-a de-
formity not noticed in their offspring--and the bodies of
the former are heavy and stiff, while the latter, and espe-
cially the girls, are free from these defects. Although
large, they have supple and agile limbs, move gracefully
and generally possess an elegant form. So great is this
dissimilarity between parents and children, that it is
sometimes difficult to believe that they are of the same
household. This new generation dresses tastefully, speaks
Turkish with a grace that their vulgar vernacular would
not admit, and conducts itself with propriety and tact in
the various duties of society.

THE ORIENT.
461
As regards their manner of life, Armenian women re-
semble their Ottoman sisters in many respects. They
lead a simple existence. Questions of social and public
importance but too rarely occupy their attention, so that
women's associations, clubs, societies, meetings, etc., are
entirely unknown. Their intellectual state is utterly lack-
ing in the spiritual element. If we except some primary
schools under ecclesiastical control, nothing is done for
female education. They do not of course participate in
public life, for politics do not exist in Armenia, and
while, as Turkish subjects, they are governed by the Ot-
toman code, it is the Christian religion and ecclesiastical
law which regulate the family relations.
As Salonica and Constantinople are the two principal
cities of Turkey where Jews are found in great numbers,
it is easy to form a general idea of the Hebrew women of
the Orient by studying them in these two localities.
In these cities, the Jews occupy special quarters in-
habited only by their own race, and have little to do with
those outside of their own sect. Even business transac-
tions with persons of another religion are very rare, and
are not so honestly conducted as when Jews alone are
the parties. They have colossal fortunes, which they
employ only to increase their riches; they are laborious
and great producers, and their moral, social, civil and in-
tellectual condition is very peculiar and very imperfect.
At her twelfth or thirteenth year the Hebrew girl be-
comes a wife and a mother, so that—the vitality of the
nation sapped by early marriage—we generally find the
women small, poorly developed, awkward, feeble and
nervous. They are clever with the needle, although they
have no taste; and, while many imitate European fash-

462
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
ions, their dress is inelegant. They cover their heads
with a cap of Egyptian origin which is not becoming,
especially in the case of married women, whom custom
requires to hide entirely their hair.
The moral and intellectual existence of the Hebrew
woman is centred in her religion, in which she is a fanatic.
The sentiment of humanity is limited to those of her
faith, for the God of the Israelites belongs only to them-
selves. The wives of several well-known bankers have
formed from time to time societies for the benefit of their
sisters, whence have sprung primary and normal schools
for the education of Hebrew girls. These intelligent
women began by stepping outside of their isolation and
making the acquaintance of Greek circles, which greatly
contributed to the opening of their minds, and which has
rendered some of them leading members of society.
The Bulgarian women of the country lead an agricul-
tural and pastoral life, while those of the cities, having
so recently renounced their nomad existence—for it is
only since the treaty of San Stefano that Bulgaria has
entered the circle of modern civilized States—are not yet
fully prepared to assume the new duties of the new order
of things. My remarks on this division of my subject
shall, therefore, be brief.
Their habits are very primitive, and their dress, on ac.
count perhaps of the climate, is very simple and quite
characteristic in its simplicity. The whole idea of ele-
gance consists in the embroidery of the tunic, chemise
and belt. Their common every-day wants, which are
very
limited in number, are easily expressed by their
imperfect language, and, as nothing worthy the name of
society exists, social duties and occupations are unknown.

