The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-06-08
VOLUME vi.

! Handel ?" asked Mrs. Rutherford.
mo, madam" was the quick reply.
az have agreed to meet the Judge and
few other friends for season of prayer
tonight, and 1 must always attend to
the most important duties first"
"But God is with you all the time, if
you are only willing to acknowledge
and accept Him % said Edna, with
scorn in her voice. "If 1 couldn't trust
God any further than you can,
wouldn't think Him worth serving"
Daughter, how could ?" asked
her mother, reprovingly, as the pastor
passed Oh and they entered the crowded
hall.
Edna had no opportunity to reply.
The orator was already upon the stand,
and the derision with which the crowd
had met him at first gave way to curios-
ity after a while, and gradually, as he
proceeded, to the deepest interest.
"The laws by which men govern
women" he said, shave descended to
them from the dead ages. Away back
in the history of humanity, when man
was little else than brute, he acquired
supremacy over woman through supe-
rior physical power, or mere animal
force. Woman, as ignorant of the
higher laws of intellect as himself,
yielded to the animal law of might.
The ascendancy thus gained was kept
! by man, and as his intellect expanded,
she was yet more strictly guarded, for
in order to keep the weaker sex in sub
! IjugatiOn, they must be kept in ignor-
ance. After the lapse of ages, maybe,
men crystalized their oral laws into
statutes, always recognizing women as
property, always regarding them as
serfs.
"Then came the age of chivalry.
Gallant knights outvied each other in
the homage they delighted to pay to
woman, because such homage placed
them before their limited world in the
light Of benefactOrs to the weaker sex.
understand me, gentlemen. I am
an ardent advocate of the holy law of
mOnogamic marriage. The God of Ma
ture designed that men and women
should live in pairs; that they together
should rear their children and surroUd
themselves with happy, genial hearts
and pleasant, beautiful homes.
"All human laws should be framed in
keeping with this design. There is a
! palpable violation of divine law in the
state of society we find in all new local
/ tiles where the wives and mothers of
men are not yet plenty.
81 am sorry the learned Judge, who
rendered the decision to-day in the di-
vorce case with which this community
is interested, is not here tonight. 1t is
to be regretted that the good minister is
absent also. Those who take upon
themselves the responsibility to judge
or teach the people should be the last
persons to absent themselves from Op-
portunity to hear what the representa-
tives of the people say.
81 should like to ask Judge White to
inform us how it is possible for wom-
an to remain in her husbands home and
render it beautiful and happy when the
husband utterly fails to provide her any
comfortable home to keep? 1 should
like to ask him if he thinks he would
possess sufficient Christian fortitude to
enter the home of the victorious plain
tiff in the case just cited and take upon
himself the drunken companionship, the
unrequited toll, the burdens and penal
ties Of every kind which such a wife as
the plaintiff claims must necessarily
endure at the hands of such a man?
Seriously, we have all had enough
of this kind of mawkish theory. But
/ the worst of it all is that in all this land
of vaunted freedom there is not a single
court where women can be their own
judges or jurors; not one where their in
dividual interests can be personally rep
resented"
, A large man with well-cultivated
whiskers and elegant clothes, that
looked in strange keeping with theil
. surroundings in Idaho Flat, arose to his
feet aud said:
"Beg pardon, but have question tc
I ask. hope l don't intrude."
, The speaker bowed and said "cer.
tainly;" but whether in response to the
! first or second observation, Edna coulC
not tell.
"You say" said the questioner, "that
=. women are not permitted to enjoy theil
, rights. Now, contend that right her,
in Idaho Flat the women have all the
o rights and the men none. Look at tn,
hotel over yonder. There are a dozer
e women in it, and not one of them lift
her finger even to cook her own mutton
D yet they dress like queens. Who sup
ports them, sir? I call on you to an
swer me-"
! The questioner was by this tim,
> wrought into a frenzy of indignation
His voice was pitched to its highest key
and his manner was that of one thor
oughly in earnest. Having asked tn,
question, he had no notion of allowin,
the speaker to answer it, but proceeded
' to make his own reply.
81 say that men support the women
sir! Yes, sir! The men!!! The,
earn the money! They dig in the mine