The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-11-07


a sister woman, held as a chattel slave
for many years, yet she came TO us, who
have never called ourselves free, 10 teach /
and baptiZe US with the spirit of human /
Justice. Her energies have been gener-
ously thrown into, and all her impulses |
are i'm favor of, universal liberty. She 1
has dived into the ocean of truth and /
brought many pearls TO the surface, and |
the name of SojOurner Truth is added TO
those who have toiled that YOU and /
might be free. Soon, however, her enfran-
chised soul will find an abiding home
on that evergreen shore where the
rights of none are disputed.
/ have often thought that all had been
said that was needful to convince the
people of the justice of the woman's
cause; but when We consider the vital
importance of a Just legislation, and re-
aliZe that enfranehisement and liberia
ton of woman is the basis of all future
reform, then we see that the necessities
of the case call loudly for the expression
of every favorable sentiment-for it is
ideas expressed and outwrought that is to
bring about every desired result. This
demand of noble women for political
franchise is but the voice of humanity
demanding n holy motherhood and
wise legislation. It is not to place
herself in high positions, nor to wrest
/ from her brothers prerogatives especi-
ally their own, for common sense teaches
US that all places of honor and trust
should be filed by those who, by nat
ural ability and attainments, are best
qualified, whether il be man or woman.
/ Neither is it desirable for woman to
assume masculnity of demeanOr, for
I 8. s.raaIFfsa1 I'm, fI,asr
! too essential 10 the character of true
woman to be by suicidal acts lightly
/ set aside or ignored; but what woman
demands, and what she will surely
obtain, is wider scope for her powers.
Men have tried hard to impress US with
the idea that making laws is a mascu-
line privilege, and that obedience to
those laws is essentially a feminine priv
ilege. Woman is rapidly learning TO
see the absurdity of such 4 position.
COntine woman in narrow limits-let
her soul be fed only on facts, upon that
which comes from the external, through
I the avenues of the senses-and the
powers of her mind contract and her
soul easily becomes the receptacle of
evil thoughts, when il ought to be the
beautiful home of divine virtues. IL is
needful that woman should learn to
know herself-that she should under
stand more of the possibilities of her na-
ture. 1t is hlasphemOus to give utter
ance To the idea that woman, by
strengthening and enlarging her capac-
tiles, is thereby less woman, or less
feminine in her characteristics. There
is law in nature, which science ac-
knowledges, that i'm the ascension of
every element from the grosser to the
IL g
none of its essential properties, but the
, full measure of what it throws of is
given in added power; and while the
forces in nature are struggling for high
er and still higher expression, shall that
spiritual essence, of which woman is the
divine embodiment, be longer turned
= into unhealthy channels, and produce
so many abnormal results? Every force
in nature seeks to escape oppression,
= but whenever the feminine principle
) has sought to escape bondage, il has
: been hindered by the presence of an
external force.
The world is oppressed with maseu-
2 Unity. The masculine element is now
3 the conservative elementr The mass oi
, men seek TO repress all high expression
of the feminine principle; they seek tC
keep alive 4 condition that makes the
D weakness and dependence of woman
keep measured tread with their OWL
sensuality. Men soil the waters of life
then force the generations to drink.
War, rapiue aud sensuality, the tri
une demons of the past and present, arC
the legitimate creations of the active
: forces of the masculine period. WheI
piece property is aLlaze and likely tC
he DESTROYED, men rush and ring tn,
? =
r with activity; but when a sister soul i
sinking down, down TO perdition, wh'
is on hand to save?
Those members of society are mos
e corrupt, who are the most satisfied will
4 existing conditions. Individually the,
are not to be blamed, for, their peTeep
ton being darkened, they know no
that they have ever drawn, and are nov
, drawing, their sustenance from corrup
fountains.
More than iails, more than houses o
n correction. are needed throughout tn,
# length and breadth OF the land, home
. for homeless, defenceless women, S
that i'm no instance will she be forces
{ bv necessity into n life of degradation
I Nature has given TO the mothers of mel
+ a right TO homes of comfort, and when
ever il is otherwise, they are robbed @
their birthright Woman has ever givel
into mans Keeping her life's best in
terests. and in return she has receive
only the privilege To creep along on tn
road of progress wholly in his shadow
\ All the vices that run rampan
through the world are chargeable {
masculinity, because woman is force
by man-made laws and institutions t
o be the mothers of unbalanced organ
!, izations; but those vices are destined (
: be uprooted by the overwhelming cuI
rents of divine forces.
!. SO long rs woman consents to be con
= trOlled by a power less virtuOus tina
o herself, evils will exist; so long q
woman consents to be the scavenger {
the masculine element, SO long wi
: crime be perpetuated; so long as sh
O continues to be the mothers of di:
eased spiritual and physical organiZs
tions, so long will she continue to be tn
e cOmmis1riat of hell.
Il Man will ever be blind, ever deaf
this truth until touched by the magi
wand of female power. Conditions
d remote ages have been borne down I
the present upon the swollen current
o of masculine forces, which have deluge
the centuries, leaving in the valleys an
y all the low places the debris of institU
, tions based upon law of force, not onl
Il blockading the avenues to true an
: beautiful lives, but exhaling magnet
; ism out of which are builded high tn
: walls of hell. The house-cleaning {
: the nation is essentially woman's wOrl
!, however revolving 10 her refined sens
- bilities.
Nature kindly pushes before us syn
i bOls for our encouragement, and if "
y but read those symbols Alright, we wi
see this truth: that all institutions base