The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-14
WOMAN AND HER POSITION.

E"with regard to the doctrine of womsn's Rights,
the great of our day is, that woman is to be
s b and @ Ss @
should be: Her support her dignity her beauty her
as wife, mother, and danghter."-Led0eT.
To The Editor Of The Evening Ielegraph:-
The above paragraph is going the rounds of
those newspapers whose pious editors seem
willing to concede to women the divine right to
starve, steal, and prostitute themselves by mar
Tiages of eXpediency rather than see them use the
talents and energy which God has given them to
acquire an honorable name and position among
the worlds workers and benefactors.
1t is presumed that the entire female sex will
agree with DR.. Todd that woman finds her
most acceptable occupation and greatest happi-
ness in wife duties and mother duties; but that
her Support, her dignity, her beauty and her
honor, lie in her dependence upon man." is an
assertion as false as it is foolish, and is unwOr-
| thy any enlightened or liberal divine.
! 1t is pleasant for all women to be tenderly
| cared for and carefully sheltered from the rough
winds of adversely. It's great happiness, in all
times OF JOY and prosperity, to see gladness re-
hected in eyes we love, and it is very comforting
in days of sorrow to take refuge IN the affection
of a true heart, and rely for succor or defense
upon strong arm; but there are thousands of
women who ind neither this refuge nor this de-
| tense, but who are, with sad hearts and fainting
frames, almost hopelessy combating these old
time superstitions which pronounce it unwo-
manly for women to be independent in the
hard endeavor to gain for themselves and others,
who look TO them for help, the barest necessa.
Ties OF life. 1t Is not for the daughters OF
ease and luxury, the adored of fathers,
husbands, and brothers-the lilies that toll
not and spin not and are yet arrayed more
gorgeously than was solomon in all his glory
that the advocates of female suffrage are
working for. Orphaned girls, widowed mothers,
homeless, toillng single women, are those for
whom they seek this right. Tue present writer
| regards the ad vantage TO be obtained for women
by their own votes mythical or inconsIder-
able and believes that better educational priVi-
leee more extended field of LABOR, and living
wages are the rights which underlie all others,
and which will prove the stepping-stone to all
others really desirable. This, however, is not
intended asa disclaimer against sympathy with
others whose opinions are more radical
Probably the Rev. DR.. Todd would declne to
answer if he were asked, Why, if God designs
women to be dependent upon mon (as he as
serts), should He permit so many to lack hus
bands, fathers, brothers, sons? And why allow
these husbandless, iatherless, and brOtherless
females to have the sole care of family of help
less little ones, and perhaps the support OF aged
! or invalid female relatives resting upon them
If God never intended them to become self-sup-
porting, independent human beings, it is GER
tainly not in accordance with what we have
| been taught to believe of His providence, that
, | He should remove from or fail to bestow upon
them those natural protectorsOl who give to
them all they must nope TO possess OF "honor,
| OlgQlty, ana DeduJys" DOES OnIlSl, OT us apps
Ties enioin marriage as obligatory upon women?
ST. Paul specially advises against it, though this
advice is ignored almost universally by those
who quote most frequently. LET 7seuen keep
silence in the chR-5a1s; and II any woha learn
wlsdozs,siet them seek it of their husbands at
s-4~nome."
, Christ said 10 His chosen disciples, Feed my
sheep,n and perhaps the reverend clergy who
e so violently protest against the moral, mental,
/ and pecuniary independence of women, have at
last arrived at the conclusion that 1t is their
) duty TO supply those children of the Almighty
a | Father not alone with spiritual food but with
4 the solid and material sustenance which nature
: demands. Probably instead of making them
y The beggars Of the Church, and the almOners of
lis scanty aims, and melting them to bold and
o unwomanly efforts to obtain money to sustain
II home and foreign missions, and educate pious
h youpg men for the Gospel ministry, they have
a decided (each believer IN woman's right to be
v idle cumberers of the ground) to set apart a
d goodly portion of their fat salaries, and forego
c, their yearly visit TO Europe and elsewhere,
D. in order that these women who have no male
4, relatives 10 support them may not violate any
II of the Gospel declarations by becoming what
le God never designed them to be, selt-sustantng
ID nd independent. MAC.