Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-12-04

Eu10gtum ON Mrs. Wit.
te1myer.
At the late Sanitary Convention at Des
Moines, Airs. Darwin, (wife of G. Ben OAR
win, Esq, Of BurIington,) delivered the most
touching and eloquent speech Of the occasion,
mainly in defense of Mrs. Wittenmyer. The i
speech was altogether impr0mptu, having
been called forth by some aspersive remarks
concerning Mrs. W. The reporter for the
DesMones Register has furnished the follow
log report Of the speech, which will give some
idea Of its depth Of pathos and patriotic glow
Mr.. PRESIDENT 1T seems to be question. !!
ed here whether woman has right to risk /
her life for her country. We believe that
every created intelligence has the God given
right to seek to perfect ITSELF to develop all its
faculties and powers in any direction it sees
tit, so long as it violates no moral obligations,
nterteres with none Of the rights of Others
Ii my. brother prefer, as the implement Of his
life-lsbor, the pen to the plow-handle, who
shall say nayf If in ike manner prefer
the broom-handle, who has the right to OBJ
jectr If he can leave the peaceful pursuits
of the farm or the counting room to engage in
fierce strife in the political arena, who shall
blame me if demand voice in the making
of those laws by which am to be governed ?
If he can grid on his sword and at the call of
his country rush to the deadly combat, who
shall forbid that I, actuated by the same love
of country and her brave defenders, follow
him, pick him up wounded and dying from
the CORY field, and recall him to life and his
country by my assiduous careg
But this is no time to be talking of propri-
ETY.. If your house is on fire, your children
in danger of perishing in the flames, do you
stop to ask whether mans or aoonan's
hand passed the bucket of water, ere you
dash it on the burning element? You are at
sea! Your ship is laundering! The men,
weary and exhausted at the pumps, have sunk
down to rest If woman steps to the handle,
do you cry "Hold 1t is not proper, not
lsdy-like, to be thus engaged on this public
ship ?" Thus it is with us !! Our glorious
Ship of State, whose deck we have ever
proudly trod, and of whose strength we have
so proudly boosted, is at sea! She is in dan
ger! She is sinking! To the cry, "All
hands to the pumps !" every man, woman and
the roar of the storm, is heard strange, dis
cordant voice, calling out, Estate rights =
Every man take care Of his own state-room
Never mind the ship!" Fools and knaves
heed the cry and act accordingly. Now,
again, with the storm still raging, the decks
all thickly strewn with the dead and dying,
we hear the cry, "Propriety! Don't 60 in
there! 1t is full of weary and worn, needing
your assistance. But don't enter. 1t Is
mems place! Call the men from the pumps
to attend to thatl" Shame on the one who
uttered the cry, and burning shame on the
woman who heeds it What, my sisters =
When our fathers, brothers, husbands and
sons are failing like autumn leaves on yon
le.felds, pining with disease in the dis
tant hospitals, and we would send the little
delicacy, the loving word that is to cheer and
sustain them, and receive back the dying
message that is to be our lifelong solace in
our sore bereavement, are we to be told that
a woman's hand,-a woman's hearts, not
fit channel through which to convey them?-
Who believes it? What woman, who has
any proper sense Of her mission, will assent
to it? Mother, if you cannot 60 yourself to
your dying boy, would you not deem it rich
boon if some woman's soft hand could wipe
the death damps from his brow some gentle,
sympathizlng heart, catch his last, faint whis-
per, and transmit it to you with tenderness
and delicacy that robs the painful tidi1gs of
half its woe?
Iowa has such, many such, we trust min
istering angels to her noble souls; and let us,
who cannot share their work in camp and
hospital, cheer and sustain them by our la
bors, our sympathies, and our prayers here
at home, not by calling in question the pro-
priety of their conduct. The Great Jehovah
himself has given his sanction TO woman's
work. Whenever in the great crisis of the
worlds history he has needed some undaunt-
ed, unselfsh spirit to lead forward the ma
ton in the path of freedom, Woman has been
the chosen instrument as witness Joan-of-
Arc, Charlotte Corday, and may not name
our own Annie Dickinson for who, that has
listened to the magic Of her eloquence does
not believe her freedoms inspired Evangel?
When we heard the question asked of one
of these noble women, to whose untiring eff
forts Iowa doubtless owes the life of many of
her brave soldiers, why she herself visited tie
hospital? why she did not leave all to the
surgeons? we blushcd that the questioner
was not woman and we thought as well
ask the mother why she does not leave her
sick child to the sole care of the physician
and the servant girl!
We are glad that Iowa has daughters as
we'll as sons in this war that there is one, at
least, whom neither foes abroad, nor detrac-
tors at home can drive from the path of duty;
who was early in the field; who found our
sick at Sedala on boards and provided com
Portable beds who was the first to present
the cup of nutriment to furnishing lips, from
the CORY fields of Shiloh who has stopped
not for summers heat, or winters cold; who
has braved all the horrors of the hospital and
the battle field whom neither guerrillas by
the river, nor shells exploding at her feet
could daunt. One, in short, who has vindi-
Gated by her conduct the right of woman to
live, and labor, and suffer in her country's
cause.
We rejoice in the name of American cti-
zen. We are infinitely prouder of country
to-day under Abraham Lincoln, though she
be all mangled, marred and bleeding, than
four years since, under James Buchanan
We glory in the noble band of sister States,
that, like firm phalanx, are leading all ma.
tons and people to true happiness. Welove
our own chosen Iowa. We honor her brave
sons who have been foremost IN every con-
fict, and have never known defeat We
delight in her noble daughters who have not
hesitated to leave their quiet peaceful homes
for the narrowing scenes and exhausting cares
of the hospital. But there is one name
among them all we will ever cherish in our
heart of hearts, name deeply engraven on
many suffering soldiers memory embalmed
with many thankful tear name that shall
become household word in..many bereaved
dwelling name whose laurels shall be green
when others now verdant with pale honors
shall be forgotten name which every true
woman delights to honor; name that shall
ever live in the heart Of grateful State-the
name of ANNIE WITTENMYER