The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-02-08


ity enveloped the nation in darkness,
confusion, and cruelty. Eng
lands palmiest days were when ruled
by her good Queen Elizabeth, and none
have been better loved aud hOnOred than
her Queen Victoria.
In the fine arts and literature, in the
PROFESSIONALISM, theology, aud medi-
cine-we recognize among women many
distinguished for ability. Few OF our
male reformers display a better COM
binatiOn Of ability aud research than
I is found in our women of the equal rights
movement. Combined, they form strog
array against our common foe.
/ The earnest, energetic women Of our
times invade legislative chambers with /
suffrage memorials, 10 the manifest dis
comfiture and betrayal Of the mental /
calibre of members, erewhile considered
wise. They discourse from the platform |
to listening multitudes upon the various
themes that claim the attention Of the
world They enter the realms OF news
paperdOm, and WELD the pen editorially.
They show themselves adopts in the
arts of telegraphy, photography, and
printing. They make their way through
medical colleges, and establish them
selves in practice. Not content with
all this, and much more, they have
o
! sacred precincts Of the sanctuary; in
deed, one, more earnest, perhaps, than
her sisters, has even entered an ecclesi-
astical assembly and asked to be in
! stalled deacon.
Women do not want special leglsla-
e tion, or special love, but equal respect,
and hence higher type, Of love, and
y justice. The fact is, men and women
are neither angels nor devils, but wom-
en- and men. II has been woman's
curse ia the past centuries that society
has ruled her to be either superior or in-
ferior to man. In a state of perfect
freedom woman would be found to be
mans best friend; in the state Of slavery
in which she now is, she often proves
herself to be his worst foe. This latter
explains the reason why she Is so fenced
about with laws. Wendell Phillips de-
clared in one of his lectures that the
\ law looked upon her as a roaring lion,
: which could not be let loose without
, danger TO the community. Probably
the law is right in so surmising, but
: take of the social, legal, and political
9 chains, admit her equality, and see the
: difference.
The whole sea Of civil and religious
: society is
2 UPTURNING FROM ITS VERY BOTTOM.
i In these momentous reforms the spirit
i of woman is active as it has never been
before; these stupendous problems find
o a lodging in her brain and heart; she
). declares that the liberty and happines:
, of her nation is as well her individual
: happiness. The world begins to lister
n and respond. Already the high place'
'e of knowledge pass her over their thresh
ID olds. The time has passed when in
a nj oh har fror
ct the studies of her choice. Men of straw
ID are no longer valued above women o
intelligence.
Numerous collegiate institutions il
NJ the United States are working upon thu
- principles of the complete equality be
- tween the sexes. The success of An
IL tiOch, Oberlin, and Nassar colleges alon
- shall make their founders and support
~ ers blest forever more. Kansas, year
- ago, passed laws forbidding the denia
II to women Of any privilege in all the de
~ partments of her institutions of learn
bv ing. Women's parliaments and dis
~ cursOry associations are instituted an
= upheld in many States of the Union
- and honorable men are proud TO have
~, voice in their councils. The first talen
,c of England, as well as America, look
=, on with an approving eye.
- Let US remember that woman is tn
a. a. index of advancement, the infallibl
mercury that points out the temper {
progress. Let this age that makes CON
mon the wide waters of the Red an
an Mediterranean Seas; that tunnels th
rot base of the mighty Alps; that hoop
as the round world with railways; this
raj binds into one family its extreme il
ii- habitants by wires that string the cart
vs.. as a harp. Yes, that also network
Of the bottom Of the great waters; this ag
mt that makes the exchanges of foreig
he and inland commerce the labor of a fe'
pg hours, that gives TO intelligence tn
ire speed of lightning, and spreads its new
er. aud literature like autumn leaves owe
rs, the broad area of civilization.
a. Remember that il must care more justl
es, for its women, as the mother Of its sue
u cess; as the security Of its preseu
"a wealth and happines, of its educatiOns
ne religion, political, commercial, and SC
p cial harmony, for the sake of the in
ed crease and perpetuity Of its strength.
re- Let this resistless age remember ths
1t, woman's demand is the necessitous cor
he sequence of the natural law of progress
W. that the demand is not wholly her owl
as but through her speaks the stern voiC
OF its own peremptory command.-NC
tiORdl Union, January 9th.