Litchfield enquirer., 1872-01-18
WAsanaroN. Jan. 18th, 1872.

to hear about the darned old woman's s sufferings v'@b but after the long rest fresh interest has arisen, and Tuesday night there was a crowded room to hear the la- dies speak onthat subject; the su6rage, not the sufferings.
 An old poet has written t< Man is the rugged lofty pine: Woman the tender graceful vine, Whose curling tendrils round it twine, To deck it's rough bark sweetly o'er." Let us see how much truth there Is in that assertion.
 Some women, like some men vines are wholly dependent on some support, be- cause they been educated so to be; yet they are not necessarily so. If trained to be self-supporting, and no unusual mis- fortune befalling them, women can battle with life as efectually as men, and in many instances, with equal advantages will succeed better Who has not observed that when death takes the mother from 9 family in mode rate circumstances, ill many cases the l family circle will be broken up, and a home be but a short time assured to the bereayed children, while when under sim- | liar circumstances the father is taken and the mother left, she will struggle to keep home, however humble, for her children. and ln most cases succeeds in her efforts. This has been the case in times past when fewer advantages were allotted to women then they now enjoy. For the same labor females were formerly allowed but about one-third the pay that was given to man. Now there is great change Take teach ing for an example. In Chicago, where the educational system is very complete, the wages of male and female teachers is just the same. Some years agoMiss Ruth Pomeroy, sister of Senator Pomeroy. was employed as principal of the female de- partment i'll an institution in central New York, and received the munifcent salary Of S2OO per year. A more energetic, faith f'-l '----' ~Hse.~--t tvs'0irUr H0vrI tvvu was she. The principal of the male de- partment, in the same school, Mr. Pom eroy, with no more onerous duties, re- ceived for his services $7OO Child as I then was, could see and wonder at the injustice. True $700 was not large sal ary, but in those days 1t was so consider ed, and the Presbyterian clergyman of the same place, raised and educated his fam fly of nine children on the same sum. Which, think ye, did the most toward ac- complishing that desirable end, the father who by his labors in the pulpit earned that $700. or the mother who in her house. hold expended it? Intimate with the daughters of that lady ] we'll remember how unremitting were her tolls. She knew no more rest than did her sister-in-l a widow of the same place, who was some how supporting four children without any salary. It passes my comprehension, ,now, to think how 1t was done. I remember the oldest son received pay for some labor,
 but the others were kept at school and seemed not much poorer than the minis
 
 wives, or widows, and here in New Eng land they cannot be, for 1t has been the custom for many of our .enterprising young men to leave their home to ''seek a fortune" in other lands and often their wives also, leaving more female candidates for matrimony than male so while some are maiden ladies from choice, others are from necessity
 In difference to the sentiment that
 Woman is the tender graceful vne."
 the following allegory was long ago in- scribed in maiden lady's album, who was as independent as the Rev. Olympia Brown -...... --.<. ... 'Witbin a woodland once there grew vine, Where grew the stately oak and lofty pine; | But not to these did it permit itself to roye To stand upright in it's own strength it strove. | Twas true that many sister vines were twined l About the forest trees and seemed to bind | Their pliant forms 50 trustingly mid those, That near to them had their position chose, That now and then she thought, had only fate | But portioned me kind congenial mate, | Not all alone I'd choose to vegetate AS thus she thought she looked about and found Among the trees that thickly grew around, One that pleased her. It was noble tree l As ever twining vine could wish to see. | Not long she looked ere observing friend l Sought thitherward her pliant form to bend. l Be not so fast, the prudent vine then cried, 1t IS not best in strangers to confde, But soon she found the tree was friendly too,
 And evidently inclined to WOO.
 | I'll not be forward, I'll wait she said, As high and haughtily she raised her head Thus maidens often do as have seen
 And right and proper 'tis Teen.
 ! It looks quite independent and precise And answers we'll if they're not over nice Which sometimes happens. Oftener, though, they yield And leave the wooer victor of the field At least if like my vine they're predisposed l To love the one whose love in them's reposed. | AS was about to say, my vine, Agreed unto the tree she would resign. But hapless thing! twas sad she did not know The fairest, noblest trees that ever grow The soonest fall beneath the woodlands blow For just as she had turned herself to give To him her warm embrace while she should live, The destroyer came and felled him to the earth With all the hopes to which he'd given birth. She looked aghast, but did not mourn aloud My grief shall ne'er be bye-word for the crowd, She thought, and hid her sorrow in her heart A wounding, although not deadly dart She lived, and cheerful lived and, did much good, Although alone through all her life she stood. l own 'tis rare for vines upright to stand Without firm, supporting hand
 But when they do, you'll surely find
 They're the strongest, sturdiest of their kind" Avery glad change has taken place in public sentiment within the last thirty years, and woman is suffered to be more self reliant than formerly, and more ave- nues are opened for her in which to earn her own subsistence, but she is still to a great extent the slave of false delicacy, still subservient to old prejudice. The sisters of Congregational church in this county were recently urged to vote in a church meeting, where it was conceded they had righs to do so, but they would not by ballot though they would rise when requested to vote in that way. It was not lack of interest that deterred them. it was difference to the old feeling that it is o%