THE ORIENT.
463
The subject of female education is only beginning to
occupy the attention of Bulgaria, so that there is but
little progress to report under this head. In the large
cities something has been done for girls' primary instruc-
tion, while many Bulgarian women, who have received a
Greek education and who speak Greek fluently, exert a
beneficial influence on society. There are some rare in-
stances in the upper classes of women who have enjoyed
a European education, and a movement is now under
way to send girls to foreign schools with the object of
elevating and organizing Bulgarian society.
The natural traits of the Greek woman prove that the
race, notwithstanding its political vicissitudes, has
every-
where preserved intact the true national character. Her
activity, the vivacity of her eyes, the dignity of her bear-
ing, her devotion, her courage, her suppleness, her pres-
ence of mind, render the Greek woman interesting,
earnest, imposing. She is not so passionate and prone
to romantic love as Europeans have represented. She
cannot be made to serve as a heroine for the novels and
dramas of to-day, but she might furnish the ancient
tragic poets admirable models of sincerity, earneștness,
piety and patriotism. If Alceste, Iphegenia, Antigone
and other women were the chosen types of the old poets,
the Greek women of the nineteenth century offer ex-
amples as lofty and dramatic as those of the past. The
women of Missolonghi during the revolution, the heroines
of Sulli and the island of Chios, as well as those of Psara,
attest that in their veins runs the same blood as did of
yore
in the veins of the high-spirited women of Ionia
and Doris. The school of Phidias might find to-day,
especially in the mountains of Arcadia, living portraits

464
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
of Diana, while Homer's faithful Penelope and chaste
Nausicaa still exist in the persons of many contemporaries.
The Greek woman is religious, but her religion differs
essentially from the theocracies of Asia and the fanati-
cism of other sects, so fatal to the welfare of our sex. It
is her guide in the practical duties of life,—not a mere
form, the result of theological study and dogmatic theo-
ries. She worships her family, leads an almost exclu-
sively domestic life, and loves to boast of the neatness
and decorum of her home.
The principal centres of Greek civilization in the
Orient are Constantinople, Smyrna, Salonica, Seres, Ad-
rianople, Philippopolis and Janina. It is in these cities
that are found the best schools for both sexes, and the
most important associations of men and women for edu-
cational and charitable purposes. The primary and
intermediate instruction of girls is similar to that of inde.
pendent Greece, where the female teachers have been
educated and a good normal training offered them.
It is due to the liberal, elevated spirit of this culture
that Greek women, along with their domestic duties,
cheerfully sacrifice certain days of the week to philan-
thropic work. Grouped in societies, they conduct girls'
schools, hospitals, orphan asylums, poor-houses and
insane asylums, contributing their best energies to the
cause of suffering humanity. It was this same enthusi-
asm and devotion, to cite but one of many examples,
which created a few years ago at Constantinople an estab-
lishment where poor, honest working-women might find
a means of support, without being forced to have recourse
to the humiliation of mendicity.
"Female education is limited for the moment to primary

THE ORIENT.
465
and intermediate instruction, as the present moral and
social needs of the country demand nothing more. But
since intercourse with Europe has become more general,
and since the French language-the international tongue
-has been made a compulsory study in the schools, the
question of female education has entered a new phase.
The French classics, novels and dramas, and the French
and German governesses have awakened new ideas in the
Orient concerning the sphere of women. It has there-
fore been found necessary of late to afford girls an oppor-
tunity to acquire a higher education, and normal schools
for the training of female teachers according to the im-
proved pedagogic methods have been established, the
best being at Seres, Smyrna and Philippopolis. At Con-
stantinople, where the Greek population is very large
and where there are many rich and cultivated Greeks
devoted to letters and the cause of education, it has been
possible to create two excellent institutions for the higher
education of women, the Zappion and the Pallas, in both
of which the curriculum of studies resembles, in all essen-
tial particulars, those of similar schools in Europe. The
graduates may therefore consider themselves the equals
of the educated women of Occidental Europe, and, Greeks
at heart, they feel themselves inseparably identified with
Greek religion and Greek patriotism.
But to this brief account of the condition in Turkey of
the Greek women in general, I must add a few words
concerning a remarkable little group at Constantinople,
an aristocratic élite, whose daughters are particularly dis-
tinguished for their refinement and education.
The
Phanariots,* who are represented by the Mouronzis,
* The name given to the old Greek families who retired to Constantinople
and became a separate class from which were drawn the bankers, office.

