The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-06-24
WARS OF THE wOMEN-THE STRIFE
BREAKS OUT ANEW.
HOMAGE TO yAsHTI.


1t was 4 time of feastfng at the court
OF King Ahasuerus, and the DAYS
Filled with the merry sound of reYelry,
The harp, the dance, the song sped lightly on;
OF royal Observation-Disclosures rich and rare
Brought from the looms of Tyre-sweeping
down
Their floods of purple on the marble floors,
And held by rings of silver and of gold
To stately columns. Odors filled the air
OF costly spices brought from Indfa's shores.
And sweetest music fioated on the breeze
To greet the senses of the Persian King
All, as they drank the wine from golden urns,
Sang TO the honor Of their royal host,
The majesty and glory Of his reign.
His mighty Kingdoms stretched from shore to
shore,
From Ethiopia's jungles, TO the fair
And sea-kiss' d India, with its boundless wealth,
Until Ahasuerus's grew proud
And longed to show his courtiers somewhat
To feed the fire of their tumultuous praise.
And then he thought him of his beauteous
Queen,
For she was young, and ''fair to look upon.''
"Bring in the Queen!'' he cried, .'and by the
gods
Such as has lived not in your widest dreams,
MY fair Queen, Vashti. Ho! We chamberlains
See that She be arrayed in splendid robes,
And place the royal crown upon her head
A hush fell on the noisy jewellers
OF waiting expectation, and all eyes
Were turned with eager interest to the door.
But when they looked to see the proud young
Only her minions stood before the King, .
And told her answer to the breathless throng.
"Queen Vashti will not heed the Kings COM
mand;
She will not come before the idle host
OF drunken revelers.o All eyes were turned
In fearful silence on the humbled King.
And in his flashing eyes and darkened brow
They read the doom of Vashti.
To all lands
In his doininions went the mandate forth
'From henceforth shall the husbands all bear
rule,
And wives shall henceforth honor and obey.
Queen Vashti shall be called no longer Queen,
And shall come before the King no more
Thus, by the stern, fixed law, which altereth not,
OF Modes and Persians, man decreed his right
To power absolute, and Persian men
Ger Persian women held supreme command.
Honor to Vashti! who, when question came
Which.she should keep. her high and royal state
As honored queen, or her pure womanhood,
Held to the latter. Thus her story ends,
But echoes down through meniory-hauIted
Through ali the yesterdays, until to-day,
With honor to the noble Persian Queen.
And now. to-day, another question comes.
o, women of the nineteenth century
Which will We have-a place among the men f
In courts, in Congress halls, and noisy crowds
Where even woman name should never come
A voice above the tossing, restless tide
Which surges toward the polls and all the
homes
Made darker by your absence?
Or, VIII We keep
Your ever pure and precious womanhood,
The tender love of husband and of child,
The God-appointed right to mold and train
The future men and heroes of the land!
o, women of the nation! Pause and think!
Why babble ye of wrongs and injured rights?
God pity women who have wrongs indeed,
And we may pity and may help them too;
But giving them the ballot, and the work
Which men should do will never help their
wrongs,
Or at a cost too fearful, and too great.
Yes. trials are the lot of all mankind,
And men as well as women, have their wrongs
Which all their right to vote can never help.
Then through the lights and shades of future
years
Let woman work with high and noble aim;
Not to be Presidents, and Priests, and Kings,
But truer women. Then the day will come
When men shall cease to scott and rldieule,
And honor woman as the better half
Whom God appoints to lead his Maynard sons
Nearer to him.
New York, May 2, 1870.
FAITH FARNHAM.