Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1867-11-22
From the Louisville Journal.
a Protest.

The venerable Rev. DIR. Todd, of
Pittsfield, snys" the root of the great
error of our day Is, that woman is to be
mRtie independent and selfsupporting
precisely what she can never be, be-
cause God never designed she should
be Her support, her dignity, her beau
ty. her honor, aud happiness, lie In her
independence as wife, mother and
daughter" hataa .s#
Being woman. and the most wo-
manly or women, incapable Ut self
government, and as nervoasly afraid Of
public opinion as man, can imagine
are very pleasant, but should like To
know what Is to become of the large
proportion of women that, In the ex-
cess of female population, have no
chance of becoming wives and moth
ers. Many of them are not even daugh-
tiers long; and, left without either mon
ey or friends, IL they are not self-sup-
porting and independent, upon what
are they to lean? Such talk is about
as silly as that Of the man who said,
when his wife told him there was moth
ing to- eat i'm the house, I" Well, then,
my dear, let's have apple dutnplings.n
The best thing for that reverend old
fogy to DO Is to 60 back into lfis study
and recant his speech. While there is
an editor to copy 1t amohg the general
intelligence 1t Is doing harm. II
sounds too heartless and narrow mind
family, that, under his kind protection
enjoys dependence, but was there new.
er q homeless wanderer In his fold, or
an unfortunate, who, by force Of cir
cumstances she could not control, WAS
unmarried and poor? Does not this
relict of another century know, that,
when he talks that way, he is pander-
| ing to tile social evil which Is just now
agitating the world? Does he not
know that the feeling Of dependence
the natural shrinking from the hard
battle of life-makes more erring wo-
men than any other one feeling? II
will take care of you," says the honey
ed serpent in the garden Of Eden, to
helpless Innocence and beauty. And
If she be talented he poisons her mind
with readings from Shelley or the Guar
dian Angel. If she has begun a life of
honest toll, the tempter lures her with
visions Of ease and Independence.
i Ii is the old, old story whispered to
Eve--and on through ages to the mill
ions who have gone down into the
shadow of death, through the valley oi
humiliation and sin. / cannot bear to
hear q man of Gud take up the refrain.
No. The nineteentlrcentury has ta-
ken noble stand in the education OF
women, giving them physical training
and continuing their instruction where
1t was formerly left off, and is incum-
bent upon man who claims to be q
teacher OF an Christian virtues To take
place on the same level, just rs the ell.
ders among our people are always APP
pointed to seats on the speakers stand
to give any public gathering an appear
ancc of respectability. Let him do his
part toward fencing women around
with the highest and strongest bull
warks of civilization, that, with habits
of industry and self-reliance (Which Is
for the sternest needs OF life.
The hardest of all trials for woman,
is to have her heart thrown back upon
herself; and to feel that henceforward
she Is without the pale of those wo-
manly graces and affection that grow
aud flourish only In the blcs sed centre
of home. But the world In before her
and Ii she chooses to be self-supporting
ana independent, Heaven forbid that
any vestige Of a feudal age put stun.
bling block I'm her way. SHE Is. liter.
: ally, born again to new life, sadly bar.
rem of hopes and fears. Let him beai
In mind Christ included her when He
said: g.
Whosoever shall offend one of these
little ones, II is better for him that Q
millstone were hanged about his neck
and he were cast into the sea- &"
@sh+ l".iA aa LAURA REAM.