Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1861-03-16
THE ANTI-SLAvERY BUGLE.


But here 10 q fact, patent to all who read the law, t
that the motherloss are invested with rights which !
ore wholly denied to those who have children. q
Those who will forego the possession Of such jew |
els us were the Roman mothers pToudest boast, c
shall possess an inheritance that tho mother VI no .
child can claim. Look at Il! The Ohio
mattos, who spends her time and strength in rails
ing children, who goes bravely down to the gates
Of death to give them life, who loves them most !
tenderly when they arc most unlOveable to all the
world beside, who counts oil labor, peril, sacrifice
for ther as naught who gives them as they
grow older, daily lessons in justice and benevo-
lence, in knowledge and virtue, that they may be
wise and good, who guards with vigilant eye the
path Of her young sons that they may be prepared
to enter upon the duties of life, to eli the places
that you now occupy, the very seats, perhaps, in
which you now sit, the noble matron who is do
ing this, and whom the Solons of our time might
honor themselves by ~exalting, is placed in privi-
lege beneath the childless widow, and made the
victim, in property rights, of law which dis
graces the country in which we live. A stranger
who had no other means Of judging of the charao-
ter of our people than the laws and usages rela-
ling to married women, would unhesitatipgly de-
eide that we considered marriage for women,
and maternity, as dishonorable, because both are
punished With heavy 2ecuniary risks and losses,
Do not misunderstood me. We do not complain
that such q law giving the childless widow all tho
property has been made; but regret shat its pro-
visions we're not ample enough to Include the
mothers as we'll as the motherless. We welcome
this action as an indication Of o sense Of right,
partially applied, and trust that it is a forerun-
ner Of equal and exact justice-a voice crying in
the Wilderness, preparing the way for Christian
equality under the law.
We give oil credit and honor to those who have
attempted to Lessen the legal inequality between
the sexes. Some of their measures are good, 9th
ers are specioue, and when analysed the seem
ing justice disappears, and the actual benefit wo-
men derive from them is to be estimated by home
opatbic measurement. Take for instance the law
of 1886, which veets real estate in the wife. Shall
1 tell you of our disappointment in that law, and
that ali our visions of approaching legal equality
were dissipated by ascertaining that the husband
was introduced as a tenant for life? The law gives
to woman the right to property, and to her hus-
band the proceeds Of it-makes her the possessor
in law, and him the possessor In fact-gives her
the gloriousr right of having the deed recorded in
her name, and him the right of collecting and
using the rents. Certain personal property, notes
and bonds, will remain hers, until he reduces
them to possession, and that he may do without
her consent. 1 think l am not mistaken.
A few words in relation to our prayer. We ask
that there shall be no distinction upon the statute
books of our State, founded upon sex; but that
man and woman shall STAND side by side in the
equality with which God clothed them. We ask to
be protected 10 the avails Of our labor. l am ut
terly unable to make an argument on that point.
The right lie 80 obvious, it has 30 long had place
among the political maxims of our people, that
'He that digs the geld out of the earth is entitled
to it, and that against the universe" that to at
tempt proof appears to me as absurd as to try TO
make self-evident truths more apparent. l know
that society has come in with its laws and regula-
tions and qualified this axiom in certain cases, for
certain reasons.
Slaves, minors and convicts do net possess their
earnings, on the ground that the first owes service
to his master, IA false position, of course), the sec
why should the married woman be placed on O
level with these classes? She IL not presumed to
be a chattel personal, she is not a minor who owe;
obligation for support and instruction, she 10 not
criminal who should be punished by the alienation
of her right to wagee. She was taken under
Christian usage to be q help-meet for her husband
and having fulfilled tina. Office, If circumstance
are such that she engages in a separate business
Of her own, why should she not be able to contro
the avais of III NoO it goes to discharge debt
that her husband has, perhaps, ~foolishly contrac
ted; goes to pay his neighbours debt, whose not
he has endorsed; goes into the clutches Of ihI
modern Shylock, who does not soruple like him 0
old to take all the law allows, regardless of conse
, quences. Oh, could you have seen the utter ex
tremity to which families in this State have BEEF
reduced within a twelve-month, under the opera
tion of that law, you would not let the sun hid
himself aeaia below the western horizon befOr
you proposed q bill, securing to woman the avail
+ Of her own labor.
These remarks apply to women who have a sep
afate business of their own. Generally, the earn
ings of the wife all go into the common estate
a That is acquired by the joint exertions Of husban,
/ and wife we pray that it may be jointly owned
Women do quite as much toward getting a Twin
as men. 1t matters not which works at the avail
+, able products of the farm, the shop, or the mill, o
any otHeE UIuuVu VI iuuuoIyJ IL TIC uOt WHO
+ does the cooking, the washing and the sewing, 8
3 far as the right to the result of the combined effOr
Q is concerned. Let me illustrate it. Two mer
: James and John, go to California, and engage i
b mining. They enter into partnership, do thei
a own cooking, and take turns. One day, Will
John is cooking dinner, James happens to fnd
e and dig out a quantity of gold-a hundred dollar
worth. How do you think that gold will be divid
sdf Will james pay John twenty-five cents 70
cooking the dinner, and then appropriate the ba
Q ance to HIMSELF If he does, it will be the last az
preparation ne will make, l venture to say.
Q think this is not the way partners deal with eac
other. They will divide equally, OR rather. the
will jointly own the gold. The cooking was ja,
as essential in the business as the digging. Th
10 application to The daily avocaiiOns Of husband an
wife, 10 apparent.
a a 4 -