The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-09-29

] Delng tnat Is 10 De Dorm into the world,
we feel that there ought to be some ear
nest thought among women; and even
as there is prescribed sphere for US i'm
the moral and physical world, 50 is there
a sphere which can only be filled by us
in the scientific and metaphysical
world. There are things in life never
dreamed of in mans philosophy.
You say that we may develop our
selves i'm the science of matter and in
the science of mind without ever being
allowed 10 vote, legislate or hold office.
In the first place, since we have set out
TO have some thought and responsible
ity, we want to be ''dLO,ved'' to do any
thing we choose to do. And, after all,
what is your chivalry worth if you are
not going to give us what we want ohen
arc ask for IL. You grant everywhere
to woman the right to think for herself
aud you say, standing in your superior
hight, that if she wants anything off
the shelf of legislation you will hand it
down TO her. She has asked, plaintive-
ly, for the right of suffrage; you refuse
to hand it down to her, and lin the right
eous struggle to attain your eminence
she grasps at whatever may help her up
the steep ascent, thus piercing her hands
and soiling her womanhOod, you arc 10
blame.
We fully relied upon your politeness,
your gallantry, your chivalry; and when
we said we wanted to vote with you if it
would be agreeable, smiling tenderly all
the while, We looked for you to take off
your hat and bow aequieseence; but no
such thing. You tell us just to keep
still and quiet and go home and wash
the ehildren's faces, and when we Uanf
anything just to sag so.
Now, we have among us, firstly: A
vast army Of purple women, who move
along through the gloom of the city
with the wings of their Pysches trailing
in the dust; women who have nothing
-'iothing'-no one to cling tO-nO one
to be proud Of-no one to work for-nO
one TO wait for; who joy not in Hope or
a Promise in the Land Of the Leal-
whose being never thrills to the pathos
of baby's cry-a cry which is prelude
TO the song Of Life. They burn their
faces in the gaudy gaslight and never
feel the sunlight of tenderness. Who
can tell how this holy faith was slain
for they had faith once, and their era
dies were as white as ours? Who can tell
of the sobs and darkness when they laid
their innocence down i'm the dust? Who
can tell of doubts and distrust amidst all
the clamOr?
! But they have not only accomplished
their own degradation and ruin, but wit
ness the quivering lips and sad brow of
the wife as she watches them, furtiyely,
across the flimsy line drawn between
them. The ruin of the "Priestessn is
duplicate The beautiful sin that black
ems her soul stabs the heart of the wife.
And he?-
The "Priestess" goes down into the
darkness-the groping darkness of in
famy-to legalize his lust, and the wife
stands up on the dizzy and freezing
pinnacle of purity, steeling herself
into a sort of lightning rod to conduct
Gods thunderbolts aside from him
down to scorch and blacken the ground
upon which the "Priestess" walks.
Stephen Pearl Andrews, with all hi,
fine perception and vague philosophy
never had more charity for the "falleI
one" than we may have. We pity her
not with that sentimental and perilou,
pity which has about it so much o.
color de rose as to be nearly tempta
ton, almost luriag women away from
the unlovely drudgery of household
cares, to lie stark and white and beauti
ful under the "Bridge of Sighs"-nor
, the pity which weeps, but the pity
which helps and suggests.
We sympathize with mans error o
crime, but not by partially acknowl
, edging it to be a necessary evil. w,
believe that Col loves the sinner ever
5 as he does the upright; else how coul,
t there have been more rejoicing over tin
e returning sheep than over the ninetl
4 and nine that went not astray. An,
; bringing in these wandering Sheep /
what we propose to do in the future
f along with other things, and we thinl
4 this will be a great deal better oecupa
: tion than playing angel-especiall,
since Little Breeches'' has suggeste
e the idea Of '1oafin' round the throne
t But God sees clearly the things whic
battle our keenest scrutiny, and me
4 and women have walked through year
4: Of darkness and tedious toll, to see a
q last breaking upon them the light {
. revelation and science, showing them
brighter and shorter way to their goal
and without ereeds or theories W
f women come, protesting an earne:
: sympathy with human suffering, an
4 guarded and guided by that mo.
: sublime injunction, "Be temperate i
all things,u we believe that human ni
ture is capable of rising to a very hig
standard but such name as Stephe
1 Pearl Andrews, with his splendid talen
and abstruse philosophy, and his sp'
: eious and visionary ideas of reform,
5 likely to work ruinous results.
h Among other evils that men haN
5 reveled in since history began
% war. In ancient times war was e
Sc teemed the greatest pleasure, and loN
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