among our own kith and kin, so to speak, in modern times. Many
instances of marriage en chemise are on record in England of quite
recent dates, the notion being that if a man married a woman in this
garment only he was not liable for any debts which she might previously
have contracted. At Whitehaven, England, 1766, a woman stripped herself
to her chemise in the church and in that condition stood at the altar
and was married.

There is nothing so degrading to the wife in all Oriental customs as
our modern common law ruling that the husband owns the wife's clothing.
This has been so held times innumerable, and in Connecticut quite
recently a husband did not like the gowns his wife bought so he burned
them. He was arrested for destruction of property, but his claim was
sustained that they were his own so he could not be punished.

As long as woman's condition, outside of the Bible, has been as
described by Macaulay when he said: "If there be a word of truth in
history, women have been always, and still are over the greater part of
the globe, humble companions, play things, captives, menials, and
beasts of burden," it is a comfort to reflect that among the Hebrews,
whose records are relied on by the enemies of woman's freedom to teach
her subjection, we find women holding the dignified position in the
family that was held by Sarah and Rebekah.


C. B. C.