The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-02-09
FACTS PLAINLY STATED.


To THE EDITOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
Your journal has been welcome WIS.,
itor at our home for several years, and
though do not endorse all it contains,
1 admire the spirit by which it is sus-
tained and wish it abundant success.
Wishing, however, is not always ones
whole duty in the matter, and I am
sure that the friends of woman and the |
cause of woman should interest them
selves in the paper by aiding the editor
in placing facts, which, however repug- |
nant, do exist before the people. |
Prompted by desire to do my share, l |
have written this. 1 fear shall be un-
able to advance anything new, SO 1
shall content myself with following 10
the track of others, commenting and |
criticislng, and perhaps adding a few
words by way of exhortation.
Your correspondent, az" of McCoy's
Station, Ohio, gives some "plain facts
which ought to arouse the humane and
philanthropic to sense of the great
wrongs endured by so many wives and
mothers. The writer says, speaking of
the condition of these among some for
eign nations: "Many children are born
sickly on account of the oppression en-
dured by mothers" and will add, the
same is true with regard to thousands
of children born in free and enlightened
America. Take, for instance, a case,
the counterpart of which may be found
in any neighborhOod-nay, which is too
often a fair sample of the whole: A
wife and prospective mother is ex-
pected to go on with all the labors ol
the house as usual; to wash the clothing
of the family, STOPPING painfully over
the washboarG; draw the water, keep
up the fires, lift tubs and boiler, and in
tersperse these occupations by cooking
dinner and washing dishes and the care
of creeping or toddling little one, or
perhaps three or four ranging from one
to six years of age, and supplement the
whole by scrubbing. As natural con-
sequence, her blood becomes over
heated, her nerves unstrung, her tenn
per tried. These are still further taxed
by unjust demands, a compliance with
which is falsely deemed duty, and when
at last the angel of slumber folds for q
time his grateful pinions about her,
both body and brain are utterly ex-
hausted. She rises after a night dis
turbed by the children, unfreshed, and
goes once more through the dull rou-
tine of the day before, varied perhaps
Oy ironing, baking, or running the sew.
ing-machine at its greatest velocity.
Is it any wonder that children borr
under such a system of slavery shOulC
possess weak bodies, and warped anC
dwarfed mindsT The wonder is that sC
many are preserved from a state of alb
solute idiocy or fiendish wickedness
and that even such a meager proper
; tion arrive at years of maturity. Thous
4nds of human beings are yearl.
launched upon the great ocean of lif
with disorderly bodies and distorte
minds who could have been born well
had their parents given the attention
which common sense demands the.
should do, to their prenatal conditions
Nor do the adverse influences tina
the slavery of mothers entails stop wit
the birth of their offspring, as any on
can see who will watch a mother afte
few brief weeks of partial recupers
e ton go about with her youngest at be
{ breast, as predecessors clinging to he
: skirts, while she performs the sam
y drudgery, is borne down by the sam
1 cares, and is oppressed by the same mis-
y taken submission to so-called dut5
b Who so lacking in intelligence as nc
: to see that this course entails upon of
!. spring, course which grows with thei
d growth and is in turn transmitted
;. prOsterity?
+ Whenever a mother takes upon hel
/ self the high and holy office of mother
hood, she should be relieved from a
l. drudgery and hard work, both for ht
o own sake and for the sake of the of
> | oPilhS Ohly IohluS IAaI hAuu oil
@ amount of exercise which she fine
'e beneficial to health.
l. If such provision could be made as
b secure to prospective mothers freedol
u from excessive toll and anxiety, an
k opportunity for rest and recreation
q given, and time allowed for the sOciet
t. Of friends and pleasant associations an
o for intellectual pursuits, one generatio
a would shame such a change in I'll
j. moral status of society as would NAL
er our earth a comparative paradise. NJ
20 is this impraeticable; in ninety-niI
s, cases out of hundred such arrang
il ments can be made; and In the hun
at redth case the woman should be e,
ll cused from taking upon herself or beir
in compelled to submit to conditions
y maturity. Mrs. NJ.
Yamhill Co., February 2, 1877.