466
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
Ypsilantis, Caratheodoris, Caradgas, Mavrocordatos, Mav-
rogenis and other great families, count among their most
brilliant members many women noted for profound erudi-
tion and wide acquaintance with foreign tongues. Mrs.
Dosios, for example, has translated into verse Byron's
Giaour,” Mrs. Lucie Caratheodoris, who is one of sev-
eral similarly gifted women, can interpret the language
of Homer, Pindar and the tragic poets as if it were the
vernacular, and still others are accomplished in the fine
arts, in elocution and instrumental and vocal music.
Their manners are very polished and have a slightly
European flavor, while their homes, instead of displaying
Asiatic luxury, are simple and tasteful.
The intellectual condition of Greek women in the
Orient is generally not inferior to that of many parts of
Europe, and, it may even be said, that, as regards the
daughters of the poorer classes, it is much better than in
several Latin countries. From a moral point of view the
Greek women of the Orient are to be praised for their
many social and religious virtues. They are hospitable,
philanthropic and progressive; they make excellent
mothers, and are the real companions and social equals of
their husbands. Although it is true that work is not
always held in such honor by Oriental women as by those
of the West, and the movement for the amelioration of
the industrial condition of the sex consequently finds no
echo here, nevertheless the Greek woman is very active
and laborious in her own household.
She dresses elegantly, speaks eloquently and writes
correctly the vernacular. She has an irresistible passion
for foreign languages which renders her a little superficial,
The name is derived
holders, diplomates, and governors of provinces.
from a quarter of Constantinople.-LITTRÉ. -T. S.

THE ORIENT.
467
and, although often avoiding serious studies, she argues
with vivacity, grace and ability. When a Greek woman
devotes herself to a social, literary or philosophical sub-
ject, she is admired not only for the force and beauty of
the conception, but also for' the profoundness of the
thought and the precision of expression. As regards her
mode of life, it must be admitted that it is Oriental in
many respects : luxury and change are its prominent
features. Physical exercise is irregular, and, notwith-
standing her intellectual activity, there is a proneness to
indolence, attributable in part to the Ottoman atmosphere
which all dwellers in the Orient are forced to breathe,
Family ties are very strong, and the wife, especially if a
mother, is regarded with a respect akin to worship.
The woman of Greece differs entirely from her Oriental
sister. Greece, as soon as she had gained her indepen-
dence, pushed the past behind her, and turned her eyes
toward Occidental Europe, there to find models for the
formation of a new and modern national life. This up-
rising of a liberated people was not without its effect on
Greek womanhood. Our women showed that they had a
character of their own, warm patriotism, a religious
nature untainted by fanaticism, and a philanthropic and
hospitable heart. These grand qualities they forthwith
devoted without stint to the regeneration of the young
land.
Scarcery fifty years ago Athens, dead and in ruins, be-
came an object of deep interest not only to Greeks, but
also to many big-hearted foreigners, whose sympathy had
been chiefly awakened by that great and noble poet, Lord
Byron. On account of its past history, Athens was
fixed on for the capital of new Greece, and many
rich

468
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
patriotic Greeks soon settled there and began to busy
themselves seriously with the organization of the country.
Almost at the same time, in 1835, some American women,
as philanthropic as they were learned, Mrs. Emma Wil-
lard, Mrs. Sigourney, and Mrs. Phelps, contributed toward
the foundation in Athens of a college for the education of
Greek girls.* Mrs. Hill, who had a broad liberal mind
and a strong love for Greece, was put in charge of the
new enterprise, and has built up an admirable institution
which has sent forth a whole generation of women who
have taken high rank in social and domestic life. Mrs.
Hill's college was the first to awaken in Greek women a
love for the study of the works of their ancestors, per-
vaded by such a lofty spirit of patriotism, and it was only
proper and right, therefore, that the king, three or four
years ago, should thank her publicly, in the name of the
nation, for her fifty years of devotion to the cause of the
education of Greek women.
But our own countrymen and government were not
backward. Almost at the same time as the foundation
of this American college, a Greek association established
a girls' normal school, which is now known as the Arsa-
kion, from the name of its benefactor, Mr. Arsakis. This
superb institution has accomplished a grand work by
training an admirable body of well educated teachers.
The Government next began to move.
Teachers were
in great demand, and normal schools were opened. The
young women, sometimes but sixteen or seventeen years
old, who graduated from these schools, were sent out
* Mrs. Willard visited Europe in 1830, and published on her return
"Journal and Letters from France and Great Britain ” (1833), devoting the
profits (about $1,100) to this school at Athens.-Johnson's Cyclopædia.-
T. S.

