Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1848-08-25

labor is assigned, must inevitably keep the
mass of them ever in comparative thraldom
and pauperism.
'RIeHTs OF WoMAN'-the right TO vote.
to be elected TO Office, to serve on j%uries, fight
battles, &c., &c.-if these are calculated to
aid her industrial and social emancipation,
let them by all means be defined and estab-
Iished. The present political vassalage of
Woman is defensible only on the assump-
ton that she does not desire its termination.
Whenever a majority of the women shall
automatically demand an equality of politi-
cal franchises with men, ] see not how any
sincere republican can resist their require
ment. 1t is a fixed and fundamental princi-
pie of our system that governments derive
their Just powers from the consent of the gov
erned and that so long as Woman shall ia
city consent and prefer to remain in a state
of political non-entity, so long may that state
continue without injustice. Harriet Martin
eau, indeed, says, in substance, 81 object 10
this vassalage, and claim a full equal rights
as an intelligent and adult human being, res
~ponsible for my acts to the laws of the land.
Those laws | have never in any form assem-
ted to. yet they tax me-, control me, threaten
10 imprison and to hang me-; why should !
be denied my equal voice in choosing those
who are 10 make, alter and execute them =
If other women are too week, too ignorant,
too %servile to claim or enjoy these rights, how
can that effect my claim to them" The an
swer to this imports that reason.convenience,
dictate that the uniform action of an i'm
mense majority of a class be held conclusive
as to the interests and wishes of that class.
Political franchises are not intrlnsically val
uable-are but means to ends. What is i'm
minently needed by Woman is, not eligibili-
ty to office nor a more direct and visible po-
tency in law-making, unless these shall lead
to enlarged opportunities, more ample and
varied employment, a more liberal and just
recompense for industry. and, in fine, a posi-
ton of real and heartfelt independence, so
long as she shall choose to preserve it. Now
the portionless but refined young woman, I'M
less she have faculty and ability for the very
limited shere of employment p~roffered to her
sex as instructors, must choose between an
early marriage and a p%recario Is life Of ill-paid
thankless servitude. This must be amen
ded.
Room for ladies!' says the man Of the
omnibus or stage-coach, and he is esteemed a
sorry sort of American who will not promptly
and cheerfully surrender his easy corner of
the vehicle and take a seat outside, though in
the face of a drenching north-easter, to afford
the spinster he never saw before, and will
probably never see agaiu, the most eligible
position. She will never thank nor even re-
cognise him but what of that? CALAMITY
demands Of him the sacrifice of his com
fort to that of a stanger utterly Indifferent TO
him, and he makes it without hesitation. |
like this gallantry. | see in it a confused
acknowledgment of ages of gross injustice
d chivalric remorse-a poetic reparatioD. 1t
does not reach far, but it is very good so far
as it goes. Why should it stop at the coach
door? Why not step into the fancy store,
the engraver's shop, and wherever else man
usurps employments which women might
aptly fill, and say, 8 Room here for ladies y
Away with you, statesmen, book-keepers, &c.
to the farm, the prairie and the wilderness, TO
subdue and till the earth, and leave these
more delicate functions to those whom you
have hitherto shut out of usefulness and indie
pendence or compelled to drudge in some
menial capacity for a paltry dollar a week.
Room for ladies'! Room Alas! that all this
should be loo prosaic, too vulgar, too hum
drum for the mass of readers Of a ladies' ma
gazine! They are generally above the pres
sure of these grosser forms of want and OBJ
stacle which are this day crushing all that is
utllCdlt, anu NtdlllP u tllG n6dIlS diu lives
of great majority of The sex. They seek
in these pages amusement, fancy, sentiment,
fattery, fashion-not droning homilies on
wrongs to be redressed, and evils to be over
come. Let me close, therefore, with an ex-
tract from TeRnyson's new, delicious poem,
"The Princess" in which the non.practical
side Of this whole subject is presented with
exquisite grace and beauty
Blame not myself too much l said, NOR
Too much the sons of man and barbarous
laws;
These were the rough ways of the world
till now.
Henceforth thou hast a helper, we, that
know
The Woman's cause is Mans; they rise or
sink
Together, dwarfed or godlike, bond or free,
For she that out'of Lethe scales with Man
The shining sleeps Of Nature, shares with
His nights, his days, moves with him TO
one goal,
Stays all the fair young planet in hel
hands
If she be small, slight-natured, miserable
How shall men grow? We two will save
them both
In aiding her-strip of, as in us lies,
(Our place is much) the parasitic forms
That seem to keep her up, but drag he
down
Will leave her field to brighten and IL
bloom
From all within her-make herself he
;. own
To give or keep, to live and learn and be
All that not harms distinctive womanhood
For Woman is not undeveloped Man,
But diverse could we make her as tn,
Man,
Sweet Love were slain, whose deepes
bond is this,
Not like to like, but like in difference;
Yet in the long years liker must the.
grow;