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

The contrast we find between the |
snirit of the law, and the protestatlons /
OF speech reminds the OF the old trick OF
Chaucer's fox.
"lI,liey Csf hOmipjS confitsiOr' (Wom- |
an is mans perpleXity.)
MADAME. the sentence oftlie f.rtin is
Woman j. nannc'sj joy aud nIaline's bIlss."
believe that the claims we make are /
within our grasp when women VIII IL:
Men want the respect and approval OF /
women; but they Will win them at The |
cheapest market-Tate. If they eau deny /
to woman's skilled labor the cOmpensa-
ton which would enable the worker to /
keep her carriage, and then sOOthe their /
souls by offering her, so long as she Is I
pretty and well dressed, a seat in a /
hOrse-car-if they can so regulate laws .
that they absorb into their possession I
the results of her labors and cares in the 1
home, from the day of marriage, and Sc
cure her smiles by dOling it out 10 her |
as the price of winning arts, and we'll |
timed persuasiOns when she wants /
new bonnet, or trip TO the seaside. If
they can shut the doors of Harvard /
with its capital of five millions, includ- /
ing libraries, gymnasIumsi museums /
and costly apparatus, and yet win the
unspeakable gratitude of such women |
hS VI III Dlcukt NLEIlSNANNo W hleA4NN IL
turn in teaching, by giving the meagre /
opportunities of Normal School, they |
will give her nothing more. visited 4
Normal School last summer, and think !
the small case of philosophical appar- /
atus which i saw was its all, while It's /
art gallery and cabinet of natural his |
tory consisted of a plaster Clyte on |
shelf i'm one corner, balanced by hOr-
nets nest on a corresponding shelf in
another. If man can sOothe woman by
lauding with his lips the divine intlu-
ence of motherhood while he abuses his
power to defraud her of the ownership OF
/ the past that such will be the price Of
exchange in the future.
| There are indications that wOman's
regard is not TO be so lightly purchased.
/ Ignorance and prejudice are the strong
| hold of the present condition of affairs.
| As rapidly as intelligence and thought
| fulness spread, 4 feeling of revolt springs
up in women against such injustice.
Hitherto women have learned the laws
affecting them only when some hour OF
bitter trial has revealed to themi as III a
lightning flash, at once their misery
and their powerlessness.
! 1t is time that something beside the
desperate emergencies OF life developed
women.
I ask no surer way to bring about a
public sentiment which will give repre-
sentation 10 women within decade of
wears, than TO make the general laws
which offer personal property and po-
Iitical interests a study i'm our High and
Normal Schools. Let it take rank with
the study of the crust Of the earth, the
: motions of the planets or the form,
! structure and habits of the lower orders
| of animals. | should like to see the
logical acumen, and keenness of pene-
tration which one may witness, any
J day, in our Girls Normal Schools
, brought to bear on this subject. Be
: sure, the facts would be seed-grains OF
, thought, which would not perish in
mental soil 80 rich.
, When / listened, last summer, to re-
marks of prominent gentlemen to Nor
NAL School graduates, / wondered al
the little credit for thoughtfulness they
l gave to pupils so well trained. When
one spoke, with a significant and gra-
, cious shake Of the head, of the danger
I, lest women should quite crowd men of
! the educational track, since, already,
there were seven ladies teaching in
Massachusetts, to one man, did he con-
? slider that his listeners We're saying tC
themselves:
ayes, but these protected seven must
, serve you for the compensation of three
|, men," They forget that to them was
4 omen the report of the Bureau of Statis-
: ties of Labor for lS72-whicI, after not
> ing the frightfully small earnings OF
: women in various departments of in
! dustry, continues under the head o.
professional"
g ain many places the wages of teach
o ers are no larger than, and sometimes
: not so large, as those of other work
If women, but the condition of their EN-
r ployment il vastly different from tha
n of the workers in the shops and manu-
l. factories of our large cities. In most in
Il stances teachers have relatives o.
n friends, with whom they can spenC
:. their vacations without expense, so thei
II yearly earnings, though small, repre-
r sent a much better condition of life thai
al that of the needle woman or machin
operator, whose wages may reach
Ir higher tignre."
le So, it seems, that Massachusetts la
IS not only an Ignorant and thriftles
IS pauper class in her alms-hOuse but a
Ot Industrious, educated, half-pauper elias
" in her school houses; the lady teacher
Mt of the State, who, for three months
IN the year, must exc out their scant
- tdIuluSS bN luc lsi'oA VI AAAOhuo'
ne As one who has belonged to that body
he protest, not merely against so dispa
aging classification, but against til
~ conditions which make such a classif
IL cation possible. | pray to be spared IL
'f' humiliation of ever hearing q lad
IL teacher falter in obedience to custom
ey 'T have all the rights l want"
% The woman who came to US for day
.sr work last week, the temperate, har'
~ working mother of five children, to
m me that she never failed to be at VOL
n before 5 o'clock in the morning NJ
b. worked steadily till 10 o'clock at nigh
~ Never an hour to herself. Sven tee
no hours, you perceive. She said that 81
a, could come to US only when her hu
,ya band was away from home, lor |
70 wanted her to work on their land whe
10 her house-work was done.
m "But that gives me no money" 81
a said, "and the childers want so MAJ
he things"
ss. Her seventeen hours day did not q
lds sure her n dollar, except as she stole n
To time from her master. All the fruits
he their market produce We're his, to dc
rtv out to her, or to keep, as le choose. \
zen friend, a professor of theology told 4
or n while ago, how sorry he should be
les have the law recognize that one-haf
"a the income of the family belonged
= a his wife, sit would establish such mi
ons and thine relation"
her 1t evidently seemed TO him, someho
her more harmonious, less of the ear
I,o- aarthv that he cOuld saw HaiI mil