The national leader., 1889-05-18
The Pccuniary independence OF
Wives.

There is little or no recognition of
the fact that the wife earns in her pro-.
vince just as certainly as the man in his; 3
that her service is quite as rigidly ex-
acted in the nature of the case, and
just as faithfully rendered as his; that
while his labor is of the muscles and
brain, hers involves and taxes every
faculty of her being; that while his
labor is limited to certain hours, after
which he may rest, hers is unceasing,
and her rest is snatched from her press
ing care; and that the three fold unc-
ton of housekeeper, mother and dis
penser is of surety an equivalent for the
primal necessities-food, clothing and
shelter.
An ordinary servant receives better
wages. A cook is entitled to her board
and certain sum besides; waitress
likewise, a seamstress likewise, q child's
nurse likewise, their board guaranteed
and their recompense stipulated. But
the wife, who combines all these and
more, who serves in any and every
capacity which need calls up, who may
even assist her husband in his employ
ment, in addition to her own, who may
even be an active but silent partner in
his business, has bestowed upon her as
gift, charity, donation, the scanty
primitive support that her body de-
mands. She owns nothing-all is his;
she controls nothing, for the reins Of
power are held by another, and she is
driven with the rest of the chattels; she
can change nothing, for a word of pro-
test endangers the threadbare support
that she endures.
The wife's comfort depends in these
days upon three things-her husbands
prosperity, his loving attentions, and
her own compliance with existing con-
ditions. Her inalienable right is not
suspected, her equality is not conceded,
her responsibility not respected.
No human being is endowed with the
power, right or privilege to protect
another. Pro, lection is inherent, and
every individual removed from child
hood and imbecility is sheathed in
natural defense-self protection. The
only protection which man pretends to
the consequences of his own aggression,
tyranny and abuse, for a0Onoen hare no
other enemy IN the aOOrld.
In the household she has no safety
no redress-she is bound over to keep
the peace, and can do no more despised
thing than to make complaint when
tried beyond endurance. She is beg
gar of all beggars, slave of all slaves,
owning neither her home, her property,
her time, her children, nor herself. It
does not matter that the slave is some
times favorite, and therefore indulg-
ed; the condition of servitude is the
same, and this is the lot of married
women in America. When wrong is
committed, both parties suffer equally.
The usurpation which depresses and
man. Woman is disowned as equal,
companion and friend; man suffers the
loss of his equal, companion and friend.
The wife has no helpmate, neither
has the husband The alienation is
equal, the disastrous results equal in
both cases. Marriages should be en-
tire, not partial. Reproduction is not
limited to child-bearing, but the loving
conjunction of all the attributes and in
spirations of the two natures will re-
produce new virtues, new graces, new
spiritual forces without limit or exhaus-
ton. These twain were created in the
image of the Father and he gave them
dominion over the earth. They are not
merely mortal, they are spiritual be-
ings, and not merely endowed with
reason, but respective to devine intelli-
gence; the power of regeneration is
born with them; they must clasp hands
and achieve it. MARIE A. BROWN.