Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-10-12
Waste of Woman's Power.
Frem Harper's Bazaar.

: FFem Harper's Bazaar.
| 1t may indeed be that womer
being hampered by legal and sooi:
: restraints, have their freedom so re
stricted as to be incapable of exel
cising their fullest influence We ar
not disposed TO question here thei
claim to a more equal division witt
man of constituted rights and con
ventional privileges While thei
title to share of these is kept il
allegiance, it may be we'll to iuquirt
how good a use they are making o
what they hold in undoubted posses
sion.
Tho influence Of woman, in this
country 1T least, falls far short OF
what ii might be, and it would be easy
! greatly to widen and strengthen il
without the least aid from the politi-
cal roformeFs. She may await ad-
mission to c place on the rostrum, at
the polls, the bar, the pulpit and in
the surgeon's amphitheater, to oh
tain her full sway, but, in tho mean
time, without stopping out of her
drawing-room, she can add greatly to
her dominion.
The fatal error Of woman is to con-
tent themselves forever with the
frivolities ofiite. They are too much
absorbed what the French call
cbifons-rags. They think chifoaS,
talk chidonS, and do little else than
manipulate cbifonS The ABSORPTION
Of ones faculties in the matching Of
a scrap Of ribbon, the shaping Of a
skirt, or the trimming of a smock, is
in itself an abuse of the human intel
lect. Imbecillity must.be the result.
This exclusive devotion, moreover,
Of women to what can only interest
their own sex, tends to isolate them,
and prevents that sympathy with
men which is essential to mutual in
fuence
With the apparent Difference of
Americans to their women, there is
little confidence between them. The
wife is seldom made a party to the
paramount interests of the husband.
In the performance Of his political
duties, in the transaction of his bust
ness, and even in his daily associa-
tons and friendships, she has no
share. This we cannot help boliey
ing to be often her own fault. She
either, with affected refinement, de-
liberately repells all communication
Of such vulgarities as trade and poll
ties. or so weakens her mind with
trivolities that she becomes incapa-
bic OF entertaining subjects SO grave.
1t is a curious thing that in France,
q country where woman is possessed
Of less political privilege, and where
the idea ofincreasing it is more scout
ed by man than in almost any other,
she should exercise the greatest in
fluenco. BY the organic law woman
connot reign in France, but there is
hardly period of its history where
she has not had a great share in gov
erning il. The influence of the
French woman is felt in every de-
parment Of life and it can be traced
to the fact that she has never failed
to put her shoulder to the Wheel
side by side with man. Knowing
what concerns the interests Of one
must affect those of the other, ana
feeling herself capable Of guiding by
her sympathy, advice and tact the
man who has the nominal control of
them, she takes care to be properly
equipped for the service, and so
placed that she may perform it. She
thus becomes the effective counselor
Of the statesman, the partner of the
merchant, and the fellow-laborer of
the operative. Woman has always
been q ruling power in the French
State, though she has never usurped
the rights of man or abdicatod her
own. Napoleon the Great, conscious
that Madame de Stael, whose domain
was limited by the space of the
drawing-room or salon, was compel
ing for the Government with him,
whose territorial dominion embraced
the width of Europe, confessed her
rival power by banishing her from
| France.
The American woman has all the
material powers to which men have
ever confessed their willing subject
ion. Let her but strengthen her
force to hold what she now so readi-
ly attracts, and she viii have no rea-
son to complain of want ofinfuence.
This she can best do, by so subordi-
mating the grace to the business OF
life that, while she retains her femi-
nine attributes, she may at the same
time be capable of wise sympathy
with all graver interests of humani-
ty.