The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-07-06
Woman Suffrage and Temperance.
BY ANNA Z. DICKINSON,

BY ANNA Il. DICKINSON,
Meanwhile there is 70 cause of temper
ance to be considercdr Wednesdays
Tribune narrates how on Monday night,
one Giligan, a soldier at Fortress Monroe,
while under the influence of liquor, beat
his wife to death Look at this woman
A little cottage or an humble home, clean
ly and neat, her husbands step firm at
the door, her husbands eye bright with
smile, his voice pleasant with kindly
greetings as he entered at night his home.
A grog- shop opened on the path he treads,
to and from his daily toll. A call TO en-
ter. An entrance, For heavens sake,
she cries, let me closs that door, Peace,
woman, is the answer would you keep
your husband from evil ways, let it be 10y
your influence at home, not by Interference
abroad The disease grows; the madness
closes around this poor brain the life
slips down awful steps towards the depths
of an awful abyss. The cottage is hov>
ell the children are hungry and beaten
the wife is outraged IN rags. For Gods
sake, she cries, let me Withhold this; let
me stand between him and the ruin he is
working for us and for himself.
Stand, there is the reply, plead with
him, entreat with him, pray for him, do
all that may become a woman, and stop
there. To plead with him is to plead
with a lunatic, To enreat him is to e.
treat mailman. Pray for him | do.
Work for him will But | am weak
against this brute strength, for drunken
man is no longer human being, but a
bssst. Give me the weapon to conquer
him, the weapon that will save him, the
weapon that will close this door, and give
me opportunity 70 reason with him AS
man.
The weapon firmly set,
And better than the bayonet-
weapon which comes down a still
As snowflake TALL upon the sod
But executes the holders will,
Asllghtoing does the will of God.
Give me the ballot the opportunity,
ut least, to try 10 save my husband from
perdilion, and my children and myself
hell upon earth. Unreasonable desire,
unfeminine equest, unwomanly demand
the mission of woman Is at home, not
dsbblng in the filthy pool of politics -
cry in chorus the rumselers, who thrust
the glass TO her husbands lips the lcgs-
lature who permits the net the ministers
who blaspheme Gods truth by telling this
woman to submit herself to this brute as
mi ho I ha ,1,t,o
on manly hearts, the nation which de.
rives mighty revenue from the anguish
of such as she A miserable den called
home, some broken window panes, fires
less hearth,a an empty cupboard, an unfurn.
ished room, helpless woman, man
transformed to a wild beast night, dark
ness without, the blackness Of darkness
encompassing this man reason and SOUL
scene too ghastly for me to paint, too
hideous for you to hear. Gods eve alone
saw, and His ear alone heard, as this
woman was beaten, bruised, kicked, and
pounded out Of all likeness of humanity
her soul torn from her distorted, quiverng
body, and sent up with vast multitude
Of others to bear witness against the inf.
deity and barbarism of Christian land
With Thomas Jefferson say,"I tremble
for my country when remember that
God is just, and that His justice will not
stay forever" He looked at few thous
ands Of wronged and suffering slaves hut
think of the signs and groans, the prayers
and tears, the bloody smart, the agony,
the broken hearts, the awful deaths, of
millions Of drunkards wives Remember
that their cry has gone up day and night
to the ear of one who is not deaf, though
He be long silent; to one who judges the
cause of the poor and the needy. A cry
which condemns law-breskers and law
e1pounder, press, pnlpt, and society alike.
A terrible and awful cry from the depths
Of an awful despair. "Shall | not visit
these things saith the Lord, and shall not
my soul be avenged on such a nation as