The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-07-01
OLD TIMES AND NEW.
WOMAN ALWAYS A SLAvE-HOw HER
HUSBAND REGARDED HER IN 1875.


BY MATILDA JosLYN GAGE.
The New York Commercial Adrert,seI
Of April %, 1850, says:
The following advertisement, which
appeared in the old Albany Register O
October ID, 1895. is amusing enough tC
be resurrected:
Whereas, my wife susan behaves herself badly
The way she conducts, 10 abuses me sadly;
therefore forbid any person 10 trust her
/ upon my accDunt-whereby I'm the worser;
I And shall not pay any debts for the future
mat @ she shall contract let il cross her or suit
stephentown, September 5s, i7g5.
The following Notice" OF the Gen.
tennial year, 1876, was cut from the
/ Syracuse Standard:
NOTICE.
Whereas, my wife, Ann Thomas, has
left my bed and board without lust
cause or provocation, hereby forbid
all persons haTbOTing or trusting her on
my account, as / will pay no debts Of
| her contracting after this date.
ROBERT THOMAS.
Syracuse, January 10, 1876.
Seventy-nine years between the two.
What pen can paint all the agonies en-
dured by woman within this long De-
riod Not owning herself; not owning
her children; not owning her wages !;
advertised 10y her master if she traded
upon his aecount-he having control Of
her earnings "sil persons forbidden to
harbOr or trust herr on his account.
Think Of it, ye women, sunken and de-
graded In feeling, humbled by the terri
6le slavery over your sex, until you
'have all the rights you want" What
pity l have for such women what con-
tempt have for them what hatred
feel for the tyranny which has crushed
from their souls every vestige Of self
respecting wOmanhOOd. What loss to
the world when humanity is thus de-
graded, beaten down, troddeu under
foot. How can it be that every woman,
eUeTy woman, does not rise in the might
of her inherent, Unborn rights and cry
away with it" Down with all such
degrading, tyrannOus lawsi Let all
government cease from of the face Of
the earth, If We cannot build up a gov
eminent OF equality. a rebel! How
glorious the name sounds when applied
to woman Oh, rebellious woman, to
you the world looks in hope; upon you
has fallen the glorious task Of bringing
liberty to the earth and all the inhabit-
ants thereof.
"All persons are forbidden 10 har6or
her" In the light OF advancing civili-
cation, that terrible for5iddance of cher
lord aud master'' does not carry the
penalty it once did. Once, no man dare,
Tor his very life, give the woman 50 ad-
vertised shelter or food or drink. Her
master had forbidden it. Dreadful PEN
alties followed it. No matter how great
the storm, she was denied roof over
her head. She might be ill, dying; il
mattered not; she was an escaped slave, |
aud the person whom humanity /
prompted to give her even a drink Of
cold water, was liable to severe punish /
ment, No one could hire her, even, for /
she did not belong to herself; her brain, /
her hands, her feet, her capabilities aud .
her work all belonged to-her master. /
She had run away; she was a runaway .
slave. Many Of Us recall the fugitive .
slave law Of few years since, when we .
Northern people all were forbidden un-
der severe penalty to give an escaping
slave from the South either food, shell |
ter, or a drink Of water. The humanity .
Of the country rose against It, and, al /
though many people broke the law ST.
lently, few dared defy it openly. One
Of the proudest acts of my life, one that
l look baee upon with most satisfac-
tion, is that when Rev. Mr.. Lougen Of
Syracuse went to the village Of my resi-
dence 20 ascertain the names Of those .
upon whom runaway slaves might de.
pend for aid and comfort on their way
to Canada, was one Of the two solitary
persons who gave him their names. /
Myself and one gentleman Of Fayette-
vile were the only two persons who 1
dared thus publicly defy "the law'' Of I
the land and for humanity's sake render !
ourselves liable to fine and imprison-
ment in the county Jail for the crime Of
feeding the hungry, giving shelter to
the oppressed, and helping the black /
slave on to freedom.
To-day, my work is to help reud the |
chains from off the woman slave, white, |
black, or copper-colored, barbarian, saw
age or civilized. Nothing is so sacred |
as freedom. II to gain it the family |
must be discovered, the Church laid in I
dust, the State torn in fragments, better
all this than slavery-slavery that sum /
Of all villainies, within whose vampire /
grasp no true family can exist, no true
religion have place, no true republic be
built.
Womau's slavery-the las:i the most
vile, the greatest of all slaveries-must
be torn, root aud branch, of the face of
The earth. When this is accomplished,
we shall see a new earth, and the Heav-
ems themselves shall reflect the glory Of
smancipated wOmanhOod.
--
Victoria Crown Princess of Car,,apv