Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-03-18
Woman and the Transit of Venus
Bv Helen p. Jenkins.
From the Pitsburg Leader ]

the rounds Of the newspapers, which
afforded great amusement to some peo-
pie. 1t read:
eff Venus had failed to make sthe
transit, not a woman in America would
have been disappointed. IF last Mon
day had been bad day to hang out
clothes, every one Of them would have
been plunged in grief
The foibles Of our sex have always
afforded SO much amusement to our
brothers that we have not had the
heart to take offense, but have laughed
with them For centuries We have en-
dured the joke Of ''woman's tongue,
and have shown no resentment, but a
stab OF sarcasm like the above, taunt-
ing our sex with ignorance and stupi
dlty makes too grieVous "a wound to be
laughed about.
AS | read this sarcasm on the women
Of the nation. | thought Of the count
less army of ignorant men who know
no more and care no more about the
transit Of Venus than the anxious litt-
le housewife who hopes for good dry
ing day that her husbands shirts may
be clean and fresh: [ thought of the
numbers Of keen business men to whom
the transit Of Venus was of less inter
est than the bargains Of one hour, and
[ felt the sarcasm vas gun which
ought to recoil upon the man who load
ed it.
| am conscious there is much ignor-
ance among women, and that even
among our better classes the women
frequently are indifferent to science,
art, politics and literature | am con-
scious that housekeeping absorbs many
to the exclusion of mental growth, but
| ask what else could be expected :?
This is the harvest after the sowing
That woman who, when she has kept
house nicely and attended to the ward
robe Of husband and children, think 8
she has done her whole duty; who is
unconscious of the higher needs Of her
family and of her own nature, and I'M
conscious Of the interests Of a great
world world outside her own house ;
this woman whom men laugh at when
it suits their pleasure. and hatter when
it serves their purpose--is what an i'm.
perfect civilization has forced her to
become If she is not the ideal WON
an Of to- day, she deserves, not sarca,
{ SIN, but assistance. If society had de
sired intellectual women there would
have been to-day a thousand women
in America capable Of computing The
transit Of Venus.
Human nature is plastic in both mer
and women. If it were required Of the
men of nation to become athletes i
some circumstance in our history de
manded that all men should train thei
muscles to the uttermost, in two o.
-; three generations there would be seer
few puny, stoopshouldered figures, bu
nation of broad-chested RerculeaI
men. If the taste of the age deman
ded that men should be beautiful
male loveliness were favored, and hon
ored, and petted, and praised, ,-ou
next generation of men would hav
delicate complexions, which the.
would protect by walls and beautif.
:. with cosmetics they would boast 0
seft white hands, and graceful airs
! and would wear rings in their ears anC
e flowers in their hair. Let the earth re
joice, this is not required of men
u though it still is of women. What th
age does demand of men is that the
shall gain wealth and power, and thes
they are acquiring at all hazards an
sacrifices. The same law holds In re
= gard to women; whatever society an
. circumstances have demanded of ther
they have become. When these hav
/. required that woman should bear til
# burdens, draw the carts and plow th
t fields, she has developed into broad
shouldered, broay- chested animal lik
the peasant woman of Saxony, Whe
the state of society has required tha
, women should be delicate, pretty, pa
lid, dependent, they have become a
spirituelle and sickly as the most fas
tidious could desire a few years sg
it was expected of them to be WasE
, wasted, and to faint frequently, an
, they met these requirements with alacl
ity. Nobody was surprised to see
woman faint in the parlor, IN publ
assembly, or at party. This sudde
helplessness was considered an insepal
;, able condition of her sex an evidenc
of fsmininity. After time publ
:, taste changed, and now fainting is Ell
n tirely out Of fashion. If it were al
in in nounced that in twenty years all pul
st lie offices would be filled by women s.
,tes. lected in reference to their capabilitit
and that they would be paid large So
- aries, who doubts there would be te
ne thousand women in this nation full
ny qualified for those places? [ do n
say this would be desirable I say
lis as possible for women as for men