528

THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

permission as regards this purchase, or that she was in the habit of consulting this Jewish elder and statesman about business affairs with which he was practically unac­quainted. “ She perceiveth that her merchandise is good”—again pointing out that this woman relied not upon the opinions of her husband or of any other man or woman, but upon her own judgment. Not at all vine-like, you see; and if we are hunt­ing for clinging types, we shall be quite shocked at the next quotation: “ She girdeth

her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms,” which strength of body as well as of mind, instead of being denounced as unfeminine, was most earnestly commended. And as if the inspired writer could not enough exult over this important fact, he adds: “ Strength and honor are her clothing and she shall rejoice in time to come.” Then as if to show the full significance of this economic freedom combined with a perfect physical development, he goes on to give, first, a record of her charities: “ She stretcheth out her hand to the poor and the needy.” Of her discretion: “Sheopeneth her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” Of her maternal foresight and wifely devotion: “ Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also; and he praiseth her.” Of the public regard for this loyal wife and mother, whose home horizon was not bounded by walls of timber and stone, but by the needs of humanity, and this brings us to our text, “ Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her within the gates.” Which praise within the gates, be it remembered was, prior to the days of a public press, the greatest publicity known. Nor do I wish it to be overlooked for one moment that this noble woman, with a rec­ord worthy of being handed down from the early history of the race as a model wife and mother, won this renown, not through her husband’s virtues, influence or position, albeit he was a great man, and sat with the elders; nor for any riches or honors that was in his power to bestow on his wife; not for the wealth she had herself acquired; but because this woman had a definite industrial position of her own, an occupation separate and apart from her husband’s, over which he had neither jurisdiction nor control; a purpose in life of her own seeking, that promised to make the world a little better for her having lived in it, an industrial occupation which in no manner inter­fered with the obligations and responsibilities of wife and mother, the sanctity of home, or the claims of humanity.

Dependence begets an inforced submission to the power that feeds. And by a law as unvarying as that water finds its level, this submission has restricted woman’s energies to a circle of private interests, warped her moral sense and so weakened her individual will as to render it partially or wholly incapable of carrying out what even the warped moral sense can see.

“The ethics of human life,” says Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson, “ require a gov­erning personal force standing between cause and effect; a storage of energy to keep action steady when immediate pressure is removed; a power of judgment to decide between acting causes and move or refuse to move from ultimate rather that imme­diate reason. This is called the moral nature.”

Unquestionably, then, the advance of humanity depends directly upon the ratio in which this moral nature is developed. And because it is now generally admitted that the development of human characteristics and of other forms of life are modified by conditions—by the environment—it behooves the student of ethics to find out what conditions tend most to develop the moral nature; to ascertain under what circum­stances men have manifested the most rapid growth in moral power and insight, pri­marily and essentially, under conditions of freedom.

That slavery begets vice and freedom virtue is a fact that rests upon the wisest laws of nature. No one expects that virtue and slavery can co-exist. “What is free­dom?” Mrs. Stetson tells us again, “The capacity to see what is right; the ability and will to do it; the courage to bear the consequences.” That the kind of character which sees right and does it at all costs is only matured in an atmosphere of freedom is one of the most valuable lessons to be drawn from liberty. When governments require submission and dependence civic virtues are wanting. Where economic systems