New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-23
For The Tribune
WOMAN AND HER NEEDS No. w.
BY Z. CAKES SMITH.


Heretofore in the discussion of our subject we
have assumed the antagonistic ground, because
we wished to assert the individuality of Woman
we wished 10 regard her a being, entire, with
her own laws, her own rights, stamped and guar
anteed by the hand Of the Eternal Father. We
wished to show that she could not be harmonious
in her sphere till these were acknowledged, aud
till men learned to regard them with the same
reverence which they profess in the abstract for
the rights Of each other. We do not derive them
from the suferance Of men, but from the hand OF
God-they are not to be secured by the blandlsh-
ments and caioleries Of the weak, and being weak,
vicious Of our sex, but by the free-will Of beings
capable of reverencing the sanctty of human
rights and human needs. We wished our aver
age standard to be judged not by the puppets OF
fashion the sickly sentimentalists OF our maya
zines or the large class of the weak degraded and
blind who swell the dregs of society. Men do not
average themselves by the coxcombs, OF either
fashion or litersture-nor by the prOfigate, the
vicious or the refuse Of pauperism. They point
proudly to the God like Of whatever creed or con-
dition-the Heroes, Martyrs, Patriots and Poets Of
the earth. And why should not we do the same
we who are not a whit behind them in our soul
stirring chronicles 1t would be trte to enume-
rate these Women who have suffered and died
for a great truth or great love- and in suffering
and diving have asserted the individual woman
SOUL for their experience was true to their woman
hood, and glorious in its womanhood.
We wished the standard to start from the ear
nest true-hearted and noble of our sex-the " sew.
ing women if you please-yes the laborers if
you will for there is nothing in itself vulgar
but the spirit that makes it so the woman who
exercises the talents which God has given her to
secure an honest livelihood melted it may be by
a Godlike aspiration is noble in herself as any
one of the other sex who tolls with singleness
for position or creed-and know of nothingmOre
holy-more God-serving, ay, and more beautiful
than the steady, selfdenying labor OF the large
class of women in the middle ranks OF life, who
with woman-like dignity, and solid sense pursue
a calling humble and pains-taking to earn an hon
est subsistence for their families. The lives OF
these women are often truly heroic, are SILENT
beautiful epics breathing the best aspirations OF
poetry and romance and in the scale OF being they
are infinitely superior to the very women who en-
plov them who waste their lives in petty rivalres
unworthy competitions, and meager, puerile avo-
cations.
We have taken the antagonistc ground, not
that it is the true one but because society has
made il the necessary one We were obliged to
look at the subject from the nature OF things, ana
now we must meet the sexes IN relation, the
only true and harmonious ground. 1t is folly to
talk Of men and women as isolated beings, de-
sipned TO always stand In isolation rHo s
80, s,ors of the heavens, held IN perfect anu
harmonious balance, they were designed 10 move
side by side, helping and enno6llng each the
other They are each endowed with percep-
tons affections, sentiments and lntellects hndlnS
their highest action in compromising. The man
has e severe sturdy passiveness courageous
boldness of mind and limb, adapting him for the
harder and more external duties OF lite; while 70
woman belongs that preponderance OF tenderness,
that intutive buoyancy OF spirit and hauretlrlng-
ness of nerve that makes her. In her truest llie'
seek secusion and dependence. While we say
this. we admit the infnitude Of shades IN either
sex by which they blend into each other ana
those great occasions in life which may transform
woman into Medea, and the American savage
even into a nursing mother to his 0creaved child
We only claim that the right to these individual
differences be recognized in our sex as well as
the other; that the woman who has an intellect
to study profession be entitled to the same re-
spect as the man who directs spinning jenny.
The woman who, like Portia, is disposed to plead
a law case, may meet with the same tolerance as
the man who breeds silk-wOrms aud Canarlesi
the woman who teaches Navigation, or holds
forth in an Anatomica or Theological lecture be
no more anomalous than the man who sells bon
netsl and ribbons. And this brings US to the
right OF property.
A the very starting point OF liie the difference
of education indicates the difference OF ain In re
gard TO the sexes. While the boy is steadily and
severely taxed to qualify him to earn an hOnora-
bic position, a suitable maintenance for htmset IN
life the girl is at trained in reference to mar
riage. The boy is placed in all and the best posi-
tions TO develop bis whole being, morally, intel.
lectually and physicaly-a thousand alterations
are pardoned him as being part OF the masculine
nature he Is Joyous, free, with vague exPecta-
tions OF manhood, renOwn, and Arcadlas oil happl-
ness as his legitimate prerogative. The girl on
the contrary is met at the Threshold oil lie with
infinite checks and restrictions-she is to conform
to pattern, by which the lions having written
the books) true woman is a being, helpless,
dependent luxurious, petty, inefficient IN body
and SOUL and yet to be the presiding genius oil
household aud the guide and teacher OF her chll.
dren She is to be early and untirlngly nodded
into the feminine shape by intermnable teach
ings ceaseless checks, and the denial Of all trains
ofthinking which might aid her to regard herself
as a being of innate dignity, OF earnest aspiration,
chOiceful affection or elective passion. She Is
made TO consider herself as a necessary append
age, not as a distinctive and rghttul creation.
She is not allowed 10 grow and blossom under the
sweet dews of divine guardianship to develop
into holy and truthful womanhood, under the care
ful promptings of laws inherent in her own mar
vellous, complicated and post beautiful organism,
but the one great object, supposed to be the end
and aim OF womanhood, marriage, is forced upon
her at every step of her life. She is not joyous.
nor aspiring, nor truly noble, because all and
every thing in her history is made sabserylent to
this end She is taught to the sweet, holy
graces Of her angelverging nature, designed to
exalt and besutify the best affections, to the pur-
poses of craft and fascination in order to marriage.
She is defrauded Of her girlhood by premature
marriage, and taught to feel a triumph in what in
tue state Of society would be degradation
for surely there is something painfully sad, to say