THE ORIENT.
469
annually by the hundred to cities, towns and the small-
est hamlets all over Greece, where they founded girls'
schools. The difficulties of travel, the poor pay, their
own inexperience and youth, did not daunt these brave,
earnest, patriotic missionaries of the spelling - book.
Greece, just freed from the yoke of despotism, was soon
made a unit in language and religion by these school-
mistresses, who have been the most powerful civilizing
influence in Greece at home and abroad. There is no
question, therefore, that my country owes its rapid prog-
ress and Greek instruction to its women.
It is easy to understand, from what has just been said,
that, while in other countries it has been found necessary
to awaken women to a consciousness of their rights and
duties, our women were fully alive to their interest and
responsibilities at the first appearance of national life.
The wife of a public man often represents her hus-
band before his electors, and takes an active part both in
directing and supporting his political views. It is no
uncommon thing for a woman to go off into the provinces
in order to solicit votes for her husband, and she often
defends his course with considerable ability in the drawing-
room. Indeed these facts would scarcely be believed by
foreigners unless seen by one's own eyes.
As Greece has experienced the influence of modern
civilization but a short time, and as patriarchal customs
still exist, the moral condition of women is not con-
taminated by the evils which characterize old societies.
The Greek woman still remains deeply religious, just
as she was when the day of deliverance came, for she well
knows that religion was the rampart of Greek nationality
and the savior of the country. But her religious ideas,
practical rather than theoretical, planted on the earth,

470
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
not soaring in the heavens, taught her that there were
duties which she owed humanity as well as God, and
saved her from both priestly servitude and heresy.
The Greek family is a product of the days of foreign
domination rather than a growth of the period of inde-
pendence. The husband, who then lived as it were in
the camp, exposed to dangers and terrors of various kinds,
and removed from all public affairs, found at the family
hearth the centre of all his thoughts and happiness. In
this deplorable state, the wife was his only companion in
sunshine and storm, who shared with him the longings
and dreams of the future country. Deprived of all intel-
lectual development and shut off from an active life, he
was ever with his wife, who came to be not only the part-
ner of his solitude, but began to be looked upon as his
equal.
The Greek woman-if we except some anomalies which
have appeared since the independence of the country-
has, along with a profound religious conception of her
duties, a sober mind and heart; sentimental love is
foreign to her. Devoted to her family and home, she will
often work from morning until night with her daughters in
order to put the house to rights. Her dress has lost
much of the individuality which distinguished it before
the days of independence, and has now become quite
European. On this matter of costume our women, how-
ever, are divided into two groups; some adopt all the
European fashions, while others choose certain ones and
preserve at the same time some of the features of the
national dress. The former often become so Europeanized
by their attire, habits and reading that the Greek charac-
ter is entirely lost. This class is fortunately very small,
and is found only at the capital; but as travelers get

THE ORIENT.
471
their impressions and ideas concerning the Greek family
in the drawing-rooms of these exotics, they often return
home with a very wrong conception of the real domestic
life of the country.
The active part taken by Greek women in benevolent
work has been very remarkable since 1850. During the
past ten years, especially, numerous associations have
been formed for various objects. Well-organized chari-
table societies, composed of prominent ladies of Athens
and the other large cities, are conferring great blessings
on the needy. The capital possesses two of these noble
organizations. The first was founded about ten years
ago by some of our most distinguished women, with the
patronage of Queen Olga, and is admirably managed by
a board of twelve women, who often receive suggestions
and advice from the beloved queen herself. Her Majesty
has greatly extended the usefulness of the society
recommending it in circular letters to all the Greek colo-
nies, so that it has become a close bond of union between
the Greek women of the colonies and the mother country.
The society at first turned its attention to the poor women
of the lower classes, and established an industrial home
which has proved a grand success in every respect. The
work turned out by this institution received medals and
honorable mentions at the Vienna Exhibition. The hos-
pital for the poor and the training-school for nurses con-
nected with it, both of which are patronized by Queen
Olga, are two other successful creations of this society,
Through the generosity of its members and its many
friends, the society has quite a large fund at its disposal;
and when we remember by whom it was founded, and by
whom it is conducted, we perceive the virtues and capa-
bilities of Greek women.

