The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-07-14
From the Courier-J ournal.
a CHAMPION OF WOMEN.
-aptain Woods, of Mississippi, Makes n
Stir ring Appeal in Behalf of the
Tender Sex.
woMAN's WRONGS, AND RIGHTS.


Stirring Appeal in Behalf of the
Tender Sex.
wOIAN's WRONGS, AND RIGHTS.
! The following ad dress was delivered by Capt
| Thomas II. Wood-, Of Meridian, Miss, before
| the pasrous and friends of Liberty Fema e
| College, at Glasgow, Kentucky, On Wednes-
/ day evening. June 9Th:
I propose This evening saying some earnest
/ words touching certain wrongs whose redress
/ ii is the custom 10 leave wholly to the advo-
| cacy Of orators esteemed but lightly. l
propose uJterIng demand Tor the recognition
| of certain rights Of which certain class ia
/ this community are, and long have been, ar
! bitrarIly deprived, in whole or IA part pur-
! pose 70 uaintHi that clearer acknowledg-
ment OF the equality Of the sexes and fuller,
! freer accordance TO women Of all the rights
exercised by man, viii, ny lifting woman her
self 10 hi CHER plane OF existence, at the same
| time put the world, also, forward and upward
| in truer and higher career purpose pro-
nouucing in your hearing a discourse on that
much misuuders cod and much abused theme
woman rights discourse embodying as
its central idea the perfect equality OF the
sexes, and challenging fair play for woman
hood in the work OF life.
sense Of the dull drudgery which falls to
the lot of the average wOman-whet Their IN the
upper or lower walks of life-must at times
have pierced the utter seltshness Of the mas
culine mind, and have reused the latent con-
scIousuess that our wives, our sisters and our
daughters have divine title TO better things,
THE SARRowNEss AND HARDNESS
Of the fate which shuts up woman to the ferule
or the f0otlights If she dare pass the bounds
of domestic cares and labOrs and strives for
the riches and'the honors of he world, begins,
at length, TO challenge public attention and
demand serious consideration What unques-
toned rights has woman, the world under
stands the matter W hat doors of honorable
enterprise are open to her entrance hat
fields lie waiting her tillage2 She may sleep,
she may eat, she may dress, she may SHINE IN
the drawing-room or the kitchen, as her state
may req uITe. she may marry. she H1ust marry,
If in the majority Of instances she would not
tread the wretched round OF IA dependents life,
and she may take her chance for prize, or a
blank. If she be favored of fortune, she may
carry silkeu train on her arm, she may once
or twice taste the sweets Of amateur concert,
she may whirl on the drive, and occasionally
glide in the german. Happy she who counts
all these gIories as her own
And not unhappy is that scarcely less IA
vored one who sings in the choir sews at the
Dorcas. and exercises her ambitious longings
on projects for The recovery Of the lost Hot
tentots. With those and like pitifHl employ
ments she must be satisfied; alas, that truth
req uires it should be said, with these and like
miserable employments she TOO often 10 salts
fed. And what wonder Through genera
tions-all the generations intervening between
the point where she ceased to be a slave and
became a playthIng IA blessed transformation
| by no means undervalue) and the present
hour-she has in her home, in society, from
the pulpit and through the press been brought
TO be content with these harmless occupations
through all these generations she has had her
be ng-physic1l, III sntal, morAl-cablned,
cribbed, confined within the cramped limits of
y cruelty conventional and artificial state of
being; through all these generations she has
been forced to repress every noble aspiration
for the display of her powers IN splendid ac-
tivities, and to strangle the ambition born in
her bosom to clutch in her stainless hands the
Cd ln 81 NH he IA Iurbp
heighths of mortal endeay0r; through all
these generations she has been told to stop her
ears against that sweetest, most inspiring
music which ever set heroic pulses beating
and thrilling in the delirium Of ioy-the music
that rolls in the thunders Of a worlds APP
plause, breaking forth over some grand word
spoken or some grand work done What Won
der, | repeat, that woman Is at length untrue
to herself in being content with these mean
joys of conventional life Before all else,
woman needs free, healthful school for the |
exercise and development Of all her powers.
She has a right 10 be, at once and forever, |
freed from the artificial clogs which hamper |
her movements and hinder her progress. She |
has right TO make herself
sELF-DEPESDENT, INDEPENDENT,
and to be happy thereby, and she has right |
to expect from all generous men cordial good |
wishes and active assistance III the effort to |
make herself independent.
But before proceeding TO farther unfold the |
views which | desire TO press upon your at |
tention, let me say, to avoid all misconStruc- |
ton or misa pprehensiOn that there are certain |
objects Of desire with men to which women |
may not properly bend her efforts. While |
she ought to enjoy absolute equality with the |
other sex 10 dare any and do anything winch |
Is betting a free moral agent to aspire and |
strive after vet there are many objects she |
has no right TO touch. The true man has no |
ri rht to be coarse. sensual, brutal There is |
no right inh rent in him by which he can |
either be or do anything that may prutalIze |
I III oil "a rftI n
against the possibility Of misconEtructlon on |
the part of the dullest comprehension, when l |
say not only has woman no right TO engage |
in any undertaking or pleasure that may de-
grade herself or others; but we ought to go |
farther, we do 90 farther and assert that |
granting woman fullest liberty-perfect equal |
ity-she still has no right to be, or affect to pc,
in anv wise masculine. The liberty. the equal |
itv contended for is not that of license Let |
woma have extended her the right to contend
with men in every work of honorable toll; but /
let her not, in every fold and fibre of her frame,
in every spring and thrill of her spirit, cease |
to be distinctively feminine. Into every held |
into which more generous recognition OF sex
equality affords womans entrance, let her
bring the grace, the delIcacy, the gentleness,
the truthfulness and the purity which beautlfy
and sanctify the unpretentious life which now
eafolds her. Let there be infinite widening
of the sphere of the sweep of her energies and
the play OF her hopes ; but let there be no loss
or dimi mutton of one womanly quality result
ing tberefrom.
1t Is time TO say woman has night 10
broader, higher education. The day is long
past when any human being is thought TO have
learning enough having mastered the mystic
rles OF reading, writing aud arIthemetic.
These are foundation stones on which to begin
to build. but they are only foundation stones.
The highly useful instruction of the common
school IS but the first of the stepping stones TO
& higher culture. The needle work, the dane
ing lesson, the smatter Of modern languages
the course in many of the eonven-
uonai institutions, are well enough IN their |
place, but they are scarcely worthy be called
the alphSbet of the real education of which We
are now speaking The education acquired
IN majority of the colleges designed for
young woman falls far short of the higher re-
quirements Of the standard we erecting.
The higher education of the woman involves
the training by severest methods and on sp-
proved plans Of every faculty and power be-
longing 10 her being-an education laying
compelling hands on the whole mental ana
moral constitution Of the woman, and patient,
laborious and thorough preparation of her for
successful entrance-into any
Of the learned professions.
IT Is WoMAN's RIGHT
to have this higher education, this thorough
requisite to her entrance into the
learned professions. In using the term
learned professions, do not intend to proVoSe
controversy. / an perfectly |
aware that by the canon of some, perhaps
many, of the orthodox churches, woman IL
denied ingress TO the pulpit. Yet, must say
the churches thus denying woman the autnor
lty to publicly teach from the pulpit IN TINS
land do not gcruple TO commission the same