The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-01-23
Woman's Place in Nature.

Salem, Mass Nov. Is, Lucy Stone
said:
"I went into the first Coliseum in
Boston. IL was festOoned all over the top
with our National Flag. There were
flags to the right of me, flags to the left
of me, and rs | looked up among their
gay folds, knew that in all our cOun-
try, there is not a mountain so high, or
a valley so deep, that | could stand on
the one, or go down into the other, and
holding the hand of my daughter, be
protected by the flag in my right TO my
child, as every father is protected in his
| right to his child. In bitterness of spirit
| could not help exelaiming, "The flag
is nothing to me ~
In our late war, when men watched
with breathless interest the telegraphie
announcements, to learn the fate of any
battle, over and over, / have said to my
self, "What is it TO me? / have no
country, and no hope for country.
What is the flag 10 me ?n
What was Lucy Stone to the flag a?
What was woman to the Coliseum ?
Save for woman this nation had been a
majestic failure. The united Flags of
all the nations combined could not have
saved it; no other power could have
saved ii.
What is woman to the flag? Had
woman never came to this country,
every native American, man and
woman, would be to-day half Indian.
and the enlightenment Of the age would
have been retarded for centuries. Had
woman only saved the purity Of our race
TO the nation, there would be little
courtesy in saying, "What is woman to
the Flag Pr But she has put her willing
hand down deep into her own scauty
pocket, and has relinquished the dearest
treasures from her own hearts blood
for its support and defense. Save for
woman, the flag might wave in solemn
sadness over the ruins of our northern
cities where the teeming millions, the
mighty, living fabric Of society once
stood.
Man is astonished at the amount Of
|, millions for which woman j. taxed. He
inadvertently eXOiaims, ''She never
earned il; she inherited it," Who has
not heard him proclaim loudly and long
that, ''Time is money, labor is money!"
Who does not know that ten hours more
or less, oftener less than more, is days
work for man? That fifteen hours more
or less, oftener more than less, is a days
work for woman That woman's work
is as essential to the well being of the
race as is mans work Who does not
.
rest to man, and a fatigue day to woman?
For she is compelled to pick up the
"odds and ends' that unayoidably es-
cape from the six previous days, aud to
arrange for the coming six, precluding
the possibility of rest?
r Although she neither builds houses,
ships, churches, palaces, mounds or
monuments, yet she labOrs behind the
scenes, fifteen hours q day, for the men
who buili these, at intervals of ten
hours, in companies of hundreds, per-
haps of thousands. Each one of these
, men is mightier and more important
than is the inanimate work by him pro-
duced.
What man would accept i'm exchange
for his own life the mechanical produc-
; tions of the world combined? -? And yet,
how does he look upon woman, whom
he has scarce begun to appreciate ? Her
work may be compared to the mighty
ocean; surgi ID fro, in its living,
dying, ehanS . motion, forever and for
evermorei
BY the stern decree of nature some
woman is called to lay in its silent
tomb, one Of her dearest treasures, dur
ing each moment Of time. BY the de-
cree Of this same power, she adds new
born babe to the world, during every
second Of time. This perpetual rotation
fills her hands and heart with labor,
pain, and anxiety, which only woman
. can know. These cares are laid down
scarcely even at deaths door.
Taxed for her inheritance -"Woman
has not earned itri 4 thousand million
of human beings walk the earth to-day
Thirty-one million, five hundred and
thirty-six thousand human beings, born
of woman, die yearly. Thirty-one mil
lion five hundred and thirty-six thOus-
and human beings, are born of woman
every year. Added to her fifteen hOu urs
, toll, let man compare his labor with
, this. 1t only plays into wOman's hands.
Let him tell, if he can, what woman
: must do to earn her "widow's mite"
Let him tell, if he can, what power
: has commissioned him TO rule her des-
T tiny?
! When man shall be brought to realize
i the full import of woman's position,
and the stubborn facts that accompany
; her on her weary way, there will be a
/ revulsion in his feeling which, until
i then, he cannot realize. Looking in
{ amaZement at the prejudices of which
he has been divested, he will inyolunta-
/ rily exclaim, "Whenee came they ?n
r What have politics already done for
woman? Snatehed her from the
I mummy dust of Ages; elasped her in it:
= hard but inspiring embrace; aroused hel
: mighty intellect TO the wonder and ad
: miration of the world; prepared her tC
WELD the scepter side by side with man
2 for whose immortal honor, and highes
: welfare, the time of her enfranchisement
: draws near.
MARY UPToN FERRIN.
.