The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-10-06

stacles to overcome, which only
strength and persistence could ac-
complish; but it must be remembered
that will power is just as often exer-
cised in small things rs in large, that
the habit Of control is difficult to lay
aside, that great occasions don't
always arise, but little ones do con-
stantly, when the assertion of an
obstinate will, to the exclusion of
reason or arguments proves q source
of much annoyance, often Of perma-
nent misery.
Looking at the subject from this
point Of view-what do women gain
for the loss of all that they unhesi-
tatingly give to men? Nothing, ex-
cept the name of wife. The board
and clothes, with greater freedom
and much less labor and suffering,
could be obtained by hiring out to
any other person.
This is not set forth as the highest
or best view of married life, but sim
ply as the hard, practical side of the
question. 1t is time that women
understood for what they exchange
themselves, and barter their daugh-
ters. 1t is time that they set them
selves seriously to work, to consider
whether it would not be better to
educate and train them as indepen-
dent human beings, with purpose
in life of their own, and knowledge,
at least. of what they have to expect
rs dependents in any position in life.
1t is not that men are any worse
than women would be under the same
circumstances; it is simply that the
dependent position is necessarily
the subordinate one, and that this
dependence, in the case of women,
is increased in an infinite degree by
the suferings and responsibilities of
maternity.
The better women are treated the
more reason there is to fear for them,
and for the future of the sex. 1t
seems ungrateful to rebel against the
hand that feeds you, no matter how
willing slave you may be in return,
and as there is no recognition of the
labor that women perform, no ac-
knowledged right to compensation,
to share in the income, or to any
thing but SO much as gift from her
husband, they must grow more and
more dependent as they grow older,
and less able to emancipate them
selves from the necessities of their
position.
Is this well? Is it best to rest
under this state of things? To eat
the bread of dependence, and have
the credit of eating that of charity?
Shall we forever perform full share
of the work of the world, and relin-
quish all title to its rewards? Shall
we forever sell our birth-right for a
pound of confectionery?
The root of the evil lies in the
stupid idea that women have, that it
is degradation to work for money.
Work they cannot escape, be they
rich or poor. They must work, more
or less, for themselves, for their
friends, for their husbands, for their
children, for their homes, or for
charities, and the most of them do it
early and late, without thought of
unwillingness, and with real arder
and earnestness, unless it comes in
the tangible shape of earning their
own living" and then it Immediately
becomes hardship.
The cure for the evil rests with
women themselves Let them ind a
vocation before, and Independent of,
marriage. Let them be taught the
infamy of holding their own persons
as their only capital. Teach them to
place proper value upon their posi-
tlon and services rs wife and mother,
and demand in return for these. not
paper of sugar plums, but full
recognition of an equal right to a
share in the income, acquired pro-
perty, in the disposition of property.
and whatever affects the interests and
welfare of the family.
For our part, we consider this
right acknowledgment of, and COM
pensation for labor, of the highest
Importance, and paramount to all
others for women. 1t is bosh for
men to talk of women losing their
title for courtesy when they clai m
equality.
How much courtesy or how much
protection do women get from men
when they really need it? The wo-
men that we know, who receive the
courtesy from men are those who
pecuniarily and otherwise are most
Independent of them.
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