New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-06-10
For th
Woman's Rights.

The Delta of last Sunday, in a very entertain
ing article on this subject, sums up womans
rights in the one word matrim0ny. This may
be one of her rights to be sure, but if so, it is
one which she is unable to enforce; and she has
other rights which have been as much over
looked by some, as they have been overrated by
others In our opinion the doctrine which would
degrade her to position very like that she
holds in Turkey, is as far wrong as that which
would elevate her to riyalship with her lord
and master. Though she is forbidden to aspire
to the dignity of the pulpit or forum, she is fit
for something better than mere housekeeper
or nurse.
We know it is the fashion to decry strong
mindedness in woman, and to enlarge upon the
| softness Tenderness and submission which should
| characterize the gentler sex. Truly strong
| minded woman is reproach to numbers of
| weak minded men but many family has been
saved from destruction by this same ENJOYABLE
and unnatural quality, strength Of mind, ex-
| ercised by devoted mother.
| Many woman, who in the blind confidence
| of girlhood has first thrown q halo of imaginary
perfections around the asinine head Of some
burly Bottom and then been but too happy to wed
| the idol of her fancys creation, has afterwards
| learned to her sorrow that strong mind, and
| a very strong one, was requisite to enable her
| to endure with fortitude the hardships and sut-
fering to which his ineifciency, or selshness, or
| both, have subjected her A woman so situated
in order to command her own respect, must hide
her trouble from the prying eye of observation,
and to command the worlds must, while secret
| " struggling for the maintenance of herself and
children, treat her husband with the greatest
consideration, submit to his caprices on all oc
casons, and in short play the loving wife to the
end of g the domestic drama"
This will be called an extreme case, but it is
not by any means so rare as some would have
us think and even supposing her lot to be a
| happy one, supposing her to be surrounded by
all that love and wealth can give, has a woman
| then no need of q strong mind Examine the
domestic economy, the system of education,
practiced by one of those tender creatures fed
on delicacies, bathed in rosewater and pampered
into useessness, who &c toll not, neither do they
spin, and yet solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of them," and you will be dis
posed to wish that little more mind and less
bewitchng helplessness had entered into her
composition.
Look at the widow deprived at once of the
husband of her heart and the means of support
which he afforded her. Would you rather see
her trimming her widows weeds to their most
becoming form, neglecting the welfare of her
children, and entering the matrimonial market
as u weak -Nlnueu woman W0ulu De sure 10 10
or devoting herself to the support and education
of her family, even though such a course woult
require the exertion of unwomanly energy
1t is a gross blunder to suppose that q strong
mind in woman is incompatible with loving
heart. The reverse is more frequently the case
and your loving Doras love any body--who sup
ports and fondles them. Their affection is NJ
distinction, for one man is almost the same t,
them az another Cling they must, and they
| will c1ipu IN ratb thoY, do inn FL,
themselves. Such beautiful butterflies are in
deed very charming while young but the sill
ness which delights in rosy youth. disgusts il
wrinkled age, while the charm which spring
from mental cultivation never fails.
There is one view of this subject, limited a
above, which seems to have escaped the attention
of most who have touched upon it, viz that i
is not every woman who has an opportunity o
cultiyating the affections in the most approved
way some being, by no fault of their own, com
PEELED to remain single all their lives Surel,
n strong mind is needful to support q woman
under such an affection rs this
To return to the Delta, which we have left to-
long, we agree with them on one point. N
woman has 90 a right to insult the male worl,
by docking her hair, or otherwise dis6gurint
her appearance: but when they talk of he
&c right to catch and hefp a husband, the
seem to forget that something more than fond
ness, beauty, grace and accomplishments ar
requisite to accomplish the last feat. If tina
don require the exertion of vigorous, yigilant
well cultivated and active mind, we'd like t
know what does.
Though we consider then the opportunity
educating and strengthening her mind, an
using it, too, to be among womans chic
"rights," we would not be understood as under
rating amiability; on the contrary, we woul
propose rs her motto, 90 SGHpiter IN BlOdo, for
fiter in re-, and let her rest assured that Will
she carefully practices the former clause, he
domestic happiness will never be periled by
Judicl0us exercise Of the latter. ETNA.