Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-08-25
OWNERSHIP IN WOMEN.
Il. WHITMORE,
Publisher and Proprietor.

chusetts for taking vengeance on one
who had practically disputed his property
in a girl. The nan was brute, OF
course, but he had an opinion that girl
who had given herself to him in the
completest surrender that woman can
make, was in some sense his-that her
giving herself to another involved his
dishonor-and that his property in her
was to be defended TO the extremity OF
death. A prominent newspaper, while
recording the facts of the case, takes the
occasion to say that the idea of owner
ship in women is the same barbarism
out of which grow the evils and wrongs
that the woman movement is intended
to remove. If we were to respond that
ownership in women, only blindly appre-
hended as it was by our brutal gallows-
bird, is the one thing that saves US from
the widest doctrines and practices of
the free.lovers, and is one of the strong
est conservative forces of society, 1t is
quite likely that we should be misunder-
stood; but we shall run the risk, and
make the assertion.
There is an instinct in the heart of
every woman which tells her that she is
!, Is to whom she gives herself, and his
IL ,e-an instinct which bids her cling
A,J. sah;, -. while she lives or he lives; which
:9an.;Go ~ LII her life with his; which makes
,1'L ~ liz, On her twain, one flesh. When
a;sn;ft | ;s IN ce made to true man, he
.nao SaoGn;zes ;ts Significance. He is to
reooEIaN o1;da for her I, Nat which she cannot
pprov;Je prOv for herself; be is to protect her
p p,Ot the extent of his power; she is to
sIora b;s home. and to be his closest
comnanion. His ownership IN her covers
his most sacred possession ahT eetoiVes i've
upon him the gravest duties II ~ weLe re
otherwise, why is it that woman who
gives herself away unwortniiy iesis,
when she finds herself deceived tnat
she is lost? that she has parted with
herself to one who does not recognize
the nature of the giftr and that she VINO
onpht to be owned, and, by being owned
bo5ored. is disowned and dishonored
There is no tSue, pure woman hVlng
who. when she gives herself away, does
not rejoice in the ownership which
makes her forever the property OF one
man. She is not his slave &c be tasked
and abused, because she is the Gltt OF
love and not the purchase OF money;
but she is his, in a sense in when she
cannot be another man S without DIS
honor to him and damnatlon TO herself;
Our gallows bird was, in his brutal
way, right. If be had been living IN
savage society, without laws, and with
the necessity of guarding his own treas,
ures, his act would have been looked
upon as one Of heroism by all the beau
ties and braves Of his tribe. Tbe weak
point in his case was, that his ownership
in what he was pleased to term bis
oal" was not established according to
the laws under which he lived. He was
not legally married. and had acquired
NO rights under the law to be defended.
What he was pleased to consider his
rights were established contrary to law,
and he could not appeal td1aw for their
defense. He teok the woman to himself
contrary to law, he defended his prop
erty in her by murder, and he was
hanged. He was served right. Hemp
would grow on a rock for such as he
anywhere in the world. There is no
| cure for the man who seduces and Stays
but broken neck.
There is nothing more menaeing az the
aspect Of social affairs in this country
than the effort among a scertain class OF
reformers to break up the identity OF IN
terest and feeling among men and
women. Men are alluded to with sneers
and blame, as being opposed to the in
Aegests of women, as using the power in
4 their Lends-a power usurped-to main
i ain their eyn predominance at the ex-
nense of Eomep's rights and woman
weIl.beine. Marriage. pader this kind
! az Teaching. becomes a eeaPset OF con-
vanieree into which men and EeE1en
may enter, each party taS'ng along tne
personal Independence enjoyed IN SIN
Gle state. with sepsyet0 business inter
ests and separate pursuits. In other
words. marriage is regarded simply ss
the legal companionship OF two belngs
| AZ opposite sexes, who have their own
] ;n4ependent pursuits, with which the
boud Is not permitted to interfere. It
contemulsfes no Identification OF lie
and destiny. The man holds no
! ovnership in vonzn which gives him
right to family OF chill
49, and a life devoted 20 the
.aored duties Of motherhood. abe
- ubo expects such a sacrifice AZ
he banSs Of his wife is regarded as
: tvraut or . tspte. Women are to vote
and trade, and practice Jaw, and preach,
sn5 90 to Congress, aRd Do everything
tbst q man does irrespective o. t1e p ar
Tiaze bonds. Women are 70 be Juss :.
f-es a. 20 anything outside OF their
bor,es AZ men are. They are to choose
tbeir careers and purse them nth jgst
a. Ettle reference TO the internfl aqnin-
;s,rafion 81 their families as Their hps.
bands exercise. This is the am ans