Welsh Newspapers

Search 15 million Welsh newspaper articles

Hide Articles List

22 articles on this Page

[No title]

Advertising

IAGRICULTURE.I 4»

I PROBLEM OF THE -SPARROW.

| CHESHIRE DAIRY FARMERS.…

I A PEEirS PROTEST. _____A_____

[No title]

CREWE CATTLE MARKET. I

FARMERS & SHEEP-DIPPING.

I MARKETS AND FAIliS. ! ————A————

ITRADES UNION CONGRESS. I

I DISTRICT N UliSING ASSOCIATION…

[No title]

THE REFUSE DESTRUCTOR. rw.......…

ITHE QUESTION OF THE SUFFRAGETTE,…

News
Cite
Share

I THE QUESTION OF THE SUFFRA- GETTE, bir,—In reference to some stringent remarks which have been made regarding the article, written by me, as to the "Fate of the Suffra- gette," which appeared in your recent issue, and in which I mooted the possibility that tho lists of the three learned professions, law, I physic, and divinity, might again be repre- sented by womankind as in the day-s of ancient Egypt, I wid emind such critics that such a consummation IE not so remote as it may at firet, appear. I would remind them that not only has womankind won the highest grade as the phYiSician in France, but ako that the lady barrister is now heard as ad vocate in the French law courts. The "Illustrated London News" of the other week (it so happens) devotes its chief and very striking picture to the portrait of a lady barrister, who is address- ing the court as an "avocat," and is by no means the only lady barrister practising in Paris. If my critics will twit me by saying that such may happen abroad—in Franoe—but not at home in England, it should be borne in mind that there is little or no distance between the two coun- tries they are a-s near to each other, so to speak, as the letters of the alphabet 'G' and 'D'—when letters represent Calais and Dover. If, therefore, womankind in France has so I far recovered her rights in respect of two out of the three learnoo professions, the statement that if England has recourse to conscription, or that it 1"; necessary for her very existence to mobilise by a territorial scheme, cannot be so imaginary as it may at first appear. In such a case, history would repeat itself when womankind were allowed by their nature to be intended for those courser- of life, whereas the military career was considered the only pro- fession worthy of mankind. It is quite clear that all the emoluments of the Church and Bar, together with the more precarious fees of the physician would revert to womankind. As regards the profession of the Church in England, we know that in the body of the Society of Friends-a body which has taken a prominent part in the promulgation of Christianity—if not as old as that of the Jesuits or the Society of Jesus, has always allowed t-hd privilege of the proebyter to women, many of whom have left a mcst worthy record, and whose addresses command a greater attention among men than may be supposed. This is a truth not to be refuted, while it is notorious that in the congregatiorii of most churches—especially n. all London churches— the absence of men is an accepted fact. So, the "impract.a.bility" at once disappears, and what function exists in the service of the church, from the ceremony of baptism to the laying on of hands, which is not most suitable to woman- kind ? In England, ladies are admitted to the order of deaconess, a privilege which permits them to undertake what most clergymen would consider the drudgery of parish work. We must not forget the fact, however, that ladies have held canonries. In support of this stateroent, I would quote a paragraph from "A Journey through the Austrian Netherlands" (London, 1725). After a description of the pictures and works of art, which adorned the three palaces of the city of Mons, the capital of Hainault, the writer adds —"But what I take to be the great beauty of this city is the installa- tion of the Citnonesses of St. Woodrow, who are all of noble descent and have their houses round the collegiate Church of St. Woodrow, as our prebendaries have round the cathedrals in England. They are thirty in number, and it is a pleasure to tee so many ladies occupy the choir stalls. They are clad in white, over which is thrown a black mantle lined with ermine. But when they walk abroad, they dress chiefly like other ladies. They marry when they please, but then they resign their 'caiionrieg.' The duties are regulated by the four senior 'canonesscs.' Some few years ago, I undertook for a friend the lighter duties of an examination at Girton College, Cambridge. There were six candidates for "honours," and five out of the six "passed and were duly" placed" in the university lists. Hence, the usual academical vestments can be worn by "womankind," and there can be no doubt that their intellectual attainments a.re quite equal to—if not far beyond—the average of mankind." This custom of resignation prevailed at our universities. I well remember that Sir Arthur Paget, Regius Professor of Medicine, lamented the fact-not that he had married, but that he was shamefully excluded by the fact of his marriage from the much eo>eted position of the mastership of his college. As Caius College, originally con- secrated to the immaculate Conception, was at the Reformation founded by two physicians for the culture of medicine, the insistence of such a rule was clearly very arbitrary. Among the ancient Romans, and, indeed, at a later period, the profession of the stage was denied to women. The reason assigned was that "acting" wad immoral, however beautiful the embodiment of the character might be, and that, at best, the actor or actress became mere "figurantes"-as there was no reality upon the stage. Hence, public or private burial on con- secrated ground was refuijed to the actor, and more than one Pope has repeated this decree. Where now, I would ask, is that uncultured and narrow-minded man who cannot purely and thoroughly enjoy the embodiment of the heroines of a Corneille or Shakespeare ? The past may appear hke a dream, but the present is a reality. The world, with all its professions, is very hollow, and if actors and actresses are mere "figurantes" and as "all the world's a stage" wherein men and women are merely play en;, why should not womenkkid take the part for which they are physically and intellectually endowed if the requisite opportunities were affordc-d ?-- Y ours OSBORNE ALDIS. I

[No title]

r GROSVENORS AND THE rrURF…

THE CHURCHES. +

[No title]

i FREE CHURCHES.

[No title]

Advertising