The Portland daily press., 1882-10-12

cepton which promises us fair and attentiv
hearing we shall hope that some of the seed
scattered here by those who come from afal
may bear the fruit of a confirmed faith in tn
eternal right and in the works which conten
for it.
With regard to the social world around us
our position as independent workers change
with the slow amelioration Of public opinion
We had first to assume position of our own
This appeared to many men and women an &C
of outrageous defiance. Some of our own se
who had achieved eminenee for themselves re
garded with no favorable eye the advance 0
confidence and esteem which we have elaine,
for the sex in general.
Little was expected of us, ten years age
but overstrained sentiment united to impos
slble assumption. Now, so much is expected
of us that we must do our best TO meet thu
demands likely TO be made upon US. The or,
| at first was, why do you try to do anything
1t is new, why don't you do mores
An eminent Anglican divine, in the days 0
| my YOUTH used to exclaim: "Frem all ole
women meddling in the affairs of the church
| good Lord deliver usY' / think that thu
| prayer to-day is: From the church in which
women have no part, good Lord deliver us
We have to rejoice in the enlargement of oul
SEX throughout the world Every day brings
us tidings of new departments of usefulness
which have opened up to women, or rather
which they themselves have sought and found.
| In industrial enterprise in the learned profess
| sions, in literature and in tuition. they are
| earning reputation, esteem and independence
Our regret is that our knowledge keeps pace
so imperfectly with this widespread arising
and arousing Of women. Our joy is that it
spreads too rapidly even for print and tele-
graph to follow.
we ought perhaps to be still more glad that,
in all this kindling of intellectual life, the
cares and duties of affection are not less,
but more considered than they were in
the days in which most women were
content to measure their sphere by the dicta :
ton of man. Now and then some hysterical
writer, like Mr.. Elicit in the North American
Review, cries out that society is going to de-
struction, and that the women's women and the
Senators who endorse them are at the bottom
of all the evil that is done and felt. Such
warnings awaken little sympathy in the gem
eral public. No one who knows anything
about the woman's movement to-day supposes
it to be war upon society or against ma
ture. In time in which even the sacred.
book of our religion has received new trans
lation, in order that religious instruction may
benefit by the fuller scholarship and nicer
criticism of a later day, we surely need not
fear to ask for revision of the whole doctrine
of duty as regards women, nor to insist that
the improved Interpretation shall recommend
itself to our best judgment and highest con-
science.
1t is weary for us to vindicate our sex, and
we should blush to find ourselves insisting
upon its merits were it not for two consider
atoms. The first of them is the fact that from
Adam down "the woman whom thou gavest
me" has had to bear the reproach of mans
sins besides that of her own. The second is
this other truth. that in upholding the moral
grade of our half of humanity. we assert and
maintain higher level of obligation and ca
paclty for the whole.
We have all read of miracles in which very
small means have been made to accomplish
great ends. The widows cruise of oil, the
Saviors loaves and fishes are emblems in their
kind. We need a moral miracle of the same
sort to-day. How shall one little handful of
women work for this vast continents How
shall we make ourselves power for good
throughout the length and breadth of this
lands | will answer that we must keep in view
both the largeness of the field, and the small
ness of our services. Faith and feryor can
make the one sufficient for the other. And as
women we must especially hold fast our
womens ways of working Small things are
entrusted to US which contain the fate of the
world as the seed contains the harvest. God
has given us in our hearts a touchstoue by
which we can find the great in the little, and
the little in what seems great Our community
is intoxicated with the dream of wealth. We
must hold to the clean hands and pure hearts
whose work can enrich life honestly. Our
people are imposed upon by loud report
and wide ambition. We must keep our faith
4 IL i
must seem to us small which concerns eur own
obligations and the well-being of others. No
reward must seem to us great which involves
the loss of character. With infinite patience
of detail, we must combine large and compre-
hensive charity.
1t seems to me that we women cannot in
any way so assure and multiply our useful
ness, severally and unitedly, as by taking a
sincere interest in all that we can understand
and in all that we can help. We share wit
the general public the grievances of govern
ment and legislation which, better than many
or most yet have their full measure of in
justice and corruption. Having no vote, how
can we help to free ourselves and others from
measures which are felt to be unjust and
oppressiyes
The first step in remedying any evil is to
understand it. Had we twenty votes apiece,
and no understanding of how things should
or should not be, our votes would not help us
to set matters right.
The first step, therefore, in all that may
promote the public good, is one which our
congress is fully competent to take. We can
apply ourselves to the study of existing evils,
and by ascertaining the reasons which under
lie them, can open the way to relief and
remedy.
will mention as an example the Chinese
question which stands first in the list of
topics to be presented at this congress. 1t
may have this place in virtue of the Christian
command which begins: "If thy brother have
aught against thee" Male politicians have
disposed of this question for a time, but not
for all time. A Paltry partisan issue has in
this instance as in many others, de-
cidea matter which called for a
very different treatment, and for
conclusion Numerically opposite to that
which now stands as the law of the land. A
great wrong has here been done, not only to
our brother, but to those principles of com
mon brotherhood upon which our whole sys-
tenn of government processes to be founded.
What can handful of women do to right this
wrongs We can carefully study out the
causes which led to it, and the principles
whose just application would have made it
i~APoootD4S. Having dOhC shio w OhA DSob
ability, each of us can take her stand by the
heavenly justice which has been outraged in
the persons of the Chinese, and contend for it
in the old faith which teaches that one with
God is a majority.
We shall hear, during our brief sojourn,
much that concerns us as individuals and as
members of society The industrial rights
and possibilities of women, the condition of
our sisters in the extra Christian community
of Utah, the education of our children, and
our own obligations toward them, together
with the more general topics of health, politi-
cal economy and religion,-all of these mat
tiers will be brought before you for considera-
ton and discussion.
This work to which we address ourselves is
doubly important because women, all over the
world, so easily lend themselves to the pro-
mitigation of the views held by men, and
oftenest by those men who are least fitted to
guide and form the opinions of women. We
have here duty of redemption toward our
own sex. TO the thousands of women who,
in every variety of circumstance, are content
to exclaim "The man says SO, and he must
know" let us oppose some units who will say
1--WE will see first whether the man is right.
If he is, we will second him heartily. If he
is not, we will withstand him to his face"
AS have so far introduced our programme
l may as well mention that it will conclude