Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1860-03-26

| cases nj full rates.
Marriages Notices of Funerals, ard announcement
Of Sermons, so cents each. noTl1'59
Ada Glare Oh Morals. $50
Women and mcn-I mean to say those
without any deep sentiment or profound
thought-are apt 10 have very vague and
eccentric notions about morals. With
them, every minor variation from an in
flexible routine of life is recorded under
the head of problematic morals. Their
diagnosis of the supposed yirtu0us malady
is II wondrous one, for the given symptoms
| of that disease embrace every develop
mcnt natural to the unclaimed mind. An
| acquaintance with general literature, a
frankncsS of speech and manner with men.
II disposition to dress becomingly, sensl-
tivencsS to dramatic pathOs, good Hppe-
titr, cheerful expression OF countenance,
an inability 10 worship ministers, liking
for sugar pums, a love for piano music. an
occasional acquaintance with Luhin's pow
der rouge. an aversion to lying an ability
to think for ones self, the power, in cases
| OF extreme thirst, to drink from pump,
are all set down as symptoms OF an invalid
moral system.
| This arises from the fact that men, above
all the professional moral ones, suppose
women to he yirtuouS Only because they
are slaves 10 custom. They imagine the
| female mind to dwell in the Kingdom OF
virtue only when they are locked IN win "
paddock, and that the least chance of get
| ting out of their prison is made the oppor-
tunity Of rushing headlong into promiscu-
OnsncSs.
| Virtue, on the contrary, only exists
where there is freedom of action. SO
necessary is this clement OF treedotn' th"t
/ IL, hn "a
| to lie virtnous, however pure she may be.
! The laws of society, the social and reli-
gious code, may construct Il quality called
morality. but they have no acquaintance
with virtue. For it is rs much an inner
| ent, seif-sustlining quality as courage,
generosity, truthtUlncss, or any OF the al
tributes that go 10 make up the human
soul.
Virtue is thnt quality that keeps wo-
man pure and imcorrupt, through what
ever scenes in life she may pass, whatever
knowledge she may acquire whatever She
may do. The virtuons woman knows
nothing of worldly temptations, nor social
| lies; her instincts come directly from ma
ture and from God. In her soul there
| lives bright flame that burns away cor
ruption. and leaves all subjects clean and
pure before her eyes. She avoids vice as
she does pestilence, because IT Is horror
to her; all pruriept views of things disgust
and sicken her; defamation of her own
body she regards as though one should
| blot the stars with mud.
! To bind her with the shncklcs of con-
ventiou and the tcrrors of public opinion,
were as snpcrGuous us to prevent the popu-
! lace. by law, from walking into the mouths
of hyenas, or from thrusting themselves
| into blazing furnaces.
M . Writ XrfN-
man is, the less chance there is of her
degrading herself. Nothing is more easy
than to cheat the tribunal of society. but
where the only tribunal is ones own hc"rt,
who can deceive that?
A woman can hardly be said to be T'r-
tuous, in the active sense OF the WORD, nc
fore she has fully loved, just as" main Is
brave only in the passive sense OF tn"
word until that quality has led him to
face danger. A young maiden can be cal
led chastc; the term virtuOus does not ap-
ply to her.
| Virtue is begOtten OF love and freedom.
1t seems to be very mar" lor men 10 "hueF-
stand this Perhaps it is that the misern
bic errors into which the precepts and eX-
ample Of their own sex lead them ere they
are able to judge for themselves, render
them incapable of cOmprchending incor-
ruptible purity in woman. AS is, the
! great body of men persist IN oelleNlng'
against all record and the witness OF their
own eyes, that the woman who can accept
one man can accept all men. The least
unit Of ;he collective body is made TO
stand the whole. 0HCh "tlGclouG'! ~ -
cal deductions would not be allowed. to
stand for an instant in any other reasoning
bnt that of a metaphysical character.
How would it sound to argue that Dc
cause we can eat strawberries WIN llnP"- pa
nltY, therefore we can VII"