Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1869-01-15
From Hearth aud Home.
The Province ofwoman.
BY MRS. II. ID. STOWE,

There is much well.intended talk
which sounds as IL there was to be in
the future no particular province for
woman as woman, and To which she
10 assigned by special indications Of
Providence in her womanly forms-
tion. #s= M##
There Ia, In the rush of modern en-
thur iasms, n sort of talk which lead
us to suppose, IT we did not know
better, that the takers thereof con.
slider that the sphere OF domestic and
family duties, i'm which woman has
hitherto principally moved, was
narrow and deg rading one, unworthy
of her powers. and forced upon her
by tho tyranny Of man.
Now we hold that, in all which
the most advanced of modern enthu.
siasm proposes for woman, there Ia
nothing So sacred, so venerable, so
every way worthy of her, as the old
time-honored institutions OF the
Hearth aud Home.
Not to he misunderstood In saying
this, we will state that we are of the
number Of those who believe that
larger sphere for the female part of
mankind IL both possible and proba-
BILE.
We see nothing unfeminine or inn
proper In woman'S exercising the
rIgl.t of suffrage; we see no impro-
priety in her pnrsuing an extended
career of study, TO fit her to be n
physician we think that women
may become architects, like the fair
Sabrina, who drafted ard built a
great part of Strasburg Cathedral.
or they may become landscape pc. gar.
deners, and find abundant exercise
for taste and skill, and healthy, re-
tmuuerative employment; they may
be even teachers of naval school
and expound to disciples the mys.e-
ries Of ocean navigation, AZ = woman
at this day ID successfully doing-in
short. there 10 no earthly reason
why they should not, as Lord Chat
ham says, use every advantage
which God and nature have put into
their hands.
There Is 10 earthly reason In the
mere fact OF womanhood which
should forbid q woman's doing any
thing Which she 10 peculiarly and eUi-
dentiy meant and made TO erect IN.
In this view. we zee NO improprie.
ty in y woman's becoming u public
character. when constitution and ge-
Mus evidently tit her peculiarly Tor
such course. No one ever listened
to Mrs. Fanny Kenble's interpreta-
tion Of Sbdkes 3eare and had any
doubts Of the propriety Of her giving
them, because she was . woman.
Anna Dickinson's career l.ss fully
shown that the good senss OF the
community justifies even q young
woman In being n public lecturer,
who has gift and genius for orsto-
ry.. All such instances make their
own laws, aud the general good sense
Of mankind admits them.
But when vii has been said and
done, vocations such as these can be
the resort Of few only. who have
q special gift or talent, and there
still remains that great bodyguard of
women, embracing some Of the love.
Hest, wisest, and most venerable of
human kind. who have DO special ge.
Mus or aptitude for any calling or
profession. except the oldtine honor
ed ono that relates to the Hearth and
Home.
But let US ask OF you all. sisters of
the most holy ard blessed order of
the fires do, whether there is not
still progress before us?-a field of
improvement and activity quite
equal, nay superior, to that of those
exceptional sisters who shall no forth
to the world and its cares?
L. not the art of tiuiag tCeU, Of maxi
ing life cheerful and charming. the
art Of adorning the home with gifts
and graces, which our children shall
carry with them through their lives,
the Art Of 80 apportioning household
relations that each shall receive the
appropriate amount Of attention.
while 30 planning and arranging that
the very most shall be made Of life,
and art yet In its infancy? To it not
glorious art, an art OF arts? And
what woman is there that does not
acknowledge thatshe might yet learn
something In this field 4?
To run this idea into Particular .
little:
Is not the art Of being healthy, Of
keeping the mind and body In that
same sound state which has well
been called physical religion, one
which 10 yet In most impcrfectly de-
veloped condition? What woman OF
US all can say that she is wholly mis-.
tress OF IL, that she might not study
1t with advantage? An ounce OF pre-.
vention 10 better than pound of cure,
and sanitary knowledge, as respects
household matters, might save q
great deal OF outlay, in which the
doctors bill ID but the least item.
But In the second place, does not the
cure and treatment of the sick and
the sr6ering, and the doctrines Of good
nursing, offer wide sphere of study
for woman in domestic life?
The doctrine and practice Of econo-