Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1870-11-19

warm and affectionate, minds as iDteIli-
gent and souls as noble, as ever existed
amongst our grandmothers, of either
sex. Our girls may, perhaps. dress
more gaily, and perhaps they enjoy
amusements more kcenly than did the
women of the last century but what of
that? IF the chemist of the period is
able to produce anniline colors SO brilli-
att as almost to nvai tho famed Tyrian
purple, shall his sister--the girl of the
periodic condemned tosswear dingy
madder? And If better education and
wider opportunities have enabled her to
enjoy Chickering or Steinway piano,
is it TO be supposed that she will remain
content to listen to shepherds reed or
a cornstalk fiddle? These old croakers
forget two things: in the first place,
that the grandmothers of the period
| were once girls themselves, as wild as
any girls that we have now and
secondly, that the greater refinement,
the higher education, and the nobler
views OF the modern girl, are things
that the old fogies who have desc ended
to us from former generation are
totally unable to understand That the
girl Of the period is perfectly able to-
rough it, perfectly able to live in log
house, milk the cows and tend the ba-
bies, we have no doubt, for we have
seen her do it on more than one occa-
sion, when necessity required. But if
she should prefer the coarse associations
that accompany a life of what is called
ronghing it. to the refined and elevating
influences that in the nineteenth CEN
tury have made our Christian homes
the nurseries Of modern civilization, she
would deny her birthright, aud prove
false to the intellectual and social op
portunities with which she has been SO
marvellously blessed. When Mrs.
Stowe and her sister hold up for our
admiration and imitation the women Of
their young days-days when "a bride
was married with sheets aud tables
cloths of her own weaving, with coun-
terpaues aud toilet covers wrought in
divers embroidery by hor own aud her
sisters hands"-they seek to recall
times that have passed away, we hope,
for ever AS these ladies well observe,
these remarkable women Of old were
made by circumstances we can only
add hope that neither the women nor
the circumstances will ever be repro
duced on this planet. La their own
departments, for the tired muscles of
the weary worker, men have suhstitut.
ed muscles of iron, sinews of steel, and
nerves of brass, propelled by hearts
and lungs that can never tire while the
coal fields Of Pennsylvania hold out !;
and shall we condemn our wives and
daughters TO the humdrum of the spin
ming wheel and the distaff? No, in
deed Even the sewing machine is bad
enough, and it won't be long ere some
of us succeed in Harvesting the physical
forces to it, so as to give the tired limbs
of the sewing girl holiday.
1t is singular fact that we often
meet people who, having come down to
us from the days of stage coaches, two
shilling postage and whale oil lights,
are anxious to revive the habits and ed
ucation of these old times in the DAYS
of gas, telegraphs aud lightning express
trains. Their highest ambition is to
have clean linen, make good butter and
save points that are all very
commendabie, but that do not altogether
fulfil the requirements of modern civil
ization. These people forget that a
wider civilization involves wider neces.
sites. They tell us to limit our de.
sires. being ignorant of the truth, that
the extent of our desires is the measure
Of our culture, and that their advice is
like telling man to cut off his feet
when he wants boots. And so persists
ent are these soi.disdnt sages in recon-
mending US to restrict our desires and
simplify" our tastes, to confine our
selves to the qualification of homely
pleasures, which, with them, signifies
the obtaining of mere material necessa-
ries (and pork and beans at that), that
we often feel tempted TO turn from
them in disgust, aud to exclaim: +" Give
me the luxuries OF life, and I will
dispense with the necessaries.
These thoughts have been forced
upon us by the evident changes that
must take place in the education of
of our young women, as well as Of our
young men. While we ,deprecate any
system that would tend to convert the
latter into mere tenders of machines,
much more shonld we condemn any
system, the tendency of which would
be to degrade the former below even
this humble level, and convert them
into the machines themselves We do
not want spinning machines, sewing
machines or knitting machines for
wives we want women, apd that all
around us there is abundant material
for the production Of good women, ma
terial which it requires. but proper