Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-01-19

w NN "Aa VI NN
but institutions supported nv laws can be overturn-
cd but by revolution. We have no reason to hope
that pantaloons would DO moro for us than they
have done for man himself. The negro slave en-
joys the most unlimited freedom in his attire, not
surpassed even by the fashions Of Eden in its palm
lest days; yet in spite of his dress and manhood
too, he is a slave still. Was the old Roman in his
toga less of n man than he now is in swallow tail
and tights2 Did the flowing robes Of Christ him
self render his life less grand and beautiful In
regard to dress, where you claim to be 50 radical.
you arc far from consistent.
Believing rs you do in the identity Of the sexes,
that all the difference we see in tastes, in charac.|
ter, is entirely the result of education-tba IMAM
is woman and woman is man"-why keep up these
distinctions in dress Surely, wh2teyer dress is
convenient for one sex must be for the ether also.
Whatever is necessary for the perfect and full de-
v%elopment of mans physical being, must be equal
ly so for woman. l fully agree with you that wo-
man is terribly cramped and crippled in her pres
ent style of dress, | have not one word to utter
in its defense; but to me it seems that if she
would enjoy entire freedom she should dress jus.
like n man. Why proclaim our sex on the house
tops. seeing that it is a badge of degradation and
deprives us of so many rights and privileges where
ever we 60. Disguised as n man, the distinguish.
ed French woman George Sand" has leen able to
see, life in Paris, and has spoken in political meet
ings with great applause, as no woman could have
done. In male attire, we could travel 10y land or
sea; 60 through all the streets aud lanes of our
cities and towns by night and day, without Il pro.
tector; get sew en- hundred dollars a year for teach
ing, instead of three, and ten dollars for making a
ceat instead Of two or three, as We now do. All
this we could do without fear or insult, or the least
sacrifice Of decency or virtue. If nature has not
made the sex so clearly definite rs TO be seen
throughout any disguise, why should we make the
difference so striking? Depend upon it, when
men and women in their every day life see and
think less Of sex and more of mind, We shall all
lead lar purer and higher lives. Your letter, my
noble cousin, must have been written in n most de-
spending mood, as all the great reforms of the
day seem to you on the verge of failure. What
are the experiences Of days and months and years
in the life time of q mighty nation ? Can one
man in his brief hour hope to sec the beginning
and end of any reform?
When you compare the public sentiment and So
cial customs of oul day with what they were fifty
years ago ? how can you despair of the temperance
cause. With a Maine Law, and divorce for drum
kenness, the rumseller and drunkard must soon
come to terms. Let woman's motto be mo union
with Drunkards," and she will soon bring this
long and well fought battle to a triumphant close.
Neither should you despair of the anti slavery
cause; for with its martyrs, its runaway slaves, its
legal decisions in almost every paper you take Up,
the topic Of debate in our national councils, our
political meetings and our literature, it seems as if
the nation were all alive, on this question. True,
four millions of slaves grieve in their chains still,
but every man in this nation has an higher idea
OF individual rights than he had twenty years ago.
As to the cause of woman, | see no signs of fail
ure. We already have a property law, which in
its living, breathing wOman-a wife into a proper
ty holder, who can make contracts, buy and sell.
In q few years we shall see how well it works.
1t needs but little forethought to perceive that
in due time these large property holders must be
represented in the government, and when the mass
of women see that there IS some hope of becoming
voters and lawmakers, they will take to their
rights as naturally as the negro to his heels when
he is sire IF sucness Their prnsent seeming com
tent is very much like Sambo's.on the plantation.
If you truly believe that man is woman, and wo-
man is man; if you believe that all the burning in
dignation that fires your soul at the sight of injus-
tice and oppression, if suffered in four own person,
would nerve you to a lifelong struggle for liberty
and independence, then know that what you feel,
! feel too, and what / feel, the mass of women feel
also. Judge by yourself, then, how long the wo-
men of this nation will consent to be deprived Of,
their social, civil and political rights but talk not
to us of failure. Talk not to US of chivalry, that
died long ago. Where do you see X No gallant
knight presents himself at the bar Of justice to
pay the penalty of our crimes. We suffer in our
own persons, on the gallows and in prison walls.
From Blackstone down to, Kent there is no display
of g~allantry in your written codes. In social life, !
true, a man in love will jump to pick up a glove
or boquet for n silly girl of sixteen, whilst at home
he will permit his aged mother to carry pals of
water and arms-full of wood, or his wife to tug a
twenty pound baby, hour after hour, without ever
to relieve her. l have seen a great many :
men priding themselves on their good breeding !
the gentlemen, born and educated, who never man :
itest one iota of spontaneous g~allantry towards the j.,
women of their own household. Divines may =
preach thanksgiving sermons in the poetry Of the
chair and the cradle; but when they lay Gown :
their newspapers, or leave their beds a cold night, :
to attend to the wants of either, | shall begin to +
look for the golden age of chivalry once more. If
. short dress is to make the men less gallant than =
they now are. beg the women at our next con-
vention to add at least two yards more to every .
skirt they wear. And you mock US with depen- =
dence, too. Do not the majority of women in ev- 8
town support themselves, and very many their
husbands, too? What father of a family, at the
Of his wife, has ever been able to meet his re-
sponsibilitles as woman has done? When the
mother dies, the house is made desolate, the chill
dren are orsaken-scattered to the four winds of
heaven-to the care of any one who chooses to
take them. Go to those aged widows who have
reared large families of children, unaided and
alone, who have kept them all together under one
roof, watched and nursed them in health and sick.
ness through all their infant years, clothed and
educated them, and made them all respectable men
and women, ask them on whom they depended
They will tell you on their own hands, and on that
never dying-never failing love, that a mothers
heart alone can know. 1t is into hands like these
TO these who have calmly met the terrible emer-
gencies of life-who, without the inspiration of
glory, or fame; or applause, through long years
have faithfully and bravely performed their work
selfsustained and cheered that we commit our
cause. We need not wait for one more generation
to pass away, to find a race of women worthy to
assert the humanity of woman, and that is all we
i. c. STANTON.
From the Cincinnati Gazette.
AMEpTHAN unMnp