The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-07-22
WOkAE's "IEFERIoRITY.u

nStNOus nave been empioyed
oy writers to sustain the alleged inferi.
ority of woman, hut Miss Hardaker ma.
capped tie climax in a late issue oi the
North american Rcrie,r. Her methcd
Is Que which cannot fail to please the
vanity Of the sex she has evidently
written to crafty for all experiencs
mas SHOWN that vanity, pure and SIM
pie ih man, Is correspoudiugly met Ly
It's counterpart, fiatlery, Ia the appro-
oatiVeness Of woman. And yet, Mis-
Hardaker, adIoitly as she reasons. with
the above Transparent aim in view,
proves quite too much for her argument
when, To demonstrate that women are
narrow in Intellect aud deficient Ia rea-
soning power, she writes a strong arti-
Gle, which proves-if it proves anything
the very opposite theory that she
would illustrate.
Until woman has had equal rights
with man for some thousands OF years,
1t will not be possible to compare her
work with his in such a way as 10 sat
isfy the great mass of impartial thinkers
that the sex lacks the Inherent power TO
do everything that man eau do. That
she has done much more than he in a
thousand different branches Of the
worlds work, can be doubted by no
woman who has reared large family.
aud at the same time, without preyious
education beyond the limits Of the speII
ing book, mastered aud followed from
one TO hall a dozen trades, aud reached
respectable and remunerative place in
art aud literature, and is to-day knock
ing at the portals Of individual sover-
eighty with such force Of logic as no
man can refute and no woman hinder.
1t is necessary that a man, to be a
full-rounded specimen of manhood,
should be d husband and father. He
must know the raptures OF conjugal love
and the antieipations, joys, anxieties,
hopes and fruitions OF paternity. He
must experience the battles for a liveli-
hood, the struggles for place and power,
the humiliations Of defeat and the tri-
umphs Of victory that are needed to
perfect his Inherent mental, moral and
physical forces. But, above all, he
must be free (; he must not be hampered
by man made circumstances which no
worth can be allowed to surmouut and
no intellectual ability permitted to over
throw. Circumscribe an individual
man ia this way, as woman is almost
universally ciTcumscribed, and he is as
unreasoniug, positive and emotional as
she, with this difference: his firmness
and self esteem being greater than hers,
he is more unyielding and consequently
less capable of listening to the demands
of reason than herself Woman did not
cruelty the Man Of Nazareth nor did
she stone the Stephens, burn the martyrs
or imprison the Galliieoz Of history.
Necessary as it is that man, in order
TO be his highest specimen Of self, shall
be full-rounded by the affections, ex-
periences, trials and emotions OF mar
ried life, it is equally necessary that
woman, to reach the full complement Of
her womanhood, must experience her
part of a like destiny. She must know
the ecstasies Of eonjugal love, the pains
and terrors Of humanity's birth-right,
and the ardent affections Of maternity. .
Until Miss Hardaker has had some of
these experiences, the more wise and F.
Of the sons Of women will I
iOubt her ability to eternally fix the /
status Of the mothers Of men according /
TO her own standard. The NEW NORTH !
WEST kindly advises her to get married |
and become a mother; and, after a /
quarter Of a eentury's experience in this
important relation, she may then be /
able 20 better comprehend the sphere Of 1
lther women.