Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-11-10
miscellaneous.
For The Anti Slavery Buglc.
WOnsen--WOnam.

How rarely do we now hear the phrase,
" Woman's Rights" A few years since, and
there was no term so frequently upon tue
lips of moral reformcrs as that. There was
an excess of agitation upon the subject men,
and it was well. A long-pent force had burst
its bonds, and women rose to assert their
| rights in words-in conjunction with those
men who were prepared to plead for them
Beautiful and noble is the excitement con-
nected with attacks of error; even running
into excess, as il does, and leading onlDa
ants, in their haste, to gather up as weapons
whatever falls in their way, no matter how
inappropriate those weapons for effective
warfare. True, objects will be seen in dis
torted forms when thought is so intensely
wrought up, and perfect images cannot be
formed upon a vision d~istemper'd by the fe-
yer of excitement. But there is life and SouG
in the activity-the fervor of action. 1t Is the
awakening of the powers-the rousing up of
all the dormant forces of being. Good must
result. Even badly adjusted weapons are
made effective by the zeal and ardor with
which they are used; men learn that they
are living souls,-not calculating machines ;
and there is ever a noble truth at the bottom,
aud a glorious aspiration breathing through
it. That it is sometimes perverted cannot be
denied, YET it is none the less genuine in or
igin and in. essence for that.
49, a.. ,,.+l, a., NNDn,op's Rirlf-
movement. Many great and important truths
were uttered, and with them many false OF
exaggerated tcnets put forth. 1t was asserted
that mind had not sex, and women, in then
fcrvor of proving equal rights and equal abil
tiles, almost forgot their superior offices ant
nobler powers. The idea of equality seemed
inseparable in many minds from that o
sameness. No office, no privilege was es
teemed equal that was not the same in kint
us well as in degree, with those which mel
hold. The dread of imputed weakness be
came a 'phobia, and the fact that women's
physical powers are inferior TO those of mer
false circumstances. The beautiful, the di-
vine sphere of domestic duty was alluded
to, frequently, almost with contempt, as sla-
wish drudgery-mere seryitude TO man.
That intense agitation has subsidized, but
quietly deeds are beginning to follow. Few
er pords are spoken, yet slowly and surely
the true work is going on. Yet it is hardly,
ever now, begun. Matters need to be view
ed in a clearer light. Good and evil are so
intimately blended in all our relations, That il
would require a nice nan 10 tissgcr them
1t is difficult for many persons to compre.
bend that men and women may have differ
ent casts of character witheut either bein.
inferior.
It is also assumed that man is selfish j
his feelings towards woman--tlIat he design
eddy Expresses her, and t%yrannizes over he
This | do not believe true. While lucknow
edge all the abuse of our relations, while
know that women arc cramped by their SUI
soundings into a sphere far too narrow C
their powers and aspirations, and conie:
that man is placed by circumstances in Il
attitude of woman's oppressor, | do not b.
lieve that he is designedly so, or that he
selfish in his feelings towards her-peculia
ly so. True, men who are %innately self:
las most men are will manifest that feelil
in all their relations, nor can their attitu,
towards woman be wholly an exception. Y
| appeal to any one who has not lived a he
mit's life, if men individually are not less $,
fish towards women than to their own Sc
How freely any man, not a brute, will sac
flee his own comfort to that of a I
woman can travel on the public ways III o
country without feeling this. With the cal
of this feeling we have not to do in this co
nection-thc fact is all that concerns us.
What men are 10 women individually, III
must be to woman collectively. "Of pa
the whole is formed"
But men arc slaves to custom-hence q
terribly outraged when any ancient usage
attacked, and oppose such attack accordir
ly. And since usages outlivc the state of
ciety and degree of refinement and inte'
gence which gave rise to them, they mi
stand in the way of progress. Men and "
men, too, must feel their trammels.
Man has never known the JOY of a true
tellectual companion in woman. WON
has not sought TO make herself such a co
panion. Did they once mutually realize su
a relation, they would equally rejoice in
Women do as much as men towards D
serving that state of society which mai
them frivolous. The abuse is the result
mutual delinquency-the reform must
wrought out in conjunction, and the bl
sings resulting from it will be reciprocal
y Both will be equally blessed by it.
Man and woman arc unlike in their cast