Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1876-05-26
A Plea for Eve.

We hardly need anything to demonstrate
our descent from the man who hid himself
behind scantier 6g.leaf than the fg.tree
bears when be declared, in the face Of bis
accuser, The woman gave mc, and | did
eat" for it is the first excuse that rises to
the lips OF the most Of Adams sons, to-day.
The Spanish king, who always, when any
trouble arose, asked, "Who is she 2" origin
ated nothing; he only followed in his fore
fathers steps. He held that il was impossi-
bic man should make fool of himself un.
less there was woman 10 the case, and he
advised all men in all difficulties to get be.
hind the screen. And others do as he did.
Does a young man lead a dissolute life
Vindication is ready for him when it is said
that he would not lead it if there were not
woman TO bold out temptation be could
not lead it if there were not the woman 70
allure. Nobody has word for that woman.
who could hardly create the youths demand.
Does an older man live days Of self-indul-
gence, ueglectiDg home aud bis duties there
for gay life and wine aud cards? Tho head
is shaken in pity for the poor fellow whose
home is made SO unattractive by the women
presiding there, or 30 unhappy that he is
driven from it to those baser haunts. No
body says that, il his home is unattraetIve, it
is his duty to make il attractive that nei.
ther law nor nature gives him the right to
hold himself like az eastern pasta for the
women to fawn upon, to soothe and hattet
and delight; that there is mutuahty in all
things, aud, II he would do little Of the
soothing and delighting himself, he would
ind
day. instead Of less so. Does a man commit
one dishonor aud another, barter power for
gold, sell his fair fame for money! Not
voice is heard declaring that the man was
tired OF honest poverty, with its labors,
needs struggles, tumults that he wanted
the comfort which assurance of wealth gives,
preferred it, and took the risks; that he
loved his costly wines, his luxurious dinners,
his fast horses, his fine mansion, his full bank
account. Everybody without dissent avows
that his wife wanted her diamonds and her
Worth dresses, aud TO sweep like queen
through society. Even when the charge is
not openly made in outrageous words, the
dark innuendo supplies its place, aud we are
given to understand that it is the pettness,
the gross appetite, the vanity Of the woman
that is at FAULT it is never the sin or the
man.
In all this there is a horrible injustice. 1t
is the lion that writes the book, and reads it,
too. For even were it true, which we are
disposed utterly to deny, it is also true that
woman is at present only the mirror OF mans
wish, and what she is be has made her. If
she has pettiness it is because the heavy
hand has kept her down so closely that
largeness is unattainable by her. What
grossness she has was not hers in the begin.
ming; it has grown by ministering to the
grOssness Of those who could enforce It. Ii
she has vanity, aud love of dress and display,
not women but men, are responsible for it
the men who give their admiration, their
attentions, their time, their good report to
the pretty and well-dressed woman, aud let
the PLAIN and quiet woman, who Is not 80
agreeable an object to the eyesight, and so
| pleasant stimulant to the senses generally,
go to the wall
1t is, after all, giving too much potency to
so feeble an instrument to claim that if this
man makes a fool Of himself, and that one
makes a wreck Of himself, and the other dis.
honors his name and his life, woman is at
the root Of it all. "My son." said an old
Greciau, sis the ablest man in the state. for
he has his mother in subsection, and | have
overcome Miltiades." The same principle
applied here would make woman WELD
power which none in reality accord her. She
is not the lord Of creation and, il she had but
her equal place beside that lord allowed, We
should hear no more Of this cowardly cry
"The woman gave me, and | did eat."-
Harper'S Bdzdr. ...