The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-02-13
MtLseliuy geeister.


WEEKLY REGISTER. ..
One copy, yr:.s2.o9 Eve copies, yrI s.@ g
Women aad the Churehes-Mrs.
.. SianioA's New Policy.
Mrs. Elizabeth Csdy Stanton, in her
battle for the equality OF women. has
made change Of base. Finding every
avenue to that equality guarded by the
political, social and religious Cerberi Of
the Tyrant Man, she has now taken ur
her line Of march in an entirely new
direction, and has issued q pronuncis.
mento which is calculated to rally the
women around her standard and cause
general agitation in the masculine
camp. The first movement of the
enemy which induced Mrs. Stanton to
take this step was the rejection OF the
Boston ladies who had been elected tc
seats upon the School Board; and thu
second was the action OF the Brooklyn
Presbytery forbiddiDg the Rev. Sarah
Smiley from preaching in any Of theil
pulpits. Mrs. Stanton. before announc'
ing her purpose, dissects the action c
the Presbytery with a very keen knife
| it must be admitted. Says Mrs. Stan
ton:
"Inasmuch as the Rev. Sarah Smile,
is evidently ordained by God to preach
and the people enjoy her ministrations
aud women are preaching sll over the
land just az the Bible prophesied they
would do in these days, it would b
more becoming for this little Presby'
terry in one corner OF the globe 10 bring
itself into line with the eternal law o
progress than to continue the petit,
warfare the Brooklyn churches hav,
carried on for the last four years agains
one woman"
Furthermore, Mrs. S. asks, is not tn
mother OF the race more important il
the march OF civilization than any sym
bols, vestments, affairs, temples. or th
wohle line OF priests from Melchise
dech down? "Is not womanhooe
cheap enough, helpless, hope
less, degraded enough, that 20!
cruelty her afresh at your very affairs ?
at she may sing in your choirs, filling
your vast temples with her melody; i
she may 60 TO the ends Of the earth q
a missionary to the heather, why; ma,
she not preach in your pulpls?' w
fancy these are coaunaxaas--wAieh i
will puzzle the Brooklyn RfeS3tery t.
answer. Mrs. Stanton. however
promptly supplies the answer, as fol
lows: "Simply because that recognize
her equality" and adds:
mo matter if they can pray, exhor
and preach better than the elder, deaco
or minister, or whether the congrega
ton and the good father prefer to hea
IL EN-, if Elder Perkins and the Revi
French and Evans prefer q man becaus
lie is q man, that is enough"
, Having thus reconnoitered the posi-
ton Of the enemy, Mrs. Stanto
launches her illumination that it is be
meath the dignity OF any any true wo
man to enter the church or 10 be gov
erned by a Presbytery that prohibits
woman like the Rev. Sarah Smile
from entering its pulpits, and that tn
remedy for women 10 10 have a church
their own. ..
This is a step which it is Wort
while for men 10 stop and serlousi
consider. By harmless vanity, me
!, STYLE themselves descons, and ELDER
I and presbyters, and fancy they 81
) the pillars OF the church, when, in rea
itv, they are no more a support to tn
I church than the weathercock o
the top OF the steeple. A church con
e posed entirely OF women would be tn
most flourishing institution on eartt
a chuch com posed entirely Of men, Ii
!. most useless and worthless. The 10
lowing picture, by Mrs. Stanton, is nj
overwrought:
Just imagine, Mr.. Editor, how con
bre Memorial Church will be when II
: gay ribbons, feathers. flounces al
smiling, blue-eyed girls are all gon
; The blackuess and darkness on eVel
!. side, and silence broken only by Il
deep breathing of sleeping men. Wit
Y no women there gently to stlr the
lords with pencils, parasols and fan
the graceful rhetoric and able argumen
l Of Drs. French and Evans would tall
+. dull ears indeed. Think OF the tuners
d chants, too, of the deep, harsh, ba
!, notes when Elder Perkins, shall ba'
!. driven the last soprano out. How lor
think you, would an exclusively ma
church maintain itself? Ny advice
nv countrvwomen..is. Let them try il
Mrs Stanton might have gone iurth
aud shown that the peculiarly emo!lo
! al character OF women makes b
naturally religious. The minister I'm
II his most eager listeners in the wome
He derives his sympathy and encou
= AGENT Mt from the women. bis holld'
membranes and annual donation pa
n ties come from the women. His Sa
h bath school is taught by the wome
o They carpet his study, buy his boob
8 work his slippers, make his dressln
gown, and embroider his smoking cs
: Better Judges Of music than men, tn
secure good singing. They punch
Y their husbands to pay the pc" rer
n promptly. They crowd the prayer met
= ipgs. They beg money from countu
a, room to counting-room. They lo'
is alter the poor and sick members OF Il
t flock. They set on foot the strawberr
a. festivals, the ovster-suppers, the ia
Y leau1, the ratfies, the parlor.concer
b. the lectures, the praise services, t
dramatic entertainments, the reading