Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-01-30
III tsteIIanecus
WOMEN.


s1-r. MASCULINE WOMEN.
Mrs. Frances D. Gage has a sohsible and caustic
criticism, in the last number of the Missouri Dem
ocrat, upon q remark in the Home Journal as to the
triumphant claim to mascu Unity Of geuius made
by Rosa Bjnheur aud Harriet Hosmer, She says;
Triumphant masculiniry of Rosa Bonhcur
and Harriet IIosmcr! Was there ever cooler i'm
pudence than this2 1t is II belabored point with
Psychologist, spiritualist, philosopher. a%noiomist,
lecturers, ministers and savans Of nearly every
grade and shape to meet our 'Utopian IDEAS OF
equal rights by thie argument: BY divine appoint
ment, men and women are made to fill different
spheres of life that Gods designs are imnuta6le,
aud cannot be set aside. AS proof, they state
that every bone, nerve and muscle nf womans
body is different from mans. Wo have just laid
down a learned lecture from n very learned man
no less parsonage than the Hon. Horace Mann
wherein he declares that from the crown Of the
head to the sole Of the foot, there is not a vital or.
gan in the two, which, 10y its form, locality and
functions, would not reveal to the anatomist to
which sex 1t belongs
Thus have the magnates settled the question,
shat woman was not to be man, or man woman;
and this dread fact is thundered through the land,
to the no small discontinue Of many a timid wo,
man, who in her soul believes she has a right to use
the talents God gave her FOR her own best good, yet
dares not brave public scorn.
But when the womanly soul and womanly hand
ttOf we ae ali WOinAn, from tue CTuNu u u uehu
to the sole Of our FOOT of Rosa Bonheur gives liv.
ing, breathing pictures to the canvas, that draw all
eyes and win all hearts, ii is suddenly ascertained
that all these former positive theories are mistakes.
The lady-the gifted woman, Rosa Bonheur-can
only lay claim to u triumphant Insecurity Of &C.
MUS.
Is it any more masculine to be able to paint the
beauties of a horse, than to DO able to see one,
md admire it with womanly eyesP
Is il masculine to understand and define te one
Of the noblest Of Gods creatures :? o, no!-only
masculine TO do IL pe! that's all,
Harriet Hosmer has not gone into masculine
subjects, and given the impress of her mind to
man or beast with which to stamp her enduring
fame npon the tablets of the centuries to come
But she has chosen the most womanly of all sub
jeots-lovely, loving, suffering woman. Go to our
own beautiful library, and see the first great work
OF her hand-the statute of Gnone. In every
touch of her chisel, she has delineated the woman;
ah from the crown of her head TO the sole of her
foot. 1t is woman-tender, affectionate, sensitive
woman. Even more than that-woman weeping,
PROSTATE, subdued. with love and sorrow for man,
and he a faithless one, q deserter, one who had
broken his vows, and gwen to another what should
have been hers alone. Had the gifted artist striv-
en- to do so, she could not have brought out a moro
striking ideal of womanly love, faithfulness and
forgiveness. 1t is so beautiful and true, that it
moves even the strong stern heart with gentler
sympathies, and if such a thing can be, efemin.
ates man. We visited the library a few mornings
since. with an old Ohio friend, a lawyer of the
grayer sort, who seldom INDUCES in sentiment
and is quite unused to the melting mood
His lip curled in scorn, as he saw that
abortive masculine attempt to place a marble face
and form of Webster before us. What a burlesqe
on GREATNESS y he exclaimed. He walked on to the
beautiful work of Miss Hosmer; suddenly his
whispers ceased, and | saw him turn and wipe the
tear of deep and thrilling emotion from his cheek,
He gazed long and silently, and as we passed away
he breathed ont the one word, beautiful!
Was it some masculine thought glowing out in
the marble that pressed that tear of feeling up
from its deep slumbering, and thus stirred the heart
to holiness and truth :? No, it was the exact oppo'
site. What masculine triumph of genius, then
will Miss Homer claim? Or, to use the exact
words of the kid-gloved, rose scented poet, author
of the Lines to a Lady in a Chemisette with blacl
buttons the triumphant claim to masculinity o
genius made by this gifted woman is no where t.
be found, except in the fact that she has excelleC
even man himself.
Jean Paul Richter has said, 1T is the rising o
the wild duck, and not her cry that causes the focl
to follow ; and we glory in the uprising of the in
born genius of these noble women-in the geniu
of Lydia Martin Spencer-the heroism of Mrs
Patten, who guided her ship through perilous sea
the love and faith-courage of Mrs. Cleaners, VIII
saved the shipwrecked sailors-and the fearles
Harriet Hunt and Elizabeth Blackwell, who dare
as physicians, to go about doing good. Each an
every one will by her earnest work, make the wa
" hhONIiC u lOIlO" . II OhO uhu ~
spect should reward the girl who, true to hersel
and her convictions of right dares to find her plac
behind q counter, in a daguerrean gallery, q jewel
Ter shop, or printing office, or any other position
fright within itself where she may take reSug
from a life Of idle dependence upon the energie
of others. Such are not masculine, but true wo
men, so long as they abide in virtue and fright an,
live out life's highest and hottest principle-seli
reliance-makiug Of the talents God has give
them other talents, according to their own need
and capacities.
The mad-do cry of masculinity has we'll mig
spent its force. The world will recognize talen
and power and the wise ones are coming fast
the conclusion, that it will not pay to let one ha
the genius and worth of a holy humanity lie UT
developed and unemployed, because the possessor
by an accident of birth, are women.
The world will admire the statutes of Mis- Ho:
mer the paintings of Lydia Spencer and Rosa Dor
heur, the oratory of Lucy Stone, the song of Jenn
Lind, tho authorship of Harriet B. Stowe, the tale
of Currer Bell. aud the poems of L. Barre. Brown
ing, the learning of Miss Peabody, and the astror
-omy of Mrs, SOmerville. Women of rare endow
ments are now no longer rare, and the young me
of our age must bestir their masculine facu
ties, and keep in advance of these, or they will il
deed be held "a the husbands of the Mrs. Smiths
or they must follow the lecturers advice, and ne'
er marry a strong minded woman-which, accord
imp to Webster and Worcester, means "a woman
vigorous mind.
And we do hope to live to sec the day when
s~oft-pated man will not be called an old granny G
a Mss Nancy, or a woman Of genius and powe
masculine.
NORTH ST.. LOUIS, Dec. 81"