Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1851-06-05


than Of wealth srongerthan OF official station Is the
sway for good for evil, OF the periodical press In
humble circumstances in poverty even, many oil Its con-
ductors may be it is their common lots but not the less
they kings in their noble realm monarchs with
sovereignty that reaches farther, in free land than
Eastern Despotism did, among Its PROSTATE slaves
for this but controlled the body, reached the life
while that extends Its prerogauye over the mhd ana
heart.
The editors of Indiana generally Ito their honor be
it said dealt fairly and layorable last winter Icy the
effort TO place. beyond the vacatlons OF legislative en-
actment, the propertyrlghts oil women accept TINS,
ernest OF better things-as encouraging promise
that the day is approaching, when public opinion, en-
bodied in periodical literature, will speak, IN the
earnest tone it ought this and all kindred subjects
But that day has yet arrived. The tone INDUCED
in by large portion of the press redeemed, rejoice
to admit, by many honorable excepons) is, regards
women and their pursuits and their enterprises false,
coarse, viIiatng. All very well, repeat trte tru-
sms about Nature never having designed women TO brave
the peris Of the Deep tread the field of battle or the
paths OF craftsmanship. Who asserts that she ddf But
when newspaper paragraphsts pass beyond these stale
pattudes and assa with vulgar taunt the exertons oil
brave and benevolent women seeking to put their DEEPEN
dent sisters in the way OF usefulness and honest v
ing, merely because the path selected may somewhat
dIverge from that beaten track, where thousands
faint and perish 10y the wayit IS time to tell them, that
they aders and abettors perpetuatng OF the
worst sources of crime.
Permit me To cite two examples la proof that
do not censure without Just cause
1t is but year since lady, whose labors in
cOnvlcs worthy OF all commentator, in view oil the
acknowledged fact, that there lacked among the Cali
lornian pioneeers that element without which soce
ty can become moral socially civilized, due proper
lion of viTtuous and cultivated women; and of another
fact equally notorious, that there thousands ofyoung
females IN country, OF excellent character and repu
taton, who find difficulty, in obtaining 10y the
utmost exertons, the humbest living lit was, l say.
but the year before last that Mrs. FARNAM proposed,
II sufficient number OF such young would Join
her. to charter a vessel for San Francisco. How
the enterprise received by the press As teachers,
nurses In the various domestic avocaOns essential TO
any wcli-ordered society these young women
tain of obtaining the shores of the Pacific, reputable
employment, n rate of remuneration tcniod beyond
what they could expect in the Atlantic States One
would have thought, that simple and obvious truth
might have suggested ground sufficient speak well of
the project. And editors had good sense and good
feeling enough to commend and encourage. Not so,
however, the majority. Some Journalists treated it
with open rdiculc; some witlfa covert sneer that
sheer, to which sensitive. IL natural
and likely enough that, alter brief residence in Cali
lornia, of these young ladies might be well mar
red. So much the better if they We're, for the in
terests OF the settlement and ncidenty oil course for
themselves. What there for any right-thnking
man to at, in all this? Yet each willing of the
press must have his fling at the Yankee cargo bound for
the golden marriage-market of California; his impu-
Pent slur upon Grant damses bent bold stroke for
a husband.
Mark how little Of equal Justice public opinion
between the sexes! Men 90 where their labor is
best remunerated. And If fit to do the same
they to be assaied with heartess scos merely be-
cause while engaged in the laudabe endeavor to win
Independence by honest industry they have the chance
also, to find a good husband and happy home? Shame,
above all the press of country that any oflts
conductorseoined the cowardy crusade! They
ly know by bitter experience what it is TO work form
adequate compensation. And the recollection ought TO
have taught them mercy if not justices towards others
similarly situated.
Take example more fragrant yet, and nearer home
When a lady, one of afafnily well and favorably known
to the citizens of indianapolis, and who have done ex
ceent service in the holy of education sought to
organize in connection with aprevOus movement origin
ang, believe, in Connecticut regular system, where
by Indiana might be supplied, the extent of her need
with we'll trained female teachers from the New England
States, how the proposal received by many OF the
senstalled leaders of public opinion among usl With
silly Jest; with vulgar gibe The same insulting inuen
dos which caused Mas. FARNHAM's enterprise to fall
through brought to bear, and last with similar
success, against Miss BEEcHER's.
impute wicked motive to those who thus aided in
subornng mischievous prejudice against upright and
praseworhy effort. Sheer heedlessness often incts
fatal injury deliberate intention The press is
extent but the reflex Of tue tone and eptment of ord
nary society around it, And know of nothing that
dsgraccs age which is ever boosting of its refinement
and its gaantry; nothing thatlso merits the scourge of
public condemnation, the common surface tone of
ciety-olten among those who make special pre-
tence to cultivation and good breeding when
form the topic of conversation Its oous evy is only
exceeded by its heartless injustice While public opn-
ION, and Its pioneer the periodical press, encourage
tolerate these ma talk, we will, of Christian
civilization, The Pharsee who thanked God that he
not other men, is as worthy, in his Wanting self
righteousness,
know that many think to atone for misplaced levity
occasion by exaggerated aduIation on the next
One champion OF the Common Law scrupled not dur
ing the struggle in the Convention declare, that the
proposal secure married women their property was
attempt ''tO remove from the jurisprudence of the
Ango-SaxOn race primeval and elementary trait of
the old Saxons," "their reverence (uanely) 'for fe-
males as objects almost divine y .s-.
Reverence, for objects almost divine. 1t is some-
what remarkable mode of testilyng such reverence to
reduce its object property of the negro
save That prime val trait OF the Saxons did not,
suppose heat their imaginations to engender the
belief, that this scmdivihity of their alteration
supplied, by mnistrant spirit, with ambrosia
that se might clothe herself with light in lieu OF gross
garment. Saxon women, like their sisters OF other
races, subject earthly wants. they require food.
clothng shelter; and until the millennium arrive these
ina CINE, must be obtained by ignoble purchase with
dollars and cents. Ii dollars and cents fail land alas
our ancestranherited reverence for has
taught how TO avert, the of wretched thou
iers droops, dies. Do not WELL then, to secure to
her bread eat clothing wear, roof 10 shelterl Is
it sufficient to absove from this duty, if
are told in poeea language that husband and wife are
flesh or in prolession phrase that the legal exist
of the wife merged in that of the husband? Has
Nature merged it! When the husband eats does sat
isfy the cravings of hunger in the wife? When he
drinks, is her thirst quenchedl When he buttons his
broadcoth his chest is she thereby warmed aud
clothed? Or when after brief dream of happiness. she
awakes morning, TO the cruel realities OF deserton
and desuon will it supply her need, will it provide
Tor hcr children TO be informed that the law presumes,
in husband kindness indulgence, provident care ade
quate support, efficient protection?
seek the real, the practical, the tangible. / am
weary of empty words. Indulgence, CALAMITY Flattery,
these but gay and sunshine courters. Grave sober
eyed JUSTICE is worth them all!
Akin to the fashion OF palInng upon women, in place
of substantial right. the bombast OF empty compliment,