The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-03-02
"WOMANLY WOMEN"
Salem, February 8, 1876.

"W0MANLY WOMEN"
To THE EDITOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
May ask space for this extract from
recent number of the Salem States
man, accompanied by few remarks?
Keeping her home we'll, and making the lit
tie world over which she rules happy, faithful,
beautiful, the womanly woman has neither
time nor inclination for the life of out-of-deor
glaring publicity which so many of the sex af-
feet at the present time. What ambition she
has goes to the fame and well-being of her
husband and the future success of her sons
She feels that it is a far more blessed thing to
be the wife and mother of heroes than a "per-
sonage" on her own account, and that the
glory cast by the man whose name she bears
is brighter and more lasting than any
with which she is able to surround her own
name. She does not want to make speeches
on platforms, to see her name in the newspa-
pers, to be a leader of movements, to talk ar
rogant nonsense on difficult subjects, but she
helps her husband in his study, in his labora-
tory, in his studio; and many a man has owed
as much of his fame and success to his wifes
quiet and silent aid as he has owed to his own
native power.
True, very true it is that men fire.
quently owe much of their success in
life to woman's aid, whether silent or
otherwise. AS to the part referring to
"Out-Of-doors," etc., confess 1 am un-
able to see wherein such suggestions
point to the duty of wives and moth ers.
All this twaddle gives no loop-hole
through which women can slip out of
present difficulties, nor does it furnish
a remedy for the wrongs that sff1ict the
race.
Let me ask if those ilustrious hus-
bands and sons are not the sovereigns
and rulers of the land? And are not all
men sovereigns, whether demoralized
or not? Who sustain the drinking hells
and the bagnios of the land? Who are
the seducers of outcast women, even
while they prate of "pure womanly
women" and advise them to stay in
doors and labor for the aggrandizement
of men? Now, one fact there is no use
denying, and that is, that illustriOus
husbands and sons are not plentiful
enough to keep all the good women of
the world dancing attendance upon
them. Besides, it is apparent that
womanly women can and do keep home
as cheerful and hearth as bright who
occasionally speak from the platform as
those who sit silent listeners can do.
1t is, moreover, at times a very unsatis-
factory way to receive knowledge when
this model woman knows that her in
structor is just from some gilded den OF
shame, the inmates of which she dare
not nod to upon the street, for fear OF
provoking her lords ire. All mothers,
whether ambitious of public distinction
or content to sit in silence in their own
homes, know that sons, whether che
roic' or not, are in danger of falling
into the snares and pitfalls that beset
the feet of the unwary.
Who, indeed, has not known at least
one womanly woman, who, accustomed
to take all masculine utterances as law,
has been, when the fearful awakening
came, compelled to bow in shame of the
name she bore-the only heritage ex-
cept misery and a band Of wayward,
perhaps vicious children which hus.
band left to her?
High-fiown nonsense about womanly
women is as unjust to women as hu-
man beings as the scurrility with
which writers of the same articles at
track strong-sOuled, earnest women who
revere and respect their own individu.
ality, and with all reverence to the
great Father who gave them bodies
wherein to train their souls for future
existence, strive earnestly to be ready
to render when the time shall come, q
faithful account of their stewardship ol
that wonder of wonders-themselve
Salem, February II, 1877.