Grass Valley telegraph., 1853-10-20

one and to that in the assembly. A busv
buzz ran over the room for some time hat
when the speaker was announced. a deem
hush fell suddenly on all.
The appearance of the young man was GER
tainly very prepossessing Tall and slender.
his form presented none of those prettinesses
and marks Of efeminacy which SO belittle a
man; but there was a kind of independent
nobility resting On his features and pervad-
ing his whole niein that won insensibly on all
who looked upon him. His hair was of a
deep jet color, parted carelessly upon fore
head OF full breadth and intellectually. be-
meath which glanced his dark eye, at one time
Wild as woman's and at another, when lit
up by the earnesthess and intensity of his
thought, glowing with that peculiar lustre
with which lightning spirits love sometimes
10 dazzle. Everything seemed in his favor.
Inc evening was quiet and fair, and the pure
moonlight was wreathng itself around the
snow-banks in the clear frosty air. The au-
dlence was attentive and respectful. And
yet ne failed. Never was lecture SO criti-
cIzed-never was poor lecturer SO unsuc-
cessful. -
The reason of this was that he had chosen
9. theme about which few men are really fitted
TO lect Ire, and no one certainly until he has
seen many years, and known life in all its va
rled relations. Young Irving had been much
excited by what are technically called " Wo-
mans Rights Conventions" until his natu-
rally ardent nature had taken fire at what he
conceived to be the most ridiculous assump.
tloa. This feeling of deep and utter con
tempt for those who took the lead in such
mad crusades against customs long honored
by time, he had vented with unusual severity
Oh the sex Generally, making all resnonsibie
! for the follies of the few. He dashed most
unsparingly every poor daughter of Eve, as
| II he meant to ann.hiliate them all bv The
power Of his wit and sarcasm AS matter
of course, the whole female portion of his au-
dlence We're highly indignant. They were
compl etely chilled and benumbed bv such
| treatment. They had come up full of warm.
enthusiasm and interest in the speaker: it
was provoking to have their blood sent back
| congealed in their hearts by such wholesale
condemnation. The inhabitants of W
were no new light" people They were
seldom carried away by new or extravagant
notions But they felt too much and thought
too much to allow without a murmur the
sweeping assertions OF the lecturer. They
met hin at every corner, and each individual
iIowevf pTod2Ueds 5 sf dpoh HIM III It's
usual effect on those who are wrong in opin-
ion, leading him only to strengthen himself
the more obstinately, and to use the more
harsh expressions of eensufe. the more ur-
gently he was pressed.
Nor did the ladies of the village lack
champions among their own number. Doubt
less with many of the lecturers opinions al
would have heartily agreed. It was only
with his sweeping assertions, and his JhiVeF-
nT1in Of fbo aLo4 i
fault. He CHANGED, not many days after his
address, to be present at one of the meetings
of the Sewing Circle" A young widow.
by the name of Williams, was the president
OF the association, and, on his entrance. she
rallied him playfully on his temerity at thus
venturing into the midst of those he had
so slandered. She charged him openly with
having uttered only for noveltys sake opin-
ions not really his own. This he stoutly de-
MED, and again expressed, in no measured
terms, bitter sentiments toward those who
had run mad, and as he termed it, with ex-
travagant notions and intimated that he sup
posed that there were few diSagreeng with
them, only that they had not the courage to
/ speak out boldly-the sex, as usual in everv
thing else, sustained one another either pub
licly or privately in this.
" There is no doubt" said he, with kind
OF biting sarcasm in his manner. that there
are some women who would make most excel
lent men, and who imagine themselves Great
ed with kind of mistake, which it is their
life IS business to rectify. They find thev can
not take the place of man, for all the customs
and prejudces of the age are against it but
they determine to make themselves as little
like women as possible. And it must be con-
fessed they are unusually successful. And
like the juryman of old, linked, as he said.
to eleven of the most obstinate men the world
ever saw, they. are so indignant that they
cannot make all believe just as they do"
" Ii were not certain, Dr. Irving" mild
ly replied Mrs. Williams, that your sex gem
orally are no more responsible for your ex-
travagant and harsh condemnation of ours.
than are we for the conduct of those recreants
to woman's hoaor than you rightly condemn,
should hardly be concerned to answer you.
But tell me plainly, what would be the harm
If woman sought to hold place of political
rule and influence ?"
" She might as we'll grow envious of mans
music, and attempt to sing bass" replied the
physician " she is untitled by nature for it,
Indeed, l wish this world were such that as a
gentlewoman might fill its hard places of rule
and of power. | wish mankind were all will
lows, waving pleasantly before every breeze
of good influence breathed over them. and
not such stubborn oaks that now and then
they need some harsh tornado to thunder
among them, and scatter their leaves to the
four winds of heaven before they would bow
their proud heads at ALL But the truth is, it
is a poor, reprobate world, and often it wan
ders most sadly. and so far that stronger
hand than any daughter of Eve ever had is
needed to grasn the locks of its flowing name