Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-04-27
For the Waterman 4 Journal.
4 WOman'S Comments on q Mans
Comments.


In the Freeman of March Both long article
made its appearance, entitled Some Comments
ona Woman's Opinion" We were outof town
at the time and did not see the article until nearly
two weeks after its publication. But after find
ing ourselves classcd with swine and demonacs
| by the Womans Journal, the genuine courtesy
and lavish praise Of the freeman so moved us TO
gratitude that the impulse to express It was too
strong to be resisted. As we were prevented,
however, by more pressing obligations from yield
ing to the impulse Immediately, and have deferred
until now, we would add somewhat further and
" compare views little more closely with our
friendly critic
And first, it would help to n better understand
ing Of our respective positions, if the question we
proposed in our "Opinion could be fairly an
swercd to begin with. g Is the great fact of sex
to be considered as q fact of our physical nature
alone ~ In other words, is woman only Z" unde-
yeloped man," having no distinct nature and
character as a woman For this question must
be clearly answered in the affirmative before it
can be taken as a self-eyident truth that what
/ is good for man cannot be bad for woman"
That We ourselves hold the decided negative Of
this question, we supposed we had made perfect
/ ly clear until the writer in the Freeman, all
of whose logic is based on the affirmative and
whom we cannot suspect Of intentional unfair
ness, in every of the six columns, refutes our
positions and critcises our reasoning as it he
supposed VIC took the same ground with himself
ON this question. Now topreyent further misun-
IL uN..l H. D
acknowledgement Of the present unsatisfactory
condition Of woman, we had no idea Of comparing
ourselves with men as our models or holding them
up as our standard. Our confession is by no
means,-we are not all that men are but, we are
not all that we ought to be. And our word of
confession becomes thus our word of hope, for we
know we are not all that we believe we may be-
come. In considering the question whether the
ballot will be likely to prove any help to woman
in securing better condition for herself and
therefore for her race, the first point we touched
upon was in regard to the ballot as a means Of
protection against unjust legislation. We said
that il the interests Of man and woman are so in
crwoyen as to be IDENTICAL las it is admitted they
are) then women do not form separate class in
amy such sense to require the ballot for protec-
ton, since man may be safely trusted to egislate
nun sen III nlo''erS pertaining 70 women
'a III "'' pu' ou' commentator says 'ha'
our I''Sou'"s Is erroneous 'na' us force as an
"'s"'"e1' = Se'i'"S'S "e'Aeneu Il not DESTROYED
by lallacy. lie says " exactly here is the fall
"'S' nun ln'cIoS's anu woman interests are
not identical in the sense in which the writer
uses that word. - viii he please tell us in what
sen'o VI Tue "oru ''ey are iuen'lCai lie says
''H''e'ln'eS "''er' "N"'e'er 'ruly Dement'S "o-
'"'n ",'' ""'' cement man no uouD'' out what &c
'u'''S nave We u'eIc'o'e' .uat man VIII Always
use MS power 'ot 'he uenelt oil Ooth sexes Is
''elo no su'n O"'ls as an apuse oil power even
"S"'us' one own housenoid 10 all husbands
give 'uelr wives eAaety Tue consideration protec-
uon anu 'o'npa'lohsnlp th"t "ouiu really IN the
sense IN "h'ch the writer uses the word, be for
tne oeHt interests oil the husband the wife, and
tne en'lFe "'n'iy are poth men ana women 50
uiselnsn' 50 ui-in'eres'ed IN thor public and pr-
'"' nue. 'ii"' 'neS Always seek tNe Oest good oil
,Ne o'ner sex ANA II tney do not each seek the
pgS' sool Oh '0c o'ucr IN these matters OF daily
r''' VIVA. secuI''y hu'e We 'hat they VIII seek
''eiu IN 'he "elsn.er matters oil theawE
No""e would IKE to ada lew questions OF
our own since our mllacy IS Said to hinge on the
"oiu iucn.'c"l' nat security nave we That
nun WIN always use ms power Tor his own
ie'' ponen' Is tnere no snch thihs as an
uo"9o VI power even against one own soul!-
Does o'''' ,'''n give ,''hSen exactly tne oohsld-
Ii p'''''o,9,''P Una. "ou'u
."e 'S' '"'eiesS VI hl'nSeii, Dody'
anu Hp'!'' Ai' men 80 free from the 90
VI '''''. 'V"o, ,'"'uio That 'ney Always III
Pu',', ",'u p''1'' i,'' seuA 'ier own highest
- ''''' w "'' NeA 'nelr own pes'
- ..uI, 49, '''' uii'S
- :" ','' "o's"''e,
'''c 10" =" "noSo minus theh snail
D'.'o' V' p"'eu ''in' TINS uesilA-
~ i"u ~ VIM" Sia'i Tue
-, c'.. ',''' ma" may
p9'ee,'1 I'm '''''''''' VIM Is oi'en''lneS ms
Suing o'yeo''o" 70 iai'acy
o'''' 'i'V1''''S u. ou' own reasoning ana
' ''s" w No ne'n'ng oi the WORD
"'i NC g'''e,uly received
t. w ~ SOY '""' iu'i'
. =, - a, ~ uO JuS'io' 70 WI
~ ~, '''uS''"'''" !" prove VIC
NJ ,.-.l Wv. '''Y'
becloi,,o3 j., ,or Co., '1'1 "''i
cIns. ~ tLamnhtcI -" -. ~ 'lle'''' iaise
-, H.. - "''"', sue ho"
;'.i... -, '''''', u" Overwhelming ma
Jol''y oi Such "omeh-who sec and deplore many
power Ia effect n c,,re yet ,rI, 80.
remedy in the ballot and tberer,ro canno, -,
. N'''Nt oViSeh'