Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1858-06-09

DIR. Chapin lccturcd to a large au l.
encc last night at Mozart Hall on the
above subject. Nearly all the Alder
men, the Common Council, and the
Ten Governors, with Mr.. Postmaster
Fowler, were present. He said that
the originality Of any thoughts is sec
ondary to its truth. If it is old, it
should be welcomed on account of re-
spect due to age. His subject led him
to consider whether woman is poten-
TALLY what she ought to be. The rela-
ton between man and woman the most
beautiful expression of the great law of
nature. Woman is simply the equal of
man-notling more, nothing less. We
have no right to determine what is
woman>s sphere by any arbitrary preiu-
aices. | cannot recognize any such
fact as mans rights or wOman's rights;
| only recognize h'ono'a rights. Wom-
ans orbit is the orbit of her humanity,
and hence she ought to be mans equal
equal before the world. before the
law, as she is before God. And let no
one be disturbed by visions of strong
minded woman, with spectacles, lee
turing on Kansas. The question is,
what is truth, and not what are the i'm
aginahle consequences Man may run
against Gods will but cannot alter it.
| urge that woman should actually be
something more than she has been held
to be. She has been placed above the
scale and cast below it; she has been
mans slave and his empress. In one
place yon may see her the poor drudge
OF the wash tub or the needle, working
to support a drunken husband; in anoth-
er place we see her in some parlor, lis
tening to the confectionery of talk fur
nished by some dandy. Society around
us is but little more than the modifica-
ton OF these two pictures. What we
want is some way Of deliverance for
| woman from being mere slave, and
something more substantial than those
accomplishments which make her a
mere gewgaw. The legal argument
has already been presented, so | shall
pass on to the subject of woman's edu-
cation. Woman ought to be rendered
less dependent upon man. Our pres
ent state OF society too often so trains
her as to make marriage an absolute
necessity. am glad if there is some
advance in this respect; | am glad il
woman and clergyman are regarded as
something else than respectable pau
pers. Woman can become what she
should be, and do what she should do.
only by a genuine education. | can
not see why there should be a very
sharp discrimination between the edu-
cation Of boys and girls. If certain
kind of intellect will develop the intel.
lect of the boy, why not the grip You
may say woman cannot be Newton
ora Shakespeare. Well, if she can't
she wont; and so where's the harm p
Laughter. Why should a woman
with liberal education be less fitted
for the duties of a wife or mother: [
in the cultivated mind there is reserv
ed force tor emergencies. WHY shoulf
woman be debarred from that blessed
skill that unlocks the treasures of trutl
and opens communion with the distan
and the dead? In many cases woman
is brought up not to 4 Self-reliance. bu
simply to make a settlement for life
We all have a horror of female ra,nb
lers; but how many women are reall,
gamblers for luc ky matchs Do W,
wonder there is often gamblers los
as well as his hazard? In the world
version is not charity but money tha
covers a multitude of sins. The ricl
protiigate receives the hand of virtu
and beauty. But there would not b.
so many serpents in the partalres @
fashion if there were not Ewes to listen
In rude society, woman was boueh
and sold as a slave and some of on
manners are not much better. Chris
tianity teaches lis that woman has
soul; but many men act as though the
had not accepted, and many women a
though they had none to give. Won
en- have a right to proper culture. nc
as woman's rights, but as human right.