The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-10-03
The woman Question.

COUNTRIES WHere enthusiasm runs mad ant
commits all kinds of fantastic extrava
gance. First and chiefest among all the
peoples of the earth for all extravaganza
which is not pecuniary in its nature are oul
New England brethren. They are so fond
OF 'lnventing sewing machines and patent
buttons that they must needs push their
passion for novelty into the less exact
sciences, and discover a mares nest in all
the fields of politics, metaphysics and even
religion. Something must be set right it
can't be possible that former ages were up
to the truth in any respect. -.
They have therefore set about emanci-
pating women, after having put negroes in
philanthropic course OF extinction. Wo-
men must vote and hold offices. The
voting part has to await a popular decision,
but the holding of offices is reducible to a
narrower test, and consequently we find
it already in practical operation. But the
other day we read of young lady in a
Northwestern State, who, in order to get
married, resigned the position of pastor
over congregation which she had held for
several years. Female doctors, though
hardly office holders, occupy as public
position, and are very commonly accepted
by public sentiment at the North. But
more pointed than all is the policy of
President Grant and Cabinet in making
postmistresses in such places as Louisville,
Ky. How long now before we shah have
female customhouse collectors and inspect
ors, lawers, judges, Legislators, naval Off
GERS and military officers b
And why not2 many/will say. Joan of !
Arc was Il great general, aud isabella a .
great sovereign. /Snrely, If a woman can /
be king of the feminine gender, she is .
competent 10 be Senator or, at any rate,
postmaster in the same way. If she can
lead an army, why not regiment or a
company
In the first place, to all this we say the
world is six thousand years old; let us
have little respect for its history and it's
experience. Human nature is the same
now as it always has been, and there are
10 discoveries to make i'll it, as there never
have been any made. The first man under
stood the subject we'll as any one of the
present day. Society, in the course of
ges, has passed through all the points of
igor and hberality. Women have been
90 much oppressed and they have been
90 much petted. Opportunities of the
most ample kind have not been wanting to
hem for the development of any mascu-
inc capacities they might have. IIav.
hey ever taken prominent share in the
ontrol of armies and SenatesR
Nature has settled this question beyond
he power of Puritan folly to unsettle it.
he has bounded the sphere of woman and
+ man with well defined limits, and we
eed not fear that muskets will ever be !
arried hy women or babies by men. Of
curse, as in all rules, there are notable
RECEPTIONS in this. There are Judiths and 5
oaDs of Arc, and fable speaks of a nation
Amazons, but the former of these only
crve to show more clearly the Providential I
ltervention of the Almighty, while the
alter, If real, have not succeeded in at :
racting the admiration of their fellow '
eings of either sex. c
In truth, masculine and feminine are
srms as applicable to pcculiaritics of char ,
cter as of body. There is a sanctity d
bout womanly modesty which is as well p
Understood by the one sex as it is appre- v
lated by the other.. Men court the storms p
nd dangers of life, women seek the shelter n
nd protection of home. Home is their f
sphere-the care of children, :,
lie domestic duties and economies of a il
ousehold. Their need of strength, their y
entleness of disposition. render them I
ecuIiarly adapted to these things, while
lie exposure and tolls of the field, the a.
imp, the chase and the sea more naturally tt
III forth the sterner energies of man. OF .,
'urse men can wash and nurse while m
omen could learn to sail vessels and 90 CT
| whaling expeditions, but it is clear that
ore progress would be made in each en- We
oyment by their changing places. 8S
The subject of feminine delicacy and be
odesty is one which will always largely vi
nd to control the question. What man Gu
'uld consent that his wife should be a til,