Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-03-18
H. B. PHILLEO, Editor.

! Auences are at work for their benefit.
Who can estimate the power of such
/ schools as Nassar, Oberlin, Antioch,
Michigan university. and dozen others,
where a thousand women are getting
such intellectual training as not one wo-
man in the nation could have obtained
twenty-five years ago. The present year
will see three more richly endowed COL
leges open to woman-Smith and
Wellsley's colleges in Massachusetts,,
Sage's college III New York.
When | think what women have ac-
complished without education, [ am
thrilled to think what they and their
daughters after them NAV do by the aid
Of such thorough intellectual training
as these colleges will afford
Another aid to women to-day is the
Impetus. the stimulus given by heroic
pioneers Every woman who has d8ns
gIeat deed or uttered great thought;
every woman who had stepped beyond
the prescribed boundary of the house
hold and borne herself courageously,
has not only modified public prejudice
and been an instructor of public scnti-
men t, but she has also been an inspira-'
on and a strength to her own sex.
Still another help and encouragement
for women, which is seldom mentioned,
| but which is very important. is, that
less domestic work is required of women
than formerly. Women do not now
| spin, nor weave, nor knit. | used to
knit, anu | am now indignant that |
did not spend those hours in studying
Latin and history. Stockings can be
bought to-day cheaper than they can be
knit Then we are doing less home
sewing than formerly. We do not buy
calico and cut It mp into bits, and sew
it together again for bed quilts, nor
disfgure handsome white spreads with
impossible, ugly, red and green flowers.
| Mems shirts are seldom made in the
home, and much ladies' and children's
clothing can be bought ready made.
And farther, | see glimpse in the
distance of kind of cooperative
housekeeping, which will be great rd-
lief to women who wish to give some
time to intellectual pursuits. No one
need fear the wife and mother will not
be sufficiently occupied. The rearing of
two or three children, and the super
vision OF home, occupy as much time
as any woman in an enlightened state OF
society should give to labor. There must
be some leisure if we would have intel.
lectual growth. Unrenittiug labor, per-
mitting neither time nor strength for
mental growth, is degradation to both
men and women; and in times past
housekeeping women-the mothers Of
: the men and women of to-day-have
been necessarily driven by work from
the dawn till far into the night. How
many d mother, if she would catch an
! hour out OF the twenty four to read,
must take it at dead Of night, when hus-
band and children were all asleep, and
her wearied eyes would scarcelyu keep
unclosed. | hail as one Of the most for
tunate circumstances for women the fact
that some varieties Of the family
;; ; work are passing out Of their hands
and there is prospect Of leisure for
mental improvement. But there is
another vital influence at work, row
er which many women do not yet rec
ognize, and which the masses misun-
derstand and scorn, but which is a lev
: er Of sublime power. Irefcr to woman
Z suffrage. Ii means citizenship in
: place Of serfdom. It means education
and opportunity, responsibility and
: power. Men know what suffrage
means for manhood, and no republic of
n men would ever accept despotism with
/ ouG wading through seas Of blood to
n resist it. What suffrage means for. wo-
. manhood, we will see century hence
!, when We see the seeds we are sowing in
J tears to-day has sprung up and bios
e souled and ripened. [ do not think
any question which. has arisen in the
e civilization Of the race is more signii-
r cant than this, for what affects the
character Of women, the mothers and
!, moIders of the race, must affect the
r, whole race, and woman suffrage will i'm
e press not merely the race to-day and
@ the race In America, but the races,
3 which shall, centuries hence, fill both
d hemlspheres.
|, The struggle we are making to-day I
: know seems spot on the suns bright
i surface, but It Is not permanent; it is a
Il transit. The star wbich poets have
J loved to sing is making transit which
:. social astronomers will do well to study
: There are data to be obtained.
J The perplexing problem of distant
n civilization may yet be solved by study
= Ing the woman suffrage transit of the
e Nineteenth century.