Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1851-06-14
Speech Of Mrs. II, NJ. Tracy.


Mrs. Tracy, when the Report on the subject of
Education, was under discussion, remarked;
That so far as she was informed, Ohio was
the only State where women found Collegiate
Institution, that admitted them to the same
scholastic discipline as that prescribed for men.
But thanks to the expansive spirit of this glo-
rious State, here was to be found one Institu-
ton not afraid TO try tho experiment, whether
woman's mind is capable of grasping and COM
pretending the abstrusc sciences. But oven
this generous provision must be somewhat a.
bridgcd Thoy must not share equal rhetorical
privileges with the other sex. their exercises
must be confined to writing, and reading u cir
productions, while their classmates Of the op-
posite sex, were trained to declaim, and to de-
bate, thus giving ilucncy and accuracy to ex-
preston.
In vicw Of these facts, VIC could not now
reason at all, upon the question Of the absolute
equality Of the sexes in point of mental powers;
for such a character as a thoroughly educated
woman, was not, in the present condition of
things to be found We could not pronounce
whether she would be superior or inferior. If
her mind was naturally inferior. then there was
evident demand Tor higher cultivation, instead
of the measer portion, so generally allotted,
But the question Of woman's right to an equal
position with man, in all his relations, did not
rest upon this at all. 1t lay at the foundation
of all our natural relations, and was itself insti-
tutcd by tho Creator. Tho great question then
must be, Did God create them equal at tho be-
ginningi If he did, and if womun's position
for six thousand years has been tho result of
sin, then it must be in violation of the divine
harmony, and as such, should be at once reject
cd. If Jesus Christ came into the world to re-
store all things to re-creatc, to become the Sec
Ond Adam, thon is woman's equality to be |
sought for, and attained through the Gospel |
Dispcnsation. And not one iota would she |
claim, that did not find its full sanction either !
from the direct words of Christ, or from the |
comprehensive principles that he taught. The
Biblc had been misntorpreted often through |
false conceptions and we should no. turn from |
it, as notin harmony with the highest laws of
our being, till We had pondcred it well. Then
&C should find that there was no false distinc- |
Aon-thst Jesus never spurned nor rcbuked the |
offices of woman; but every where treated her |
with consideration that proved, that truly, in
him. there was no recognition of male or female,
but all were essentially one.
The necessity for wider scope to her energies
and more adequate compensation for labors that
could be accurately estimated and compared |
with the productions Of men, was too Aasrant a
violation of the golden rule, to be met with even
En- apology. There could be no right, no hu-
manity in subjcctins woman to a position that
Induced degrading dependence, wrctchedncss
.ad crime. No thorough student of Christian
ruth would dare say that this was in accord
.nce with either the provisions of nature or
grace, and The result must be, characters but
half developed, and spirits out of tune with the
high harmony of creation. Man suffered TO
quito as fearful an extent by this unnatural con-
,ition, as woman, and the consequence must be
evil, and only evil.
These were among the reasons why It was
solemn duty to extend to women the means of
true intellectual and social elevation.