The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-07-11
Woman on Woman's Needs.

VOYAGE TO England. delivered q farewell I
lecture in Steinway Hall, of that city, I
which treated largely on the Woman
Question, and contained many pointed
truths and touching facts. The follow
ing extract we take from report of her
lecture i'm the New York Tribune, of
April 4th, which will convey the drift
Of her positions:
am England there are now nearly
three million women dependent on their
own eXertions. To tell such as these
that woman's proper sphere is home j.
mockerv. for they are forced from their
homes to get bread. Though many "a
barrier 10 woman's livelihood has been
broken down, there are still terrible diff
fculties in finding employment for
women. Specially Onerous is the effort
in the case of those of fallen fortunes,
members Of gentePl classes. To relieve
such Miss Faithful had founded a Fund
for Destitute Geutlewomen,' to which
she would devote the proceeds Of the
lecture. True it is that young men now
/ find it bard to get suitable work; they
often have to 90 West. But there j. 10
analogy among them to the wholesale
yearly destruction Of eOnsciences, bodies
and souls among women-destructiun
too often brought about by destitution.
How can tender-heartedp people fold their
hands while so many of their sisters are
driven to the gates of hell by want of
bread? Statements are published that
capable women, willing to work, can
get employment at good wages. Good,
steady, skilled labor is wanted in Just
those departments where women have
gained position. The unremitting,
earnest application required to acquire
skill in these departments, is hard for
women to go through. In them love of
work for its own sake is no more inher-
ent than in men. Moreover, women
are always looking for the possible
emancipator. Men have nothing but
their work to look TO for dependence.
The greatest evil of all is the lack of the
right early training, aud for this, the
| family, the parent and society in gem
eral, must be impeached. Society casts
] a stigma on women who earn their own
/ livelihood, and parents pray that their
daughters may never be brought so low.
As to education, girls training stops
/ just where the main part Of boys be-
gins. Men are allowed full opportunity
to devote themselves to their chosen
work, and are not diverted by social de-
mands. Women are at the beck and
call Of everybody, as il were, and have
so many society duties, so many dis
| tracting little trifles to attend to, that
/ the wonder is not that there has not
been n female Shakespeare, Raphael,
| Newton, but that women have done so
much.
"The problem, what We shall do with
| our redundent women in England, is
answered by some philosophers by pro-
| posing emigration and marriage. But
emigration has already been tried, and
Scotch, English and Irish have been
sent TO Australia and America in large
numbers without much dimishing the
gravity Of the problem; while as for
marriage, there is yet to be found the
woman who will say NO when the
right man appears. As long as the
number of women in Great Britain eX-
ceeds that of the number Of men by six
per cent, marriage will not wholly do
away with the difficulty unless Nor
monism is tried. True marriage is the
crown and glory of wOman's life; but
il must be founded on love, and not on
the desire of home or Of support, while
nothing can be more deplorable, debas-
ing and corrupting than the lOyeless
marriages brought about i'm our upper
society by q craving ambition and a
longing for good settlement. LOveless
marriages and a different standard of
morality for men and women are the
curses of modern society. The dignity
Of labor is not properly appreciated. We
agree that work is honorable in man,
but are not yet convinced that idleness
is dishOnOrable in a woman. \ con-
tempt for work is at the bottom Of the
mind of the fashionable. young lady.
Frivolity is so general that il is surpris-
/ ing that 50 much good survives in spite
OF neglect. So long as we frOwn down
and sneer at the efforts to enlarge wom-
ans sphere, We are encouraging frivol-
ity and idleness in women. We hear
the interests and rights Of women
spoken of as if these could be separated
from those of man, as if men and women
were creatures of a different kind. \
most common and mischeviOus error is
that which would make woman the
mere shadow and attendant of her lord,
as if a shadow could be a true helpmeet.
We have long heard that mans sphere
/ is the world; woman's is home. But
women have a part in the world, while
men are not ciphers in the home cir
cle.n
, This is the language of a true woman;
of one who comprehends that woman
has a nature of her own, distinct Of H.
; self, but one which is never wholly sat
isfied unless she is fulfilling her de.
, signed mission on earth, by becoming Q
. loved and honored wife and occupying
that position wherein the responsible.
ties Of maternity are hers. She should
; have the right TO work, and receive fail
pay for it; she should enjoy representa-
tion with taxation; she should be al
, lowed to fill every honorable position il
: society for which she has capacity; bu
she should not have her womanly feel
] L. -.
, heart deadened; for above all she should
: enjoy the right to a home and hus
{ band, TO have a voice in the choice o
the man with whom she unites her des
TIMES, and fill the noblest, hottest anC
most exalted position occupied by hu
manity on the earth-that of moulding
; plant, tender beings for lofty purposes
! in time and an exalted immortality
hereafter.-EIPOAe,lL
John Stuart Mill was a man of peeul