North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1868-04-22


the readiness of women to accept anything
that can confer upon them the name Of
wife increases their pride, and leads them
still more to imagine themselves superior
beings, who condescend greatly, and yield
to an amiable weakness rather than fulfil
the complete law of their manhood in
marrying at all. do not blame men for
thinking and feeling in this way; they
would be greater than the archangels if
they could do otherwise under the circum-
stances. Nor are women to be blamed.
either, for we are. after all, only what we
arc made; but feel bound to urge them
strongly to rescue themselves from this
false position.
Marriage connot be happy, or honorable
women be respected, so long as matrimony
is their only resource. An education which
will fit them to be merchants, book-keep-
ers. saleswomen, teachers, designers, ar
fists, or drcssmakers and milliners, will
not render them less fit to be wives, but
much more so. How many hundreds of
| women have come to me, or written to me,
who had been left destitute, or nearly so,
with children to support, and no earthly
idea OF anything they could do which
would bring in the first dollar Were
women encouraged, and taught how to
earn livelihood before marriagc-above
all, labor, and the acquisition of an indie.
| PENDENT position by means Of labor, made
as easy for them as it for men, they would
i, not be in hurry to marry. They would
wait, and prefer life made useful and
honorable by their own efforts to the life
which many Of them enact from the cradle
to the grave.
In marriage, there cannot be independ-
ence for either men or women, or ut least
there should not be- Women are depend
ent upon men for support-men upon wo-
men for companionship, the rearing of
children, and the thousand wifely and wo-
manly Offices which make tue chief charm
Of home. If the motives of women in mar
! rying, however, were above suSpiclon--if
they only married from affection and not
! for homes-they would be more likely to
fulfil their proper duties afterwards, and
would create a universal claim to that re-
cognition and appreciation which is now
rarely seen.
Men have a ri ght to demand from wo-
men the fulfilment Of obligations as wives
and mothers but womcn have a right to
demand, also, that they shall be treated
upon terms of equality that their right to
! a share in what the husband makes shall
be recognised that their means shall be
graduated by his income and that they
shall have right to use, and invest rs
their own. per centage at least of his
| savings. The wives of many wealthy men
| are worse off, now, than if they were sim
| ply hired housekeepers. They have not
the opertunity OF saving dollar, nor a
voice in the investment Of the money which
they have helped their husbands to save.
| One of the best women, and certainly
| the most devoted wife and mother | ever
knew, died Il short time since. She had
married her husband when he was poor:
| when she died, he was worth q hundred
! thousand dollars. She lett six children,
and her few mememtos were divided
among them. They were not valuable, for
her husband. thoug gh good, was what is
! called "closen man, and had never be-
lieved in ''foolcries.' She had exhausted
them long before she had got through with
the list of persons she wished to remember
and her last hours We're actually pancd by
the thought that she bad nothing more
worth giving; yet she did not dream of
overcoming the habit of years, and asking
her husband for money or for anything SO
absurd as q gift.
Women are rated in every direction for
not being good wives and good mothers
but what encouragement is there for them
to be so Men have the stimulus of re-
ward for activity in business; but what
has Il woman to expect who fills the place
Of housekeeper, nurse, seamstress, and,
possibly, maid ot-all-work? will not say
what. for every one knows that there is no
Il
it is always those women who deserve the
least who get the most. and those women
who are the least selfish and exacting. and
most true and devoted, who get the least.
Whcn women become indepcnpapt Of mar
riage, all this will be changed; they will
make better wives, and men will learn to
respect them, and recognize them rs shar-
ers in their fortunes iHstcad Of dependents
upon their bounty.
JENNIE JUNE.