From a Cornish Window Part 3

_Wednesday's Letters_.

(1) Sir,--I, too, was disgusted with Mr. Algernon Dexter's cheap sneer at women's education. He has, it seems, 'no opinion' on it. Allow me to point out that, whatever his opinion may be, Women's Education has come to stay. The time is past when Women could be relegated to the kitchen or the nursery, and told, in the words of the poet Byron, that these const.i.tuted her 'whole existence.' Not so; and if Mr. Dexter is inclined to doubt it let him read the works of George Elliot (Mrs. J. W. Cross) or Marion Crawford. They will open his eyes to the task he has undertaken.

I am, Sir, yours, etc, "AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM."

(2) SIR,--Mr. Algernon Dexter thinks women's education 'a large order'-- not a very elegant expression, let me say, _en pa.s.sant_, for one who aspires to be known as a 'stylist.' Still a large order it is, and one that as an imperial race we shall be forced to envisage. If our children are to be started in life as fit citizens of this empire, with a grasp on its manifold and far reaching complexities of interest, and unless the Germans are to beat us, we must provide them with educated mothers. 'The child is father of the man,' but the mother has, _me judice_, no less influence on his subsequent career. And this is not to be done by putting back the hands of the clock, or setting them to make pies and samplers, but by raising them to mutually co-operate and further what has been aptly termed 'The White Man's Burden.' Such, at any rate, though I may not live to see it, is the conviction of:

"A MUS. DOC. OF FORTY YEARS' STANDING."

(3) SIR,--'High School' has done a public service. A popular novelist may be licensed to draw on his imagination; but hitting below the belt is another thing, whoever wears it. Mr Dexter's disdainful treatment of that eminent educationalist Mr. Platt-Culpepper--who is in his grave and therefore unable to reply (so like a man!)--can be called nothing less.

I hope it will receive the silent contempt it deserves.

Yours indignantly, "MERE WOMAN."

CHAPTER V.

_Thursday's letters_.

(1) SIR,--Your correspondents, with whose indignation I am in sympathy, have to me most unaccountably overlooked the real gravamen of Mr. Dexter's offence. Unlike them, I have read several of that gentleman's brochures, and can a.s.sure you that he once posed as the unbounded license for women in Higher Education, if not in other directions. This _volte face_ (I happen to know) will come as a severe disappointment to many; for we had quite counted him one of us.

"We that had loved him so, followed him, honoured him, Lived in his mild and magnificent eye,"

Shall have, it seems, to 'record one lost soul more, one more devil's triumph,' etc. I subscribe myself, sir, more in sorrow than in anger.

PERCY FLADD, _President, H.W.E.L._ (_Hoxton Women's Emanc.i.p.ation League_).

(2) Sir,--Why all this beating about the bush? The matter in dispute between Mr. Dexter and his critics was summed up long ago by Scotia's premier poet (I refer to Robert Burns) in the lines--

"To make a happy fireside clime To weans and wife, That's the true pathos and sublime Of human life,"

And _vice versa_. Your correspondents are too hasty in condemning Mr.

Dexter. He may have expressed himself awkwardly; but, as I understood him, he never a.s.serted that education necessarily uns.e.xed a woman, if kept within limits. 'A man's a man for a' that'; then why not a woman?

At least, so says:

"AULD REEKIE."

(3) Sir,--Let Mr. Dexter stick to his guns. He is not the first who has found the New Woman an unmitigated nuisance, and I respect him for saying so in no measured terms. Let women, if they want husbands, cease to write oratorios and other things in which man is, by his very const.i.tution, _facile princeps_, and let her cultivate that desideratum in which she excels--a cosy home and a bright smile to greet him on the doorstep when he returns from a tiring day in the City. Until that is done I, for one, shall remain:

"UNMARRIED."

P.S.--Could a woman have composed Shakespeare?

(4) Sir,--I had no intention of mixing in this correspondence, and publicity is naturally distasteful to me. Nor do I hold any brief for the Higher Education of Women; but when I see writer after writer--apparently of my own s.e.x--taking refuge in what has been called the 'base shelter of anonymity,' I feel constrained to sign myself:

Yours faithfully, (Mrs.) RACHEL RAMSBOTHAM.

CHAPTER VI.

_Friday's Letters_.

(1) Sir,--After reading 'Unmarried's' letter, one can hardly wonder that he is so. He asks if any woman could have written Shakespeare, and insinuates that she would be better occupied in meeting him ('Unmarried') on the doorstep 'with a bright smile.' As to that, there may be two opinions. Everyone to his taste, but for my part, if his insufferable male conceit will allow him to believe it--I would rather have written Shakespeare a hundred times over, and I am not alone in this view. Such men as Mr. Dexter and 'Unmarried' are the cause why half of us women prefer to remain single; the former may deny it, poker in hand, but murder will out. In conclusion, let me add that I have never written an oratorio in my life, though I sometimes attend them.

Yours, etc., "MERE WOMAN."

(2) Sir,--Allow me to impale Mr. Dexter on the horns of a dilemma.

Either it is too late in the day to discuss woman's education, or it is not. If the latter, why did he say it is? And if the former, why did he begin discussing it? That is how it strikes.

"B.A. (Lond.)."

(3) Sir,--_Re_ this woman's education discussion: I write to inquire if there is any law of the land which can hinder a woman from composing Shakespeare if she wants to?

Yours truly, "INTERESTED."

(4) Sir,--Allusion has been made in this correspondence (I think by Mr.

Dexter) to the grave of that eminent educationist, the late Platt-Culpepper, which is situate in the Highgate Cemetery. My interest being awakened, I made a pilgrimage to it the other day, and was shocked by its neglected condition. The coping has been badly cemented, and a crack extends from the upper right-hand corner to the base of the plinth, right across the inscription. Doubtless a few shillings would repair the damage; but may I suggest, Sir, that some worthier memorial is due to this pioneer of woman's higher activities? I have thought of a plain obelisk on Shakespeare's Cliff, a locality of which he was ever fond; or a small and inconspicuous lighthouse might, without complicating the navigation of this part of the Channel, serve to remind Englishmen of one who diffused so much light during his all too brief career. Choice, however, would depend on the funds available, and might be left to an influential committee. Meanwhile, could you not open a subscription list for the purpose? I enclose stamps for 2 shillings, with my card, and prefer to remain, for the present.

"HAUD IMMEMOR."

CHAPTER VII.

_Sat.u.r.day's Letters_

(1) Sir,--H. Immemor's suggestion clears the air, and should persuade Mr. Dexter and his reactionary friends to think twice before again inaugurating a crusade which can only recoil upon their own heads.

I enclose 5 shillings, if only as a protest against this un-English 'hitting below the belt,' and am:

Yours, etc., "PRACTICAL."

(2) Sir,--It is only occasionally that I get a glimpse of your invaluable paper, and (perhaps, fortunately) missed the issues containing Mr.

Dexter's diatribes anent woman. But what astounds me is their cynical audacity. Your correspondents, though not in accord as to the name of the victim (can it be more than one?) agree that, after encouraging her to unbridled license, Mr. Dexter turned round and attacked her with a poker-- whether above or below the belt is surely immaterial. 'Tis true, 'tis pity, and pity 'tis 'tis true; but not once or twice, I fear me, in 'our fair island-story' has a similar thing occurred. The unique (I hope) feature in this case is the man Dexter's open boast that the incident is closed, and it is now 'too late in the day' to reopen it. 'Too late,'