Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-09-06
Womans Sphere and Duty.
BY FRANCES DANA GAGE.


ent time, on the important topic of
Woman "Sphcre" and Woman's
Duty.
There is no denying that women
constitute one half of the human
race, nor can. the fixed fact be ignor-
ed that she must be the mother of
every man and woman. Maternity
belongs to her of necessity (; but
when the assertion is made that homo
is the sphere of woman ; that house,
keeping is her true employment (;
that to be a good mother and good
wife, to dispense charities, take care
of the poor, mould social organiza-
ton, and keep men in morals is the
true and only sphere and duty of
man, it will be received as only par
TALLY truth and not at all calculat-
ed to settle the vexed question.
There il no effect without q cause,
and that women are diacontonted
with tho old ways, and aspiring for
something now, if not botter, cannot
be denied f; for, as the famous black
woman, Sojourner Truth, once said
in a convention, "Whar thar's so
| much racket in the waggin, thar
must be something out O. killer
Whose will give q wise solution
of the present discomfort, will surely
confer great favor. To simply
blame women that they wish to be
preaohe rs, lawyers, doctors, merchants
aud mechanics; that they wish to
vote, and be free and independent,
will not mend matters. No amount
of scolding will drive them from the
public thorough, back into parlors,
nurseries, and kitchens, if they do
not desire to go there.
You may tell them until doomsday
that it was another Ewes sin that
brought "death into the world and
all our woe" They will probably
only retort that woman, being Gods
last best work, after He had pro-
nounced all the rest good, was en-
dowed with power to assert her free
agency and turn Gods good world
upside down in her infantile ignor-
ance, and that man, having had ali
the power in his hands ever since,
has not yet been able to turn it back
again and they will tell yoa also,
that give the wives and mothers
education and equality before the
laws, and the right to the ballot, they
will in due time bring order out of
chaos, and put al. things back to
their original state of Eden puri ty
and bliss.
But after all, ia there not plum
met of truth by which the mystery
of this state of feeling may be sound
ed, and an understanding Of its
causes be obtained
Here is Miss Jones who wishes to
be mechanic. Her spirit spurns
the broom and duster. She would if
she were man, go into q machine
shop, construct engines, build houses
and churches, or bridges and rail
road cars but, being a woman, she
can only avoid the mated details of
housekeeping by entering the shopper
store, shipping tapes and ribbons, or
by fashoning garments, inventing
new styles. and making new combi-
nations. In this way she strives to
etill the inward craying of undevcl-
opod powers, and succeeds but poor
".
What is the matter with her? She
has good home and it is woman g
sphere to remain in the home.
Only this, probably. Her father
was mechanic before her, her grand
father also, and very likely her moth
er was daughter of mechanic,
and it is well known that girls are
quite as likely to inherit the fathers
qualities as the mothers.
"Miss Jones is just like her father"
say their friends, and the father often
wishes she had been boy, for then
"she'd have been good for some-
thing" There's her brother Tom, as
demuro and quiet as any girl. He'll
never be worth a cent. So, you see,
nature has made a mistake, and the
world attempts to set right, by de-
Gliding that Miss Jones must ignore
her tastes and qualifications sho
must keep in her sphere and be wo-
manly, though she be ever SO dissat-
isfed, making herself and others un-
happy in her ignorant longing for
another life.
Miss Whites father wac man of
science; gave his life to the stray and
abstruse questions /; could weigh the
planets and measure the motions of
suns. He gave his tastes and dislikes
to his daughter, and she longs for
the privileges of Yale or Cam bridge.
She hates the thoughts of the nur~
sery, and"Old Mother Hubbard, 'and
"Little Red Riding Hood" She ut
tors her plant against the tyran-
MES of society; but her place is fixed
and to fill the terrible void, to an
swer to craving rostlessness, she
rushes into fashion, laughs, talks,
tossos her feather and sports her
jewels, and lives and dies moaning
IN her souls depths, though her
thoughts never fiud utterapce.
| fsOf all the dull, dead weights man ever bore,
Sire none can wear the soul with discomfort
Like consciousness OF power unused"
Miss Brown would be a doctor. She
is born to be something other than
the keeper of house, to cook, wash,
iron, dust, and sweep. But the
world says "No. No woman can
study the science of medicine with
men and keep her womanly purity"
She turns away frightened by these
growing lions aud sinks to her GRO
tcheting and embroidering of slippers,
her whole nature dwarfed in sgmpa-
thy with the starved and benumbed
faculties, and untitled to become a
contented wife or a cheerful mother.
Nearly every other woman in our
country is the daughter of a man
holding his right as an American citi-
zen to the ballot to be invaluable !; to
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