The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-08-18
THOUGHTS ON EVERYDAY MAT
TIERS,

TIERS.
To THE EDITOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
Our reading matter is flooded with
articles headed "Hints to Girls" "Les-
sons of Economy for Wives" "Advice
to Mothers" etc. Any beardless boy
who has acquired a smattering OF COM
position and rhetoric feels quite at lib
erty to give useful lessons to wives, and
even teach the mother how to rear
children. Especially does he feel free
to place the girls in straight-jackets,
and to tx a circumscribed sphere for
women in general, while they-the
boys-are at liberty to do as they
please. They can smoke cigars, drink
liquors, loiter on the public corners,
and visit dens Of vice unprotected and
unquestioned. But not so the girls.
They are under ban, and, if they dare
step outside the narrOw-gauged track,
the auathemas are hurled against them.
Strange that man claims the preroga-
tive by law and by edict to protect
woman, and yet is the most dangerous
enemy of woman. Girls, taught that
they must be protected and supported
by men, all individuality, all self-de-
pendence, all self-governmeut ignored,
thereby rendering them helpless and
hapless parasites, are only expected to
look toward their personal attractions
and adornments as a security for a sup
port, the great end and aim to be
secured by marrying; and, as a girls
wardrobe is about all she controls, she
pays due homage to it.
Fashion is a tyrant, that forces every
one into its manacles whether you are
willing or not. The rich and influential
mould these processes, and the less rich
and the poor must follow in the train,
or be subjected to the SCOTS and criti-
cisns of the uncharitable public.
Think of the thousands of girls who
have no permanent home or support
carried along in the current, only to be
wrecked on some rock-bound coast.
There are positions that women can
fill with credit. They may be teach
ers, clerks, bankers, accountants, super
intendents, and a score of other things;
yet, the protectors of women will, if
possible, step in before them. While
passing a country post office in a large
| farming district a few days since, l
noticed stalwart young mantle
postma ster-sitting idly in the shade
with { ct erect, putting a cigar, aud /
questioned in my mind whether his sal
ary would purchase his cigars. Why
not permit some poor girl, or some
widow, to use to a better advantage that
money, and attend to the duties of the
Office in connection with her household
duties, and let that young protector 60
into the harvest field with pitchfork in
hand, and earn a support by the sweat
of the brow? True, some girls are
fortunate enough to get positions as
teachers, though they may be denied
equal pay for equal work; or, they may
be somebody's Bridget for fifty cents q
day, and the days sixteen hours long
Sundays included), and many are moi
fortunate enough to do even that. Yet
= they are expected to keep pace with the
regulations of society. With such I
r state of afIairs-driven to such pc
I cuniary straits-what can the poo
girls do? Self-preservation is one o
natures first laws. They must lire, and
in their extremity, how many fall; and
, when fallen, where are the good Samar
e itans that will go to the poor victims
lift them up, give them encouragement
. to better life, or a home and employ
ment? Priests and LeVites, those wht
, minister at the sacred altar, men of po
: sition in Christian churches and in so
ciety, ''pass by on the other side" witt
= a sense Of guilt covered up in their owl
D bosoms, but with public favor outside
and an established custom that ma
:, cannot fall. L.