Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-10-16
Rights-Her Sphere.

years almost entirely. The human fami-
ly is what she makes them. She is the
queen of the home, its center, its light
and glory. The home, the home is the
fountain OF all that is good on earth. If
she desires higher, loftier, nobler trust
than this, know not where she can find
it. Mother, wife, daughter, sister, are
the tendere:t most endearing words in the
language. Our mothers tram US, and we
owe everS thing to them. Our wives per-
feet all that is good in Us, and no man is
ashamed to say he Is indebted to his wife
for his happiness, his influence, and his
character, if there is any thing noble
about them. Woman is the high
est, holiest, most precious gift to man.
Her mission and throne is the family; and
if anything is withheld that would make
her more efficient, useful, or happy in that
sphere, she is wronged and has not her
''rights."
WHAT HER uRIGHTs" ARE.
If woman steps out of her sphere and
demands to be and to do what men do,
to enter political life, to enter the profess
sions, to wrestle with US for Office, and
employments and gains, she must under
stand that she will have to take the low
places as well as the high places of life
She will not be allowed 10 be q man and
be treated with the tenderness due TO wo-
men. If she goes to Congress, she must
also 20 to the heavy drudgery of the earth.
I claim, then, for her that it is her
'-right'' to be treated with the utmost love,
respect, honor, and consideration, in her
sphere. claim that It is her 'sright" to
l .adrr 20
fulfill her mission. l claim that she has q
''right' 10 be let alone there, and not TO
be teased or aattered or wheedled out Of
her place, and made to believe wha. can
never be.
She has ''rIght' then, to be exempted
from certsin things which men must en-
dure. 1t is her privilege and her right
She ought to be exempted from the hard
drudgery of earth. She ought not to be
made sailor, to hang on the yard arm,
to chase and kill and try up whales-to
be a surgeon to pull teeth, cut off
legs, or cut off tumors-to go into the
mines and dig ore and coal-to burn
over the smelling furnace. She ought
not to be compelled to be barber, a
boot -black-to carry hods of brick and
mortar-to be a soap boiler-to groom
horses. dig canals, dig out peat, tan
leather and stir the tan vats- to make
collins and dig graves, to go to the Arc
tic ocean for seals, or to spend the long
winter in the forest cutting down tim
Der, and in the snow water of spring 10
drive logs for hundreds of miles so get
these logs out of their native forests
She ought not to be made to butcher
bleed calves, knock down oxen, stick
swine, and slaughter cattle. Now she
must go in for all this. if she leaves her
sphere and tries to be q man. | claim
that she has q right to be exempted"
But, you may ask, has she not a natl-
Gat right to enter any and all employ
ments, as well as menf Suppose we
allow it, and admit that she has a nat
ural right to wear jack boots and spurs. |
horse pistols and q sword, and be 4
complete soldier, and a natural right
to sing bass and beat bass-drum, and
that men have 8 natural right to wear
petticoats, dress with low necks, short
sleeves, wear pink slippers with paper
soles but, would it be wise to do so
Dear sisters, can you be good wives,
mothers, and crowns of your families,
and go into these things-can your
DRESS.
Some have tried TO become semi-men
by the putting on of the Bloom.
er dress. Let me tell you in word
why it can never be done. 1t is this:
woman robed and folded 10 her long
dress is beautiful. She walks grace
fully. The very waving Of her robes
makes the walk graceful If she at
tempts to run, the charm is gone. Even |
Venus never tried to run. Et verTd in |
sess,t paint Dea. So long as she is thus
robed there is just enough mystery |
about woman TO challenge admiration
and almost reverence. Take off the
robes and put on pants, and show the
limbs, and grace and mystery is all
gone. And yet. to be like man, you
must dof your own dress and put on !
ours. In doing it you lose more than
can tell. No, ladies want our respect |
and admiration and reverence too much |
ever to lay aside their appropriate
dress. Their very instincts make them
safe here.
A great hue and cry is set up about
the right of women 10 vote, and the
cruelty of denying them this right
Plainly this is merely civil and not a
natural right. Minors, foreigners, and
idiots are denied it. The property of
the world, for the most part, is, and ev-
er has been and must be earned by men.
It is useful only 10 support and educate
families-our oWp, or those of others
IL would seem best, then, for those who
at any hazard or labor, earn the prop
erty, to select the rulers and have this
responsibility. The wealth Of the age
igexpended by woman-earned by man
for the most part. He wants rulers in
reference To- the industry and business
of his age. let him select them
Moreover, there is sorae eGa;Qg so unseen
ly in having woman wading ID the dir
ty waters Of politics, dragging end
wranglipg around ballot boxes, for ex-
ample, mingling with the mobs and
rowdies in New York city, that won
der she ever thinks of it. But she is q
taxes. Why not vote" Being wild.
ow, or fstherless, is indeed a misfor-
tune. But the husband or father,
earned the property and voted as long
as he lived. 1t may be q misfortune
that the property does not now vote,
but not so great q misfortune to the
world as to have the sex go out of their
sphere, aud enter into political life
Indeed, it is allowed that voting is on
ly the stepping stone to civil Office
But it is stepping out of her sphere,
and the moment you do that you put
q few of the sex into Office, but depress
and degrade thousand where you ele-
vate one. If q few go up, the many go
down.
WAGES.
There Is q great complaint made be-
cause justice is not done in compensa-
ting labor. 1t is hard problem to solve
to do this. l know q most excellent
pastor, with a noble head and heart,
second to few in this commonwealth,
who receives only four hundred dollars
salary; less than he would have to pay
q raw Irish laborer who boarded him
self. / know of many receiving five or
six hundred dollars. We can't have
Justice in these matters. But bear in
mind that God has put the labor and
the duty on men TO support the fsmi-
lies, wives and children. The man is
recreant and guilty if he does not do