472
WOMAN QUESTION IN EUROPE.
The ideas of Occidental Europe concerning women
have had considerable influence on the women of Greece.
They find an echo in the heart of the better educated,
and have prompted many of those efforts of which we are
so proud. But, at the same time, the woman question
has not assumed here the radical form which it has taken
in England and America. Although a woman lectur-
ing in public before an Athenian audience on literary sub-
jects is not an unknown occurrence, still Greek women as
a body are very conservative, and consider that their
sphere does not lie outside of the family circle.
THE END.

INDEX.
A.
....
• • •.
Adlersparre, Baroness..
Affiliation in France..
American Club of Prague.
Arenal, Concepcion...
Armenian women .
PAGE
208
256
452
330
460
. . .
B.
108
Barnett, Henrietta O.....
Bedford College. .
Bertaux, Mme. Léon. .....
Blackwell, Dr. Elizabeth
Bogelot, Isabelle.......
Boucherett, Jessie...
Bright, John.....
British Federation...
Bulgarian women....
Bulow, Countess von..
Butler, Josephine E.....
34
289, 291 note
63, 65, 82, 390
272
90
• • •
• • •
.....
9, 22
216, 231, 370 note, 385
462
... 164
370, 382 note, 385
• • •
C.
...
.....
Calcar, Elise van..
Calm, Marie.....
Cambridge University......
Cimino Folliero de Luna, Aurelia.
Cobbe, Frances Power...
Collett, Camilla ...
Collin, Laure.....
Conservatory of Music, Paris. . .
I6I
153
.. 34, 43, 147
310
xiii, 15
189, 233
294
294
...
• •

474
INDEX.
D.
Deraismes, Maria...
Diest, Dr. Isala van.
PAGE
268
364
...
E.
Endowments for Girls' Education, England....
English woman's Journal....
Enthusiasts...
57
97
430
F.
... 365
98
I
Factory-women in Belgium..
Faithfull, Emily....
Fawcett, Millicent Garrett...
Female School of Art, London..
Fibiger, Ilia....
Fibiger, Mathilda.......
Foucart, Paul.....
Frederiksen, Kirstine..
Freitas, Rodrigues de.....
92
226, 227
228, 232
300
...
.
221
.. 354
..
313, 322 note
66, 71, 78, 82, 85
455
250
50
...
..
G.
Gabba, Charles François...
Garrett-Anderson, Dr. Elizabeth.
German women in Bohemia..
Giraud, Léon....
Girls' Public Day-School Company...
Girton College.
Gladstone...
Godin..
Gægg, Marie...
Governesses' Benevolent Institution.
Governesses' Mutual Annuity Fund.
Greek women in Turkey..
Greek women in Greece...
Gréville, Mine. Henry...
Grey, Maria G..
Grundtvigianism.
Guyot, Yues....
...
..
43
18,25
307
374
91, 105
214
464
· 467
280
. .
ooo
30
190, 226
265, 266
..

