New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-05-10
The Responsibility of Women.

This is the heading OF ratner an extra
ordinary article in Appleton's Journal
which holds women responsible for mems
intemperence. The writer says
But the average man is entirely
susceptible to influences. His conduct
is certain to prove definite result of
training and education. 1t is a matter
of pure dynamics. If the good Influences
that surround him are greater than the evil
ones, he will yield to the former; if the evil
influences are greater than the coed ones,
he will surrender to the latter.
Now, of all the paltry subterfuges since
Adam answered God in the garden and
said, "The woman whom Thou gavest to be
with me, she gave me of the tree and l did
eat" this is the least. Poor, weak, helpless
mortals! Will the Great Judge, who re-
wards man according to the deeds done in
the body, whether they be good Or
whether they be evil" punish your moth
ers and wives because you are drunken
and receive you into the spotless purity OF
His Kingdom as having been martyrs to
bad training!
What have you done for this weaker
vessel which was made to be IAN help
meet" for you' Have you thoughtfully
guarded her against needless disease by
preserving the purity of your own bodies!
Have you given her comfortable clothing,
and provided her needful exercise in the
open air, that she might retain continuous
healthl Have you duly ministered to the
needs of her intellectual nature, thereby
enabling her to become, in the highest
sense. a companion Have you furnished
her with the means Of identifying your
homes, thereby enhancing their material
attractions, or given her some occupation
by which she might have earned the means
herself Are you cheerful, and pleasant,
and loving at home, thereby contributing
your lust share to make it what it should
be7
Shame upon man that would try 20 shift
his sins upon the shoulders of the weak :
l will tell what you have made lis. We
are weaker and your interiors intellectually.
and physically, and l will tell you what
made US so. You commence the narrow
ing process from the time we can walk !;
we must not run; that is unladylike. We
must not eat too much beefsteak that will
make us gross. We must not go too much
into the sunshine that will spoil our COM
plexions. We must learn to play instru-
mental music, whether we have natural
talents or not and waste much time in
practice that will help us amuse company
in the parlor. We must learn French at
the expense of good English foundation
that will give us an elegant appearance in
society. We rust learn to do embroidery
and fancy work that is ladylike accom-
plishment. We must not 60 into the
kitchen, and help the cook that will spoil
our hands. We must not study the
sciences; that would be too deep for
girls. We must not study a profes-
sion; that would be intruding into
the mas culine domain and thus, by the
time we are eighteen, our understandings,
being passive beneath the shack!es you
have imposed on them, we do not care to
argue with you what is best for us; but
when you come home from your regular
business, we sit in your parlors and enter
tain you with songs, or read poetry to you,
or ask you for money for laces and ribbons,
and are altogether worthy of the great ex-
pense you have been at in raising US
We marry by and by, and go into a
young, energetic mans home, as useless an
incumbrance as any article of fashionable
furniture that he possesses. We don't
know how to keep house, or cook, or man
age efficiently. And yet, in the face OF
these deficiencies, who shall dare, in view OF
our antecedents, to pronounce judgment
against us'
In illustration of our evil condition, let
careful observer visit any place OF public
amusement and contrast the feminine with
the masculine countenance. Look at our
narrow foreheads, with the hair all coInbed
over them to make them seem less. Look
at the lower part of the face, developed at
the expense of the brain. Look at the
great ridiculous piles we wear over the do
mestic and moral regions of the brain, and
then wonder, if you dare, at the expressi On
less, vacant faces. Do you think that such
soft, infantile creatures as you have taken
such pains to make. us are fitted for the
nurture of immortal souls7 You can not
evade the responsibility for all this, slrs:
And when our shortcomings can be passed
upon by inst tribunal, we shall have little
cause to dread the decision.