Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-05-04
THE CHRONICLE.
For the Chronicle.
The Woman Question.

Iney De, III the Triple ldSIucSSes %
ignorance, superstition, and bigOtry
and no sooner has one monster errOl
succumbed to its well directed efforts
than, fired with the inspiration o
victory, it closes in with another
formidable hereditary foe, which is, in
! turn, vanquished, and thus the strife
goes on. Our own favored land seems
the chosen arena for the contest
! Fertile in the growth of every rank,
nOxiOus weed of errOr-the spOnIane-
Gus production of its benign system Oi
tOleratiOn-itl likewise imparts vitality
and energy to the spirit of reform,
which fiOurishes under the fostering
genius of our free institutions. Scarce
have the expiring throes of that
''grisly terror, i" slavery, mingled with
the carnage of a hundred CORY battle
fields, become a painful treasure of
memory, when again the bugle-blast
of preparation is sounded, aud we are
summoned to a knightly crusade
against the power of darkness, which,
for sixty centuries, have systematical-
ly ignored woman's political sphere
and mission. The question: of "Wo-
mans Rights" is, at present, exciting
a degree of popular inquiry quite as
great as its Importance demands, and
yet disguise and ridicule it as we may,
it will not down at our bidding; cha
meleon hued, aud protean shaped, it
confronts us al every turn. and though
we do not hesitate to predict its essen
tial ultimate triumph, il has doubtless,
sustained serious damage from the
character and conduct of many of the
pioneer champions. So few repre-
sentative women are enlisted in its
advocacy, as to occasion grave doubts
touching the purity of their motives.
Too many, SO called "strong minded
women" weak minded men, and
superannuated spinsters, who have
long wasted their sweetness, OIL the
desert air of 'single bleSsedneSs," are
conspicuous in the movement to COM
mend it to the hearty sympathy and
support of the better class of women.
For we think it patent to the Observa-
tiOn of every rejecting mind, that the
great mass of American women, who
embody the virtue, the intelligence,
the refinement, and true womanlIness
of the sex, are not in harmony with
the movement. She is content TO re-
main what her Creator formed her, a
woman; she is too sensible to wish to
obliterate the distinctions which na-
ture has created between the sexes,
wisely fOreseeing, that when all bar
riers are removed, and she occupies
the same level with man in every re-
spect, she will be obliged to foregO
many of those delicate and cOnsiderate
that the American gentle
man knows so well how to bestow.
and the American lady to receive
Nor does she desire the questionable
right" 10 purify the political atmos-
phere, but rejects with merited con-
Tempt the prOffer implying, as it does,
a want of confidence i'm the ability
and integrity of fathers, sons, hus-
bands, brothers, lovers, content in the
proud consciousness that she sways
her regal seepter of beauty and love
over an empire, surprising in sublime
worth any that human authority has
ever established, the empire OF the [,
heart. None are averse to conceding
to woman whatever rights she may
demand, in fine anything
calculated To make her wiser, happier, (
better; nay, should sh,- demand po- !
itical equality, even to the right of I
no sane man would, Tor q |
think of Withholding it
Even in an age so dark that woman /!
was denied the possession of soul old /
king -Ah3suerus encouraged the beau /
ifui Esther to make her request, with 1
he assurance that il should be grant !
I'd, "even to the half of the kingdom"
And shall our bOasted age, that reali-
les the full fIuition of all the romance
md chivalry of the past, be less gener-
,us? Let her but make the demand,
md not the half but the entire king
lom will be granted her. In a land
where woman's whims and caprices
ire law, it were idle to talk about
granting" or withholding" from
he dear creatures what if they desired
hey would enjoy without so much as
aging "by your leave" but while
representative women prudently hold
off from this proposed re-
Drm, how ungallant in man to seek to
impose burdens upon the weaker sex
hat he dare not touch with one of his
myers With party strife and iactiuus
igOtTy, he has stirred up the angry
ea of politics into widest cOmmOtiOn,
nd then aghast at the turhulency
frOught wildly invOkes these angels
f peace to still the troubled waves
{, as is popularity represented, the po-
tical arena has become a cesspoOl of .
and intrigue, how unman-
: to ask woman to divest herself of
II the charms and graces of her gentle
ature, and plunge with us into this :
seking slough of despOnd; and final !
7 to offer her, rs sign and seal of her
tiZenship, the exalted "rightn To {
loulder her musket and knapsack, I
the bubble reputation, even s
! the cannon's MOUTH and when, {
"grim visaged war has {
his wrinkled front" to ex- {
lange the musket for the spade. and (
D whistling merrily forth to the less :
occupation of labor on the {
ighway. Are we men, and suffer 5
lch dishonOr? If indeed, we are
illing TO confess ourselves u magnifi- '
mt failure, unequal to the duties our j
destiny" has imposed let I
) beg of woman To lift the burden {
ON our weary shoulders, bid her go a
nth and mingle in the ruder strife,
lille we assuming the befitting garb, E
eekly retire to the peaceful shades i
the kitchen, the laundry, the nur- f
ry, to grace Il sphere, that has too C
ng languished from our absence. 1t &
needless here to reproduce the trite f
lery as to whether politics will be as b
uch elevated by the change, as wo-
an will be degraded; or To critically
Yuire into the character of the class
females most likely to exercise the $;
ghts of citizenship when all legal N
satellites are removed; nor will we &
use to characterize the ballot as so q
any apples of domestic discord seat 81
red broadcast over the land, dis n
rbing The peace aud tranquility of v,
miles, by arraying husbands and W
ives, brothers and sisters, against II
ch other, in homes where, alas, al OF
ady too few elements of social har- gI
Ony exist. When woman shall W
rnestly desire to enlarge her sphere OF
labor and responsibility, and pIy m
and down the political firmament cI
the same orbit with man, no one er
ii be found to oppose her. even the nj
Irs in their cOurses will fight for her. of
{ until then let us not "eat of the "
sane root that takes the reason pris- dC
er," and be betrayed into all man he
r of eXcesses. Z. B. BYERS. pr
jirard, April 10Th, 1870.
Last week, in Little Rhody. two sa
ildren entered an office to sell some VI
safras bark, whereupCn an ener- Z.
lie guardian of the law questioned 81
I'm very closely cOncernintr tbair ev