Windham County Democrat. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1836-1853, 1853-02-23
WoInanss Snhern.
" There Is nIWays IOunu
In mounful thoughts, and always might be found,
A power to virtue friendly"

heard much about Of die and very anxious to know
its boundaries If turn to the pages Of History for
light, find there that women three quarters Of
the world held property bought and sold kept
der constant by those who have the power of life and
death them. Such has been from the earliest ages
and still is the life Of in Oriental nations In the
higher classes she is bought to supply the harems. A
mong the lower, she is the oilng drudge well the
most AFFECT slave of her master The condition of woman
throughout the vast continent Of Asia, has general
characteristic From north south, from east to west
with few and limited exceptions the purchas-
ed slaves. Polygamy is the rule throughout Africa The
boys brought up idleness the to labor wo-
the mechanics artizans and agriculturists The
wives has the better he is off since they all
work for his supports and when he peases he can sell his
female children, his wives. And this they will
tell us is womans sphere.
Among the barbarous tribes of South America the con-
diton of women is equally deporable The terrible sa
very to which they subjected often induces them to
murder their female children When Father Gumlla n
Jesuit missionary, demonstrated with woman who had
committed this unnatural deed she replied in touching
accents 81 wish to Cod Father that my mother had by
my death, prevented the dsresses have endured and
have yet to endure long live. Consider, Father
deplorabe condition Our husbands 60 to hunt with
their bows and arrows and trouble themselves no farther
we are urdggeu along, with one lnnnt and
another in basket They return in the evening without
any burthen return with the burthen of our children
and though agued by long walk we are not allowed to
sleep, but must labor the whole night grinding maize to
make chca for them to get drunk on They get drunk,
beat us, draw by the hair of heads and tread us
under their feet and what have console us for this
slavery, perhaps of twenty years "A young wife is brot
in upon us, and permitted to abuse us and our children
m humon uch fvr1nn hat ind-
ness show female children equal to that of
eving them from such servitudc more bitter thousand
times than death say again, would to God my moth
or had put under the ground the moment was born"
Tio ia but sad tale of the many we
illustrating womAn's sphere among the inhabitants of
South Amelca-ln the Christian countries Of Europe &
North America the condition of woman is more elevated
Yet would ask every candid mind if there not even
here much of the savage mingled with the civilized A.
mong the peasanry of Europe the women do their full
share of out door labor They work in the fields carry
burhens drag barges the canals in Holland; gather
and transport manure, and toll in the mines of Engand
work about the docks, carrying merchandise and the bag
gage of travellers in France. In the middle classes wo-
men hopkepes and do the greater part of the re-
tail trade Of the towns and cities In Paris while the
of this class reading, smoking and talking poll
tics the attending the trade which supports
them and are ndustrousy engaged in providing for their
families. Among the upper classes they hold still high
err position This is probably owing to the advantages
which they had for education and mental culture in the
10Th century We find in the days of Henry the Sth of
England that ladies applied themselves to the study of
the arts and sciences Lady Jane Grey was thorough
scholar in Latin, and in Greek Queen Elizabeth
proficient in Latin, Italian, French and Spanish
read Greek daily Mary Queen of Scots could write and
in six 1iffnrpn nd
young delivered Latin Grafton before the Court of France
to prove that there was nothing unemiuipo rs.:I
OIL letters Ladies took degrees i'll the Universities, be-
came doctors of law, and filed professorships They
preached in public supported controversies published
and defended theses; harangued the Popes in Latin &c.
&C. AS knowledge is power this mental superiority
gave women that position and influence among the ma
tons of northern and central Europe which they have
ever since retained But in succeeding centuries thew
paid less attention to learning and lost in measure the
emnence they had attained Universities and Colleges
were closed to hem and they became comparatively igno
rant; though it must be acknowledged that woman is
now hlng with honor, the highest office in the most pow
erul kingdom the globe. In the United States, wo
men, as class, are more highly favored than any 9TH
er country. But in this Gland of freedom thew
have much of which to complain. While men can earn
great wages, they scarcely get enough to cloe them
",
ual Labor Schools and Colleges inviting them to the sum-
NIT of Mt Parnassus while all these avenues are closed
to women.
Woman is dishonored and disgraced beyond all posi-
bity of redemption by the commission of faults which in
man are excused as mere acts of gallanty If married.
and unfortunate lose her husband she cannot pos
sess in peace and quiet what the Poor Law would give
him; but in the midst of grief and sorrow her house
must be ransackc by strangers sent there to apnrse
the bed she sleeps and the knife and fork she eats with
Perhaps some gentleman may say that they appoint a
good Judge, who will giCe her these things but why not
enact good taw which ciH make them hers Of right?
But should she noby step forward and ask for better
things, it will be said she is out of her sphere Should
she even come before u.s. and with winning grace unfold
the useful science of Physiology some delicate lady, or
fastidous gentleman will be shocked that she has so far
forgotten her sphere
mus we see that what constitutes woman's sphere in
one place or age does not in another Her sphere will
be very different fifty years hence from what it is now
Give her education and intelligence and she may do much
towards reforming the world The powers of her mind
are as undeveoped the brown bush or stonedy bulb
That bush and bulb perhaps fold up unseen the
perfect flower which shall deck the garden and fill the air
with sweetness So in there turks soul-a thing
even now Godlke which, anon, will gem the long line of
Chriss attendant train The ignorant and uncultivatef
but angels in the wnty Then let no one sheer
at womans efforts at cultivation and Development for he
that understands the elevation of the statue will never
sneer at the lowliness Of the pedestal. EST.
Wilmington, VT
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DEDIoAToS-The meeting house of the Baptist Church
in Wilmington which has been closed for several months
has