Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-05-21
NATIONAL lNTELLIGENCER.
NOTES ON NEW BOOKS.


We have two books for the edi6cation of that
better moiety of the human family which the elder
Mr.. Weller was won't to entite the {" soft sex"
The former is generic in Its object and character,
being addressed to all who are or may be mothers;
the latter is special in its aim, being designed for
the instruction of girls, and these country girls
We are aware that it may be questioned whether
we of the "opposite SEX" Mrs. Trollope calls
u.s. have any right to be peering curiously into
volumes like these but we venture. to urge in
tenuation of our presumption that we did not meet
with any interdict to their perusal either In title
page or preface; and we further remembered that
Locke, in his treatise on the Conduct of the HUI
man Understanding" exhorts to the acquisition of
knowledge on all subjects, alleging that seven a
little thereof may be found useful"
The work of DIR. Tracy should not rest under the
imputation which attaches to, We believe, every
other popular treatise the subject and with
the same avowed object. These have often been
most pernicious and corrupting in their tendency;
legitimate offspring of the "satanic press" they
have not belied their parentage, being repete with
falsehood and mpurity, prurient panders to vice
and immortality rather than the vehicles of useful
instruction The character and position Of DR..
Tracy compose sufficient guarantee for the moral
tone and scientific worth Of the present production.
As to Mrs. Swisshem's little book we need only
say, for the information of all our country
cousins" that it lis full of instruction on many
points, conveyed IN very agreeable way by the
amiable authoress She writes gracefully and ear
nestly withal, evidently considering that she has
''call,' if not any longer to teach woman her
rights, to tell country girls their duties and in
struct them in the art of making themselves useful
well ornamental. She is persuaded that no
body could have written these :" Letters" save her
SELF and their composition has only been fulfilling
her /" mission" Perhaps
These books, however, we are sure, will not be |
popular with that fraction or rather faction of the
sex, composing the :" female young America"
What, forsooth, do !" strong minded" women want
to hear about such commonplace and vuigaran du-
ties pertain to the functions of maternity and the
nurture of offspring Like the doctor in the French
play they have changed all that" and to talk I
to them on such topics is nothing better than a
grand mpertinence. What indeed, does the fair
Bloomerite, blatant in behalf of broadcloth short
frocks with the bifurcated combinations, desire to
learn about Dr. Tracy's directions for the proper
dressing of infants or what do old maids elo-
quent" about the " duties" of country girls, as
long half of the race, and that too the better
half their oppressors being judges, is cruelty denied
the enjoyment of its rights" What better is it
than rank insult to hint at {" the home" and "the
nursery" before gad-about oratoresses pining be-
meath g the worse than Turkish vassalage" of their
American sisters, and each signing to become the
female Moses destined to guide their exodus from
such social thraldom. What do female politicians,
clamorous for equal participation in the career of
manhood, care about this Mrs. Swisshelm's flower
pots and papier-mache ornaments for the embel-
lIshment of country homes as though the blandish-
ments of Glove in cottage" could lure them from
the grandeur of womans destiny
All such, we repeat, will find nothing to admire
IN these volumes, for they each recognise as set
tied fact that the distinction of the sexes subtends
Il,
Instead Of tearing down the social fabric and building
better foundation, the writer's before us are
content to leave human nature il is whether male or
female and seek by teaching woman her duties TO
quaint her with the true nobility and beauty of her des
tiny We shall surprise but the strong -minded
Of the when state that in the view of Dr. Tracy,
maternity would constitute the distinctive
function of woman and such incline to believe has
been her chief mission since the divine blessing
pronounced upon the first welded pair; and in il, we
conceive is be found the we-sprng of womans pures
joys and the perpetual fountain all the sweet charities
which consecrate her We do know that many
Of ogr female reformers have become avowed msogamsts
in their attachments to "womans rights" and yet it
that the logical consequences of their teach
ngs tend p this direction The grievances under which
they groan TO grow from what have heretofore been
deemed less the necessities than the browning glory
her position in social life, the mother Of children and
the guardian angel Of the home whose presence renders
that sanctuary of the heart which the law each
mans castle In order for woman an equality
of and civil rights with those pertaining to man. it
is not enough we spprehend, to prove the intellectual
equality Of the sexes though this to be the
point which issue is zeaously joined as though
il most vital and germane to the question. II is not
question of equality but Of Identity it is whether
woman is equal to man. but whether she is the same ms
and hence ignoring, they do, the real issue in
-.
quently fall into reasonings the inconsequenta
May Heaven help them and mend their logic Now, with
all Difference to the SEX and with every disposition to
concede them the most entire equality with the self styled
lords Of creation, II they insist upon it, are not at
all disposed to admit that the two sexes are identical in
their natures and therefore should be identical in their
rights On the contrary led to believe in the
existence Of such generic diversity as renders them
mutual compliments to each other composing in their
union that harmonious and accordant combination which
results from the adaptation Of two natures which nco
plee when separate and apart exhibit in their junction
congruity which proves them to have been made each
fertile other We are not Mt all Tenny in our poetic
taste, but we remember passage Of the poet aureat
which exactly states what endeavored to ex
press that quote it for the purpose Of giving en-
phasis to thought:
For woman is not undeveloped man,
But diverse could we make her as the man
Sweet love were sain whose dearest bond is this
Not like to like, but like in difference
Yet in the long years lker must they grow
The man be Of woman she Of man;
He gain in sweetness and in moral height,
Nor he wrpa IN thpya nj throu tha IA.