St. Landry democrat., 1879-06-28
THE NTERIWETHEls.
what " 70. 8s. said de ttse Woman. S"hr'a&
dl0nVaflfiD%s

was n6Ts introduced, anu SHt Al" ""i
CHE entertained the audience With an
address tnat Was fnll OF pith and caustlc
She said she was brought up in the con-
seryatiye south, which the nor1n be-
lieves so far below it in point Of clVlllza"
ton, and though she was young IN pup.
lie service she vas an old thinker. The
greater part of her life had been spent IN
rocking the cradle, but while doing that
she thought great deal, and determined
thst when her children grew old enough
to admit OF it she would make an effort
to do something toward e!evat1ng her
sex. A few years ago, when 1t was pro-
posed to enfraDchise women in England,
one mem ber objected On the ground that
! the balIot would unsex women and &c"
prive t7,era of the maternal affection
which was me OF their iovelieSt charac'
| teristics. The idea that the maternal
feelings, she said, we're depend6rt upon
or to be aft cted by men-made laws "as
| simp preposterous. Another had oh"
| iected hecau:e every woman in England
would be transformed by the ballot into
| the terrible abonination OF "a strong
minded woman" She here produced g
| pictorial sketch of the unmarried
strong-minded woman, vinegar-7iSaged,
scrswnv, ana totally void Of ply
sical development, except sl:ltud-
inally. She also produced picture OF
the ideal -bonneted, red.faced, obese,
brawny, married strong minded woman,
with her puny husband under one arm.
| Both the cavicatures were good snd pro-
voked much merTiment. The speaker
| said thai the people who seemed 30 much
to fear the strong minded female never
seemed to consider The possibility Of a
strong minded man marrying a strong
minded woman, but always assigned to
her "such looking fellow as that" She
| told how her husband who stands very
high as a lawyer is Memphis, was spoken
Of for mayor, and enloyized in the pres.
ence Of 3 lady there. What" Do you
mean the husband Of that Nerriwether p
said she. Yes" was the answer.
"Why," she remarked, II thought her
husband must b. fool.'
The speaker next scored John Bright
tor his recorded declaration in parlia'
men: that women could always trust to
the justice and generosity of man in the
matter Of legislation, and cited barbarous
English laws az g refutation Of that
assertion. The Bible, she held, declared
WON ems equality with map, as in Genesis
it was declared that to man; male and
| fema:e, was committed the government
/ of the earth, and il many other portions
the aame :dea Of equality was conveyed.
Treating the story of Eve and the
apple from a legal atanI,point, tie
speaker showed th&t there was no scrip,
tural p-oof that E7e ever heard of the
injunction against eating the fruit. The
Bible stated that Adam was created
before Eve, and hat he was told not to
touch the apple, but there was no hint
that Adam ever told Eve about this,
yet to her is charged s!l the trouble that
grew out o. it.
Woman was mans equal, she said,
until man began the business Of war,
ard according 50 they became savage aud
warriors, they usurped the position Of
master over women.
Quoting Coke declaration that Erg>
lish law was the perfection Of reason,
that it commands what is necessary and
forbids what is wrong the lady pointed
to the frightful cruelties of the heresy
and w;tchcratt laws, and the enormities
of the clergy law, which she character
lied as beautiful in its iiiocy and sub
lime in It's stupidjty. Yet C)ke did not
have :he fairness 70 condemn the law
which warranted, frat the burning of q
poor woman ior heresy, and then the
burning OF her child as a hereto, whose
premature birth occurred at the sta ke as
g result Of her torture Blackstone was
alike c. wardiy in his treatment OF Eng
lisl Law, and could see no harm in the
law which allowed the burning OF pris
oner for heresy, even though he did not
know tIla. he had been guilty Of viola
ti2n O. faw, on account OF its ambiguity.
Speaking of witchcratt law, Blackstone
said it existed to the terror OF ancient
femal:s. This animosity to ancient
females exists to this very day in Eng
land. It il manifested ia the unmanly
fingS at nother2~in-law, which had
their origin in England, and were i'm.
ported here through English noyelists.
An Englishman considers his vie his
slave, his property, bis chattel. As the
southern planter hated any man bes
frieuding his slave, so al Eaglishman
hate any one who rnaniFests sympa>
thizing interest in the woman whom he
oppre<ses, and that person inevitably is
his mother. Hence, while We hear
always of 3 msn complaining 0 lis wife's
mother, We never hear the wife com>
planning OF her husbands mother. This
unmanliness toward mothers in-law
would constitute good ground Tor divorce
if women were legislators.
Singular.
Iohn Nichnls q iarnaar Of Thorn retln |