The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-03-20
AN EARLY APOSTLE.

An hAhL1 APOSILE.
/ I'm essay written Tor the o. 5. W. s. A. by
belle W. Cooke, and read before the annual
convention by j. Devore Johnson.I
have lately found an old book writ
ten some hundred years ago, that con-
tains some ofthe soundest arguments in
favor OF the equal rights of women that
have heard advanced. The book NAV
not be new one to those who have
studied the movement which has for its
object the elevation of woman; but 7
presume it is a rare one, and not acces-
sible to all, and may contain what is
new to persons on this coast. In the
course Of this essay shall make fire.
quent quotations from the pages of this
wonderful book, wonderful because it
contains so much that was vastly ia adj
vance Of the spirit Of the age in which it
was written. But who shall say that
the truths that were first expressed pub
licly and courageously by this noble
woman were not like the leaven which a
tCOmal took and hid in three measures
Of meal, and the hidden strength worked
and spread, until now the whole world
Of womankind seems likely, with its
potent influence, to become thoroughly
leavened.
The name Of the author of this book,
which is entitled "a Vindication of the
Rights of Woman" and was written
sometime about 1890 was Mary
Wollstoncraft, an English woman who
afierward became the wife of William
Goodwin, who was himself an English
author Of some notoriety. In memoir
written by her husband, she was de-
scribed as being "lovely in her person.
and in the best aud most engaging sense
feminine in her manners" Their
daughter is known to the literary world
as the wife Of the poet Shelly.
Mary W0llstoDcraft dedicated her
book to ". Tallyrand. In her dedica-
ton she says: "Contending for the
rights Of women, my main argument is
built on this simple principle, that if
she be not prepared by education to be-
come the companion of man, she will
stop the progress of knowledge, for
truth must be common to all, or it will
be inefficacious with respect to its inhu-
ence on general practice. And how can
woman be expected to cooperate un-
less she knows why ? unless freedom
strengthen her reason till she compre-
bend her duty, and see in what man.
ner it is connected with her real good? ?
If children are to be educated to under
stand the true principles of patriotism,
their mothers must be patriots, and the
love Of mankind, from which an orderly
train Of virtues spring, can only be pro-
duced by considering the moral and
civil interests of mankind; but the edu-
cation and situation Of woman, at pres
ent, shuts her out from such investiga-
tions."
Farther on she quotes a sentence from
Tallyraud himself, as follows: THAT to
see oue-half Of the human race excluded
by the other from all participation Of
government was a political phenome-
non that, according to abstract princi-
Piles, il was impossible to explain. Con-
sider," she continues, 81 address you as
a legislator, whether men contend for
their freedom, and to be allowed to Judge
for themselves respecting their own
happiness, if it be not inconsistent and
unjust to subjugate women, even though
you firmly believe that you are acting
in the manner best calculated to promote
their happiness Who made man the
exclusive judge, IL woman partake with
him the gift Of reason? If women are
to be excluded without having a voice.
from the participation in the natural
rights Of mankind, you should prove
first, in order to ward off the charge Of
injustice and Inconsistency, that thev
have not the power to reason, else this
flaw in your new French constitution.
the first constitution pretending to be
founded on reason, will ever show that
man must, in some shape, act the ty-
rant, and tyranny, in whatever part of
society it rear its brazeu front, will ever
undermine morality"
These statements Of the new doctrine
ofequal rights were most strenuOusly op-
posed aud reprehended, and as night be
expected, found their bitterest enemies
in the pretty soft creatures, the spoiled
children Of the very sex she had sought
to benefit.
"WhatW Cries this apostle Of freedom.
"are women the weaker sex Then if
it be proved that woman is naturally
weaker than man, from whence does it
follow that it is natural for her to labor
to become still weaker in mind and
body, than nature intended her to be b?
This result must surely be the conse-
quence Of life devoted to the frivoIities
Of fashion or to !. narrow round OF
homely duties in which too many moth
ers are confined, to the detriment of all
with whom they are Connected
We often hear persons of the D resent
day object to woman being called slave,
but Sue certainly is in the condition of
political slavery if she has no voice In
the government under which she lives,
and is placed alongside Of those inferior
persons Of the other sex who are denied
their freedom on account Of crime or in
capacity.
So long as woman is denied the priv
ilege of helping to make the laws by
which she is taxed and governed, so