INDEX.
475
PAGE
...
Haighton, Elise A.......
Hebrew women in Turkey.
Hill, Mrs....
Hill, Octavia..
Hirsch, Jenny....
Hoffmann, Clementine.
Hoggan, Dr. Frances Elizabeth..
Holloway College ..
Home Review.....
Hungary, condition of women in.
... .. 163 note
461
457, 468
113
139
426
63, 67, 78, 85
57
208, 233
178
I.
. . . . .
.
International League of Peace and Liberty...
International Women's Rights Congress..
Isle of Man....
Istria, Dora d'.
378
248, 315
27
313, 320
. .
..
J.
165
Jacob, Dr. Aletta Henriette....
Jex-Blake, Dr.....
Journalism, Russian women in..
71, 82
.....418
K.
...
....
Kehaya, Kalliope A......
Korn, Captain A. D......
Krásnohorská, Elise.....
Krestovsky, Mrs....
457
186
446, 451
419
.
L.
• 369
IO
..
Lace-making in Belgium....
Lady speakers in England. ..
Lawyers, female, in Russia...
Leeuw, Emy de......
Leitenberger, Johanna...
Lette, Dr. Adolphe....
Lette Society.....
London University....
416
169
175
139, 141, 155
139, 142, 145, 155, 158
36 note, 55, 60, 147

476
INDEX.
..
M.
PAGE
Marenholz, Bertha von...
164
Marriage in Poland, difficulty of...
432
Marriage Laws of Russia.
396
Married Women's Property Act...
29 note
Mauchamps, Mme. de...
240
Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants...
130
Mill, John Stuart..
2, 9, 233, 378, 422, 433
Morelli, Salvatore.
318
Morsier, Emilie de.....
264
Mozzoni, Anna Maria....
313, 315
Musical women in France..
294
N.
Náprstek, Vojta...
Nassau-Senior, Mrs.....
National Association of German Women.
Nemcová, Bozena..
Neue Bahnen.....
Newnham College. ....
• 452
130
142, 145, 152, 153
447, 448
151, 156, 159
44
0.
...
Olivecrona, Rosalie Ulrica....
Oresko, Elise.......
Ormerod, Eleanor A....
Ottoman women.
Otto-Peters, Louise....
Oxford University....
199
424, 443 note
.87 note
458
.. 140, 141, 155, 156, 159
35, 147
....
....
P.
...
Peasant women of Russia....
Pechey, Miss....
Perk, Betsy...
Phanariots..
Podlipská, Sophia...
401
74
167, 168
465
449
. .
....
Q.
Queen's College.....
33
INDEX.
477
43

R.
PAGE
.
Rees, Catharine yan.....
Reform Bills of 1867-'8.....
Religious condition of French women....
Renaissance, Italian women of the.
Roman women...
Russell Gurney Act.
.. 168, 174
IL
267
312, 321
269 note, 311, 322 note
.....
54, 80
...
S.
Salisbury, Lord.....
61
Sand, George.
.. 283 note, 406, 429
Schepeler-Lette, Anna...
139, 144
Sectaries, Russian...
404
Sée, Camille..
275, 280 note
Shirreff, Emily...
30
Simon, Jules. ..
246, 306, 359
Socialism and French women...
306
Society for Promoting the Employment of Women..
97, 143
Society for the Training and Registration of Teachers...
53
Society of Austrian Teachers and Governesses .
179
Solidarity ..
382
Souslova, Nadiejda. See Suslowa, Nadjesda
Storm, Mrs....
.. 165
Suslowa, Dr. Nadjesda. ...
69, 70, 390
Svetlá, Caroline..
446, 447, 448, 451
Swiss Society of Public Good ....
385
....
...
.
.....
T.
....
Thoresen, Cecilie....
Torma, Sofie von..
Toussaint, Geertruida Bosboom ..
Turkey, Greek women in....
Turkey, Hebrew women in..
191, note
182
163
464
461
O.
•••••••
U.
United Societies for the Education and Employment of Women... 152, 158
V.
Vienna, occupation of the female population of...
.... 181

478
INDEX.
W.
Wallis, A. S. C........
Women's Education Union....
Women's International Association..
Women's Rights Congress at Paris. ....
Women's Rights Convention at Vienna.
Women's Rights movement in France..
Working Ladies' Guild.......
Wyoming..
PAGE
169
46
231, 378
248
186
234
103
24
..
Z.
Zebrikoff, Marie...
Zahle, Natalie....
390
225, 230
&
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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JUN 71909
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THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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