The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1885-08-20
A Handsome Tribute 10 Our sWsds Citi-
unnu


Mrs. Helen NJ. Gouger, who recent
Is delivered several lectures in Saline
county, pays, in private letter to
friend, the following pleasant tribute
20 our Swedish people:
had a peculiar circumstance occur
while In your county, one that h
worthy Of Consideration, )" for IL means
something" The evening / spoke at
AssaFia q small audience greeted me,
owing partially 10 having been but
slightly advertised. but the quality OF
my hearers made up for want Of guam
tity. Over twO-thirds OF those pres
ent were native-torn SWedes ana /
wondered how an out-and-Out wO-
man suffrage address would be re-
ceived by them-foT that was my sub
iect. As ] looked into their charm
ing faces, for Swede people, with their
blue eyes, beautiful pink and white
compilations, and light hair, always
attract my attention. wondered
how much our society bellies would
give I'm exchange for this wealth OF
simple, unappreciated beauty a. seen
In this audience. IL was marvellous.
| never saw 50 many handsome per
sOns together in 50 small an audience
before. / found that genuine intelli-
gence was under all and / never had
q more appTeciative audience. At the
close Of my talk / took a vote Of all
those In favor OF woman suffrage, and
every SW EIDE man and woman In the
house voted in favor Of woman suf-
frage there were but two dissenting
votes and these were stalwart SONS OF
American mOthersl And why not
a thorough reading Of Scandinavian
history shows greater respect IN
laws and customs pertaining to wO-
men than any other nation Of which
history gives us account. Long be-
fore the Christian religion was known
scandinavian women were taught &C.
equations and permitted TO partake
ia social enjOyments and public
meetings +; while the father disposed
Of his daughter in marriage, she was
seldom given in marriage without her
consent. The wedding ceremony
performed, the husband handed the
wife the bunch Of keys as a sign that
she was mistress Of the house. The
science Of healing, imperfect as Il was
al that time, was mostly practiced by
women, also the peculiar gin to inter
pref dreams.
Oiin found the goddess Hertha
worshipped la great solemnity and
that every ninth year were offered up
t0 her ninpty-nine men, and the same
number 81 horses, dogs and cocks, for
the purpuse Of obtaining her favor and
protection. Long after the RefOrma-
tion MargaTetha reigned for thirty
seven years and her history il IA re
markable - that Of Queen Victoria,
and h not dimmrd by the reign Of the
beautiful Phillip or the brave, haugh-
- Amelia AMI until GermHni's IN
iluence gained control Of Scandina-
vtau laws and customs women were
equal L. men in nearly every particu-
lar. From such manly ancestors
came our Swedles, whom ! consider
among the best, if not the best, for
eigners that come Ia our shores. Let
the gospel uf equality before the
law" Ice carried 10 these people and /
am confident that they will become
staunch workers for the faith there
Is certainly much more hope than
there II for the suns of mothers who
can unhlushingly stand up against
such equality an their own country,
whose laws are based upon the eternal
law of Justire which declares "all
just government derives its power
from the consent of the nOverned"