Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-12-18
SUFFRAGE WOMEN.
Something very much Tighter than Tight
LaciHg.
From the \. y. News Of ths llth.

From the n. Y. News of the 18th.
A cotemporary thinks that the in
temperate conduct of the members OF
the late Woman's Suffrage meeting
here, does not afford much encourage
ment for the belief that woman, If adj
mitted to a participation in public az
fairs, would have a tendency to mol
lily political turbulence or prevent
masculine ferocities. We did not
know that quiet elections were among
the blessings to result from wOman's
enjoyment of the elective franchise
Woman is naturally a pOlemic, as
| every neighborhood and sewing so
ciety will attest. She is so constituted
for wise purposes, no doubt, of which
her qualification TO share in public af-
fairs is not one, that opposition rem
ders her violent and frequently Vindlc-
tive. Her nervous organization
| makes her excitable and irritable,
and at certain periods uncomfortable;
and there might be occasions, as there
undoubtedly have been often III the
history of mankind, when she would
be more b~loOdthiTsty and %ferOcious
than the worst specimens OF the OPP
pOsite sex.
Woman's excitability has been inn
pressively exhibited in what are
known as religious revivals, and her
appetite for blood in the scenes OF the
French Revolution of 1872, where wo-
men were the most clamOTOuS for vic
tins, for the guillotine, and at public
executions, where they formed a large
majority of the spectators, and the
most interested ones. 1t would hard
~ be judiciOus to place the direction
of public affairs in the hands of beings
who are subject to conditions not far
removed from lunacy, or who are of
such impressiOnable natures as to be
thrown by whole multitudes into
forms of hysteria, Of which history
furnishes some very lamentable eX-
amples. There are some very mem
oraOle instances, in fact, of whole
communities of women going mad.
There was an epidemic of this kind
that spread over Germany, SaXOny
and Holland, and even reached Rome.
During its prevalence the nuns broke
from their converts to run in the
fields, were all seized with cOnYul-
sions, and had such acute pains in all
parts Of their bodies that they bit one
another; they prOphecied and jumped
about in a fantastic way, and bleared
like sheep. Hundreds of such cases
might be cited, one of the most re
markable Of which was that Of
Les CORgulSiOHadiFes Of st. MedGrd,
where eight hundred Paris maidens
were effected with commissions, and
we're known as Les S1uUeiSeS. because
they Jumped and turned sOmersaults;
Les AboyeHseS, because they barked
like dogs; and Les MiGuLeuSeS, be-
cause they mewed like eats.
The truth is, that women, when
thrown together in large bodies, be-
come afflicted with these nervous dis
orders, and commit the most unac-
cOuntable eccentricities, to call them
by the mildest term. 4 congress of
women in a state of hysteTical con
WILSON'S, barking like dogs and turn
ing sOmersaults, would be very unfit
body, indeed, to mtrUst with the gov
eminent Of a nation; yet If women
should ever be admitted to the privi-
to which they aspire, such a con-
gress would not be an imprObability
by any means. We are happy in be-
however, that those of the
fair sex who have q desire to NEEDLE
IN politics constitute but a very small
minority Of American women, and
we shall not likely, therefore,
for many generations to come, wit
ness the c%OnvOcation Of such an agi-
tated congress.