Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1853-09-17
AID DIR Il s &.
ny MRS. N. L. KEATING.

LADIES Owing to the late hour in which
i | received notice Of your meeting, and the
press of other duties, have had very little
time for preparation, which must be my apollo.
gy for these brief and imperfect remarks.
| indeed under the circumstances, l should
| have declined addressing you on this occasion,
but for the earnest desire to contribute my
mite, however small, to this, your first public
effort in the great and glorious cause OF hu.
man reform And we have every reason
to rejoice, that woman is at length being
aroused from her long lethargic slumberings
ever the evils and expressions with which
earth is filed, to a sense of her duties and
responsibilities, to sense of the true position
which she should occupy in society. And
now let me ask, what is your true position
| Do you suppose, my friends, that our Al
mighty Father has placed woman in the
world with all her powers of mind, her in
fiuence, her large affections, and overllowing
sympathes, to be the mere butterfly of fash
ion, or 20 havener usefulness circumscribed co
| the narrow limits of the kitchen and pantry,
the parlor and boundaries? unhesitatingly
answer, No. And if this is the extent OF oar
usefulness, think we have not answered the
chief end of our being Not only our own
country, but the world, is full of evil and ig-
norance, Of oppression, and wrong doing
And ought we to be prohibited, by custom
or prejudice from entering the great arena of
reform? Shall all the noble faculties of mind
bestowed upon US for good by our Benevo
lent Creator, be made to succumb 10 the
frivolities of fashion, Shall our voices be
heard discussing the beauty, or deformity of
the latest style of Dress while there is no
kind voice with words Of gentle suasion, 10
lure the druukard from his cups ?Shall we sit
down in supineness and inactivity, with our
unbounded influence lying dormant, while
borne upon the gentle breeze from the sun
ny south, comes the wall of the poor slave
mother, and the voice of our brothers blood
crying to God from the ground? Say not
that this remark is inappropriate on the pres
ent occasion, for never can l cease 10 speak,
especially when addressing the sympathetic
ear of woman, that 1t be only one word for
the down trodden of our lard, foreign to the
subject before us, though it may be. What
particular branch then Of the great family of
reform is it that has called us together to
day. Why the state of Maine has passed a
law--Bye the bye Ladies, the old Sta'e OF
Maine is my native state, and am proud of
her? ] am proud Of her bleak mountains,
and her rocky shores. Not because she is a
great commercial state, and her noble ships
dot the mighty ocean, and may be found IN
every distant eea, but because she has taken
the lead among all tGs states of this vast
union, in passing law prohibiting the sale
of intoxicating poisons within her borders.
She has driven cut this arch enemy OF man.
, kind, and shall not the beautiful state of my
adoption follow ner noble example. Many OF
; our sister states have already done so, why
do we yet .inger, are there not men enough
in the state of Ohio, who are willing that this
law should be recorded upon her statute
/ books? Undoubtedly there are. If the yo-
ting population of our entire state could be
collected in one grand mass and the question
| put. Shall Old King Alcohol, with all his
attendant train of evils, and vices, of poverty
and wretchedness, bruised limbs, broken
heads, and breaking hearts, b. expelled Who'll
ly, totally and forever from our state? CoulG
# we doubt the result? All methinks that
e the loud and hearty age, aye, that would o(
giveu, would make the welkin ring for many
/ mile around. But 60 to these voters, and
address them individually. Depict to then
as you may in glowing colors, the horrors o
s intemperance; tell them Of the groans of the
worse than widowed, the tears Of the more
= than orphaned; inform them that an indepen
dent candidate, and old and well tried frienC
of the Maine Liquor Law, and the embodl
ment of justice and humanity, awaits theh
suffrages, and what answer will majority
n of them return ?Why, they will readily admit
It the truth fyour remarks, they will even ex
press the wish that he could be elected, bu
d they cannot leave party, lest the opposing
el party should elect their candidate, and there
e by triumph over them. Is this manly? 1
10 it worthy the character Of an iudependan
freemaE- sovereign representative ofa sover
egn state? Yet this idle game is played
from year to year, against justice, against hu
! manity, and the best interests of society
- In making these remaks, we are aware tha
y, we are straying somewhat, from the prescrl
bed sphere of woman And we ask pardon
. . of the gentleman present for tresspasslng up
= on their exclusive privileges, by speaking o.
= the subject of politics. And now Ladies wha
;, is our duty in this contest for truth and right
We cannot 60 to the ballot box, but we ca
y >, exert all our energies of mind, all our power;
y of persuasion, to induce our husbands an
y fathers, our brother and sons, to vote for sui
,, feriug humanity. l would that could con
i, vince you, particularly the young Ladies, hot
|. I, unbounded is your influence, when exerte'
in the great cause of truth and reform.
: will relate trihing incident my of early life i
: proof Being at neghbors one evening, i
company with small party Of ladies an,
:, gentleman, in the course of the eve, as wa
= usual in those days, small table was place
in the centre of the room, containing the usu
= al paraphanaia Of decanters and glasses
q umistaksble evidence of the approach of oil
Alcohol, in some one of his various phases
know not how it may be here, but if W
should see such sight now in the neighbor
l. hood where l reside, we should think W
e had seen spirit And if ever it appears +
' you here, conjure it away Ladies, conjure
vt away speedily. for its appearance portend
/ ruin, desolation, and death. But digress
a The young Indies of our company were sea
ted in semicrcle around the room. Th