The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1871-05-11
The SOIiIOquy Of an OId-Fash-
iOned Woman.
BY MISS ER. cHEEsBoRouaH.

man-woman with all those attri-
butes with which good God has en-
doWed "the weaker sex"
This morning, as looked forth
from my window, I said, chow
thankful Lam that am a woman"
The day was stormy, but the streets
were full of men-men hurrying
to their business. Scarcely a wo-l
man to be seen they were nesting
quietly within doors, safely shelter
ed from the storm without
How grateful I am that the heav-
lest burthens of life have not been
put upon woman. See that man,
climbing YEARLY up to the top Of
that house with a pile of bricks. l
am glad that God has given me an
easier work than that Of building
houses.
There is another see him remoV-
! ing those huge, heavy boxes from
the sidewalk into his wagon, how ne /
strains under the great weight, how
weary he seems as he mounts the
seat and drives off. Sewing beside
the fire, this stormy day, is easier
work than that.
There are the omnibus drivers
and the car drivers;alI daythe pitiless |
storm beats upon them, they must !
face its fury, or the children at
home, and the wife snugly at home
will be hungry and hOuseless and |
ragged. How glad am that no
such work as that is given to woman
to do.
These wounded, suffering soldiers
in the hospital, I would rather bathe
their wounds than to have to bear
them I would rather see the smoke
of the battle afar off, and hear the
.sstormy music of the drum" at a
distance. o, woman, thank kind
heaven that you are not a soldier
as well as woman that no weary
march is yours, no fierce fight, no
sharp wound, no hours of Of feverish
pain in the hospital, ''sick and in
prison"
The sailor, see him midst the tenn
pests fury drenched by the rain, ex-
posed to the dashings of the salt sea
spray. Think you that he got those
hard hands by easy work Wrote
sailor-youth home, "my hands
stuck to the frozen ropes, and when
1 pulled them away, I left the skin
all there" How grateful am that
I am not of the sex of which sailors
are made.
How glad I am that my work is
within doors that I am not jostled
by busy men on the highways, or
Z insuIted by rude men in the by-ways.
3 That I am not exposed to the temp
! tations which beset men, or to the
dangers that assail them.
lido not wish to do mans work;
I do not aspire to take his place
e either in the workshop or in the
halls of legislation ; I would rather
o obey the laws than make them; 1
= would rather rule my house than
govern the nation. I cannot see
+ that the world would be any better
/. off if woman stood side by side with
IS man. and helped him to tug away
> at the ropes of this crazy old Ship oI
ls State that seems so hard to manage
7 do not think that q woman pilot
&c ;s could guide her into any smoother
Of waters than she now sails.
Of nPoor slave" exelaims voice, 6
IS woman's voice-"is it thus you hug
at your chains ?-Where would be wo
le " mans enfranchisement, wOman'
,s elevation, if all women were as anti
~ progressive as you are?"
gaze out on the stormy streets a
this fancied voice reaches me 1 d
n not look nor feel ashamed at bein
bo caught thinking these old-fashiOne
ar thoughts. Then I gaze around q
.te nv comfortable room, and drawn
10 closer to the glowing fire in the graf
ou again say, 'thank heaven, / am
. woman p'
And I hear the clatter of men
We feet on the wet pavement withou
ng and the sound Of cart-wheels an
an the voices of toiling men and m
heart goes up in praise to Him VIII
has given ne the serene peace an
n pleasant quiet of home duties wh
re, has moored my bark in cryst,
he steams upon which the sunshir
ng ever plays. And I say, I am COZ
to tent that man should do all the har
". thinking and the hard working
er, the world {; the lines have fallen
lot me in pleasanter places, for 1 WEI
i'm on nv brow the crown of wOmal
lg- hood.