The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-05-22
ESSAY.

READ BY BELLE W. COOKE BEFORE THE o. s. ".
5. A.
''To a mind that is easily discouraged,
or only glances at the surfaces of things,
there would seem to be no more fruitless
or thankless task, than that of attempt
ing to convince people of something
they are Indifferent TO, or do not wish to
believe
No one needs such a hopeful spirit,
such an earnest, untiring purpose, such
an energetic and determined will, as the
person who essays to arrest the mis-
takes of humanity. Persons who un-
dertake to do this, must appear to set
themselves up as superior to their fell
lows in judgment in some particulars,
and they must expect to pay the pen
atty of their audacity, by becoming a
target for all sorts of unkindly criticisms
and unjust representations.
This has been the fate of reformers
ever since Moses appeared before Pha-
raoh to plead for the Liberation of Israel.
And the fate of reformers must follow
all those who espouse an unpopular
cause.
That the cause of Woman Suffrage is
unpopular in the most fashionable cir
cles Of society, we will not pretend to
deny; but should this be for any thought
full woman a sufficient reason for oppos-
ing it? II these circles invariably con-
tanned the best intellect of the commu-
nifty, it might be urged as a more plaus-
ible resaon; but the women who devote
their lives to the pursuit of the ever
flying phantoms Of fashion, and bow
down to the false goddess that, decked
with gaudy plumes, and rich silks, and
laces, shines in a milliner's window,
are, we know, unfit to judge for the in
telligent, well educated wives and
mothers of our land, who form an aris-
tocracy as far above the gay flutterings
of society as the flight of the eagle is
above that of the butterfly.
venture to assert that at least two
thirds of the women of this country
would assent to the opinions advanced
by the best advocates of Woman Suf-
frage, were it not for the fear of what
would be thought of them by their next
door neighbOrs. To such persons we
would like simply to recount a few
names.
In looking over the history of the
woman movement for the last twenty
years, I find connected with it such
women as Mrs. Lydia Maria Child,
Margaret Fuller, Frances d. Gage, Cath
crime NJ. Sedgewick, Jane G. Swlsshelm,
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Alice and
Phoebe Cary, Grace Greenwood, Julia
Ward Howe, Augusta I4arned, and
Celia Burieigh, all of them women who
have gained fame for themselves by
their superior literary abilities, aside
from their connection with this reform.
Many other gifted women, whose names
are well known, both in Europe and
America, have given the best efforts OF
their lives wholly TO this cause. We
are glad to know that so many among
this aristocracy of mind agree with us
in believing that there is n right,
heaven born and immutible, inherent
In every human being, right to have a
voice in the election of its governors,
and to exert its own individual influence
in favor of liberty and justice, for its
own good.
That this right is denied TO more than
half the great American nation, the
boasted exponent Of freedom and liberty
for the world, is certainly wonderful,
when we look at the fact without asking
its causes. These causes are, in a meas
ure, hereditary; more the result of
habit and education, than of the self
ishness Of men, or the ignorance of
women.
The most bitter and persistent oppo-