The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-04-25

OPINIONS III q way 10 eAeiOsc
influence on those who do the voting.
We are afraid of being rated with the
.sstrong-minded' Of our sex further
north: of getting out of lei
.'proper sphere" whatever that De-
of inaugurating an unpleasant II
unfeminine code of action for our
selyes:-and so forth, and SO on. we
have gone on thinking that our opln-
ions on public affairs are worth very
little:-that we have no right 10 ex-
press these opinions;-that law and
government, and general business
principles are no affairs of ours. Let
the men attend to it all,-and let US
busy ourselves in home and keep
quiet.
All this is No. Z. and toe tight a tit
for 1878. Our opinions my dear
friends ought to be worth a great deal,
and our influence on these outside
matters might be unbounded. CUR
opinions, even where we are not par
ticularIy well informed on the sub
iect. are always worth something, be-
cause we have the advantage of Judg-
ing from a somewhat higher level
than thew who mingle with the crowd:
our Judgment is less biased and
clearer from prejudice and heated
feeling: and we go straight from
wrong to right-often jumping at our
| conclusions, no doubt, but zee get
there.
Our opinions. if we would take the
| pains to inform ourselves, would be
worth twice as much IS they are now,
and our influence properly exerted
would be felt in high places where
a present it is ignored. But though
l hope to see the day when the women
of North Carolina are understood to
| be as well informed as the men on all
| points that relate to the interests Of
J the State they live in, yet | hope never
| to see, or to foresee, the day when they
express those opinions in public, or
permit ever the thought of appealing
to the ballot-boX for their support
| hope nerer to see that SAFE worn by
| North Carolina ONE What we say
and think, let us say and think at
home, and be very sure that as long
as we have husbands and sons and
brothers who love and respect us, we
shall have audience and influence
enough and will be as certainly rep
resented at the polls and in the legls-
lative assemblies as if we disgraced
our good grand-mothers by going
there ourselves. Our proper sphere
of influence is a wide II much
wider than that of our grand-mothers,
but still it is woman's sphere. 1t has
widened to keep step with the age
and will continue to widen, but it will
never be other than feminine.
Every wife and mother has some one
to love her and look up to her. Every
good woman can mould her childrens
minds and can instil their earliest and
longest lasting beliefs into them. Sup
pose an intelligent Out-spOken woman
to have read Col. Folks Report, and to
have noticed especially that over eighty
counties in n. G.. unite in declaring
that lands under care of the negro
deteriordte, that he is not improving
as a citizen or farmer, but is still lazy
and ignorant and shiftless and vicious.
Suppose she thinks about it, and puts
her own experience, and that of the
neighborhood, as to economical value
of the negro as a laborer, and finally
decides for herself that the South
ought to consider seriously whether it
ought not to rid itself of him-colo-
nize him, emigrate him, anything to
free ourselves of such an incubus, and
in place of him, promote the emigra-
ton of white laborers. Suppose she
impressed her beliefs and wishes up
on her husband,-upon all the men
and boys who gather round her table
or her fireside. l don't say she can
make all agree with her, but she can
impress them more or less. Suppose
half a million women doing thls-dOes
anyone doubt we should oon be free
of the negro in North Carolina in a
very few years. Suppose all the mar
ried women in North Carolina were
to interest themselves in the talk that
is now going on about the election of
Supreme Court Judges. Suppose they
all felt as some of US do upon certain
late decisions of the Supreme Court
in reference to the marriage tie, and
the rights and wrongs of married wo-
men in the eye of the law, c~ontrasted
with the privileges of the married
men therein. Would it be necessary
for the women of North Carolina tC
raise their voices a semitone above