Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1860-03-03
CFrom the Atlantic Monthly.l
Ought Women to Learn to Reads
IcoNcLUDED. |

iuOFGeu. MOsI PERSONS Woulu luStduti
AXE alarm at the very words; that is, the
layo SO little filth in the distinction
vhich Nature has established. that the,
bink, if you teach the alphabet, OF any
hing else, Unfortunately to both sexes
,ou annul all difference between them
The common reasoning is TINS: /" boy
land girls are acknowledged to be distinc
beings. Now boys study Greek and age
Ibra, medicine and book keeping. There
fore girls should not" AS if one shout,
saw: Boys and girls are distinct beings
Now boys cal beef and potatoes. There
fore, obviously, girls should not"
The analogy between physical and spir
itual food is precisely in point. The sim
pie Truth is, that, amid the vast range 0
human powers and properties. the fact 0
sex is bit one item. Vital and momentoul
IN itself, i; does not constitute the whole
organism, but only small part Of it. "h'
distraction of male and female is special
aimed at certain end; and apart from
hat end, it Is, throughout all the king
doms of Nature, of minor importance
With but trihiug exec lions, from infus
orial up to man, the female animal moves
brealhes, looks, listens, rms, flies, swlms
pursues lis food, eats 1t, digests 1t, in pre-
clsely the same manner as the male; al
instincts, all characteristics, are the same
except as the one solitary fact Of paletage
Mr.. Ten Broeck's race horses, Pryor anc
Prioress, were foaled alike, fed alike, train
ed alike, and finally ran side by sloe, com
peting for the same Prize. The eagle j;
not checked in soaring by any conscious
ness of sex, nor asks the sex Of the timid
hare, its quarry. Nature for high purposes
creates and guards the sexual distinction,
but keeps it humbly subordinate to still
moe important ones.
Now all this bears directly upon the al
phabet. What sort of philosophy is that
which says, "John is fool; Jane is a
genius; nevertheless, john being a man
Shall learn, lead, make laws, make money
Jane, being a woman, shall be ignorant,de
pendent, DISTINGUISHED, under paid" O
course, the time is past when one would
state this so frankly, though Comte come.
quite near il, to say nothing Of The Nor
mons; but this formula really lies at The
lotion Of the reasoning one hears every
| day. The answer is: Soul before sex
Give an equal chance, and let genius ane
industry co the rest. La carriere ouveytt
aur taiens. Every man for himself, every
woman for he.seif, and the alphabet fot Il
all, RA
| Thus fan our whole course Of argumen
has been defensive and explanatory. W.
nave shown. thai @omab's inferiority IN spe
icial achievements, so fai as il exists,isa fac
of small importance, because il is merely ;
corolIaly from her historic position Of deg
radiation. She has not cxcelled, becaus
she has had no fair chance to excel. Man
placing his foot upon her shoulder. ha
tauuted her With not rising. But the ul
ltefior question remains behind, - How
came she INTO tits altitude, orr ginally p
| Explain the explanation, The lrgician fair
~ demands. Granted that woman i
weak because she has beer systematicall,
degraded; but why was she degraded =
This is far deeper question, one to b
met only by 2 profound philosophy and ;
positive solution. We are coming on gfounC
almost whelly untrod, and must do thu
aest We can.
We venture to assert; then, that won
Ian's social lnferiority, ia the past, ha
been, to a great extent, Legitimate
thing. To all appearance, history would
have been impossible without it, just a
,lit would nave been impossible without al
lepoch Of war and slavery. 1t Is simply
matter Of social progress, part of th
succession Of civilizations. The past ha
been, and inevitably, period Of ignoranc
lof ehgrossiBg physical necessities, aud 4
brute force, not Of freedom, of phllau
Ihropy, and Of culture. During tina. low
Ier epoch, woman was necessarily an infe
iior,-degraded by abject labor, even i
time Of peace =
degraded uniformly by war, chivalry 4
the contrary notwithstanding. Behint
jail The courtesies of Amadis aud the Ci,
lay the stern fact woman child or
TOY. The hatteriog troubadours chaptet
hSi Ihto thO JoCt . patadioVs put1 aidc -
that kingdom Of heaven suffered violence
aad The Violent took it BY force. Tn
truth simply was, that her time had no
come. Physical strength must rule for
time, and she was the weaker. She wa
very properly refused feudal grant, be
cause, say, " es Consumes de Norman
die" she WAS not trained 10 war or policy
/" C'est fhomi1e XII Sc bas, ct kl ccnsielle
Other authorizes put it stil more plainly
/" A woman cannot serve the emperor d
lfeudal lord IN war, on account Of the de
lcorum OF her sex; nor assist him with ad
vice, because Of her limited intellect: no
keep his counsel, owing TO the infirmity o
her disposition" All which was, no doubt
in the majority of cases, true, and The
degradation of woman was simply part O
a system, which bias indeed had its day
lsawit has bequeathel its associations.
r.; From this reign of force woman never
Tbed herself By force. She could not fight
, would not. Bohemian annals, indeed
1 cord the legend of literal war between
sexes in which the woman's army wa.
III by Libussa and Wllsla, and which
/. ally ended with the capture, by III,
ilt3t - At