National Republican., 1880-06-01


Hor future power cannot In the nature Of
things bo due to q change Of sphere, to the
| lifting OF q lever untried aud too ponderOus
for feminine strength, or 10 q shifting to the
situations hitherto occupied exclusively by
man. On the contrary, she can neither hope
| TO modify or remedy existing evils that await
her removal, except rs she taxes her native
graces, uses her intuitive powers and asserts
with proud dignity the intrinsic loyalty of n
woman's influence and integrity. 1t is or
| ought to be, cherished hope in the heart Of
every truo mother 90 leave to her children a
! legacy for which through lifetime thoy will
| be thankful q capital which no bankruptcy
can destroy or prodigality can reduce. We find
now and then IN sad distances apart, like some
| far stars that come in sight but once in a CEN
tury, women whose purity aud nobility Of
character will take no bribo from their sex or
their sphere, nor from custom or caprice; who
seek for themselves and others a higher
plano of life, in which woman can live
for that which Is noblest and most
ondurable. These are they from whom So
ctety can alone expect its reform. Are they
then the mockers into whose homes tho rock-
less or the dissipatod can enter with perfect
freedom, and during hours of society with
their young daughters, rob thom of tho once
| natural repugnance to intoxicatiOn and diss-
patton; stealing away, all uuconsciOuily, the
| blush from the cheek, the disapproyal Of the
eye, the once native dignity of bearing. The
jest that arises from intoxicatiou comes at last
less unbdden, aud with silent acceptance re.
mains unrebuked. OF such daughters there
are many, because such mothers arc num-
bered by legion; and with them rests the sad
aud pitiful histories of broken betrothals
ruined husbands and fathers aud all the at.
tending sorrows of unhappy homes. Is there
any trlier way for woman at her homo TO meet
the libertinc aud drunlard than that indicated
by man himsclf-"close the door against
| hAp Il ,,nN Nh. al. g 6
society against them left to woman Tho com
bincd conduct of each lady of society is but the
aggregate influence of society itself 1t Is n
fact, of which il would require no argument
to convince us, that u body of individuals de-
serving disrespect from society would reform
it by reforming its own individual members
There arc mothers who look with alright
upon the destiny of a loved daughter united
at the marriage altar to ono treading sure
footsteps TO drunkard's grave, who, alas are
themselves paving this footpath for their
daughters by welcome words at the doors of
society. Why IN such weakness keep the de-
eeption for the twelfth hour and pass so mirth.
fully the eleven, only to environ your mother
heart too late with paugs of remorse, and keep
from your parors, from the youth aud sim
pIicity and innocence of young girhood what
You would want to keep from your family =?
1t is these thoughtess, ambitious mothers who
lie down ut the close of life with sorrow and
Look not for the vote of woman at the bal
lot to cure intemperance in society while tho
thresholds OF its homes are freely opened aud
crossed by its devotees, whose influence then
woman hopes, in vain, to destroy simply by a
vote.
1t seems not necessary for woman TO sum-
mon moral courage to vote ut the polls against
intemperance with one hand, so long as she
has only the moral cowardice that extends the
other to welcome it into her home Woman
can reject such society, mothers can enforce it,
if they will cease accepting the briDes that
custom offers. Our day needs the energy, the
soul, tho well.directed efforts of the heroines
of our homes, rather than the philosophy"
the Historical retrospects" and political out
looks" of women desiring the ballot. Our
century pleads more earnestly than ever be-
fore for true women. And what stands in
bolder prominence upon the roll of humanity
than the name of woman? Tho loving eyes
of hundreds of women are looking about with
hope for the coming of that army of noble
women who will assist them TO extend a
mighty arm to her own fallen--the bowed
down and weak ones of her own sex. The re.
Gently delivered lecture in the city of st.
Louis upon The Under Dog" WAS full of
heartfelt truths. Can they be uttered by man,
and find no woman ready to respond in ac.
tionP 1t were better to live for this heart
rending, heart-begsing work than 10
see the moments fly amidst the shameful
discussions of balloting. But do you tell me.
the ballot will do this, and "in the course of
five or six years." WHILE during that time,
there are CALLING hearts, tempted hearts, alone
and unaided, sinless once but soon SHINING,
tried and in trouble for the want of n friend.
friend-ah, where is woman2 1t is not
hard to be a friend. Are there not women
whose purity and strength ofcharactcr are great
enough 10 DO shared with the weak without
injury to herself? The unsOdded, gray graves
of a paupers lot--how they appeal to heaven
aud remd it with walls of iriendless neglect
How the closing eyes, parGhed lips plead for
some ones mother some ones sister TO give
them one gomtle home look before death ends
il all ! Do they plead in vain? Mo- there are
many hearts that cannot leave the sphere oil
our mothers to seek new ones--many whose
rights are enough; who have more time to
bathe the bleeding hearts about them than to
nurse the aspiring hearts for the future.
Should we not be envious to have in every
city such women MS Mrs. Gladstone the noble
wife of the eX-premier of England, whose face
and charity are known to all classes OF the poor
and suffering in the great city of London?
Woman has pre-eminently the luxury of
doing good, and If ID could be increased we
would be satisfied TO ask no more. Wonan's
mind is needed not alone ut homo and through
the sitting gentle, constant agencies of home
life and education, but there is need if not
an audible cry, for words, from the pen ana
heart OF woman. Not alone can be left tho
books of the future to man, for books balance
between these covers tho hearts of the MAJ
ton. These pages need the impression of
woman's experience. They need thoprayerful
faith and devotion TO motherhood to give the
world true lessons, not of tawdry fiction, but
reasonable fact. They need the delicate traces
of womanly fingers to blend her shading with
the broad, clear, powerful light that stronger
hands make Tho reform in the literature
for the younga the fireside begun in England
by our noble Maria Edgoworth is yet in need
ofconstant recruits, and if now, in this mpor.
feet state of domestic reading some sulfragst
could, by abandoning the meaningless conVen-
tions, strike n bolder reform, 1 believe she
would become oblivious to the lack of her
rights when she found it in her power to on
noble every privilege of man and woman by
elevating the morality and tone of the books
from which the young gain their primary
ideas OF life. 1t were better for woman's en-.
erges to concentrate upon some aspirations
worthy of herself or Of man than pass in toll
ing anxiety long period of attempted educa-
ton of man aud the government for hor pro-
posed requirement OF ballots rights.
During whatever period of time she may be
engaged in prospecting for tho longod for re-
salt, sho cannot have or has not had the sym.
puthy of man, nor can she have from the be-