The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-01-09
Our YaunR Glai..

pee9 KNOWN Tor several years, as an
advocate OF Ioman's rights, female suf-
, ftnge and the equality Of the sexes, de-
ksered o 'lecture, in st. LOUIS few
nights ago, from which the following
extracts are taken:
: Mrs. Stanton took up the most impor-
tant branch OF her subject frst-the
health of our young girls-and handled
it In an able and sensible manner. She
explained the causes Of so much sickness
and feebleness in young women, attribut.
ing their physical maladies, chiefly, to
their mode OF dressing In the coming
years, We will have no more sickness.
When about to write her lecture. she
asked her own daughters how she should
treat the subject, and they told her to
write just in the way that she was in the
habit of talking to them. All our Gus
toms, she said, are based on the idea
that women are intended to please men,
not by the attractions of the mind, but
by the mere physical power of their
Women seek to make themselves attrac-
tive to men by making themselves help
less. Some men foolishly say that
woman unsexes herself when she acts
naturally.
Our fashions, said Mrs. Stanton, are
sent to us by the French courtezans.
She had often been panied, on seeing, ut
fashionable balls, the women half naked,
while their brothers were dressed to the
chin. The true attraction which women
should have, is the attraction by which
she can lift man up to the realm. of
purity of thought. Everything that
drags her down is degrading to herself
and him. Dante drew a true picture of
the natural positions of the sexes, when
he painted Beatrice on the same plane
with himself. ''By the law of moral
attraction, she attracts man from tho hell
to the heaven" She would place wo-
men Oh level platform by the side of
men.
She said it was no part of the duty of
young girls to attract men by their ply
sical charms, but it was their duty to
mould themselves into moral beings.
charms that young women should pos
sess, and these can only be acquired by
attending to the laws of our moral
being and abandoning the frivolities of
fashion.
An English author has written nm
essay that proves that there are superfu-
Gus women. This is accounted for by
the fact the large majority of men are
doing women's work. In this country,
every man can find manly occupation,
and they hould leave the women a
, broader field for labor. She was pleased
I to see the enterprise of the city of St.
.on;s-that bridg dge is being built, and
the Mississippi is to be damned at Keo-
, kuk. This was the kind of work for
men to engage in. Let women be
taught to make themselves useful-to
| earn their own bread, 80 that they will
not be entirely dependent upon men.
{ Goethe says: "She is true woman who,
, when her husband dies, can be the
father of his children"
When on visit to the University of
r Ann Arbor, Mrs. Stanton had q discus
sion with one Of the professors on the
difference between the mode of training
boys and girls. He said girls could not
, endure as much as boys, and she thought
f they could endure more. and suggested
. laced and pinched and cramped by dress
as the girls are, they would soon languish
| and die. Exercise should be regular.
When girl she used to walk five miles
| before breakfast, and wore pair of
boots just like her fathers, and she was
always healthy and happy. Napoleon
once said, you cannot make good SOL
dier out OF a sick man.
Mrs. Stanton pronounced glowing
eulogy upon the women Of America. She
{ had often been surprised at their self
possession when mingling with the aris-
tocracy OF Europe-treating all classes
as equals, and addressing an emperor
with as little embarrassment as peasant.
This superiority is, in measure, attribu
, table to the free institutions Of this
country
, Every girl should be taught some use-
full employment, so that she can support
, herself. The helplessness of many of
our girls, left without the means of taking
care of themselves. leads to their degra-
dation and ruin. Life is hard struggle
. for men who are trained to some useful
, occupation, but how much more 30 to
women who are reared in idleness and
F; luxury, with every door closed against
3 them. Tomorrow misfortune may come
to those who are in ah1uence to day,
3 and what will become of their daughters
, unless they are trained to make living
! they fall into the whirlpool of destruc-
ton. because you have taught them
nothing useful.
r What can these young girls do for an
3 honorable support ? If you could see
3 half the letters, said Mrs. s., that come
to me every day from girls who have
been reared in affiuence, and are now
. outcasts from society, begging to know
! how they can retrieve themselves, you
| would sec the necessity of bringing your
girls up to earn an honorable support
r Women are capable of learning many
things they can earn living as law
yers. physicians, telegraph operators,
clerks, school teachers, SO. She knew
two female physicians in New York whose
practice is worth 1926, 900 year.
.,
BRITISH AcToRs' AaEs.-In o letter on