Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1870-09-01

TAMA COUNTY, low
PROM Tie Woman's Journal.
Y RaiIng Al secOnd.lIamd.
"Women ruled oil, and ministers ofstate
We're at the doors Of women forced TO wait !;
Women, wlo've Oft as sovereig gns graced the
| land,
Batnerer governed ,ceH at second hand"
So wrote in the last century the
bitter >satirist, Charles Churchill,
and this verse will do something to
keep alive his name. He touches the
Ivcry kernel Of the matter, and all his.
tory ls on his side. The Salique law
excluded women from the throne of
, F.ancc-"Tbe Kingdom OF France
being too noble to be governed by q
woman" as it said. Accordingly, the
history OF France shows one long line
Of royal mistrcsses ruling in secret
for mischief while more liberal Eng.
land points to the reigns of Elizabeth
and Anne and Victoria, to chow how
usefully woman may sit upon
throne.
It was one Of the merits of Mar
garet Fuller Ossoli, that she alwaya
pointed out the distinction. "Any,
woman can have influence > she said,
Tin some way. She need only to be
a good cook or a good scold to secure
that. Women should not merely
have share in the power OF man
tor nf that onlnipotent Nature will
not suffer her to be defrauded-but
il should be a chartered power, too ful-
ly recognized to be abused" We
have got to meet, at any rate, this
fact OF feminine influence in the world.
Demosthenes said that the measure
which statesman had meditated for
a year might be overturned IN day
by woman. How infinitely more
sensible, then. to train the woman
herself IN craftsmanship, and give her
open responsibility as well as con.
cealed power. el 3 3's pat
The same principal OF dem oralizing
su bordinat,on runs through the whole
position Of women. The husband
makes of his wife . doll--dresses her
IN fine CLOTHES, gives or withholds
money according TO his whiins, and
laughs or frowns, if che asks any ques
tions about his business. Being only
q potted slave; and when she wants
more money tor more fine clothes,
and finds her husband out OF humor,
she coaxes, cheats aud lies. Many q
woman hait-rums her husband by her
extravaganza, simply because he has
never told her frankly what his m
come is, nor treated her, in monev
matters, like irrational being. Bank
ruptcy, perhaps, brings both to their
sense, aud thenceforward, the hus-
band discovers that his wife is q wo.
man, not child. But, for want of
this, whole families and generations
of women are trained to deception.
l knew OF an instance where q fash
ionable dressmakcr IN New York
urged an economical .oung girl,
about to be married, to buy OF her a
costly tyonsseam or wedding outfit.
"But | have not the money, sald the
maiden. mo matter, said the COM
p!aisant tempter, will wait four
husband % a' BY y' degrees. M MAJ Man; LADIES' sHss
do it.n Fancy the position Of pure
young girl, wishing innocen.ly to
make herself beautiful IN the eyes OF
her husband, and persuaded to go in.
TO his house with trick like this mp
on her conscience! Yetit grows di-
rectly out OF the whole theory of
lite which is preached 10 many wo-
lnen---lhat al thay. seek must be won
by indirect manGuvcrs, and not by
straightforward living.
What an insul: to woman, by the
way, in this whole domestic theory,
that it is a generous thing in the hus-
band to "give' his wife portion OF
their joint income. In ordinary cases,
he tolls at his place OF business and
his wife tolls at home; If woman's =
work Is often easier, 1t is as often
harder, and it is a kind OF work from
which wealth lin Anlerical brings no
emancipation. That beautiful woman
who Just rolled by my window in
her carriage, looking only like a
more lustrous and moro careless but
terhy than those which hover round
her IN the arr happen to know
that that fair creature is simply wear.
ing out her lite in ruling a dozen
auarrelsome domcstics, and provid.
ing for the material needs Of large
household. From carly morning to
late evening her life is simply pro
longed toll, ve:lcd by garlands OF ro-
ses; while her husband was no refuge
from eMMai, except in horses, billiards
and cigars. In England, where there
are trained domestics. the case is dit
ferent, but / declare that in Amerioa,
the women Of the wealthier classes
seem to me to work harder than
their husbands. Among the poorest,
things are more equalised, and yet,
the man who works steadily at hls
workbench day by day, would often
90 back 70 1t gratefully could he take
4 turn, sometimes, at the severest
days work OF his wife. 's
It is all a part Of one system. Once
recognize woman as born TO be the
equal, not interior, Of man, an she
accepts as right her share OF the
family income, ofpolitical power, aud
OF all else that is capable OF distribu
ton. As it is, we are in danger o
forgetting that woman, in mind as il
body, was born to be upright. Tht
women .of Charles Reade-ncver BY
any possibility moving in straighI
line where it is possible to find /
lcrnokcd one-aro distorted women