d water literateurs have
painted pictures of the emancipated woman that make the hair of the good
citizen and his dull companion stand up on end. Every member of the
women's rights movement was pictured as a George Sand in her absolute
disregard of morality. Nothing was sacred to her. She had no respect for
the ideal relation between man and woman. In short, emancipation stood
only for a reckless life of lust and sin; regardless of society,
religion and morality. The exponents of woman's rights were highly
indignant at such a misrepresentation, and, lacking in humor, they
exerted all their energy to prove that they were not at all as bad as
they were painted, but the very reverse. Of course, as long as woman was
the slave of man, she could not be good and pure, but now that she was
free and independent she would prove how good she could be and how her
influence would have a purifying effect on all institutions in society.
True, the movement for woman's rights has broken many old fetters, but
it has also established new ones. The great movement of true
emancipation has not met with a great race of women, who could look
liberty in the face. Their narrow puritanical vision banished man as a
disturber and doubtful character out of their emotional life. Man was
not to be tolerated at any price, except perhaps as the father of a
child, since a child could not very well come to life without a father.
Fortunately, the most rigid puritanism never will be strong enough to
kill the innate craving for motherhood. But woman's freedom is closely
allied to man's freedom, and many of my so-called emancipated sisters
seem to overlook the fact that a child born in freedom needs the love
and devotion of each human being about him, man as well as woman.
Unfortunately, it is this narrow conception of human relations that has
brought about a great tragedy in the lives of the modern man and woman.

About fifteen years ago appeared a work from the pen of the brilliant
Norwegian writer, Laura Marholm, called "Woman, a Character Study." She
was one of the first to call attention to the emptiness and narrowness
of the existing conception of woman's emancipation and its tragic effect
upon the inner life of woman. In her work she speaks of the fate of
several gifted women of international fame: The genius, Eleanora Duse;
the great mathematician and writer, Sanja Kovalevskaja; the artist and
poet nature, Marie Bashkirzeff, who died so young. Through