The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-09-11
LETTER FROM "sANs soUoI. "


inst, a letter under date Of the I'D
which, as specimen Of originality, !
think can hardly be surpassed. Ii would
be hard to make me believe that " Ar
cadian is writer of the feminine gen
der. II that letter was not written by
some homeless, friendless, forlorn old
bachelor, who never had or never will
have the chance to boss" any woman,
then l am mistaken. He seems so well
calculated to raise and govern large
family, that / am convinced he never
had the care of a child in his life. lie
has found a corset somewhere in the
street, and has been dissecting it, and
has arrived at the conclusion that some
fair, fraiI creature has been wrecked
there, who, If she had but dispensed
with the corset and buttoned her skirts
on to a loose under-waist," would now
be threshing around the world able " 10
build our houses, cultivate our nelds,
grade our streets, man our ships, etc.
How l should like to see that model
dress Arcadia speaks of, more especial
ly to see him with 1t on. He seems 10
think that In our endeavors to obtain
the right of suffrage for women, that
our principal object is, not to elevate the
women, but TO subjugate the men.
+ When you enfranchised the negro, did
I it lower you TO their standard or exalt
/ them to your position
/ Ishould ike to inquire Of Arcadia OF
any one else who may feel disposed to
answer, when the men obtained posses
sion of the women's rights, that We
should be obliged TO ask the lords ol
creation for them ? And is " Arcadia,
old bachelor though he may be, SO stupid
as TO think that, because custom dwarf:
the body of weman, that the same
tyrant should sit umpire over her mind
until her body be emancipated
After carefully reading the eloquent
disquisition under consideration, l con
fess myself unable to see any connection
between "corsets" and equal rights
between wrappers" and political privi
leges; so leaving Arcadia" to dol
his nondescript garments and TRAMP
through the country in the interests o
dress reform, I will turn to anothe
subject.
have heard great amount said re
Gently concerning the building of
home, for the benefit of those who ar
: strangers in our city. Now 1 am des
perately opposed to this. The idea
home for strange, easily-infuenced
, Christian young men, who, becaus
they are lonesome THAT may be th
: reason seek companionship in dens c
vice. How they laugh to themselve
when such thing is mentioned. Ladie
and gentlemen of large intelligence an
vast experience, rise ain meeting" an
tell how their HeighJors and friends ar
going to destruction through <he evils {
intemperance, and then advise that W
build home where young men who al
= strangers can spend their evenings.
, is not the young men who are here for
few days or weeks, that, as a generi
I thing, frequent the saloons. We mouI
/ the loss, socially and morally, Of your
men ,cho hare homes here, who are, wit
q characters that ought to build up the
: future, building up instead a foul al
and fostering ocean Of corruption, al
instead Of the pearls Of wisdom and Il
grand intellectual power which shou
shape and guard the future destiny
. our nation, We hear the disgustiI
babble and cavil of the bloated sot Il
Q laugh and vacant stare Of the mania
the cry of those in poverty and distre'
I wonder il it ever entered the mind
any enterprising individual to build
home for young women who came he
total strangers, without home or frien,
, Not exactly 1t is no excuse for them
L they sin that they are strangers in o
e midst Men old in sin are simply an
d ofthe world" while the younger ones 3
:, only Sowing their wild oats" knC
men who have sowed, reaped, a
:, threshed their "wild oats,n and st
lie move in the best of society, and you W
IS always find them ready to cast the fiji
b stone at her, who, had it not been
these same wild oats, would have be,
= pure and good and all God designed h
js to he.
"Oh when Will the Spirit OF Christ as OF yo
Raise the fallen up bid them sin no more
. Unbellevers ask, "Well, what good a
the Woman Suffragists doing anyhow
s., They have not converted everybody"
am sure we were never so wild as
> imagine that we should ''convert ever,
g body" at one fell swoOp; tits the work
!, time, but twill surely be accomplishe
No one knows, and but few eve
imagine the vast influence Il
NEW NORTHWEST wieids in beha
: of our cause; those who at fir
. scofTed at the idea of supporting, as the
{ said, a "free lovers" organ, have becon
( convinced that they were not asked
support such a one, but instead, pap
q" devoted to the best interests ofhumanit,
and many now depend upon the Ne
q NORTHWEST together with the Bible f
d their Sabbath reading. May it eontinI
a in prosperity and influence till fro
=, the Orient to the Occident, from Il
; North to the South, woman shall ever.
n where be free. That it may thus tr
:, umphantly finish the work it has
nobly begun, is the fervent prayer OF
If, SANS SOUCI.
l. Portland, September End, 1874