Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-11-22
81 WISH WAS A MAN."
why should women So often Repeat
this Formula ?-The Straw shows
How The Wind BLOWS.

For the Appeal
was sitting, not long ago, in bevy of
nice women, who belonged to the upper
classes. They consisted of grandmother,
mother, maiden and pickaninuy, all edu-
Gated up to the highest requirements of the
times. We had been talking of human ma
ture-its greatness, its semi-divinity, and its
exceeding beauty. / happened to quote the
Psalmist's Endorsement and the paraphrase
and wonderfully made, but little lower than
the angels and worthy 10 be crowned
with glory and honor. I'VE had also been
discussing the great question OF wemsn's
rights, of which l happened 10 be the only
advocate; all the rest were against me.
When we rose to separate, The old lady said,
with suppressed emphasis, 81 wish l was a
manp This sentiment was echoed down
the whole column, 81 wish / was a manw
All repeated the same words, with the same
marked and melancholy accent. After /
was left to myself l began 10 inquire why a
promiscuous company of educated and cul-
tivated women, from the extremes of human
age aud human experience, should express
SO unnatural "wish"-a wish which, if il
were universally grati6ed, would upset the
whole order of nature, and ruthlessly sweep
away the great family of the divine "sweet-
nessas of life," as Chief Justice Marshall
calls them, in which event, We would have
to go back 10 the unrest in Paradise before
the coming of Eve, when
There dwelt no Joy in Edens rosy bowers,
Till woman came with loves delighted hours.
Obviously, there is always a cause for
every phenomenon, whether OF matter or of
mind-if indeed mind is more than a mere
faculty OF matter, or heat and cold, or light
and darkness, or electricity-unless we con-
cede the modern theories Of a spiritual
world around us, which is the real and living
world. From this concession, that cause
pre- cedes effect, or that there is a
power or energy behind every manifestation,
by whatever name we call il, sought the
reason for the unhappy condition manifested
in this abnormal wish, and my reflection
suggested that the explanation lay in one of
two directions: i. The ladies had been mis-
Observation-Disclosures in mere trifss without
science; 2. Or that they had been unfairly
treated in the distribution of the adj
vantages of the world that surrounded
them. They had not been taught that the
laws of nature are the Fathers will, and
that perfect and loving obedience to the
Fathers will is happiness; and they had
been taught the divinity and excellence of
freedom in the condition and domicil OF
slaves-thai is, persons limited to narrower
bounds than the men in the exercise OF the
rights OF humanity-life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness-as they see these
rights, and not as the men see them. The
remedy, then, for this disquieting reflection
is deeper knowledge OF the laws OF nature,
and the absolute necessity of a cheerful and
loving obedience to these laws, under d liberty
as large and as lrghii.dered as the liberty Of the
men-the liberty Of the golden rule. Let them
vote and adjust the burdens to their own
shoulders with their own hands. When
this is done they will no longer fear TO be
smothered when they are babies, as in China,
nor huddled in harems, as 10 Turkey, nor
sold as goods and cattle, as in Russia, nor
made the toys and footballs Of men, as in
Europe. Perfect freedom will add to
woman's dignity, as it does to all the human
race. X X. X.