The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-08-22
Women and NO-Aooount Things.


omen make such an everlasting
fuss about no-account tbingsD re-
nlaIhed mechanic the other dav. with
profound disgust. "a woman will
Jaw half day." pursued the knight of
/ the ehlseli In fOrcible vernaculaT. call
/ about something that don't amount 10
nothing"
She who ehaneed to hear these pitbv
utterances did not venture to INQUIRE if
the nO-accOunt things, for which women
cared so mnch, might not perhaps be
clean floors, neat dOOr-yards, and the
other adjuncts TO neat aud cheerful liv-
ing, for which woman, the natural ally
of civilization, so persistently strives.
Nor did she further inquire whether
the trifles objected to by them were
not the evil habits Of unthrift and in
temperance, from which they suffer so
much. But while she was musia& tAs
ire kindled, aud, at the last, she spake
with her-pen.
The artisans clumsy ridieule was but
an unconscious echo of the more pol
ished complaints of the man Of the
world, or the writer on manners. Men
Of all classes of society and of all grades
of intelligence write in the jeremiad-
This carping at the supposed pettiness
of women Is one of the most petulant
undertOnes of literature and life. The
first novel or newspaper one takes up Is
filled with trenchaut illusions to this
darling theme. The next bit of un-
guarded talk Que chances to hear over
flows with the perennial acridity of the
old, old charges.
What reply should be made to them ?
To say that man, who, ruling the world
by the right of might, has ordained
that woman's life shall be made up Of
little things, and is now unjust and un-
generous to sneer at her littleness Of ma
ture, this would be a fair retOrt enough,
but hardly worth making. Better, per-
haps, for a woman, if she had voice
that could reach other women, to ad-
dress herself 10 them, saying 10 them
possibly much the same things that the
satirists say of them, but in a very
different spirit. From the foundation
Of the world, women have been blamed
in way that most of them have failed
70 understand. The eensure, which was
not prompted by any fair motive, rarely
effected any good. Satire appeals
neither to the feelings nor the intelli-
gence, for it pre-suppOses a want of the
irst In the author, aud of the second in
its subject. Satirists may be called the
pawn-OTOkers of literature, since their
intellectual wealth Is founded on the
mental poverty of their victims. Their
Office is at best an ungraciOus one, and
devoid of merit, unless its requirements
are fulfilled in the dignity Of a purpose
akin to that which permeates the work
Of the mOralist.
When some deeper influence than any
that emanates from small saTcasms
shall have reached women, there will
be few among them who could remain
Indifferent TO the charge of frivOlity,
few who would not be grieved and hu-
inflated at the thought that there
might be cause for such an accusation.
Ii the education of women, which
aims at breadth and only results in ele-
CANT vagueuess, were more practical, in
the best sense Of that term, they would
be far happier, wiser and better.
Strength of mind and character do not
come from the training adapted to de-
velOp only the tastes of an amateur, or
even the endOwments of a true artist,
but from such moral teaching as i'm
plants lasting fidelity to the idea of
duty. This keystone in the arch of
character once firmly set, all the gifts
and graces may be brought into har-
mOny with it IVOmGH's Journal