The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-02-09
Husbands of the strOne-Nipded.

The husbands of the strong-minded
women are of no consequence; for that
matter few husbands are; but IN this arc
of minute and careful scientific investi
CATION, when nothing seems so trivial as
TO be unworthy the consideration of the
philosophic mind, il may not be alto
gether out of place to gather few facts
on this branch of natural history.
The proposition that man and wife
are one, and that one the husband, has
been disputed by some heretics of this
generation, but it is useless to deny the
essential unity of the married pair
Observation proves that either the
husband and wife are one, and that one
the husband, or that the husband and
wife arc one, and that one the wife.
Theories are one thing and facts an-
other. Facts are stubborn things, and
men and women are stubborn facts.
However much a man may have
seemed TO be before marriage with a
strong-minded woman, from that fatal
hour the process of absorption begins,
and never ceases till he disappears ut
teriy as an individual existence. The
ease of the husband of Elizabeth Cady
Stanton is an instance of this sort. Mr..
Stanton, before his marriage, was a
young man of fine culture, u broad and
liberal thinker, a young orator for whom
great fame was predicted by all who
know him, and for some time il seemed
that his native powers We're such as to
enable him to escape the action of the
general law-but there is no resisting the
forces of nature; by slow degrees the
process OF absorption went on; little by
little he sank from the public view, till
he disappeared from sight altogether as
one of the editors of the Sun.
The husband of Lucy Stone offers us
another variety. ii. Il. Blackwell was
never much before his semi-uniOn with
Lucy Stone. He is less than nothing
now.
The husband Of Pauline Wright Davis
is another unimpOrtant fact of conjugal
] history.
The husband of Mrs. Livermore is
known only by tradition. There is a
myth to the effect that an innocent and
worthy clergyman of that name, and of
the Universalist persuasion, once mar
ried Mrs. Livermore. Having immOr-
taliZed himself by this feat, he retired
from the public gaze to the modest Sc
clusiOn of the domestic circle-as was
very proper.
The husband Of Julia Ward Howe did
not yield to his fate without a struggle
He made superhuman efforts to bring
himselfup by philanthropy. He grasped
at the SaIhO Domingo Commission
with the clutch of despair, but il was all
in vain. Destiny, in the shape of Mrs.
/ Howe, was too much for him. Let us
respect the courage which deserved 4
better fate.
The-husJands of Victoria c. Wood
] hull have climbed the hill of notoriety
solely through her rmeliumship. AsAg-
I ricola owed his Immortality to the pen
of Tacitus, so DR.. Woodruff will be
known to fame only by the annals of his
wife's biographer. Colonel Blood is do
I ing his Intellectual best to retain his in
dividuality in the columns of IVOOdhul
/ & CidfiH's Weekly. His struggles are
7 heroic, but he may rest assured that he
cannot escape the general fate of his
class.
Susan Il. Anthony has no husband.
Z Though stern, she is merciful. Various
/ desperate and devoted men, enamored
/ by her girlish charms, have essayed to
/ plunge headlOng into the maelstrom Of
matrimony; but with firm but gentle
hand she has withheld them from the
fatal leap, nobly refusing to accept the
sacrifice.
This list OF unimpOrtant husbands
might be prolonged indefinitely, but
these are quite sufficient to prove the
truth Of the general principle which /
have stated. have spoken only Of the
husbands Of the most prominent among
the strOng-minded women, but should
any doubter desire further evidences,
need only reinforce my position by
bringing up the husbands Of the lesser,
as well as the largerstars i'm the wOman's
rights armament. One and all would
prove that there are no exceptions to The
general rule.