Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-03-22

In House OF Representatives March L., in favor of
granting 10 women the right OF suffrage in school
matters,
NJ Speaker; Ii is among the paramount
duties of the representatives of the people to
use all proper means and enact all necessary
laws TO promote the cause of education
throughout the State. For it is only through
general diffusion of knowledge among the
people, that we can hope to prosper and en-
dure Ms Republic. II is the foundation up.
on which the fabric of our institutions rest,
through which they are to be perpetuated
during the coming ages.
nder the Constitution of our State the ad-
vantages of education are considered 'sessen-
tial to the preservation of the rights and lib
critics of the people" and We are enioined by
the obligations which that instrument i'm.
poses to enact such laws rs will best advance
the interests ot education. So important did
the trainers of the Constitution consider il
that they laid it down as one of the funda-
mental principles by which we should be
governed for all future time. Upon the pro-
per education of the cfiiirea of the State de-
pends its future well being and grandeur.
and we must look to il. that We do not neglect
our duties to them in this Responsibilities i'm
peratively demanded of US by the Constitu-
tion under which we live
talities by which the education of the Young
are promoted, romaa stands preeminently
the first and the best. To her fostering care
are we chiefly indebted for our early educa-
ton. From her We first receive impressions
of outward things in this outward world, and
whatever is good and pure and manly in our
being spring from her disintercsted love and
holy teachings. Whatever is bad and repul-
sive in our nature does not cmanate from
her. The bad habits which we form. the un-
holy desires which terminate and ripen i'm
our hearts, the bad principles we imbibe
which like thorns and thistlcs in the natural
field, spring up in our hearts and choke the
fair plants OF virtue and truth, are not the
result of her teachings They are taught be.
yond the reach of her influence and guardian
eye in the associations with those of our own
sex, whose example like the deadly upas tree
poisons all who come within its banefnl
shade.
Gentlemen. YOU are now called upon by
this bill to give 10 woman enlarged and inn
portant powers and rights bearing directly
upon the education sf the children of the
State, granting them what is called school
suffrage. That she may have something to
do in aiding and directing the education of
those whom she is prominently fitted to in
struct and benefit. That she may be enabled
by the power of her ballot in all school mat
tiers to overcome to some extent the bad in
fuences we have mentioned.
In almost every State in the Union the in
huence of woman in this respect is recog-
nzcd and appreciated, and laws in many in
stances have been enacted giving her the
right of school suffrage and those States ia.
nous for their seats of learning where edn-
cation is carried to its greatest perfection
and there is the most general diffusion of
knowledge among its people, are found fore
most 10 give women the right and shall Maine
hold back and he the last upon the list? Will
she wait until all her sister States have re-
corded themselves on school suffrage for wo-
men, before she does so? Massachusetts,.
our mother State, whose first born we are, in
1874 accorded TO women the right TO act on
school boards. Later she gave her limited
school suffrage an6 at the present session Of
her legislature they have granted woman new
and enlarged powers by the passage of q
school suffrage bill.
In our State without any statute enact
ments the people have taken the matter into
their own hands, and in many towns all
over the State. females have for years been
elected to serve upon their board Of superin-
tending school committee and as supervisors
Of schools, and the practice is increasing and
the taxpayers submit ard instead of resisting,
cheerfully pay the tax assessed upon them.
We cannot learn from any reliable source
that the evils follow which the opponents so
strongly claim, but on the contrary the bene-
fits to the State, everywhere are made APP
parent in many ways.
There is one very important and serious
thing connected with and leaning upon thi.
question, which wish to impress upon this
House. There is not sufficient attention Civ
en- to the moral training Of the young in our
public schools. Too little is thought Of, or
inquired into concerning the moral worth Of
the teachers who are employed 10 instruct the
children Of the State. Men are apt to rely
upon the Sabbath school and home influences
to eountcract the bad influence their children
are often under six days in the week. The
resnt has been that We have had as teachers
in many of our public schools. men who,
though they professed literary attainments and
executive ability necessary for their Office.
were sadly deficient in that high moral stand
ard, excellence and elevation of character
necessary to the growth Of men, manly. hon.
est, upright and incompatible men, and
their insiduous teachings and influence
have poisoned the hearts and souls Of many
bright and generous youths. And females
who were light and frivolous in their charac-
ter and unqualified morally are placed in our
district schools TO instruct your children. II
is frequently the case that school agents and
others who employ teachers are governed
more by an applicants good looks or certifi-
cate of scholarship, than their fitness for the
important and sacred trust to be reposed in
them. School teachers always have oppor-
tunities by example and precept to impress
upon the minds Of their pupils the beauty and
worth Of good honest life. Men do not
generally take that interest in the education
Of children that females do they are not suf-
fciently careful whom they employ as teach
ers their hearts are not in the work.
Whatever there is now good in our school
system. and is the education Of the young, is
in great degree owing to the influence Of
woman behind the scenes. She is the power
behind the throne: her hand is felt through
the medium Of father, husband. brother
or friend, and it is well for our State that it
is SO. One object Of this law is to bring her
forward that she may directly aud more efIec-
tnaliy aid in this vital work in which we all
are interested as individuals, and as repre-
senfatives Of great State, whose honor and
glory. and the perpetuity of whose free insti-
fions We are earnest to promote.
We believe that if women are allowed to
hold school offices. to act in all matters relat-
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