The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-04-03
SUCCESS NOT DEPENDENT UPON
SEX,

10 Tie very nature OF lniug-t
woman cannot excel in professional
ife," we once heard thoughtful man
remark, knitting his heavy brows and
meditating upon
" Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute.
Finding no end, in wand'rng mazcs lost"
"How do you reconcile that declaration
with the fact that women have achieved
success in professional life ?" we asked.
Z" Then it is achieved at the expense Of
all that makes life 10 woman worth
having" was the rejoinder, the first
proposition left 10 fall by its own
weight, while an equally visionary con-
clusion supplanted it. As to what
makes life worth having both to men
aud women, We reflected persons
greatly differ. But men and women
are near akin, and if opportunities to
alleviate suffering as physicians, redress
wrongs as lawyers, comfort the soul
weary as ministers, mould the public
mind as educators, and secure in any Of
these duties, honor and affiuence for
themselves and families, is counted as
of paramount value to men, is IL Of less
worth to women ? Instances where
women have performed the duties OF
motherhood, the sacred obligations Of
wifehood, and still won distinction for
themselves in professions, are manifold.
Other instances where women have
served literature and science, choosing
these instead Of home and family cares,
are not wanting, and their lives, what
ever they have lacked Of inward salts
faction (where, indeed, all lives are
lacking), have been as complete sue
eesses as have the lives Of men similarly
situated. Women no less than men
should be architects Of their own for
tunes, arbiters of their own destiny. II
they fail 20 build up the one or render
satisfactory the other, tits no more than
their brethren are doing all around
them, not because these are 1r0men aud
those are men, but because both are
human beings and liable 10 make mis-
takes.
We have just finished reading bio
graphical sketch OF Professor Emeline
H. Cleveland, N. D., in the Pacific
Medical and Surgical Journal, whose
life proves clearly that success in any
vocation is not dependent upon sex, or
any other accident, but is achieved by
energy and persistence. She graduated
from the Woman's Medical College Of
Pennsylvania in 1856; was appointed
demonstrator Of anatomy, and soon sue
ceeded to the chair Of anatomy In that
institution. She was afterward ap-
pointed resident physician at the hos
pital in connection with the college,
which position she honored until her
death, which occurred last December.
We certainly have no reason 10 believe
that these honors and successes were
acquired at the expense OF all that
makes life to a woman worth having.
Eminently superior as a practitioner,
professor Of obstetrics and the diseases
Of women and children in a hospital
where thousands OF patients were
treated annually, a lucid, eloquent and
earnest lecturer, she was vet i'm her
social life and domestic relations as
wife aud mother every way admirable.
Her manner is described as having been
so gentle and purely womanly that the
coarsest and most hardened creatures
felt its refining influence. Happily free
from professional mannerism, a stran-
ger conversing with her would hardly
dream Of her being q scientific woman,
although ready to admit her very clever
and cultivated, adding 10 her charms
that greatly extolled quality in women
ia low, sweet voice" She died, as
before stated, on the 5th Of December.
1878, at the sge Of 80 years, leaving as
great measure Of success behind her
as falls TO the lot Of most professional
men Of that age. This is far from being
an Isolated case. We might name the
triumphs Of DR.. Susan r. Dimock. who
was drowned by the wreck Of the steam-
ship Schiller in the English Channel
in 1879, whose funeral took place on the
4th Of June Of that year from the Church
o. the Disciples, Boston, eight eminent
physicians Of that city acting as pall-
bearers. She studied in Zurich. her
graduating thesis there being copsid-
erec careful and scientific anolvsis 80
most difficult subject, "The diaaren,
forms OF puerPeral fever.u She Wa
thoroughly skilled surgeon, baviny l,,,3
extensive practice in both homo ,n5
European hospitals, yet was pentle
cheerful and womanly. a free bed 81,
the hospital in Boston, IN which she
was the honored and beloved physician
is established as her fitting memorial.
The instances OF woman's professional
success might be multiplied until a
posthumous volume would not contain
their outlines, but for the present we
forbear. Those noted will, we are sure,
prove to doubling readers that Cicero's
words, " Men in 10 particular approach
so nearly TO the gods as by giving health
to their felIow-men," =" have an equal force
when applied TO women, and that the
successes Of either are in no wise de-
pendent upon sex.
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