The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-03-12


the history Of the past without oeoom-
ing aware of the fact. thaf tine Ideals
of one age have been reached by the
living men and women Of another
period. Bearing this in mind We can
hardly set our mark too high, and the
day will surely come when We shall
obey that divine command. Be
ye perfect even a. yonr Father, which
is in heaven, is perfect" Even now we
are approaching il; extraordinary and
marked characters are being called out
filing their places. and doing their aP-
pointed work in all portions Of this
globe. More especially do we find
them in this country, and England and
Germany, where free speech and q free
press is guaranteed, bat We are at pre-
sent such bundles Of imperfections that
the work is slow.
We wives have very important
part to fill in this programme and we
are shamefully derelict to our duty. We
have discovered the imperfections OF
our husbands, and we have sighed,
and groaned, and whined, because
these men were not gods. We had
fondly imagined that there was one
ideal man in the world, and had him +;
but some grey, cloAdy. dull, gloomy
looking morning we awoke to find
there was some clay in the composition
of our idol, and we found the discovery
to be terrible one, marring all our
joys, and embittering our lives. The
better way would have been to have
closed our eyes to their faults, and have
been determined to have seen only
their good qualities, and we should
have found that our husbands were
after all mostly pure gold, with just a
smattering Of clay, which made them
Just suited to US women, for we wantd
q human being. Something super
human would have been too high for
us women, with our present imPerfec-
tons. If we insist that our husbands
are clay with but little of the pure
gold in their compositions, they will be
clay; but if we will insist that they
have the ring of the true metal they
will acquire it, if they have it not al
ready, and this is the point to which |
wish to call your attention.
1t is a very hard matter to make our
laboring population see that the great
interests of the world, the civilization,
the prosperity, the comfort and hap
piness of mankind are really in their
hands; that they furnish the materials
for our comfort and welfare, while at
the same time they are deprived of
them. The man of wealth could not
have his pslatial residence without the
mason and carpenter, the painter and
hanger; he could not have his stoves,
his furnaces, his heating apparatus, to
give him warmth and protect him from
the winters cold without the workers
in iron. He could not have his coal
without the miners. The lady could
not adorn her person in silks, satins,
and velvets without the weaver and
dressmaker. She could not set her
dainty feet upon rich heavy carpets.
without the laborer whom she affects
to despise. They could not have their
super6De -four out of which so many de-
licacies are made, without the farmer.
In fact they could not obtain a single
article without the despised laboring
man and woman. And why is he des-
pissed? Simply because he has allowed
himself to be 80. He has virtually
said, " Here am /, poor ignorant per-
son, fit only to be a beast Of burthen,
and take just whatever YOU see fit to
bestow upon me-" And Ms master has
taken from him all the products of his
labor, leaving him only just enough to
keep soul and body together. And,
oh I! how hard it is to convince him a
poor ignorant lsborer, that he has the
entire matter in his own hands. The
rich man says, "Capital will rule;" and
the unenlightened poor man echoes,
Capital will rule"
To the upsetting Of this dogma and
substituting in its place the motto,
labor will rule" we women must
lend our aid. In fact it will be chiefly
wOman's work. Whatever may be
said about woman's mission, and wo-
mans sphere, her mission is mission
of love, and the mission of the poor
mans wife is second only to the mis-
sion of Jesus. While the men will do
the work, the women will be the power
behind the throne. / would not give
much for that woman's womanliness
whatever may be her sphere in life,
who does not silently and unseen mould
and influence her husband. The men
are setting aside inherited organiza-
tons and temperaments, whatever we
choose to make them, and even those
things we may in some degree over
come, and this almost illimitable power
we have over them, is the omnipotent
power Of love. We sway them through
it, because they love US and we love
them.
Solomon says, Of the good wife,
"The heart of her husband doth safely