The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1873-05-08
wOMAN.-OUR POSITION.
BY MRS. S. D. HERRITT.

ask not for right,
But claim protection from the oro8gs Of
Human enactments-claim help to
Cultivate the heart tor human veal.
While seek TO gain positions
Such earth neither give
Or take away.
When [ consider the tumultuous ele-
ments in which our public affairs are
whirline and coliding, exciting the brains
aud stirring the baser part of human
passions, benumbing the finer sensibiIi-
ties of the psychological organism, and
rendering man the heartless, over bearing
and fever-heated creature he so often
proves himself to be after having encoun
tered political campaign. passed
through legal conflict, or battled with
evil. designing, sordid, unjust, and spite
tul spirits, | cannot but be impressed
with sincere gratitude that woman has
been diyinely shielded from such expos
ed positions.
Man not unfrequently abuses his boast
ed rights. as the ruler Of his household
and the lawgiver of his dependents; and
when he does this he scoops below the
dignity of man-quite too low for the re-
spect of woman. But when he rightly
adapts himself to his Goa- gwen relations
to our sex, man is the tower of our
strength, the acknowledged pillar of
our support, and |. for lne, am free to
confess that it is as much my nature
to look for protection beneath the
shadow of his wing as it is for the vine
10 climb its trellis to heights, perchance,
above its dependents. over which it
throws its verdant foliage, and hangs the
luscious fruit Of
High resolve. of vrtuous Deeds and graces
All refined.
On those planes of true excellence the
enlarged and cultivated intellects may
unitedly contemplate the dormitory of all
that exists unfolded in the great sensor
ium.
The sexes are equally dependent upon
each other tor growth in intellectual pro-
erosion, and this fact involves vast re-
spons:bilities on our part which we can
not ignore /; nor can we evade them by
reaching forth the hand to grasp the
titled mitre, or the chair of State. Our
business is to make ourselves worthy of
positions of trust. When we do this
there will be no fear of our knocking at
closed doors. Merit holds the keys, and
rights will be dispensed irrespective of
sex. Ifcontact with the baser and more
antagonistic elements of polical pettiiog
gerry corrupts the morals and renders
doubtful the virtues of man, surely
such surroundings and influences would
be too Utopean for woman.
A true lady never feels so strong for
noble aims and angelic deeds. as when
she stands by the side of gentlemanly
worth ; and man Is never so irrestibly
prompted to stand in the dignity of IN
furnished principles and lofty, honorable
bearing as when he feels the encc lrage-
nent Of trusting.syet self-reliant, woman.
Thus related, these are the decided edu-
Gators of our race; and under such tute-
lage the groveling inhabitants of earth
would develope in likeness to the deni.
zens Of the skies.
We talk about the heaven that lies
somewhere in the unsurveyed beyond ;
bnt unless we labor to create heaven
within our own hearts in our own homes.
and in society about US. like some stray
waif we may drift upon the shoreless
ocean throughout the widening cycles OF
eternity, and never find the elysium OF
our imagination.