The Gavelyte, July 1915

THE GAVELYTE RX'T'R (''f~ FROM A LECTURF. 0, WOMEN. (By Logan Abner WaitR.) l\Iore than the fortunes of war, the lu"'<nries of peace, or the rt>– ligions of a nation, is the influence for good or bad that worn n e - 0 rcise over men. As r. re the \<VOmen of a nation, so will be the men, but the reverse is not true. That the nature of women is vas lly diff– erent from that of men, has 1'een an evident truLh to all people from the earliest times. It is with a fcelil-1.g of awe that we venture into the subject at all. It is evident that at least seven-eights of the woe in the world is caused bv women. while on the other hand . nli the joys of the world are directly or indirectly attributed to womc>n. Away back in the early history of Greece, Simonides of Amorgos, a satirical poet, divides wornen into ten classes, of which only one is good. He says: "Women are an evil. but nevertheless, 0 countrv– men, it is not possible to have a houFiehold without evil, for to marry is an evil and not to marry is an evil." Much has been said con– c-erning ancient women. Many are the dreams that poets have J,ad of what they were like. From the Illiad :md Odyssey we get a pic– ture of the Homeric women. None, it seems, were vicious, bnt rather capricious at times. * * * * .... * * * For about five htmdred years, Sparta produc0d the stron-rei-t race of men known to any age past 0r present. Why was this trne? Because of the ideal life the women of Suar+a l0d. From infan\?Y they enjoyed the utmost freedom. Thev l{ved in the open air·, pe1:. formed gymnastic exercises, wore sensible garments, and en:~aged in no deadly rivalry of fashion or custom- * * * * * * The Greeks understood th0 value of co-ednca' ion ccn~n::.'ic-s r,. - fore our modern Horace Mann told us anything about its advan':– ages. (True only of Sparta). We are beginnin::; to be:ieve toda.r more and more in the simple faith of the Spartan concerniILQ; morals. We are beginning to understand that morals ai·e best taught by per– mitting boys and girls to p.ave a comprehensive knowledge of them– selves. The Spartan maiden and youth knew each other well Ion<.:; before their marriage. The \.voman consider0d it her sacred duty to bear children for the glory of Sparta. · Here, then, is the solu– tion for our present divorce evil and juvenile court affairs. * * * * * * To pass from sober earnest.ness to more trivial thoughts, yon wish to know how the ancients made love to each other. Well, i" our sense of the word "love," the Romans knew nothing about 1t before the fourth century B. C. The early Rom~.ns considered love a sort of stunnino: process that occurred a time or two in a lift>– time, and eventually left the victims in a better condition to meet life's trials. The above explanation, I know, is not very exciting, so let me quote from Plantus: "Come no-w, just call me your little srt.r– row, your chick, your quail, your lambkin. good little kid., or your little calf. Just seize me by dear little ears , and put dear li~tle lips on deai; little lips." According to the quotation, it must have been the habit of lovers to seize each other by the ears, which, I dare say, would be rather -interesting to us. * * * * * * * * We shall now conclude with a hrief view of the effects of earlv · . Christian faith upon the women of Rome. By natuTe, women are