Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1888-01-19
NOMAN'S DEPARTMENT.
A PLEA o RIGHT.
RS r. q. wallace Mskss a. Abts Arxa-
tnent for Woman Suffrage

erred an able address on Woman Suf-
frage at Nashville. Tenn. where she
attended the annual meeting Of the
National ". c. T. U. She said:
Webster defines a Democracy as .
Government for the people; ours is q
Government Of only half the people
50 long as woman has no voice in it.
II all power inheres in the people. you
yourselves ny brothe-s. are shorn of
half yqur power so long As woman Is
not permitted to share IL In the be-
ginning il was not 50. male and
female created He them. and gave
them dominion" over all tho earth.
Here He defines the character 81 that
humanity He wa. grading In the new
made world Here In the beginning
Of the Bible We have It all in a nut
she'll; the closing uttcrances Of the
blessed book and grand prophetic WIS.,
ION all along the pages rciterate it.
II the voice of the people Is the voice
Of God. then the voice Of God can
never be heard so long a. woman's
voice il silenced This must be so. nm
les. YOU put her outside the pale 81 the
humanity God planted IN Eden. A
slave mother bears a slave progeny;
Woman Is a slave to Just that extent
that she is denied the privilege Of
working out her W thoughts and
convictions Of right as God gives her
To see the right The reform for which
We plead Is not against man-it is pre-
eminently for the benefit Of man. Oh.
my brothers, you have tunneled
mountains. compassed lands. spanned
oceans, ever harncssed the lightning
to do the worlds work. God gave you
the aggressive force. and you have
used it grandlv. and laid all your
trophies ut the feet of Your
hand invents machinery which sets
our hands free from drudgery; your
steamboats, and railroads annihilate
distance for us; your telegraph brings
the worlds thought to our knowledge;
but there are moral and spiritual forces
which elude you every timc-woman
alone a grasp them.
Dear sisters. when you talk about
the worship you receive from your
brothers. do you forget the two hun
dred thousand licensed schools Of vice
in this country? Do you realize that
this makes your door-yard fence the
dead-liue beyond which your boy passes
only at the peril Of his soul? Women
of old were held accountable for ma
tional vice. ''Woe unto you women
that are at ease in Zion" viii not
God sit in judgment against you. who.
amid brighter light and infinitely
greater privileges. sit ut ease in Zion
while such mares are laid for souls?
Can you make no better returns TO the
good men who have made your lives so
sheltered and secure thar darned lace
and crazy quilts?
Politics are too dirty for women to
mingle in." is another objection often
made. But il is no argument against
woman suffrage, it is one against male
suffrage. Men have always had
control of politics; IL they have al
lowed them to become dirty it is time
women came to thg rescue and
cleared things up. just the work in
which they are adopts, II | thought
that politics were necessarily dirty
the unholy scramble for power into
which. too often. they de~generatc-I
should never wish ms BOYS to become
voters. II not fit for my girls. politics
are not tit for my boys.
The blessed Book saws that they
who stay by the stuff shall share equal
~ with those who 90 out to the battle.
We stay by the stuff and guard your
interests in your absence. and shall we
not share equally with you7 But. you
object, there is already too much sui
frage. What we need is restricted, not
extended suffrage" But can you re-
strict suffrage? This Nation will wade
in blood up to its knees before it re-
striets suffrage. Voters realize too
well the valne OF suffrage to Weld it ex-
eept with their lives. And this is we'll;
the masses are safer with the ballot
than without it. The ballot and the
bayonet are the only two great forces;
which do you prefer. amob armed with
ballots or with bayonct.?
Consider the developing power of
he ballot; look at the men of this
Eation. descended from II long line of
soting ancestry. The world shows no
Iobler specimens of manhood. Com
are them with the thousands landed
very month at Castle Garden, COM
pg from the DISTINGUISHED classes of
europe. and you car form some idea
II this developing power of suffrage.
toa can not develop a slave; develop
Icnt comes only with freedom. and
.eeps pace with it. Our widest
reams have not pictured what God
attends to do for this Nation when all
+ people, instead Of half of them. are
'eally free.
1t Is common to attribute the Ma
ton growth and success To its broad
-eres. rich mines and other material
'eSources. but ther are due rather to
piritual forces. What Is true civilian
uonP Does it consist in marble pail
ices' N p etrs. painting. ssatuaryp
I so, Greece and Rome excelled us;
7ut they went down to death in spite
II their splendid physical and intel
4ectual development. becau.e the right
pirltual torees We're waiting. true
l'ilizatieH IS to do justly. and to love
800 Will all the heart When these
ule the National life. AL the questions
hat ner ssx and threaten the COM
monwsAlth will be easily settled. | do
tot 80 tha. o- ..:u