The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-02-27
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FRIDAY. FEBRUARY %, 1874.
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or atl LueIe ~ Va III mOAtn SOhoAuSAlhSt
perishes too. She has hardly any ex-
cuse for continuing TO cumber the earth,
since the entity from which she derived
all that she was, and all that she had
been permitted to enjoy, has become a
nonentity, and she has become that dis
reputable thing, 'lone woman"-a
''relict.n
How can she now expect to regain
riches, or enjoy titles 1t may be hec-
essary to labor, but her toll must be
menial; at the very best she may be
thankful to get some Of the lower grades
of mems work, at half their pay. To as
pire to an honorable or lucrative posi-
tion Is to bring upon herself the charge
Of being aultUomGnly. To go into the
worlds mart Of business with the intent
to find something congenial or profita-
ble to do, is to justify men in being rude
TO her. No sort of personal freedom Is
allowed to her; all public places are for
hidden TO be entered alone The "pro-
lection" Of even bad man is preferred
to the scandal of being alone.
But why enumerate the disabilities
OF the ''lone woman ?" Whatever she
might have been with liberty to use her
natural, God-given abilities, she isnoth-
ing now. And why? Primarily, be-
cause men claim for themselves all the
privileges of life; and secondly, because
more fortunate women agree to sustain
mon In the assumption, and become
the most merciless critics of their help
less sisters. By a singular and most H.
logical mode Of reasoning, a woman is
womanly in proportion as she forsakes
all allegiance TO her own sex, AMI de-
votes herself to the other. Not so men.
Men support aud strengthen each other.
A man Of brains is prince among his
peers. \ woman Of brains Is, among
women, a crow, to be pecked at If she
gets recognition at all, Il must first come
from men. Women have no eOherency
shout them. Each one is for herself, in
some man-uncharitable, unapprecia-
tive, merciless - Notwithstanding she
knows that by turn Of Fortunes wheel
she may herself be brought to occupy
the same lonely, aimless and joyless
condition for which she has such a con-
tempt In others. "Let US eat, drink,
and be merry, for tomorrow we diep'
What wonder that when q woman Is
placed, either by choice of duty or by
circumstances, between the upper and
neither millstones of this false social sys-
tenn, her voice becomes hoarse, her dis
position fierce and unwomanly? The
habit Of repressing tears, and forcing
back sobs is not mellowing to the voice.
The constant endurance OF cruel inius-
tice, not from men only, but from sister
women, is not sweetening to the dispo-
sitlon. The face that is never smiled
on, soon forgets to smile.
VIII the time ever come when this
shall be different ? When a woman may
earn honors and emoluments, aud not
be thought less pure or less womanIy
for desiring them? When she will not
have to expend two-thirds Of her life
force In resistance TO the social extradi-
dition law7 Will the time ever come
when women will work together intel
ligently, freely, and effectually, as men
DO? How long could men withhold
woman's share In the benefits Of life, II
woman should unanimously agree to
claim them
What most strengthens mems hands
sgainst women, Is their treachery to-
wards, or their indifference to each /
other. Women have no esprits de corps, |
no pride in each other-no coherency |
whatever. They are dry sand, while /
men are tough clay.
The reason Of this IS not far TO seek.
The civilization Of q dependent class
must be inferior TO that of an independ-
ent one. Proper pride, self-esteem,
honor and loyalty, are qualities belong
Ing TO the highest culture, and We do
not look for them among serfs. Women
should study history, and learn whence
comes their enslayement. There they
will discover that It did not come from
the hand of GOd-He made all things 4
free. 1t began in Larbarism, when rude
physical struggle governed. Being first
enslaved by brute force, the subsequent
elevation OF the ruling class only I
widened and deepened the valley Of
humiliation between them. And il was
sll the worse that the dependent class
vas also the favorite class, for they were
INDUCED i'm just that amount of knowl-
edge, and corrupted by Just that degree
Of vice, which made them agreeable 10
their masters.
We are told that IN the dIssolute last
days Of the Roman Empire, such was
the despair Of women. that It became
necessary to utter a decree refusing bur-
ial 10 women who committed suicide, so
common had that crime become.
Roman Catholic authors inform us
that In the early days Of the Church In I
Europe, their lnnumerabIe converts I
were nlied with women who were driven 1
70 the seclusion Of conventual life to es-
cape the brutality OF their male reIa-
ives the nearest of whom, whether
ia'nefs' brothers, uncles or cousins, were
masters OF their persons and fortnnes
Inc ordination Of religious marriages
somewhere between the twelfth And
siAteen'n centuries, greatly lesseped the
periis oil "oman-although o6edienc,
TO their husbands at least, was stIu i'm
posed upon them-and has eontlnped 20
be imposed upon them, by tba, .a,so
Church ritual, ever since '"'e