The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-02-22
The First WOman's Rights Meeting on
Record.

The Bible is so often quoted to uphold
arguments against wOman's rights that
attention should be called to Numbers,
2Tth chapter, 18th verse. We there
I find an account Of the first occasion on
which women came before the public to
demand property rights, which the laws
did not give them.
We read that "ZelOphehad, the son Of
Hepher, had no sons, but daughters"
"Then came the daughters sOfZelOphehad,
the son of HepheT, the son of Gilead,
the son of MaehiT, the son of Manasseh,
the sou Of Joseph; and these are the
names of the daughters: Mahlah, Noah,
| HOglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
"And they stood before Moses and
before Eleazar, the priest, aud before the
princes and all the congregation, by
the door of the tabernacle of the cOngre-
CATION, saying: "Our father died in the
wilderness, and he was not in the COM
pany of them that gathered themselves
together against the Lord in the COM
pany of KOrah; but died in his own sin,
and left no Sous.
why should the name Of our father
be done away from among his family,
because he hath no son ? Give US, there
fore, a possession among the brethern of
our father
"And Moses brought a case before the
Lord.
"And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying: The daughters Of ZelOphehad
speak right thou shalt surely give
them a possession Of an inheritance
among their brethren, and thou shalt
cause the inheritance of their father to
pass unto them. And thou shalt speak
unto the children of Israel, saying: "If
a man die aud have no son, then We
shall cause his inheritance to pass unto
his daughter
Notice, first, the second verse; what
Imaginable occasion could be one Of
more publicity? "BefOre Moses" the
great law-giver and leader of the peO-
I pie, land Eleazar, the priest, and before
the princes and all the congregation"
in the presence OF church and State, of
the highest legal, religious and civil
authority, in the sight of that immense
audience of all the people, at the very
I door of the tabernacle itself! Strange,
is il not, that Moses did not severely
censure them for this unwOmanly thrust
/ ing of themselves before the public, re-
minding them that they were Over-step-
ping the limits of their sphere, that
women did not understand business af-
fairs, and that il was audacity itself to
attempt to improve the great code of
the Mosaic law, which was of divine
origin?
Now Moses probably had an opinion
of his own; but We shall never know
what it was, for, although he was the
head of the nation, standing between
the people aud God, even he did not seem
to feel at liberty to lay down the law to
these women. He did not improve this
excellent opportunity for haranguing
the people and exhibiting his great sa-
gacity and familiarity with the ancient
Egyptian writers. He did not even say
what was really true, that it was not
the majority of women that requested
this change, but only one family.
We are simply told that "Moses
brought their case before the Lord"
Now who, of all the worthy patriarchs
of that time, would have thought OF
amending the law so that women should
have some property rights Who, even
of the women, would have done so un-
less they chanced to be situated like
these sisters? It was true then, as il is
now, that such amendments must come
through the efforts of the parties most
interested, if they are to come at all,
and if these are unwilling to take the
trouble, or incur possible Odium, by
presenting their petitions, let them not
murmur at unjust legislation.
We have our Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah,
Milcah, and Tlrzah to-day; but we call
+ them Mary A. LivermOre, Lucy Stone,
Elizabeth Cady stanton, Susan b. An
thOny, and Julia Ward Howe. Upon
, their memories will rest the benedic-
tions of generations of women yet to be,
who will owe better laws, higher devel-
opment, and broader sphere to the un-
tiring labOrs of these modern "daugh-
. ters of ZelOphehad. ."-FrdnceS Locke, IN
, W'OmdR'S Journal.