The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-10-06
Problems for Women.


Desiring to sit at the feet of the gentle
women who shrink from the notorlety
of the public eve" and learn from them,
we ask them in all simplicity, the fol
lowing questions, trusting that a regard
for their own "peace and happiness"
which they charge us with having
placed in "grave peril" will lead them
to give us answers good and true;
l. Dear ladies, are you the Intelligent
''wOrking-wOmen of the country :"
and, if you are not, how can you under
stand their trials, their wants, or their
wrongs, or judge clearly of the proper
remedy?
>. Have you Travelled through the
land, visited the homes, and ascertained
to a certainty that you represent the
sober convictions of the majority OF the
women of the country nv
3. Does the petition of 100000 women
of America, asking for the privileges
and immunities of citizenship, indicate
only Exceptional discomfort ?"
t. Having the confidence you claim to
have in the wisdom and integrity of the
honorable Legislators to whom you APP
pealed against our petition, do yoh
think il discreet or right TO bring your
personal influence to bear upon them 10
prevent their deciding CONSTITUTIONAL
question upon its merits?
>. In showing that these rulers need
your assistance upon the floor OF the
Senate to avert "graVe danger TO the
general order of the country" and that
you are willing TO render it, have you
not proven more than you mean? Did
you not know that you were helping the
one hundred thousand more, with your
protest against them, than you could by
being silent thousand years?
6. Following the teachings of Holy
Scripture, are you 'keepers at home ?'
Do you 'adOrn yourselves with modest
apparel-nOt with broidered hair, or
gold, or pearls, or costly array?"
Z. Did you know that ST. Paups grave
warnings were addressed to fashionable
women, and not to those who ask for
citizenship?
S. Is there an office in the gift of the
people that would bring woman more
conspicuOusly before the public eye
than women already are, who give and
attend receptions and concerts, conduct
fairs, preside at tables, solicit strange
men for votes, urge them to take chances,
or even come in contact with them in
riding upon the street-cars, walking on
the public promenade, or, rs many
women are compelled to do, jOstling
against them, and dealing with them in
crowded markets while buying prOvis-
ions for their families
Q. Is our President any more the prop
erty of the people than our Presidents
wife, when every young man who re-
ports for the press may fearlessly reveal
| to the public the secrets of her dressing
room ?
10. Do YOU watch anXiOusly for your
own names, morning after morning, in
/ the most conspicuous columns of the
daily press To see whether the minutest
article of the dress you wore the previ-
ous evening is properly described; and
don't YOU sometimes wonder that such
faithful record is kept of what. you
wear, and that nobody seems to remem-
| Der anything yOn say?
| IL. Can 1T enter into your delicate
minds to conceive that the ladies who
/ find i'm the same column their names
! held up to ridicule and contempt, their
| language and sentiments misrcpTe-
scented, their aims misunderstood, their
reputation wantOnly attacked, yet who
stand year after year in simple travelling
dress, before large audiences, steadfastly
maintaining the justice, and profoundly
believing in the ultimate triumph OF
their cause, may be as sensitive, a
highly bred, rs finely organized as you
l.. If they were not inspired by q mo-
ble purpose, reaching far beyond all per
sonaI considerations, could they bear Sc
much and bear il patiently?
l3. If they sought only the admiration
of the multitude, would they not take
your own way to win it?
II. We won't believe it without YOU
assurance; but to tell us whether any o.
your number are among those who's,
} 'snoYy shoulders, rounded arms, lus
trous eyes, and powered hair, mad,
more dazzling by the glimmer of SAITH
and the glitter of Jewels, raviSh tn,
senses of the young men who are pal,
to serve up this display of charms in tn
newspapers for the public breakfast Ol
Sunday morning? Erch0age