New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-07-30


| His will.
We must educate our daughters that
motherhood is grand, and that God never
cursed it. And the curse, if it be curse,
| may be rolled of, as man has rolled away
| the curse OF labor, as the curse has been
rolled from the descendants of Ham. Ny
mission among woman is to preach the new
| gospel. If you suffer, it is not because OF
| the curse of God but because you violate
his laws. What an incubus it would take
| from woman could she be educated to know
| that the pains of maternity are no curse
upon her kind. We know that among
Indians the squaws do not suffer in child
birth. They will step aside from the ranks,
even on the march, and return in short
| time bearing with them the newborn child.
| What an absurdity, then, to suppose that
only enlightened Christian women are
cursed l-l...
But one word of fact is worth volume
of philosophy; let me give you my own ex-
| perience am the mother of seven chill
dren. My girlhood was spent mostly in the
open air. | early imbibed the idea that a
girl was just as good as boy, and | car
ried it out / would walk five miles before
breakfast, or ride ten on horseback. After
was married / wore my clothing sensibly.
The weight hung alone on my shoulders.
never compressed my body out of its natural
shape. NV first four children were born,
and suffered very little. l then made up
my mind that it was totally unnecessary for
me to suffer at all; so / dressed lightly,
walked every day, lived as much as posi-
| BILE in the open air, eat no condiments or
| spices, slept quiet listened to music looked
at pictures and read poetry. The night be-
fore the birth of the child i walked three
miles. The child was born without parti-
Gle of pain. | bathed it and dressed it, and
it weighed ten and a half pounds. That
same day dined with the family Every
body said would surely die, but | never
had relapse or a moments inconvenience
from it. | know this is not being delicate
and refined, but if you would be vigorous
and healthy, in spite of the diseases of your
ancestors, and your own disregard of ma
lures laws, try it, Loud applause; one
enthusiastic lady rising and requesting Mrs.
Stanton to advise every lady in the land to
do the same
Mrs. Stanton resumed: l can only advise
them to dress right, take baths, and exer-
else freely. Every mother in the land has
il in her own power to be second only to
God in the making of her offspring just
what it should be. This is a serious respon-
s1bility; but it is one that God imposes on
every mother in the land. Children are
born, not made. The mothers whole
thoughts are centred upon her unborn child.
1t is, indeed, a holy period, and if her mind
and body are in the proper condition, how
great and grand will be the result | have
seen the original painting of which l see
copies all over your land, which represents
the ideal woman standing above the sur
rounding objects, while the man looks rev.
erently up to her. This, to my mind, is the
true wOmanhoOd. We are to be the soveF-
eigns of this world; but woman must I'M
derstand her true position before she can
take the first step toward this position. 1t
=. IL
laws of generation than to attempt to re-
model the old and the bad; for with them
we can make our children what we please,
and insure the happiness of future genera
tons. 1t is a sad thing for mother TO have
dissolute son or an idiotic child | know of
one family where there are seven idiot
children. Why! The father is a drunkard.
| want to teach women that the begetting
of a child by drunken or Gcentious father
is SIMS a crime; and hold that the law
which binds a woman to such man is in
itself crime. 1t is the woman's duty to
break such obligations. I honor the woman
who sunders such tie. Applause But
what selfish thing is that who IS clothed
and fed-who owes all that she has to some
man who calls her wife, and yet has not a
thought to bestoW on those outside who
sneer at divorce, and who would Ostracise
the divorced woman from society. But so
linked TO a man whose soul and body were
black with RIGHTEOUSNESS and drunkenness,
would you want her to be dragged down
with him for life This is the proper stand
point from which a woman should Judge of
this matter In the matter of marrying our
daughters we pay wonderful amount of
attention to the clothes of the bride. She
is furnished with stock that would last
her ten years, but how many mothers care
for their souls or bodies Young people
who intend to marry should spend two or
three years in open air exercise in the study
of physiology.
Ii this were done we should have glorious
results. Why, we don't pay as much at
tention to the raising of our children as we
do to our horses, cows and sheep. Oh, what
a leap forward we might take into higher
life if we would but make one combined
effort. 1t is possible for parents to deter
mine what their children shall be, and make
them so before they are born. Oh, mothers,
let us turn over a new leaf and make a race
of gods and poets and statesmen. Another
idea. 1t is of more Importance what kind
of child we raise than how many. 1t is
better to produce one lion than twelve
jackasses. We have got jackasses enough;
let us go into the lion business. Suppose
our great statesmen, Clay, Webster, and
others like them, had only the society of
refined and educated women, they would
not have, as they did, looked upon women
only in physical light. If men have dolls
for wives they will seek the society of intel
lectuil courtesars
We must have a new type of woman
hood. We need it more than gold Court
Exams ruled France and brought her to rum.
COurtezans will rule this country unless
woman rises to her true dignity. The old
idea of the oak and the vine is pretty but
it is mere poetry; the emergencies OF life
prove it's falsity-the lightning strike them
both alike. And now l must say word
about babies.
l never met six women in my life who
really knew anything about babies. When
babies cry, don't, for mercy's sake, give
them that fearful curse of childhood, Mrs
WinslOw's soothing syrup. Babies don't
cry unless something is wrong, and if you
battle and feed it properly it will not cry
My first baby was brought to me pinned up
and crying. | Immediately unpinned it.
The nurse stood aghast; but the baby
didn't tumble apart. You don't pin up
kitten or puppy; why should you the
babyl The clothes that you put on chill
dren are all wrong. They should be fed
regularly and dressed loosely Once in two
hours is often enough to feed any baby.
Nursing them at night is all wrong. Often
child cries simply because it wants water;
yet have met mothers who didn't know
that their children wanted water
Mrs. Stanton continued in like strain,
repeating the earnest advice about the
use of soothing syrups, and the article of
pins came in for another scorching. She
then stated that it was her custom to
answer such questions as might be asked
and she was now ready to hear ANYTHING
that might be offered
A number of questions were asked. One