Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1886-01-29
ONE PHASE or WOMAN SUE
FRAGE

PAPER READ BEFORE THE SECOND ANNUAL
MEETING OF THE VERMONT WOMAN SUFFRAGE
ASSOCIATION AT DANDY, VT.
When the light Of conviction strikes all pos.
sble phases of the question of woman suf.
frage, nothing is found in it's demands but
right and justice. 1t seems q strange neoes-
sity, in land Of freedom, to place in array
the progress and capacity of woman to set
forth in so many words the qualities that go
TO make the fine flavor OF her life and ser
vice in the world TO parade the essential ell
ements of her power, like so many articles
Of merchandise, in the mart of public opin-
ion. Her devotion, her faithfulness, her long.
suffering have been the theme of sentiment
for ages her helpfulness, her tact, her apu
tude, the subject Of much practical discourse.
And yet these qualities have not some how,
been thought Of market value enough to be
used where their application is needed more
than anywhere else in the affairs of govern
ment
As an educator, woman has proven her ca.
pability. 1t il considered safe to place the
education Of children and youth largely in
her hands She holds positions OF high trust
aud honor in seminaries aud colleges her iit-
ness for such positions is uuquestionrd. The
common schools all over the United States
are taught aud governed mostly by women.
The juvenile nation is under the control Of
women, and is believed to be thriving under
her discipline. 1t ia most surprising, II WON.
are to be such dangerous element when
the ballot is given them, that they are allowed
to instruct a nation Of embryo voters in the
most plastic state Of their existence Surely
it must be a disastrous timo when the vast
army of school-teacAers become POSSESSED Of
the ballot
1t il conceded that women have great nu-
merical power in the church, and there are
those who believe that the zeal aud fidelity of
its membership il TO quite an extent repre-
sented by women. The clergy have some
times felt a sense of dependence upon woman
to sustain spiritual atmosphere in the social
meetings. The charities of the church, with
the care of its sick and poor, have in many
cases been given to her Its social prosperi-
ty, in the way Of increasing genislity, rs well
as church funds, is nearly always the result
of her effort Home and foreign missions,
under her direct care in organization and con
tinuance, have been eminently successful, not
only in the fulhlment OF their destined work
but in the enlarged thought aud interest
wrought in the minds of their benefactors.
ludeed, there seems to be no ue Of labor in
the church in. which women are not equal
sharers in its burdens. They stand undoubt-
edly AZ a strong factor in its faith and hopes,
its purposes, and its actual achievements.
But woman and the home what shara h 4s
she there in the test of wife and motherhood
Men coue 10 the front with splendid a-sur
ance Of power because away back in their
childhood some woman threw every fibre Of
her being into the task Of ingraining her own
truth aud int gritty within them. Men come
TO the front welding keen weapons Of satire,
dazzling with brilliant oratory, convincing
with unanswerable logic, uplifting with the
most persuasive eluquence the world np
plauds, but it does not know that, through
their sons the mothers come to the front also
The household in it's financial interests is
oftener helped than hindered 10y the foresight
OF women How many heads OF families who
have attained competency have only them.
selves to thank for it? Nearly always wom-
ans faculty for economy has helped to bring
about such a result. This j. notably the fact
among farmers wives, whose industry As
well as economy increase the income and also
the comforts of home. Woman has been
thought to lack capacity for business, but
when left to her own resources she has been
found TO be fertile in inventing ways and
means for helping herself Certainly there
are women who are eItravagant and waste
full; but the majority are not so, and these
qualities do not belong to the sex but to the
individual
Leaving the question OF the fnancihl value
Of woman in the household, We feel We are
treadinR on holy ground when we speak of
that other place she occupies in the home
In the hush Cf our hearts who cannot recall
some sanity face, some smile Of sorrowful
patience, some words of tenderness so rs.
sertially womauly that We could believe that
If she lacked in other ways, this spirit had
been given her to round the measure of equal
ity between the sexes? Who has her faith
we'll ne beF What i,, ~
realm Of consciousness holds such possibih
ties az her prayers There are countless
households in which the only saving influence
IL that of God. fearing wife and mother
There are also many women who have no
home ties of their own, who lead strong aud
beautiful lives in unselfsh work for others
And then to think Of those women who softer
without redress, through the intemperauce or
immortality of their natural protectors, B..
ing shut up with all that makes life curse,
they can still stretch their manacled hands
toward God. There have been enough des
pairing cIirs sent up TO reud the heavens!
Aud yet We do not believe that in the di-
vine plan of things woman was elected from
the beginning to suffer; that the best IN store
for her Is the development of sublime pa
tience. We believe a new element is to come
into her life, that, while II will not detract
one iota from her womanness, will yet take
away the bitterness of being woman. She
has been so used to brooding over wrong.
wounded and bleeding by it, she will forget
its intensity in the effort of helping to right
it. She will not be less heroic aud self deny
ing, aud faithful she will only turn their
tide into broader channels, so that they can
not flow back upon herself, ruinous flood
to destroy her. She will not feel hersel II shut
out from the places she longs to sweep and
garuish in true housewifely fashion. She will
not feel that in a nations crisis she is to sit
dumb, with listless hands, to await disaster
but by tho ballot she is to help thwart the
possibility. In word, this new element in
her life will make her free as patriots count
freedom.
On the other side, since it is proven beyond
doubt that women are helpful-nsy, are a
vital nece ssity-in the education Of the coun-
try in the religious life of the churches, in
the prosperity of the home, who that acknowl-
edges tits can for a moment deny the wisdom
of Incorporating that same power into the
body polite America as a nation may well
boast her greatness and hope for her perpetu-
ity when her watchward, Freedom for all,
includes within its broad provisions political
IN