The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-02-13

FRESH PROOF on woAAN's PROPER SHARE IN
THE COMING CENTENNIAL.
On the first day of this New Year. the
collector of taxes in Glastonbury, Conn,
came 10 the house Of Abby H. Smith
ana her sister, to execute an attachment
upon their property, to secure payment
of their taxes.
1t will be remembered that these Ia
ules went to town meeting, and asked
the men there assembled ''if they gave
Them no hope at voting, to sell their
land for the taxes, as they could not get
the tax from the land"
They asked that the sale might begin
at the east end of the farm, as that
being farthest from the house would
leave them their home till the last. Rut
the power that could take the property
without the consent, and against the
wish OF the owners, could take such mart
OF the property rs ii chose
Accordingly, the tax collector, leaving
the ladies no choice, told them he must
take personal property first, according
TO the law.
Now the Misses Smith had "a fine LOT ~
Alderny cows" eight in number. s'every
one OF which they had reared, and they
were much attached 10 them.n In was
on these cows that the tax collector
levied. he might have sold the land
or any inanimate thing they possessed
and the hurt of it would not have had
the cruel sting with this rude parting
with the pets of the place.
HE took seven of them, for he said
COWS were low, and he wanted enough. ,
The tax now is only Sl0l.39. The next
tax comes in March, Seven COWS for n
hundred dollarsi
Miss Smith saws: ave pleaded hard
for respite, till We could speak again
before the town. We wanted TO petition
the men, We said, to let us own our land
as they owned theirs, and then we would
willingly pay our taxes; and how much
better it would be to have the money
paid freely than to have all this trouble
about it! The town had waited on a
1 factory company in the north part of
the place for their taxes for years, till
the company failed, and they lost sew
eral thousand dollars by it. We had
our share of the money to pay; q larger
share, as it appeared by his books, than
any other of the inhabitants, and there
was no risk in waiting for US to pay
But they were men, and we are women.
Now said we, MIR. A, you would
. not be willing, personally, to take a
woman's property because she cannot
, vote to defend il; no other man in town
! would; though you will agree together
TO do it. But numbers can never make
it right; no reckoning can prove it, Ny
! sister went into the yard TO entreat him
to leave two of the cows together. But
! she could not prevail, and the little soli-
: tary COW that was left, the poor mans
portion, has cried ever since"
They were driven away to one of the
] neighbors, who told Miss Smith that il
10 ,f,- 80 l..
| would not have received them.
. They were driven away eight days be-
fore the time fixed for the sale. Proba-
bly, this was done in hopes that the hearts
! of these women, tender toward the an
imals they had reared, would relent,
and the tax be paid, for the sake Of The
animals, before the time of the sale.
But these elear-headed, courageous
women have determined to stand for
the defence of a great principle, and the
taX-collector has counted without his
host if he supposes they will yield.
On the eighth of December last, the
/ United States House of Representatives,
/ by a large majority, passed bill by
which Jefferson Davis is restored to his
I political rights, to his full share of the
masculine power to rule over women.
On the eighth of January, just one
month later, the sun looked down in
Connecticut on the sale, by cOnstraint
and according to law, of the property of
two loyal, peaceable and orderly women,
for the support of a Government under
which they are denied every political
right!
It is under flag which protects men,
while they deprive women Of their prop
erty upon such terms as they impose
upon no men, except those who are so
u frsnla 10 ~ -
responsible, or so wicked that they can
not be trusted, that woman lives in these
United States.
How can we honor the flag, or love
the country where we are held by men,
as conquerers hold their subjects? One
longs for Whittier's pen, or Phillips
speech, to startle this wicked Govern
ment into a sense of the sin and shame
of which it is guilty towards all the
) women of this land. History furnishes
no parallel to the dishonor which at
taches to this Government for its treat
2 ment of woman. For in its dire eX-
tremity, it had the need of the help OF
: women, who freely gave their property,
= their service and their lives. When the
war was over, and the people came up
from that trial of wounds, Of death and
of loss, and the women returned to their
desolate homes, the Government they
/. had served left them by statute law the
political companions of criminals and
idiots! The Recording Angel, dipping
e his pen in the blackness of darkness,
5 wrote it in the solid rock of history tC
the everlasting shame of the Govern
ment that, for the first time since the
) world was made, whole Government
: of men deliberately restored to power
the enemies who had sought to destroy
that Government, while it left its allies
and helpers without a single political
+ right, and those allies the mothers, sis.
! ters and daughters OF the very men who
did it. Verify, 'justice has fallen in
: the streets, and equity cannot enter"
One woman in Glastonbury rouses her.
self to set the great wrong right She
must remember that Zone with God is
! majority" The women will surely
b rally to her side, and at least help hei
bear any pecuniary loss in which she
may be involved WOndH's Journal.
The travelling fashion for dressing Ia
dies hair in New York, is a wide braid
: extending from the top of the head to