, 1879-02-23

March T. the Executive Committee OF the
Mississippi Valley Amateur Rowing Association
will meet Ia this city, and Tx the date and place
OF the rcgatta to bc held next July It is prob
aotc that Moline or keokuk will be selected.
CONDITION OF WOMAN.
Lecture by Mrs. Kate N. Do=gett Before tho
Philosophical Society.
Mrs. Kate n. Doggett delivered an exceeding
'ly interesting lecture last evening before tie
Philosophical Society ON tThc Condition Of
Woman Under Our Own and Other Religions, >,
1t lad been said, she remarked that tl,t. trucst
test Of the enlightenment OF nation was the
social AMI religious condition OF its women, and
the statement was readily admitted in the at-
stract, though not when applied at home. In
the beginning Of things there WAS probably caual-
ity OF right. That Is, those took who would,
and kept who could. Tisen saiique law became
the universal one of inheritance, not Of goods
or kingly power, but OF the sacred
fire. So not the brute force, but religion,
in whose names had been committed most OF
the crimes that dsgraced humanity, brought
about tile change by which one-ha1f of the hui
tnan race tpok the rights to themselves and as
signed the duties to the other fraction.
Mrs. Doggett quoted largely from the Vcdas,
the 1liad, the Odyssey, the Raymayana, the
Mahabharata, aud otherre1ics OF ancient lore in
proof OF her claim that woman in the by-gone
ages occupied higher plane, socially and relig-
iously. than III the succeeding ages and under
later ior1ns Of religious belief. Her citations
were exceedingly apt, and showed the honor
and esteem in which woman was held, and
the perfect equality, the complete SYM
patty, the tender affection existing between
the husband and the wife. She glanced, in
peasing, at the story OF Achilles and Briscis the
offer By Agamemnon to the sulking hero, and
the digniled refusal OF the latter to accept the
protfcre'l hand Of the daughter Of his leader.
fTad Achilles enjoyed 1.SOO years OF our cjyi]iza-
tion, remarked Mrs. Doggett, he would have
drawn I revolver, shot the messenger who
brought the offer, pretended to shoot Agatneu1-
non. Slightly wounded himself, aud then writ
ten three column article for the newspaper.
The lecturer then traced the condition Of
woman 10 later times, reuarking upon her grad
;lal but steady social and religious degradation
aud subserricucc to the stronger vessel and
drawing upon her we}1-store1 mind for numer-
GUS anu appropriate quotations bearing upon
the position taken.
Eighteen hundred years OF profcsscd follow
ing Of the teachings Of the best OF men who
e'cr wore earth about him. she continued,
should have given us IN Christian lands one ex-
ample to set beside that OF the reception Of
Helen, repcntaut'and rehabilitatcd, but she did
not remember to have read OF it. She had
searched diligently from Genesis to Revelation,
and nowhere found an ideal pair like that OF
which we read among the Pheacians, or an ideal
home like that OF Arete. She did not find the
mother of us all eagerly aVailing herself Of the
knowledgc,-and, when blame and not pleasure
Vas the result, the first man did what, In the
lecturers opinion, the last Of his descen-
dants. would do: Fearing to lace the decd
ne did not commit, ne thrust the
woman forward as the criminal. So
rof1 nrt7p1 rififrsa tvinr and ff4,r
to lie: Rcbekal, the unnatural mother, With
her mother-ln-1aw's procliYity for falsehood:
Rachel she would gladly put out Of sight
the falsehood, tllett, the unsistcrlY chickering's,
all the wrctchedness Of the household OF the
many-wiyed Jacob, and remember only the first
kiss and the seven long years OF serring-these
were some OF the women OF the blblc. Miriam Tell
into grlcyous SIM hen she did notl her sister
fu.law. and Tor hcr 1ault she became leprous,-
white as snow. lhc stories OF bathshcoa, OF
lamar, the daughter OF DaVld, sne d!o not be-
lieye could be paralleled in Aryan literature.
There was glcam OF light, proroise Of good
to come, IN the brief story OF huldab: the first
woman INTERPRETER OF canon law in Jewish bis
tory ciarke, the commentator in refer
rim to Hn!dah, remarked that simple
woman, possessing the lore Of God in
her soul, might have more knowledge OF the
divine testimonies than many OF those whose
office 1t Is to explain anu enforce them. IA
common-scnsc view," continued the lecturer,
~ 0Se@tAA@f
the Huldahs, who know, with the rights Of office,
and leave the Hilkahs, who do not Know, to
exercise their talents in other dircctlonsl"
Coming down, then, to the Christian era, the
lecturer referred to the poor lonely women who
followed Christ during His ministry, for whom
the Master was full of Kindness and tender
mercy. But the spirit OF our religious polity
was Pauline, not Christlike. Women were ad-
bg tic Apostle to keep silence in the
and, if they would learn anything, to
ask their husbands at home. i was supposah!e,
however, TINT those husbands themselves did
not know. One-half Of the human race, accord
ing to the Pauline logic was to be i'll silence
aud subject to the other halt because Adam was
kneadc,i up out Of dust few hours before Eve
was made out of one OF his side bones. There
we're women even ia Paul's daV, however, who
we're full OF grace, who prophesed, and in whose
houses there were churches; and yet he was not
to forbid them the exercise OF any
istsrin? & to on us needs as ..a+n op ro,;,aas
law, was the State more Just to woman than the
Cnurchs Man gfouned those to whom special
should be SHOWN IN Ibis W13Es